The Mondragon Bookstore & Coffeehouse was a political bookstore and

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

cafe located in

The Old Market Autonomous Zone The Albert Street Autonomous Zone, also known as A-Zone or the Old Market Autonomous Zone, was founded in 1995, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, by local activists Paul Burrows and Sandra Drosdowech, who also co-founded Winnipeg's Mondragon Booksto ...

at 91 Albert Street in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada. The name comes from the

Mondragón Cooperative Corporation The Mondragon Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain. It was founded in the town of Mondragon in 1956 by José María Arizmendiarrieta and a group of his students at a technical ...

and other organisations in the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

town of

Mondragón Mondragón ( eu, Arrasate or ''Mondragoe''), officially known as Arrasate/Mondragón, is a town and municipality in Gipuzkoa Province, Basque Country, Spain. Its population in 2015 was 21,933. Economic and historical significance The town is be ...

Spain that is known for its extensive network of worker's cooperatives. Mondragon was organized as a workers' collective with no

hierarchy A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...

and all workers receiving the same

wage A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', ''prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remuner ...

rate. This was based on the economic structure of

Parecon Participatory economics, often abbreviated Parecon, is an economic system based on participatory decision making as the primary economic mechanism for allocation in society. In the system, the say in decision-making is proportional to the impact ...

, developed by

Robin Hahnel Robin Eric Hahnel (born March 25, 1946) is an American economist and professor emeritus of economics at American University. He was a professor at American University for many years and traveled extensively advising on economic matters all over t ...

and

Michael Albert Michael Albert (born April 8, 1947) is an American economist, speaker, writer, and political critic. Since the late 1970s, he has published books, articles, and other contributions on a wide array of subjects. He has also set up his own media ...

. The firm closed on January 26, 2014, citing financial difficulties.

Non-Hierarchical Worker-Run Collective

Mondragon's internal structure, inspired by the participatory economic model, is part of a long tradition of workers' collectives. It aspires to complete non-hierarchy: there are no owners or managers other than the workers themselves. One of the co-founders of the workplace presented a paper at the World Social Forum in Brazil on the practical difficulties of applying parecon principles to a workplace in the midst of capitalism. This paper was later published in the anthology ''Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century'' (

AK Press AK Press is a worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. Operated out of Chico, California, the company is collectively owned. History AK was founded in Stirling, Sc ...

, 2008) under the title "Parecon and Workers' Self-Management: Reflections on Winnipeg's Mondragon Bookstore & Coffee House Collective.". Some commentators have also noted that regardless of the egalitarian workplace structure, in the final analysis, retail work is still largely menial, and turn-over rates are comparable to more corporate counterparts.

History

* Mondragon was co-founded by Winnipeg activists Paul Burrows and Sandra Drosdowech, and opened its doors on July 15, 1996 with an initial collective of ten members. * Many of Mondragon's past collective members have gone on to help start other activist projects, or join existing ones, such as Winnipeg-based groups like Natural Cycle,

G7 Welcoming Committee Records G7 Welcoming Committee Records was a Canadian independent record label based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The label mostly released material by artists and speakers with a radical left-wing point of view. History G7 Welcoming Committee Records was ...

Arbeiter Ring Publishing Arbeiter Ring Publishing, now known as ARP Books, is a worker-owned and operated independent book publisher and distributor that specializes in progressive, radical and anarchist literature (both fiction and non-fiction). Founded by Todd Scarth a ...

Organic Planet Worker Co-op
Dada World Data (DWD), as well as AK Press and Seven Stories Press.

References

External links

Mondragon Bookstore and Coffeehouse
- Paul Burrows outlining how ParEcon was implemented at the Mondragon Bookstore & Coffeehouse {{DEFAULTSORT:Mondragon Bookstore and Coffeehouse Independent bookstores of Canada Industrial Workers of the World in Canada Worker cooperatives of Canada Anarchist bookstores Anarchism in Canada 1996 establishments in Manitoba 2014 disestablishments in Manitoba Defunct companies based in Winnipeg

Non-Hierarchical Worker-Run Collective

History

See also

References

External links