Schemes of financial participation developed by unions in negotiations with employers, such as pension funds, profit-sharing arrangements and employee investment funds, are theorized in this paper as steps towards the democratization of capital. Based on experience obtained to date, particularly more recent cases such as the Swedish Renewal Funds, an approach to a theory of collective capital formation is offered. The political implications of following this strategy, and interpreting it as fulfilment of the nineteenth-century goal of 'socialization', are sketched out.
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