Reddit reviews Capital and the Debt Trap: Learning from cooperatives in the global crisis

Mondragon in Spain is a classic example. It's one of the case studies in the excellent paper Capital and the Debt Trap which argues that worker cooperatives might be more stable than traditional capitalist corporations. Kantega, Lijjat and Amul are other good examples, in diverse industries, of robust worker coops that function on a large scale. Hotel Bauen in Argentina is a 4-star hotel that was taken over by workers after management basically abandoned it, and it's continued to thrive despite attempts by former management to legally sabotage it.

As for larger territories, well, Spain was briefly a success story in 1936 before it was hijacked by more authoritarian communist tendencies. In spaces controlled by the CNT and UGT unions, there's evidence that productivity (both industrial and architectural) increased dramatically when workers' self-management was adopted.

>In agricultural terms the revolution occurred at a good time. Harvests that were gathered in and being sold off to make big profits for a few landowners were instead distributed to those in need. Doctors, bakers, barbers, etc. were given what they needed in return for their services. Where money was not abolished a 'family wage' was introduced so that payment was on the basis of need and not the number of hours worked.

>Production greatly increased. Technicians and agronomists helped the peasants to make better use of the land. Modern scientific methods were introduced and in some areas yields increased by as much as 50%. There was enough to feed the collectivists and the militias in their areas. Often there was enough for exchange with other collectives in the cities for machinery. In addition food was handed over to the supply committees who looked after distribution in the urban areas.

Yugoslavia did well under Tito (though sadly he was pretty much the only thing keeping the country from collapsing into inter-ethnic conflict). Life expectancy, literacy, and GDP all rose:

>Throughout the 1950s and '60s, the economic development and liberalization continued at a rapid pace.[8][13] The introduction of further reforms introduced a variant of market socialism, which now entailed a policy of open borders. With heavy federal investment, tourism in SR Croatia was revived, expanded, and transformed into a major source of income. With these successful measures, the Yugoslav economy achieved relative self-sufficiency and traded extensively with both the West and the East. By the early 1960s, foreign observers noted that the country was "booming", and that all the while the Yugoslav citizens enjoyed far greater liberties than the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc states.[30] Literacy was increased dramatically and reached 91%, medical care was free on all levels, and life expectancy was 72 years.