Businesses are usually hierarchical and authoritarian. They put turning a profit first, sometimes to the detriment of the planet and their employees. In this interview series, we’re highlighting presses and bookstores managed along horizontal lines. Some are cooperatives, while others simply reduce hierarchies in their management. By spreading out leadership and in some cases ownership of a business, these companies allow their employees to steer them into making sustainable, ethical choices that aren’t driven by profit.
Left Bank Books is an anarchist collective bookseller and publisher located in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market. Founded in 1973, Left Bank is collectively owned and operated by its workers and has been since its inception. They are self-managed; there are no bosses or one singular owner. Left Bank hosts readings and book signings. Their zine section is also unmatched in the Seattle area.
The store has been forced to close its doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. Please consider supporting them by donating to their GoFundMe page. You can also purchase books through their webstore and request store credit at leftbank@leftbankbooks.com.
This interview is credited to the entire Left Bank Collective, rather than one member of Left Bank.
Thomas Chisholm (TC)
What does a worker-run collective actually look like? How are workers’ positions organized, do people work in a specific role until they tire of it?
Left Bank Books (LBB)
Left Bank is a bit of an amorphous entity, largely propelled forward through a combination of self-discipline and over-commitment. Maybe it’s just that we’re mostly anarchists, but we make up for a lack of formal structure with a love for the work we’re doing and the way we’re doing it.
Left Bank is organized around two tiers—a maximum of twenty volunteers, and around six or seven core collective members. Everyone is a full member of the collective and has equal power in decision making at meetings, but the core collective takes on more financial responsibilities. You can probably see that this creates an implicit hierarchy, which is something we all try to challenge as much as possible.
As for roles, they’re largely self-decided and unless there’s any conflict, people do their tasks until they tire of it.
TC
I imagine certain tasks require quite a bit of institutional knowledge, how are people trained? Are there departments? Do position changes happen in calendar cycles?
LBB
Left Bank was originally entirely volunteer-run, which is theoretically great, but in practice meant that knowledge quickly drained out of the collective. The current system of a small core of paid staff means that knowledge stays in the collective longer and gets circulated throughout the collective. Folks are generally trained by the collective members they work with, or those whose tasks they’re taking on. We don’t really have departments, as we’re a small store, and tend to spread knowledge and tasks throughout the collective based on worker interest.
TC
Do workers get benefits?
LBB
Unfortunately, no, though we do try to pass on the wholesale discounts we get on books to all collective members (as part of our responsibility towards radical self-education).
TC
How long do collective members and volunteers typically stay on for?
LBB
The minimum commitment for volunteers and the core collective is six months and two years, respectively. There’s an unwritten rule that members kick themselves out of the collective after ten years, though there’s currently no one who’s even close to that level of commitment right now.
TC
Part of Left Bank’s mission seems to be educating its volunteers on running a collective store and press. Are there any notable projects current or former members/volunteers have formed?
LBB
Yes. Detritus Books comes to mind as a recent project. Folks have also helped rebuild the University of Washington medical herb garden, become involved in labor organizing at UW, and have been a part of Sins Invalid.
TC
Have members ever been fired? Is it particularly challenging to do so?
LBB
Yes, and yes. Generally, we follow protocols around accountability processes and the only situations where members have been fired is when they have refused to undergo those accountability processes
TC
What goals does Left Bank have for itself beyond selling and publishing radical literature? There used to be a distro service and sister stores. Are there any projects coming down the pipe?
LBB
Besides acting as a radical bookstore and publisher, Left Bank is one of only two remaining radical spaces in Seattle. Functionally, this has kept it as a site for building connections within radical scenes and helped us build community stretching outside those scenes. In recent years, the store has also served as a venue when the need arises.
TC
How active is the publishing side of Left Bank Books? How often do y’all put out books and zines?
LBB
Since Detritus Books split off from Left Bank in 2017, we haven’t published any new books. That said, we do still have a publishing committee that is working on new titles.
TC
Was Detritus Books started after their split from Left Bank, or was it a part of the collective? How did it differ from the Left Bank Press?
LBB
Detritus Books formed after a collective member who was involved with publishing moved away from Seattle. They continued to be involved with Left Bank Publishing for a few years after leaving the collective as a whole, then started Detritus Books in 2017.
TC
Given the extreme cost of living rises in Seattle over the last fifteen years, do you think it’s possible for another collective like Left Bank to open its doors and sustain itself in Seattle today?
LBB
We’ve actually seen that pretty consistently not happen, though there’s a lot of utopian thought and planning going into it which is definitely admirable.
TC
How has Left Bank been able to sustain itself for so long?
LBB
Part of it is that we do participate in capitalism and with Seattle’s growing tech and tourism industries, the store itself has benefited (its workers, not so much.) Otherwise, we’re lucky to exist in a “community” owned location that has rent control. In recent years, I think a growing interest in radical politics has played a huge role in our continued relevance and existence.
TC
In my experience living in co-ops, everything happens incredibly slowly. Is there anything about the cooperative model that inhibits Left Bank or its workers? What are the drawbacks of cooperation?
LBB
Meetings are, without a doubt, endurance tests. And consensus, even at its best—and it is very rarely at its best—can be torture. There is also always conflict between newer members—who may have more utopian views on the collective’s potential—and older members, who may be more invested in the way the store has historically functioned. Conflict can definitely be productive, but only if folks know how to have conflict, and that’s something that everyone has to work on, on their own.
TC
What advice would you give to folks interested in forming a worker-owned business?
LBB
Organize along the lines of affinity groups and as radically as you possibly can. If you’re planning for longevity, definitely leave some roadmaps and good documentation of pitfalls. And definitely try to account for mission drift—the worst thing is when a radical institution begins to fail its constituents.
Originally published at FrictionLit
Also available on Medium