Ask Prof Wolff: Demoting Profit from the Bottom Line

A patron of Economic Update asks: "Dear Prof. Wolff, Douglas Lane, on the Zero Books podcast, recently summarized a critique of worker co-ops from "a Marxist perspective," saying that "market forces" determine that co-ops can only reduce work hours or raise wages if the enterprise remains "profitable." If profit is the surplus value that owners extract from labor, and co-op workers are the owners, in what sense must a worker co-op be "profitable"? In what sense does profit even enter into a worker co-op? (Maybe he was confusing "profitable" with competitive?)."

This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.

Ask Prof Wolff is a Democracy At Work production. We are committed to providing these videos to you free of ads. Please consider supporting us on Patreon.com/economicupdate. Become a part of the growing Patreon community and gain access to exclusive patron-only content, along with the ability to ask Prof. Wolff questions like this one! Your support also helps keep this content free to the public. Spreading Prof. Wolff's message is more important than ever. Help us continue to make this possible.

Submit your own question to be considered for a video response by Prof. Wolff on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/economicupdate/community.

Follow us ONLINE:

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/economicupdate

Facebook:

Twitter:

Instagram:

http://instagram.com/democracyatwrk

Shop our CO-OP made MERCH: https://democracy-at-work-shop.myshopify.com/

Learn more about d@w's NEW BOOK by award-winning print and broadcast journalist Robert "Bob" Hennelly.

Stuck Nation: Can the United States Change Course on Our History of Choosing Profits Over People?
available at www.democracyatwork.info/books

“Hennelly brilliantly analyzes our capitalist crises and how individuals cope with them, tragically but often heroically. He helps us draw inspiration and realistic hope from how courageous Americans are facing and fixing a stuck nation.”
- Richard D. Wolff