A 1921 cooperative handbook described the nature of this alternative: “Industrialcommercial business are managed by capitalists who aim for the greatest profi t of capital invested”; on the other hand, “cooperatives are managed by people who have in production a central aim that is diff erent from that of the capitalist— that is, workers who want to benefi t the most from their labor power. . . . Th e net profi t that in an ordinary enterprise increases the benefi t of capital, in a cooperative enterprise increases the benefi t of cooperators” (Buff etti 1921, 35).

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 425