ORGANIZATION

Catalan Integral Cooperative

Catalan Integral Cooperative (CIC) is a network of consumer and service cooperatives and an activist project. CIC integrates economic alternatives, such as peer-to-peer exchange and social currency.

Mission and Purpose

Catalan Integral Cooperative (CIC) is a network of consumer and service cooperatives based in Catalonia, Spain as well as an activist project. Its aim is to build an alternative economic model.

To this end, it has set up a number of different economic activities including an alternative social currency and community project [1].

Origins and Development

CIC was founded in 2010 by a group of activists. It has maintained an activist and revolutionary character, evidenced by its aims of economic transformation over reform or incremental changes. Its membership was increased through the October 15 protests and occupations in Spain against economic inequality [2].

Organizational Structure, Membership, and Funding

CIC operates through a series of committees with different areas of responsibility. Committees meet on a regular basis in assemblies to make collective decisions through consensus. This organizational structure is non-hierarchical.

Outside of the committees are additional members of the cooperative, including self-employed workers who can use the cooperative as a way of being self-employed without having to pay the large fee due to the state to register for tax purposes [3].

Specializations, Methods and Tools

CIC integrates economic alternatives, such as peer-to-peer exchange, social currency, protection of economic activity between the associate cooperatives, and reduction of individualized liability. Liability is reduced through the legal cooperative framework: individual debts of the members cannot be claimed from the cooperatives and the debts of the cooperative cannot be claimed from the members. Furthermore, the CIC has set up a series of entities, whose legal form allows its self-employed members to issue invoices, usually a process requiring a prohibitively expensive license.

Major Projects and Events

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Analysis and Lessons Learned

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Publications

See Also

October 15 Movement

References

[1] Dafermos, G. (2019) The Catalan Integral Cooperative. an organizational study of a post-capitalist cooperative. Available at: https://commonstransition.org/the-catalan-integral-cooperative-an-organizational-study-of-a-post-capitalist-cooperative/#section1 (Accessed on 17 August 2020)

[2] Ibid.

External Links

https://commonstransition.org/the-catalan-integral-cooperative-an-organizational-study-of-a-post-capitalist-cooperative/#section5

Notes

The first submission of this Participedia entry was adapted from a research project by the Institute of Development Studies, 'Linking Participation and Economic Advancement’ licensed and reproduced under Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0).

Original source: https://www.eldis.org/keyissues/mapping-participation-economic-advancement