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Cooperativas No Agropecuarias: The Emergence of a New Form of Social Property in Cuba
Abstract
Cuba's ongoing economic reform programme includes a significant development of non-agricultural cooperatives that has received little comment in spite of the priority accorded to this officially preferred form of non-state activity. The article notes the ambiguous treatment of cooperatives in historical socialist debates in general and Cuban debates in particular. Non-agricultural cooperativism, although seen as bringing efficiency and income gains, is now being theorised with a greater emphasis than in the past on self-management and non-alienated forms of labour. Since the enabling legislation in 2012, the creation of such cooperatives has been rapid, mainly due to the conversion of small-scale state workplaces in the service sector, but such cooperatives, so far, remain a small component of the wider shift of workers into non-state employment. Nevertheless, economic, social, educational and media institutions are adapting to the economic, cultural and representational needs and challenges of the new cooperativism. The legislation addresses lessons from experience elsewhere by limiting the exploitation of hired labour by profit-sharing cooperative members. The article concludes by considering factors influencing the rise of the new cooperativism and its potential for rekindling a socialist consciousness of work.
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Notes
All translations are by the author, unless otherwise indicated.
The author is particularly grateful to Prof. Jesús Cruz Reyes of the Faculty of Economics and Economic Development, University of Havana, a leading specialist in this area, for discussing progress in this policy area, at the University of Havana, 19 March 2014. Comments attributed to Prof. Cruz Reyes in this article, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the record of this discussion.
This has been raised by Cuban and visiting participants in the annual International Hemispheric Conference on Labour Law and Social Security in Havana. The author is grateful to the host organisation, the Unión de Juristas de Cuba, for the opportunity to benefit from these debates.