Gabital - Fantasy Capitalism 101: #83 Food Artel

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Cute Russian comic. The home of the official English version is here if anyone wants to skip ahead (or support them): https://boosty.to/gabiconomics-en

A food artel (pronounced artěl) is a voluntary association of individuals who unite to carry out joint economic activity related to the production, processing, or distribution of food products. Members typically contribute their labor and share responsibility and profits from the collective work.

It is useful to distinguish this from a cooperative. A cooperative is an association of members who pool resources for purchasing, production, or services. An artel, by contrast, traditionally refers to a group of people who personally work together in a shared enterprise and share the results of their labor. Because English has no exact equivalent for this historical form, the Russian term artel is often kept in translation or loosely described as a labor cooperative. For example, a consumer cooperative might buy food in bulk for its members, while a food artel could run its own bakery staffed by the members themselves.