The private social security system of the Mondragon cooperative federation — mutual aid institutionalized.
When the Mondragon cooperatives were founded in the 1950s, worker-owners were not eligible for Spain's national social security system because they were classified as owners, not employees. Rather than lobbying for inclusion in a system designed for the Old World, they built their own.
Lagun Aro (Basque for "Friend's Help") was established as an independent cooperative providing comprehensive social protection to all Mondragon worker-members.
Lagun Aro provides:
All funded by member contributions, governed cooperatively, and operated according to the same principles as every other part of the Mondragon system.
When existing institutions cannot serve the New Civilization, you do not wait for them to reform. You build the infrastructure you need.
This is the same pattern expressed by AA's Tradition 7 (self-supporting, declining outside contributions), by the early church's mutual aid networks, and by every successful movement that achieved economic sovereignty as the foundation of sustained independence.
See Mondragon, Laboral Kutxa, Capital Subordinate To Purpose, and LIONSBERG 101.