1. Historical context and core ideas 1.1 Historical context The history of ideas about economic democracy goes back at least to the 19 th century (see e.g. Cumbers 2020, chap. I). During the industrial revolution, work in large companies, which made use of economies of scale, became the norm, with workers submitting to the authority of company owners and managers (Anderson 2017, chap. 1). These companies often created gruesome and exploitative working conditions, without any counterpower that would protect workers’ rights. There were many attempts, in theory and in practice, to come up with more worker-friendly economic institutions, reaching from the cooperative movement to the creation of labor unions and left-wing political parties. One example is Proudhon who, already in the 1840s, called for “leaders, instructors, superintendents” in industry to be “chosen from the laborers by the laborers themselves” (Proudhon 1840, §6), a principle that was realized in worker cooperatives.…