The plan for Co-operative Socialism is intended as a replacement for capitalism, not a set of adjustments to it. Our hope is that a new era of peace, love and sustainability may be brought about peacefully, nonviolently and democratically by implementing this plan, which is a replacement for the five <strong>'TRIP-Up'</strong> mechanisms that Capitalism, and other forms of tyranny, use, which are:
<strong>• T</strong> = Theft/Taxes
<strong>• R</strong> = Rent
<strong>•</strong> <strong>I</strong> = Interest
<strong>•</strong> <strong>P</strong> = Profits to shareholders
<strong>•</strong> <strong>Up</strong> = Unequal pay for work
In the long term, we envisage that<strong> 'Ownership'</strong> may be replaced by agreements for 'Co-operative Careship'. <strong>Rent</strong>, Interest and Profits to shareholders are abolished. <strong>Workplaces</strong> are restructured as <strong>Co-operatives</strong>, some of which will be interest-free, not-for-profit Solidarity Co-ops: providing finance and business help to the wealth- and wellness-creating co-ops. All these with form a non-hierarchical set of local and National Co-operative Commonwealths: as an autonomous part of a Global <strong>Co-operative Commonweal. </strong>All for Peace and The Common Good.
<strong>History:</strong>
About every five hundred years, the human experiment takes off in a new direction, or rather, it is forced to take off in a new direction. So, for example, in 1066 the Norman Empire's form of feudalism replaced the Tribalism of Wessex, Mercia, etc, here in England. Five hundred years, or so, before that, that form of Tribalism replaced the Roman Empire which, itself had, 500 years before replaced the older family-based Tribalism of Boudica and so on. So, after about 500 years from 1066, Norman feudalism was replaced by capitalism - when, in 1545, <strong>Henry VIII</strong> allowed usury to be legal for the first time in the English speaking world (Harry Page's book 'In Restraint of Usury' is cited in the book-list page at www.interestfreemoney.org - here is a direct link to the booklist:<strong> </strong><a href="http://www.interestfreemoney.org/books.htm">http://www.interestfreemoney.org/books.htm.</a>
<em>So, now, 500 years on from 1545 (near enough) it's time to replace capitalism</em> . . . with something better . . . picking up from the <a href="http://www.interestfreemoney.org">Campaign for Interest-Free Money</a> that we began on 28th January 1998..... here is an updated version of a paper which first appeared on that website, introducing <a href="http://www.co-operativesocialism.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Co-operative_Socialism_201305.pdf">The Way Forward: Co-operative Socialism</a><strong>.</strong>
An earlier paper published in "Readings from the CCPA Monitor" in 2010 is here: <a href="http://www.interestfreemoney.org/papers/CCPA-Co-operativeSocialism.pdf">http://www.interestfreemoney.org/papers/CCPA-Co-operativeSocialism.pdf</a>
A description of the <strong>Plan for Co-operative Socialism</strong> is also on an Occupy London web-page: <a href="http://occupylondon.org.uk/co-operative-socialism-by-john-courtneidge/">http://occupylondon.org.uk/co-operative-socialism-by-john-courtneidge/</a>.
For now, the plan that you see is the one that has already been adopted by <a href="http://labour-peace-action.org.uk">Labour Action for Peace</a> (in 2013), by <a href="https://occupylondon.org.uk">Occupy London</a> (in 2014, as 'an alternative to capitalism') and by the Bromley Branch of The <a href="https://party.coop">Co-operative Party</a> (also in 2014).
<strong>Forward Planning</strong>
We are developing separate pages covering FIVE POLICY AREAS and action opportunities: • <strong><a href="http://www.co-operativesocialism.org/overview/why-and-how/">Why and How</a> • <a href="http://www.co-operativesocialism.org/overview/land-issues/">Land Issues • </a><a href="http://www.co-operativesocialism.org/overview/workplace-issues/">Workplace Issues</a> • <a href="http://www.co-operativesocialism.org/overview/money-finance-banking-issues/">Money, Finance and Banking Issues</a> • <a href="http://www.co-operativesocialism.org/overview/income-issues/">Income Issues</a></strong>.
The Plan for Co-operative Socialism will hopefully evolve as new generations see new opportunities. Meanwhile, a preliminary current definition is as follows:
<em>"Co-operative Socialism is a set of policy proposals to help create the co-operative commonwealth, in other words, a world of human and ecological co-operative relationships, rather than capitalism's warfare of coercive human and ecological relationships."</em>
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