AUGUST 2018

Above: Mark Simmonds of Platform 6
“Platform 6 was incorporated
as a co-operative about a month
ago,” says Dr Simmonds, “and there are now
50 people in our working group which will
explore the platform and how it operates. We
are opening up membership so anyone can
become a member who subscribes a minimum
amount of £1 a week.
“The other thing we want to do is improve
knowledge of resources, which is currently
quite poor. We are creating an online database
of all UK co-operative development resources.
It will be a bit like Wikipedia, anyone can go
on and edit it and the co-op movement will
have a shared resource. We are asking people
to sign up, join our e-mail list and support
us financially.”
The development of Platform 6 follows a
report released in January by Co-op Culture
which identified lack of finance and startup
support as the key issues affecting the
ability of worker co-operatives to get off the
ground. They supported the idea of Barefoot
Co-operative Development Practitioners,
working with Co-operatives UK to develop
training courses to help new and developing
co-ops. It is also hoped that retail co-operative
societies will opt to put more money into
co-operative development as Platform
6 evolves.
The initiative arrives on the heels
of Co-operatives Unleashed – an independent
report from the New Economics
Foundation into how Labour could deliver
its 2017 manifesto commitment to double the size of the co-op
economy and build an alternative to austerity and neo-liberalism
(see pages 34-35.)
It calls for a radical new framework with many exciting proposals including a
Co-operative Economy Act, a co-op development agency for England
and Northern Ireland, and a “John Lewis law” compelling larger private
companies to transfer a proportion of profits into a worker- or wider
stakeholder-owned trust.
Dr Simmonds agrees the potential for the co-operative movement to
grow is enormous. ”If we are to double the size of the co-op movement
then we need to double the size of co-op development,” he says. “There is
a massive opportunity here.”
Last week, founder members of Platform 6 took part in Open 2018,
a conference which drew more than 400 co-operators, academics and
politicians to explore the potential of platform co-operatives to harness
the latest technology and bring the movement together.
“We are entering very interesting and exciting times with a lot
of challenges around resources and energy constraints,” says Dr
Simmonds. “The economy is going to have to change radically and co-ops
are very well placed to help that.
“Horizons will contract and we are going to have to relocalise trade
because of things like fuel shortages. There is a new wave of co-operation
coming from the new economics and a growing commitment to solidarity
and equity via local problem-solving economies.”
He adds: “The last time we had such a massive explosion of cooperatives
was during the early expansion of capitalism into large urban
centres. The Rochdale Pioneers led the first Transition Town. Every
community can be a community of co-operative enterprise operating on
a human scale.
“The problem we are addressing is the underfunding of co-ops
– so we are building lifeboats rather than ocean liners and making sure
they are ready to float. We are looking forward to developing an active
and engaged community of practice and opening up co-op development
to everybody with a huge amount of expertise.”
u More information at platform6.coop
“If we are to double
the size of the co-op
movement then we need
to double the size of
co-op development.
There is a massive
opportunity here ...”
AUGUST 2018 | 37