3.2 Allocating the Proprietary Interests

Once the different dimensions of proprietary interests become clear, we are in a position to allocate them justly and equally without returning to the fictions of, on the one hand, “private property” or, on the other, “abolishing property.” Regimes of so-called “private property” are actually state-controlled allocations and enforcement of proprietary interests granting and favoring, for the most part, unlimited accumulation of use and alienation to individuals by means of lower capital gains taxes and no inheritance taxes. These are regimes that favor the concentration of wealth in the hands of the wealthy, white, privileged. Regimes that supposedly “abolish property” are actually state- or party-controlled allocations and enforcement of proprietary interests that tend to favor those and their families and friends in decision-making capacities—another elite.

The ambition of coöperation is to reallocate proprietary interests in such a way as to produce wealth equality and social justice. There are many possible ways to do this, but here, for instance, is one approach. Again, it is all a question of mixing and matching the different dimensions of proprietary interests, discussed above, to create a just society. This is just one approach, purely hypothetical:

1. The final decision-making power to resolve any dispute over proprietary interests will be allocated to a 9-person committee consisting of seasoned members of mutual organizations and coöperatives, elected by all the members of coöperationist institutions. The determinations of this 9-person body will bind the law enforcement mechanisms of society.

2. The incorporation statutes will favor mutuals, coöperatives, and non-profits through tax incentives and benefits; traditional investor capital will either be struck from the corporate code or disfavored through tax and transfer.

3. All land will be owned by a trust set up for the benefit of current and future generations; the use and improvement and benefits of any improvements on land will be allocated to the individual with the possessory interest. Possession and use of land will be determined by an assembly elected by all citizens at the state level.

4. Individuals will have possessory interests (including exclusive use, right to improve and to enjoy the benefits of improvements, and the right to alienate) of their residential homes or coöperative apartments, which they will be allowed to buy and sell.

5. Individuals will have exclusive possessory interests (including use and the right to alienate) of personal property consisting of personal items, clothes, household goods, vehicles, and money.

6. All proprietary interests will extend only over the life of individuals and will not transfer upon death.

Obviously, I am simplifying things to keep them simple, but you understand: the allocation of all the different proprietary interests can be organized and distributed in myriad ways that would promote (or undermine) coöperation.

It is time to reconfigure and reimagine coöperation for the real, concrete, material world, and not for an abstract fantasy.