Building Cooperatives in Haiti: Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Sometimes it has been said by Marxists that socialist experiments need to have a certain material base in wealth in order to be successful. But in Haiti, five years after their devastating earthquake, poor workers outside of the industrialization process are building agricultural cooperatives. With the aid of Development and Peace funding, they will have $3M to spend to create a dozen cooperative enterprises.

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“Our Haitian chickens are cheaper than those from elsewhere. Merchants are able to make more profits, which allows them to send their children to school… It’s a win-win situation for everyone, and our spending power increases.”

Adonis Medjine, inspector, Bon Poul S.A.

About Bruce Lerro

Bruce Lerro has taught for 25 years as an adjunct college professor of psychology at Golden Gate University, Dominican University and Diablo Valley College. He has applied a Vygotskian socio-historical perspective to his five books: "From Earth-Spirits to Sky-Gods: the Socio-ecological Origins of Monotheism, Individualism and Hyper-Abstract Reasoning", "Power in Eden: The Emergence of Gender Hierarchies in the Ancient World" (co-authored with Christopher Chase-Dunn), "Social Change: Globalization from the Stone Age to the Present", "Lucifer's Labyrinth: Individualism, Hyper-Abstract Thinking and the Process of Becoming Civilized", and "The Magickal Enchantment of Materialism: Why Marxists Need Neopaganism". He is also a representational artist specializing in pen-and-ink drawings. Bruce is a libertarian communist and lives in Olympia, WA.

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