Compeerism solves co-optation by capital

Hannes, Professor of Geography at the University of West Georgia. “The Digital Commons’ Elusive Potential.” From Capital to Commons: Exploring the Promise of a World Beyond Capitalism. University of Bristol. Pp 43-44. /LJS

In short, the vision of a commons produced solely by volunteers ignores the impact of the apparatus of capture, that is, the commodification of everything and the subsequent need to sell one’s labour. What the culture of commons production really reveals, therefore, is a dependence on people that have the luxury to contribute their time because they can find access to market-acquired money elsewhere, usually a ‘day job’ linked to capital. This form of the digital commons, then, does not represent an alternative to capitalism, rather, it is a relatively small, subservient economic activity, squaring with the original formulation of commons-based peer production maintained by Yochai Benkler. Hence, from a compeerist perspective, the result of casting the digital commons outside the realm of money/markets is that most of the digital productive capacity held by capable workers, who must pay their bills, will be sucked into capitalist forms of production. As such, while compeerism accepts that volunteer labour can be an important means to boost the commons, there is also a tactical acknowledgement that it should not, if the commons are to truly expand, be the only source. The issue of remunerating creative/cognitive work by and for the commons must therefore be addressed. We revisit this matter as part of a more in-depth consideration of the challenges and options entailed in contending with the overarching dependency by the commons on market-based resources in Chapters 7 and 8. Nonetheless, it is helpful to offer a brief overview here of the specific funding realities involved in pursuing an expanded and vibrant digital commons. We will do the same when covering other sectors of the economy throughout the book. To begin, and in line with the more purist views of the commons, various forms of freely donated monetary support can be pursued to pay for some labour and other expenses, as is often done within non-profit organizations. As per the Fast Forward’s ‘non-profit tech directory’ there are hundreds of digital value producers registered as non-profits, driven by the aim ‘to scale social impact’, and many of these will undoubtedly be reliant on some form of donation model (Ffwd, 2022, np). Wikipedia, however, remains the classic example of the donation approach to expanding the digital commons, managing to garner over US$150 million in revenue each year, with an average contribution sum of $15 (Wikimedia, 2022). Wikipedia then uses this revenue for operational expenses, including the payment of over 500 staff members, but, importantly, not content suppliers.