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A Cooperative eSociety II --->


SONG











I’ve made it my task to socially and economically reform the eUS on a democratic and cooperative basis by directly building cooperatives. At the time of writing this I managed to gather enough people to form two cooperatives, one for the Socialist Freedom Party and one for the government. These cooperatives have been so successful that they can afford to fund programs for the public good. This gives me confidence in developing other institutions based on the cooperative principle, among others, that can form the basis for a Cooperative eSociety. Here I will outline the foundational principles behind a Cooperative eSociety.

In an eNation that has properly developed a cooperative sector, organically or at the behest of bureaucrats, whether it be co-ops run primarily by political parties or by private groups or even by an eGovernment, there will come a point at which a Cooperative eSociety can exist. This period can be identified by when the source of production and tax income comes mostly from the affiliated producers in the Cooperative Sector and I expect would be dominated by at least one or another Cooperative Federation or a good few individual cooperatives acting, for the most part, independently. The way I see it, eCooperative Society can exist on a spectrum between two vastly different systems.





On one side you have a Cooperative eSociety that engages in central planning, government subsidies, and consolidates it’s cooperative sector all under one big National Cooperative Federation. Of course this would all require democractic decisions on the part of each cooperative and it’s producers and when framed in that light we begin to see two of the foundations of Cooperative eSociety within cooperatives:

1.1 Democracy: Democratic Member Control of Co-Ops.

1.2 The Cooperative Principle: One Producer, One Vote.

Theoretically, especially if each cooperative in the cooperative sector adheres to my 65% democracy threshold in their By-Laws, centralizing the entire sector would have to be a Majoritarian decision and may actually be justified in setting up if it were to pass all the barriers.





On the other hand Cooperative eSociety could become something else entirely. It could develop into a nearly independent community -devoid of interventions by the government and independent from it- in which citizens of that eNation have their basic needs met almost entirely through the use of their party co-op or an independent co-op. It could effectively eliminate the need for most government programs in eNations that actually offer that kind of thing.

Obviously there's probably some mid point between those two systems where the government works with some co-ops, and with some co-ops it doesn't. I think this is the more realistic option and what you are most likely to see occur in the eUS if such a society is achieved.



Of course none of these things can exist without widespread economic participation on the part of eUS citizens which is why another foundation of Cooperative eSociety is:

1.3 Economic Participation: Citizens Should Actively Use the Business Module, Work as a Manager, Use the Marketplace, and Own and Support their Cooperative as Producer.



In my view Economic Participation should be fueled by a deep sense of community or by the need to solve a community's problems and disparities.

1.4 Concern For the Community and the Economy: Citizens and the Body Politic Should Acknowledge the Need for a Sustainable and Secure Community and Economy and on that Basis should participate.





This last part of this section will cover the fundamental units of Cooperative eSociety.



1.5 Employees and Producers: producers are the most indivisible unit of the Cooperative eSociety. All of the decision making, lines of funding, recruitment, and production in a cooperative is controlled by producers. Producers are players who Work As a Manager and have employees to produce the products we all buy on the market. They are the backbone of any functioning cooperative and are the ultimate beneficiaries of such a system. But furthermore within Cooperative eSociety they are the backbone of the entire economy and possibly even the government under the right conditions.

Employees are also very important with such an eSociety. Employees click the work button for CC which allows producers to produce more products. cooperative models can be developed to include employees as voting members - allowing them to benefit as well.



1.6 Cooperatives: Cooperatives are set up on a document known as the By-Laws. The By-Laws are agreed upon rules and functionality for daily operation. These documents outline the mission and functionality with a cooperative and can vary widely on how it works. There are centralized cooperatives, (Co-ops that use a Treasurer to hold the organizations funds, and have frequent donations.) and decentralized cooperatives, (Co-ops that have a Treasurer who has no direct access to all of the funds. The funds are instead distributed across each affiliated producer and are pledged in a ledger.) All Treasurers are democratically elected by the affiliated producers.



Types of Cooperative:

Producer Cooperatives: A body of Producers who pool some of their income from the market and democratically allocate it among themselves.

Communal Cooperatives: A body of Commune Owners who pool some of their income from the market and democratically allocate it among themselves and their workers.

National Cooperatives: A Cooperative created and sometimes funded by an eGovernment as a national program in which a body of Producers or Commune Owners pool some of their income from the market and democratically allocate it among themselves and or their workers.

Worker Cooperatives: A Body of Workers and their Managers/Producers who pool some of their daily income from the market and democratically allocate it among themselves.



Within a cooperative, each producer or employee or commune-owner has one vote on any particular issue or funding matter. Any producer within a co-op can request funds for a project, companies, supplies, or a program and each request is voted on by the producers in the cooperative. The democracy threshold can vary - meaning some co-ops may require more or less than 65% of the votes to be ‘yes’ votes to pass a request. To maintain voluntarism by both parties producers must be voted into a cooperative in order to join, by the affiliated producers of that co-op.



1.7 Cooperative Federations: Cooperative Federations are also set up on a document known as the By-Laws which are written and agreed upon by each cooperative in the federation. A cooperative federation is a group of cooperatives who can share a common treasurer (but don’t necessarily have to), that have a common goal or financial responsibility, and which operate in a unified manner while retaining the individual autonomy of each constituent cooperative.



Cooperative Federations are based on delegations. Each delegation would represent their own cooperative and would be composed of each producer within it. Each cooperative would agree on supporting it’s cooperative federation with a portion of their treasury, of which these funds could be delegated through a vote conducted by all the delegations. Each member of a delegation would be able to propose funding requests and any treasurers would need to be democratically elected from this body of delegations.



1.8 International Cooperative Federations: International Cooperative Federations are cooperative federations that exist beyond borders and I imagine them to be the absolute maximum organization in size under this framework. If controlled by eGovernments these cooperative federations can represent an entire alliance of eNations that have become Cooperative eSocieties. These international cooperative federations can be much smaller than this though and may even act independently of eNations and Alliances.







Banks are not a new introduction into eRepublik and have existed in the past both as meta-structures / systems and as Orgs owned by eNations. Considerable discussion has been had among RF Williams and I on how best a Cooperative Bank would work and even on some of the functionality of the use of a created out of game currency and some of the ways that would work. The most simple Cooperative Bank that I can think of is a Credit Union.



2.1 By-Laws: At some point a cooperative or cooperative federation may become large enough to create a Credit Union. The first thing that would need to happen is a system of By-Laws would need to be drafted and voted on by all of the Producers who plan to use it from the cooperative or federation.



(Once By-Laws have been drafted the cooperative or federation will need to find a way to fill this credit unions coffers (This can be covered by the co-op or federation’s treasury or by private donors or even by the producers who plan to use it))

By-Laws will need to specify who holds funds or if there is an Org involved, How loans work, interest rates and how they are calculated, enforcement, account fees, book-keeping, penalties, defaulting, and membership benefits.



2.2 User-Ownership: Anybody who opens an account in a Credit Union will also be an owner-operator of the Credit Union and will have the power to vote on any loan proposals that are put forward. They should also have the power to vote to change the by-laws of the credit union as it pertains to interest rates, calculations, account fees, penalties, and policy on defaulting on loans. They should also have the power to elect a Treasurer if one is called for in the by-laws. Each owner-operator should have one vote each on all matters.



2.3 Accounts: After the Credit Union has been established those seeking to open an account will need to be voted in by the initial owner-operators. Each owner-operator account should be tracked in a collective document accessible to all. Owner-operators should be able to open multiple accounts if needed.



2.4 Weekly Fee: Owner-operators will need to set and pay a weekly fee to help sustain the bank over time. They would do this so that when someone takes out a loan they receive CC from the interest collected from it. (which is the major benefit of being affiliated with a Credit Union)



2.5 Loans: Owner-operators have priority when seeking loans and are the easiest to trust to pay back as they will actively pay into the Credit Union covering some of the loss if they default. However Credit Unions could decide to allow loans to outside individuals, even non-co-op players. This will be more risky and will need to have rules and procedure in order to loan safely.



2.6 Interest: A Credit Union will need to charge interest on loans in order to give it’s owner-operators proper incentive to use it and to affiliate with it. How it calculates it’s rates and how much of the interest is given to the owner-operators is to be decided by the Credit Union in question.







A Cooperative eSociety would need the right type of administration and government to be achieved. Our officials would need to be open to the idea of Cooperatives and very familiar with how they work. There would need to be a precedent established and a consensus as to just how positive cooperatives are for producers and the economy. Furthermore, we may need to reform the government itself in eUSA. We can’t get past the raw game-mechanics behind in-game political roles, elections, and the buttons they give us access to, but we can still be open to our community and create something like a General Assembly.



3.1 General Assembly: A General Assembly would consist of the active membership of every party in the country who would all have one vote each and the ability to put forward proposals to be voted on by all in attendance, to pass to congress. If an action, initiative, law, constitutional change, proposal etc were to pass this General Assembly it would then move on to Congress for a final vote. (I assume congress would still reserve the right to pass emergency actions under some sort of foreign threat clause or security concern in response to war or other matters.)



3.2 Hybrid Democracy: This General Assembly would have the effect of Hybridizing government with Direct Democracy operating at the bottom floor, and our familiar in-game democracy operating at the top. It would also have the added effect of giving everyone a role in our politics instead of just the people who can manage to win a seat through elections.

This idea has its limits. I know that. but I'd love to see what kinds of problems and solutions could be offered in the comments. Thanks for reading.

SONG


References:


[SFPOM] A Cooperative Manifesto
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-sfpom-a-cooperative-manifesto-2717020/1/20

[SFPOM] A Cooperative Manifesto II
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-sfpom-a-cooperative-manifesto-ii-2718208/1/20

[SFPOM] Proposal: SFP Cooperative
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-sfpom-proposal-sfp-cooperative-2713965/1/20

[SFPOM] Proposal: eInternationale Cooperative Federation
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-sfpom-einternationale-cooperative-federation-proposal-2714702/1/20

[DoCA] Proposal: By-Laws of the eUS National Cooperative
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-doca-proposal-by-laws-of-the-eus-national-cooperative-2717403/1/20

SFP Producer Cooperative Ledger
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vR-Jkhq90BiV5ZQoVc_glQ8-04TOA_x3h7pk_Wxqr0uFhqw79hiAVIYV16ErLZtI5Fl5l_lqBYjjRzv/pubhtml

eUS National Cooperative Ledger
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YPgM4i2S-tb5kXxJYsa2wnlbfkwoKw5ZOzn9wzQAWkk/edit#gid=0



~Your comrade, Wilhelm Rontgen~