hey chapos. i have a few plans for what my future could be. long story short if I can’t get into a university in china i will open a restaurant here in amerikkka to get by and do something i enjoy (cooking). how would i achieve this without becoming the petty bourgeoisie, or at least if i have to be the petty bourgeoisie how could i betray may class and further communist goals in amerikkka? any advice would be appreciated.
This is certainly a possibility, but the opposite can also happen. It really depends on where you live and probably also on luck.
My owner didn’t run as a co-op but a “good” lib and is still in business, with nice, long-term employees etc. And yeah, she does everything from dishwashing to cooking to serving depending on what’s needed. It’s also mostly women, queer and bipoc people which is super cool.
As Richard Wolff points out often, most business fail, but co-ops have a higher chance of succeeding than any other model.
To OP, organise it as a co-op (if you legally can, there might be hurdles), but make sure to have profit-sharing, cross-train people so everyone can do multiple jobs, have equal power/voting etc. The core thing to remember when you think/make decisions is to NOT EXPLOIT PEOPLE. Your business cannot be a way for you to get rich at the expense of your employees. Either everyone at the business gets rich, or no one does.
In addition to Richard Wolff, whose videos you can watch on YouTube to learn more about co-ops and Marxism in general, you can also look up Madeline Pendleton on Tiktok. She actually runs a successful business as a socialist, and has for the past decade. It’s astonishing to see the kinds of challenges that you have to face but also how, if you actually care about your principles, you can legit have something straight out of a socialist future in the present.
Have to admit, that video is pretty interesting. It seems like that’s pretty much the best you can do in our capitalist/imperialist/settler colonial hellscape short of revolution.