Mondragon
Mondragon is a network of cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain.
Mondragon’s most impressive achievement has been its ability to create worker cooperatives. Since the 1950’s they have produced over 100 new worker cooperatives with a success rate exceeding 97%. As a result, cooperative membership increased by tens of thousands of people.
The high rate of startup success in Mondragon stands in stark contrast to the success rate of new corporations in the United States, some 80-90% of which fail in the first five years. Mondragon is cited here as empirical evidence of what is possible with the proper systems, structures, and people. Central to Mondragon’s infrastructure was their credit union, the Caja Laboral Popular and the Empressarial Division.
For further information see “Entrepreneurship in the Mondragon Cooperatives” by D. Ellerman (1984), Review of Social Economy Volume 42 Issue 3, or “Making Mondragon” by Whyte and Whyte (1991), Cornell University Press. Other articles can be found online through Grassroots Economic Organizing.
