Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/808

 PROFIT-SHARING AND COOPERATION.

II.

Having considered the relation between profit-sharing and cooperation in theory and in the discussion of economists, let us turn to their relation in practice. And here we find a phase of profit-sharing quite distinct from that previously considered and from that usually considered. Profit-sharing here is not an end in itself, but simply a means for carrying out the cooperative ideal. The economists have usually considered profit-sharing as an intermediate stage between the wage system as it now exists and cooperation as an ideal status ; or they have considered it as the best attainable modification of the wage system. This latter subject has been previously considered." But before con- sidering profit-sharing as a transition stage to cooperation, let us consider it as one element of the modus operandi of cooperation. This is best illustrated by an account of the experience in Great Britain, where both plans have had many adherents, and where profit-sharing has had many trials in both producers' and con- sumers' cooperation.

Profit-sharing was an essential part of the original coopera- tive scheme of Buchez, elaborated during the earlier part of the century. Laborers were to associate and organize, contribute their work and a limited capital, pay the regular rate of wages to themselves, set aside one-half the profits to accumulate a fixed capital, perhaps a portion of it for collective aid, education, or similar purposes, and divide the remainder among themselves in proportion to the labor contributed by each. One school of cooperators, known in Great Britain as the Individualist Coopera- tors, has maintained this principle as an essential of all forms of cooperation, whether distributive or productive. It is impos- sible to give exact and exhaustive details and statistics of this phase of profit-sharing, but a general idea of its scope, its success

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