This chapter discusses the role of cooperatives as one of the means of emancipation of the marginalised sections of the working class. It begins with a brief outline on the industrial situation in India and the need to forge alternative production processes through worker cooperatives. This is followed by a discussion on cooperatives, especially worker cooperatives, and social emancipation. This proposition is examined through two studies conducted in two cities, namely, Ahmedabad in Western India and Calcutta in Eastern India. The study in Ahmadabad deals with the socially marginalised group of female waste pickers who have formed cooperatives with the help of SEWA, a trade union of women workers. The study in Calcutta deals with the attempts of workers who have re-started their enterprises through worker cooperatives after the employers shut them down. While focussing on the role of cooperatives, the study underlines their links with the trade union movement. Other factors, which influence the functioning of these cooperatives, are internal democracy and the role of the state.