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This article argues that labour can be understood as a commons, located in the discussion of how commons can advance the transformation of social relations and society. To manage labour as a commons entails a shift away from the perception of labour power as the object of capital’s value practices, towards a notion of labour power as a collectively and sustainably managed resource for the benefit of society. Given that social change is largely a result of social struggle, it is crucial to examine germinal forms of labour as a commons present in society. I focus my analysis on worker-recuperated companies in Latin America and Europe. Worker-recuperated companies are enterprises self-managed by their workers after the owners close them down. Despite operating within the hegemonic capitalist market, they do not adopt capitalist rationality and are proven viable. Worker-recuperated companies offer a new perspective on labour as a commons.

Online platforms have disrupted parts of the capitalist economy, but assessing the magnitude of this effect is difficult. Much is known about major platforms, but less about the conditions under which they take over-or fail to take over-a given market. Unlike explanations emphasising slow take-up by entrepreneurs or worker resistance, we argue that historical and organisational characteristics of markets make them resistant to the platform model. In Germany and the UK, intermediaries have digitalised to varying degrees. Three market characteristics have combined to limit 'platformisation':(1) irreducibly qualitative assessments of value; (2) the complexity and contingencies inherent in the task that resist unbundling (3) fragmentation of the organisational field. Hence we show how the dynamics of work in live music limit the traction of the platform model. However, partial and hybrid forms of digitalisation still contribute towards intensified discipline over live music workers, threatening pay and working conditions.

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