Considering that businesses face bankruptcy when their aggregate costs exceed their revenues, the cancellation of the largest production cost item—wages and salaries—in an employee-managed firm system is an effective safeguard against bankruptcy. For this and other reasons, the author argues that risks of insolvency are unlikely to scare democratic firms into accepting the capitalistic logic of cut-throat competition.
KeywordsLabour Managed FirmsFailuresSolidarityComparative Economic Systems
Petrovic, G. (1975) Socialismo e filosofia [Socialism and Philosophy]. In: Fusi, G., Ed., Feltrinelli, Milan, 15.
Sen, A.K. (2015) La libertà individuale come impegno sociale [Individual Freedom as a Social Commitment]. Laterza, Bari, 50.
Ben-Ner, A. (1988) The Life Cycle of Worker-Owned Firms in Market Economies: A Theoretical Analysis. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 10, No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-2681(88)90052-2
Stauber, L.G. (1989) Age-Dependence and Historical Effects on the Failure Rates of Worker Cooperatives; an Event-History Analysis. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 10, No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X89101004
Dow, G. (2003) Governing the Firm; Workers’ Control in Theory and Practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 226-228. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615849
Einaudi, L. (1920) Partecipazione degli operai alla gestione e socializzazione [Worker Participation in Firm Management and Socializazion]. In: Einaudi, L., Ed., Cronache economiche e politiche di un trentennio, vol. V, 1919-1920, Einaudi, Turin, 688.
Lukàcs, G. (1920-1921) Kommunismus, 1920-1921 [Communism]. Marsilio Editore, Padua, 140.
Marx, K. (1859) Per la critica dell’economia politica [A Critique of Political Economy]. Editori Riuniti, Rome, 5.
Bakunin, M. (1873) Stato e anarchia [Statism and Anarchy]. Feltrinelli, Milan, 1968.
Plekhanov, G.V. (1895) La concezione materialistica della storia [The Materialist Conception of History]. Samonà e Savelli, La Nuova sinistra, Rome, 58.
Panzieri, R. (1967) Lotte operaie nello sviluppo capitalistico. [The Role of Workers’ Struggles in the Evolution of Capitalism.] In: Panzieri, R., Ed. (1975), La ripresa del marxismo leninismo in Italia, Sapere Edizioni, Milan, 255.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1845-1846) The German Ideology. In: Marx-Engels, Collected Works, Vol. 5, Lawrence & Wishart, London.
Marx, K. (1859) Per la critica dell’economia politica, trad. it., [A Critique of Political Economy.] Editori Riuniti, Rome, 4.
Habermas, J. (1963) Teoria e prassi nella società tecnologica. [Theory and Practice in the Technological Society.] Ital. Transl., Laterza, Bari, 60-61.
Bataille, G. (1976) il limite dell'utile. [The Limit of the Useful.] Ital. transl., Adelphi Edizioni, Milan, 64.
Hahn, F.H. (1993) Il futuro del capitalismo: segni premonitori. [The Future of Capitalism: Warning Signs.] In Rivista milanese di economia, No. 46, April-June, 10.
Gramsci, A. (1919-1920) l'ordine nuovo. Einaudi, Turin, 4-5.
Marcuse, H. (1969) Un riesame del concetto di rivoluzione. [Re-Examination of the Concept of Revolution.] In AA.VV., 22.
Gramsci, A. (1994) Scritti di economia politica. [Studies in Political Economy.] Boringhieri, Turin, 134.
Mills, C.W. (1948) The New Man of Power. Harcourt Brace, New York, 258.
Fromm, E. (1976) Avere o essere? [To Have or To Be.] Ital. transl., Mondadori, Milan, 235.
Marshall, A. (1897) The Old Generation of Economists and the New. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 11, 115-135. https://doi.org/10.2307/1882124
Marshall, A. (1873) The Future of the Working Classes. In: Pigou, A.C., Ed., Memorials of Alfred Marshall, Macmillan, London, 105-106.
Heller, A. (1980) Per cambiare la vita. [Changing Our Ways of Life.] An Interview by Ferdinando Adornato, Editori Riuniti, Rome, 51.
Marshall, A. (1890) Principles of Economics. Macmillan, London, 2.
Marshall, A. (1889) Cooperation. In: Pigou, A.C., Ed., Memorials of Alfred Marshall, Macmillan, London, 228.
Valenti, G. (1901) Contributo alla teoria economica della cooperazione, con un’appendice intorno alla legislazione sulle società cooperative. [A Contribution to Cooperation Theory, with an Appendix on the RelevantItalian Legislation.] In: Archivio giuridico, Filippo Serafini , nuova serie, Mucchi, Modena, 516.
Fleetwood, S. (2006) Rethinking Labour Markets: A Critical-Realist-Socioeconomic Perspective. Capital & Class, 89, 59-89. https://doi.org/10.1177/030981680608900103
Albert, M. (2003) L’economia partecipativa. [An Introduction to Participatory Economics.] Datanews, Rome.
Marshall, A. (1890) Principles of Economics. Macmillan, London, 292.
Korsch, K. (1922) Consigli di fabbrica e socializzazione. [Workers’ Councils and Socialization.] Ital. transl., Laterza, Bari, 33-34.
Ben-Ner, A. (1987) Producer Cooperatives: Why Do They Exist in Capitalist Economies? In: Powel, W., Ed., The Non Profit Sector: A Research Handbook, Yale University, New Haven.
Miller, D. (1989) Market, States and Community. Clarendon Press, Oxford, Chaps 6 and 7.
Latouche, S. (1999) La sfida di Minerva: Razionalità occidentale e ragione mediterranea. [The Challenge of Minerva; Western Rationality versus Mediterranean Reasonableness.] Bollati Boringhieri, Ital. transl., Turin.
Finelli, R. (2007) Un marxismo ‘senza Capitale’. [A Model of Marxism‘without Capital’.] In: Bellofiore, R., Ed., Da Marx a Marx; un bilancio dei marxismi italiani del Novecento, Manifestolibri, Rome, 132.
Rawls, J. (2000) Lezioni di storia della filosofia morale. [Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy.] Ital. transl., Feltrinelli, Milan, 177.
Rawls, J. (2000) Lezioni di storia della filosofia morale. [Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy.] Ital. transl., Feltrinelli, Milan, 65.
Keynes, J.M. (1938) The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, Macmillan, London, Vol. XIV, 296.
Bidet, J. (2001) New Interpretations of Capital. In: Bidet, J. and Kouvelakis, S., Eds., Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism, Engl. Transl., Brill, Leiden and Boston, 377.
Petrucciani, S. and Russo, M. (2010) Presentazione. Leggere il Capitale per comprendere la modernità. [Foreword to Reading Capital in Order to Understand Modernity.] In: Bidet, J., Ed., Il Capitale’, spiegazione e ricostruzione [Esplanation and Reconstruction of Marx’s ‘Capital’.], Ital. transl., manifestolibri, Rome, 12.
Kautsky, K. (1892) Introduzione al pensiero economico di Marx. [An Introduction to the Economic Doctrines of Karl Marx.] Ital. transl., Laterza, Bari, 109.
Leone, E. (1902) Sul principio di cooperazione nei suoi rapporti con il socialismo. [On the Principles of Cooperation and Their Relationship with Socialism.] Critica Sociale, XII, 287.
Kautsky, K. (1907) Ethics and the Materialist Conception of History. C. H. Kerr, Chicago, 202.
Tucker, R.C. (1961) Philosophhy and Myth in Karl Marx. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Introduction.
Altvater, E. (1968) L’attualità del Capitale. [The Topicality of Capital.] In AA. VV., Cent’anni dopo il Capitale, Ital. transl., Samonà e Savelli, Rome.
Poulantzas, N. (1968) Brevi note sull’oggetto del Capitale. [Notes on the Subject of ‘Capital’.] In AA. VV., Cent’anni dopo il Capitale, Ital. transl., Samonà e Savelli, Rome.
Murgescu, C. (1969) Alcune riflessioni sommarie in occasione di un anniversario. [A Few Reflections Developed on the Occasion of an Anniversary.] In AA. VV., Marx vivo, Mondadori, Milan, 196.
MacPherson, I. (2008) The Cooperative Movement and the Social Economy Traditions: Reflections on the Mingling of Broad Visions. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 79, 635, 639.
Strada, V. (1982) Marxismo e post-marxismo. [Marxism and Post-Marxism.] In: Hobsbawm, E.J., Haupt, G., Marek, F., Ragionieri, E., Strada, V. and Vivanti, C., Eds., Storia del marxismo, 5 Vols,. Einaudi, Turin, 87.
Fineschi, R. (2006) Marx e Hegel; contributi ad una rilettura. [Re-Reading Marx and Hegel.] Carocci, Rome, 101.
Marx, K. (1844) Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. In: Marx-Engels, Collected Works, Vol. 3, Lawrence & Wishart, London.
Marx, K. (1857-1858) Grundrisse: Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy. Pelican Books, London, 121; Italics Added.
Callari, A. (2009) A Methodological Reflection on the ‘Thick Socialism’ of Socialism after Hayek. Review of Social Economy, XVII, 368. https://doi.org/10.1080/00346760802014813