A real left would support co-ops because co-ops happen to be a consistent and effective way to run an economy - they run stably, they're democratic, they don't explode, and they're good at supporting economic participation - also known as "jobs."

But of course Gintis argument is that this is pious nonsense. That as much as some of us would like coops to be a real alternative to capitalist firms, they seem to not work so often and also to be easily captured by a management group - as the Comrade from Sweden's example makes clear. Perhaps there is no "real left" because we don't actually have a credible alternative to offer and all the angry signifying can't close the gap.

BTW: there is a very interesting US example of
http://newstreaming.com/about/src-companies/