The socialist version of cooperation is that nobody should be thinking about how participating in a project benefits them personally, individually. The individual is supposed to subordinate self-interest in the socialist scheme.
Well, the adults in the room call bullshit on that notion because the experiments run on that idea are soaked in blood and tears. It’s 2022, individuals matter, groups are not more important than the flourishing, healthy, happiness-pursuing lives of the individuals in them.
All is not lost as far as thriving communities go because it turns out people are able to find people with common interests and causes and make wonderful things happen based on voluntary mutual consent. Turns out communities are way more dynamic when people are free to enter and exit groups as they choose. Phew…
… except for the bastards who still think it’s cool to impose their preferences and priorities on others, their consent be damned.
“Balancing the power structure in favor of workers…” good grief. When something is “balanced,” it doesn’t “favor” one side or the other.
There isn’t a context in which coercion is humane or practical. Everywhere it’s practiced, humans who are coerced respond by trying to avoid being coerced. Those who practice coercion are always busily trying to get away with it, and to do so they lie, cheat, partner with unscrupulous folks who will do their bidding for a price.
In an imperfect world, center individual Liberty if you care about Justice, defined as people not being coerced and defrauded with impunity. In an imperfect world that centers Liberty, there will still be bullies and con artists and murderers and other vile people, but they won’t have the lever of government to pull off their crimes on scales like those we’ve witnessed in the past.
The whole, “Liberty would work for some but socialism for others” line is pernicious. We’re all human beings. Coercing anyone anywhere is repugnant.