Let me get then to the third of these classic criticisms that have been
leveled at us. And this one isn't about socialism and so forth it's about the
idea of worker co-ops. The idea that an individual (this is the way the criticism
works) who invents a new product, or a new idea, or a new concept, would have to
share it (heaven forbid) with the employees as this individual
"inventor," let's call him or her, works out their invention into a product that we
can all use. "I broke through. I invented. Why should I share my great invention
with my employees who come on later to work in my enterprise but didn't
participate in inventing?" Wow. I find this extraordinary. Let's
begin with what's wrong with this criticism. First: it's one thing to invent,
another thing is to exploit workers. You don't need to exploit workers in order
to invent, and you don't need to give an inventor the incentive of exploitation
to get him or her to invent. This is a kind of bizarre argument. If what you're
saying is "we need to give an incentive to people to invent new products, new
ideas, new technologies," I'm with you. Let's give them an award. Let's give them
lots of public recognition. Let's give them some financial inducement. I'm ok
with all of that. That's a way of encouraging people. No problem. But that
doesn't require, nor does it justify, exploiting them later. Suppose I told you
of a society in which, to give an incentive to investors, they were told
"Look, if you will just invent something, to invest then in it and build it up,
we're so grateful we're gonna give you three slaves for the rest of your life."
We'd all gasp in horror. We don't need to do that. One doesn't require, and it
certainly doesn't justify, the other. Yes, we want innovative
people, but we're not gonna pay for it by going back on our commitment
to abolish slavery. Wow. Let's give the inventor a reward. No problem.
But that doesn't require that in the company that really makes the invention
come alive and become real for us all, we have to allow one person to exploit, make
money off the labor of others. You know a
decent inventor wouldn't ask it and wouldn't require it. A decent inventor
knows they're helping society. They're making it possible for less labor to
produce as much output as before. They're helping develop the community that
nurtured them. They don't need to be in a position to be the employer who rips
profit out of workers, whose wages they keep down. Let me get out into another
way. I hear often the argument "Well, the businessman or woman is taking a risk.
They're investing their money into this enterprise to start it. Perhaps an
inventor who came up with a new idea and they're taking the risk. And so something
is supposed to follow from that. They're gonna be in charge." I always found this
an offensive argument. Here's a reason: the workers who go to work for the
person who starts a business, they're taking risks too. That worker didn't take
another job to work in this one. That worker may have moved his or her family
from one place to another, their kids out of one school to another. They are
putting their lives into this company, into the community around this company.
We don't pay them for that risk, do we we? We pay them for the work they do but not
for the risk they took. If you want to reward the employer for the risk he or
she takes, well you're gonna have to reward the workers also for the risks
they take. But this is something the capitalist never wants to do. And, you
know, there is a difference. The one who takes the risk to start an own a company,
he or she is the one making the decisions. The risk taken by the worker
is much poorer. You know why? Because they're taking a risk but the decisions
that will determine whether that risk pays off or not in their hands, are not
under their control, because democracy doesn't exist in the workplace.
The risk taken by the employer is a risk over which the employer has some control
and decision-making. The risk taken by the employee, they have none. And here's
another way of looking at it. Many of the structures of capitalism are an
incentive not to invest, not to invent. Let me give you just a few examples, you
know many of them. Years ago we learned how to make a light bulb that lasts
forever but the companies involved in making light bulbs didn't want that. And
so there's an incentive in capitalism to block, to prevent, invention. That has to
be measured in here somewhere too.