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The Campaign for Co-operative
Socialism
>> For equality and ecology, peace, justice
and co-operation >>
** A Fair, Safe and Peaceful world **
We are suggesting that the time has come to help create the Global
Co-operative Commonweal: a Global Commonweal of Local Commonweals.
A world, in other words, based upon the Values and Principles
of The International Co-operative Alliance
(see attached). Centrally, we also suggest that The Co-operative
Commonweal requires that we convert all workplaces into appropriate
co-operative enterprises, so that every person, and every organisation,
has respectful stewardship of land and knowledge resources, and
that true equality is, sustainably, created.
To do so, it is clear that we have to transform the economic
system in which we live, so that
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o All people, co-operatively and together, are in control
of their lives,
o Where all work is for the long-lived benefit of all: caring
for the long-lived benefit of the whole global ecology -
and all its inhabitants.
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This requires changes to the central features of present-day
economics:
o The ownership of workplaces and knowledge used for profit,
o The ownership of land and natural resources, and their use
for profit,
o The practices of money-lending and debt- and credit-creation
for profit,
o Inequality and insecurity of individual incomes,
o The created culture of rampant crime, fear, debt, and insecurity. |
Accordingly, we work for each community to be in full, open, co-operative
control of its economic resources, ensuring that they are used
for the benefit of the whole of humanity, and for the benefit
of the whole global ecology, so that:
o Everyone has the security of a fair, guaranteed
income,
o And that proper stewardship of the planet is our central
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>>This suggests the following Seven
Point Action Plan >>
Co-operative Socialism - A Seven Point Action
Plan
1) ‘Co-operation not Coercion’
Convert competitive, market-based businesses into workplace co-operatives,
and remodel monopoly activities as stakeholder co-operatives:
each one having responsible stewardship of land and knowledge
resources, with each co-op demonstrably working according to the
Seven Co-operative Principles of The International Co-operative
Alliance (see attached). See points 2) and 5), below, for the
funding mechanism for this;
2) ‘Predistribution not Redistribution’
Distribute the created wealth from these workplace co-ops through
nationally collected, co-operative corporate taxation, distributed
into local, democratically-controlled, Community Banks and, so,
make money and credit available for responsible wealth creation
and community development,
3) ‘Global stewardship for needs not private resources
for profits’
Maximise public service provision (health, life-long education,
libraries, transport and so on) on a co-operative, free-at-the-point-of-use
basis, thus only retaining money as a mechanism for access to
discretionary purchases,
4) ‘Fair, guaranteed incomes for all’
Introduce guaranteed fair income for all, within upper and lower
limits, and with elements of automatic Citizens’ Income,
and, so, do away with the need for direct and indirect personal
taxation,
5) ‘Banking as public service - not as global warfare’
Abolish money-lending and credit-creation for profit: operate
banking as a community co-operative public service (see point
two above),
6) ‘End global exploitation through financial speculation’
Reintroduce international exchange controls, a Tobin Tax, etc,
as necessary,
7) ‘All our sisters are our brothers: and all our brothers
are our sisters’
Make capital grants (not loans) to developing countries.We hope
this action plan gives us, all, a good, evolving basis: >>
for a practical, moral, sustainable, and co-operative economics.
Please share and discuss this plan with family and friends
(and let us know people’s reaction?). Thanks!
The Campaign for Co-operative Socialism
www.co-operativesocialism.org
(September 2003)
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Campaign
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