Democratize Ownership

Ownership can have many meanings. owning a house comes with different rights and restrictions than owning a business, or an energy grid, or a patent, or the rights to a song. But one way or another, ownership confers the right to decide how something is managed and how any surpluses are divided and shared. The people who own something are generally also those responsible for stewarding it. If it is a company or organization, its operations are directed by its owners. Most things are owned either privately—by individuals, corporations, or nonprofits—or publicly by governments. But not everything can or should be owned. A solidarity economy seeks to expand the commons that nobody can claim to own for themselves. Capitalism, however, seeks to make as many things as possible into private property. Ownership can be done democratically, but under capitalism it most often is not.

We can change that.

Democratic ownership is when the core stakeholders in an entity control it together—as opposed to just a few people calling the shots. In a solidarity economy, democratic ownership and control allows us to determine the future of our lives, businesses, public utilities, the land, and everything else around us. When we are organizing in our communities, we must ask: Who should have the power to control this project or business? Who should decide how the profits are shared and how much the workers are paid? How should those decisions be made?

Which community members are impacted? How can they be involved in important decisions? What process would allow stakeholders to govern together in the service of our community?

Throughout this book, we spotlight a variety of examples and models of democratic ownership. There are many different ways to do it depending on the situation and the particular needs of the community.

Some forms of democracy are indirect. For example, in the United States, anything that is owned by the federal government is technically somewhat democratic, since US citizens elect their government. However, it’s a stretch to say that many federally-owned projects are democratically controlled; most do not enable the communities they impact to participate in their governance. That’s why, as a general principle, we prioritize local and direct forms of democratic ownership whenever possible. A solution that isn’t accountable to the communities it serves is no solution at all.