An effective pathway to fighting fascism is the expansion of democracy into the economy and fostering inclusive forms of economic organization. Worker ownership is one model.

Companies We Keep - John Abrams

There has been a prolonged effort to conflate distinct ideologies into one thing. Marxism-Leninism prescribes state ownership as a means to achieve communism in the future, but it is not itself synonymous with communism, which is the stateless, classless, moneyless society.

Democratic Socialism is a form of socialism that emphasizes political and economic democracy.

Social Democracy is regulated capitalism with social programs and market intervention to curb the excesses of capitalism.

Sometimes people say Democratic Socialism when they really mean Social Democracy.

Socialism is an umbrella term. Claiming that socialism doesn't work implies that all socialist philosophies fail. The problematic nature of this reasoning becomes clear when we realize that there are socialisms that are empirically viable, such as cooperative socialism.

Worker ownership does not require the government. There are thousands of worker-owned businesses in the United States that are owned by the people who work in them. Support for WOBs is bipartisan. Most Americans support and prefer them over traditional companies.

There are thousands of functioning worker-owned cooperatives. Studies show that worker co-ops match or exceed traditional companies in productivity and resilience. Barriers to entry include an absence of legal frameworks in many regions, lack of awareness, and limits for external capital investment.

They say there is no alternative in an effort to pacify those who might create the change that would ultimately challenge their power.

Monarchists made the same claims. It didn't work then, and it won't work now.

People are already building the carapace of the post-capitalist world.

To allow for each person to own the proceeds of their work necessitates a change in economic organization.

In the investor-owned firm, workers do not own the proceeds of their work.

In the labor-managed firm, workers do own the proceeds of their work.

Economic systems do not exist solely as macroeconomic structures. They are comprised of microeconomic arrangements. Firm types are modular building blocks that contribute towards overarching systems. A system comprised of worker co-ops is very different from one of investor-owned firms.

Remember the power of worker ownership. It has the potential to effectively reverse the growth of wealth inequality. We must diversify the ways in which we address the injustices of our system.

There is no "magical" alternative economic system. There is an alternative economic system, however. One where stakeholders own and control economic organization instead of a small group of wealthy shareholders.

democracy, and it is smart to diversify the ways in which democratic values exist in the economy so that it cannot be easily destroyed by the wealthy. Workplace democracy is one such form that empowers workers with a say in their working conditions and pay. This can be found in worker cooperatives.