In a socialist society, should workers have democratic control over their own workplaces? For many socialists, the answer is obvious: of course, almost by definition. But among economists who have developed proposals for how a socialist system might work, the answer is much more controversial. Some of the most well-known models do not involve democratic workplaces.

Workplace democracy is not a feature of one major vision published in Catalyst, John Roemer’s “sharing economy,” though workers share in firm profits.¹ In his seminal earlier proposal, A Future for Socialism, Roemer explicitly rejected labor management, at least as part of socialism’s “first step,” and possibly even as part of an ideal vision.² This is in line with the famous neoclassical socialist model of Oskar Lange, which also features labor markets and conventional employment relations.³

Workplace democracy is not a module that can be plugged into a socialist model without affecting the rest of it. It is tangled up with questions of finance and labor mobility. It brings challenges around risk, income distribution, and efficiency. Activity at any workplace must be coordinated within the broader division of labor across the whole economy. Roemer’s agnostic position is understandable: