In this episode of All Things Co-op, Kevin and Cinar speak with sociologist, political scientist, author and documentary filmmaker Dario Azzellini. They discuss recuperated workplaces—workplaces that have been abandoned by private capitalist owners and taken over by workers and reorganized to be democratically controlled—and why the process of engaging in struggle with fellow workers builds an enduring ecosystem of trust. They also explore critiques of the Mondragon corporation, why co-ops should be rooted in community and social movements, the dangers of co-op owners identifying as entrepreneurs, the long history of worker struggles around the world, and more.

About our guest: Dario Azzellini is a professor and researcher in the Department of Development Studies (Unidad Académica en Estudios del Desarrollo) at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (Zacatecas, Mexico) and visiting scholar at the ILR School at Cornell University (Ithaca, USA). His primary research interests are labour studies, local and workers’ self-management, and social movements and protest. He has more than 160 academic publications, among them more than 20 books, 11 films, and more than 100 journal articles and book chapters, many of which have been translated into a variety of languages. Together with Oliver Ressler he produced Occupy, Resist, Produce, a series of documentaries on recuperated factories under workers control in Europe.

To learn more: www.azzellini.net; https://www.versobooks.com/books/1433-they-can-t-represent-us; https://www.azzellini.net/en/english