When I explain surplus value to people, I use the example of a Starbucks. You’re working for $15/hr, selling hundreds of $5 drinks per hour, the surplus value covers the other costs like rent and supplies, but, as most investor-facing documents will lay out, that $15/hr/person is the largest expsense. So, fudging numbers here, you sell 50 drinks at $5 each, that’s $250-15-15 for labor and other costs, so $220/hr getting taken from the workers and sent to the owners.

So, even if a) I’m wildly off with the numbers, which makes perfect sense because I made them up and b) startup capital is hard to come by if you aren’t already rich, the existence of profit from seemingly simple businesses like a standalone coffee shop should be something workers can organize and replicate without much involvement from capital. So, why don’t we? Is it that we all have been propagandaized to want the surplus value for ourselves?

  • ☭ 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗘𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 ☭
    8•2 years ago

    Some guesses:

    • As you said, you need to be able to risk losing quite a lot of money to start a co-op, which the vast majority of people don’t have
    • Huge capitalists can manufacture goods with greater efficiency and have far more money to spend on advertising (and slander), so smaller worker co-ops have very little chance of significant success
    • Many people likely have no idea what a worker co-op is or how much surplus value is being appropriated by capitalists
    • Anti-worker propaganda (e.g. “capitalists deserve more money because they took a risk”)