Solidarity Economics: A Historical and Liberatory Alternative to Capitalism

This podcast episode features Jessica Gordon Nemhard, a professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development, who introduces "solidarity economics" as a political-economic system rooted in human bonds and collective well-being. She defines economic democracy as encompassing voice, participation, decision-making, and power-sharing, presenting solidarity economics as a crucial strategy to achieve economic justice by addressing power inequities and ensuring everyone can participate and benefit. This system stands in stark contrast to the current capitalist structure, which she argues primarily benefits the wealthy and the greedy, leading to widespread exploitation.

Gordon Nemhard delves into the historical context of African-American cooperative movements, particularly during the "long Civil Rights Movement." She highlights how black communities, even under severe oppression like slavery and Jim Crow, engaged in collective economics to assert their humanity and gain economic independence. For instance, sharecroppers utilized cooperative farming and lending to escape debt peonage and secure access to land and supplies, which in turn enabled them to pursue political rights that were otherwise denied by exploitative landowners. This historical thread demonstrates that cooperative economics was not merely an economic strategy but a foundational element for achieving broader civil and political rights.

Further historical examples include the Knights of Labor in the 1880s, an integrated and progressive union that combined labor advocacy with worker ownership through cooperatives, even winning control of Richmond's city council to rebuild with unionized and integrated labor. Another powerful example is the Eastern Carolina Federation of Black Co-ops and Credit Unions in the 1930s, which, through education and collaboration, dramatically increased the number of black credit unions and co-ops in North Carolina within a decade. These examples underscore the viability and transformative power of collective action and cooperative models in challenging oppressive systems.

Ultimately, Gordon Nemhard advocates for a liberation from the exploitation inherent in the "racial gendered capitalist system." She emphasizes that concepts like mutual aid, solidarity economies, and cooperative economies are not new or alien, especially to black communities, but are deeply ingrained human practices evident in everyday acts of bartering and community support. By giving terminology and historical context to these practices, she aims to normalize them as viable alternatives to capitalist exploitation, encouraging proactive engagement to empower individuals, families, and communities to build economic structures that truly benefit all, even with limited resources, by pooling and leveraging collective energy and solidarity.

economic democracy is all about voice participation decision making and power sharing

solidarity economics... is when you think about economics as a political economic system where people are connected because of their human bonds as people who want to make you know who want the world to be better

this is an alternative to that kind of a structure where everybody works together to make sure that everybody gets what they need and that you distribute the wealth and the Surplus in a way that that's supportive of people

The Cooperative having their own economic independence switching there's their ownership structure to a Cooperative one allowed them to then also be politically active

equality in a ruined in a in a bad system isn't enough so that even if we get some level of equality in a capitalist system capitalism is very exploitative it exploits our planet exploits human energy it exploits human labor

I now have been talking about this language of mutual from Mutual Aid to solidarity economies to Cooperative economies as a way to really liberate us from the exploitation of economics

it's something that human beings have practiced throughout human history and that if we can reconnect to it it's also something we all do in our daily lives

the Knights of Labor were a progressive of populist political party they were a labor union and they were a co-op Development Group because they also realized there's no point in arguing for labor if you don't also argue for labor work or ownership and worker ownership through cooperatives

the point of co-ops is that you pool your resources and use the bulk of what you pull together either it's enough or if it's not enough it leverages for other things it's all about what's possible and the ways again that people human solidarity human energy comes together to do something differently that benefits more people