[CLUE-Talk] [OT] A Call to Action

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 07-13 12:41, Matt Gushee wrote:
> Interesting post, Sean. I wish I could take the time to fully
> contemplate all the issues you raise. There is one point I'd like to
> respond to, though:
> 
> On Sat, Jul 13, 2002 at 10:26:43AM -0600, Sean LeBlanc wrote:
> 
> > a half, taking part in a food co-op, etc.  They eventually ditched the food
> > co-op (and it imploded soon after, anyway) because the same few people were
> > always getting strapped with all the work, while a great many others were
> > always making excuses for not being able to help, and so those doing all the
> > work soon tired of it.  They did switch to bulk food soon after: nearly the
> > same prices without all the politics - just go and buy it and be done with
> > it.
> 
> That's not a particularly novel statement, but I'm surprised to hear
> someone as intelligent, articulate, and--as I see now--aware of the
> relevant issues, arguing that because a particular food co-op failed,
> food co-ops are a bad idea.
> 
> While we're doing the autobiography thing, here's mine: I spent most of
> my formative years in Madison, WI, and went to college in Eugene, OR.
> Both cities are notorious for having been "hotbeds of campus radicalism"
> (though there's an important difference between the two, which I'll get
> to in a minute), and both were big on co-ops of various kinds in the
> 70s.
> 
> At their peak in the mid-to-late 70s, there were probably 9 or 10 active
> food co-ops in Madison; I'm less familiar with Eugene in that period,
> but when I first visited in '78, it seems to me there were about half a 
> dozen. A quick check of the web indicates that 2 of the old Madison
> co-ops are still running today, and there are 2 others that weren't
> there before. In Eugene, however, all the co-ops were already gone when I
> arrived for college in 1982.
> 
> I think it's very instructive to look at which ones survived and which
> didn't. The 2 survivors in Madison are the Williamson St. (Willy St.)
> and Mifflin St. Co-ops. Now, as I recall, Willy St. was often criticized
> for being "too corporate" or "too bourgeois," or whatever terms were in
> vogue back then ... basically, as far as I know, it was because they had
> managers and were concerned about keeping accurate books and a clean
> store. Mifflin St. was radically different: to them, managers and
> bookkeeping were "fascist" (I think I may have actually heard someone
> say that at some point), cleanliness was anal-retentive ... they used to
> get high at the checkout counter. Well, they almost didn't make it.
> Finally, along about 1980, they decided that yes, they were going to
> have managers, they were going to keep books, and they were going to
> clean the place up. Last time I saw the place, in 1997, it was clean,
> well-organized, and seemed to be doing a good business. And it was still
> a co-op.
> 
> Now, I don't know what happened in Eugene, but I can guess. Although
> Madison and Eugene are both known for their "counterculture," the two
> places really had rather different countercultures. Madison was a
> stronghold of the Old Left, and later became a center for political (as
> opposed to lifestyle) radicalism in the 60s. I don't know what Eugene
> was like before the 60s, but it became a haven for the
> love-and-drugs-are-all-you-need-man crowd, and to this day is full of
> people who think that the idea of being on time for meetings, for
> example, is "oppressive." There are still real live hippies in Eugene,
> where Madisonians have long since grown up and moved on with life. So I
> think it's no coincidence that Madison still has co-ops and Eugene
> doesn't.
> 
> I'm tempted to go on at great length, but I don't really have time, and
> you probably don't either. Some lessons I draw from the above and other
> experience which I haven't mentioned are:
> 
>  * Democratic economic organizations can be viable
>  * Democracy takes formal process and an awful lot of work
>  * It can be rewarding for everyone if it's done right
>  * Rigid ideology of any stripe is usually destructive (I guess this is
>    a corollary of "the perfect is the enemy of the good")
> 
> And I think that will be my final word on the subject on this list. I'm
> not very interested in pushing ideology or in theoretical debates about
> the merits of one or another economic strategy. I'm trying to respond
> creatively to what I see as a crisis. I believe that if we can create an
> organization that is both democratic and professional (and I've seen it
> done more than once, along with a lot of failures), we can achieve much
> more as a group than individually. Anyone who thinks I'm on the right
> track is invited to join me. If you disagree with my approach or doubt
> that there's a need for this, fine, let's just stay out of each other's
> way.

I didn't mean to give the impression that food co-ops can't work...I know
that they can. There are some in Boulder, if I'm not mistaken? But I think I
have heard at least one person call it "fascist", probably because of some
sense of not "keeping it real". The term "fascist" is one that is often
over-used and not really understood, IMHO.

As for idealogy, you are correct. I often finding myself crossing the line
into a rigid Libertarian. :) I'm not trying to say you are on the wrong
track - these sort of things have and do work for some folks, just like
companies do work...with probably the same sort of success rate as
companies. I just wanted to give a little warning for those who might think
it's a panacea or some sort of Easy Street - it isn't. 

The reason I went off on the long dissertation is because I still keep in
touch with an old college buddy who grew up in the suburbs and he has some
sort of idealized notion of what a commune, "getting back to nature" or
getting out from under the thumb of "the man" is like. He's always going on
about buying a farm, and getting a windmill, etc...meanwhile, I've never
seen him work a day in his life. I just wanted to add a dose of reality to
anyone who might hold similar notions. For those that are dedicated and know
what they are getting into, I have no doubts you can make it work.

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at bigfoot.com  
NOTE: My ISP will be changing soon. Please use bigfoot.com.
Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken. 
-Orson Rega Card