The Beginning of the Modern Cooperative

One of my favorite Holiday stories is "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Like much of Dickens' literary work, this story was set in England at the height of the Industrial Revolution. As he wrote in "A Tale of Two Cities":

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...

The 19th Century was a time of great change. The industrial revolution had transformed society in many ways. A great textile industry had arisen in England, built with machines such as the spinning mule, the flying shuttle and the power loom, and the work previously "put out" to rural families had been transferred to the vertically integrated mills. The working class struggled to survive, most aspects of their lives controlled by the company. In some of the cities of England, life expectancy was only 21 years!

Dickens finished A Christmas Carol in 1843, the same year that weavers in Rochdale held an unsuccessful strike in an attempt to better their condition. The following year, in 1844, these same weavers formed what was to become the first successful cooperative, The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers.

After a slow and sometimes painful start, the Rochdale cooperative grew to include both stores and manufacturing facilities, and the cooperative model became widely accepted in England. Over the ensuing years co-ops have been established around the world and are present in virtually every facet of modern society.

The Rochdale Principles of Cooperation

1. Open, voluntary membership. Membership in a cooperative society should be voluntary and available without artificial restriction or social, political, racial or religious discrimination, to all persons who can make use of its services and are willing to accept the responsibilities of membership. Co-ops strive to break down society's prejudices. This principle does not prohibit student-only membership, however.
2. Democratic control. Cooperative societies are democratic organizations. Their affairs should be administered by persons elected or appointed in a manner agreed to by the members and accountable to the members. Members should enjoy equal rights of voting and participation in decisions affecting the co-op. No member has greater control than any other. Members must "co-operate" to effectively govern their business.
3. Limited return, if any, on equity capital. Share capital should receive a strictly limited rate of interest. This means that cooperatives do not seek speculative investments that care more about profits than people. Investments in the cooperative are for the good of the whole
4. Net surplus belongs to user-owners. The net savings from the operations of a co-op belong to the members of that co-op and should be distributed in an equitable manner. This usually means one of three things: (a) setting aside money for the development of the co-op; (b) providing a service to the members; or (c) distributing money to the members in proportion to their transactions with the co-op.
5. Education. All cooperative societies should make provision for the education of their members, officers, and employees and of the general public in the principles and techniques of cooperation, both economic and democratic. Members who understand the social vision of cooperatives, and who understand how their co-op works, can and do play a more active role in controlling their business.
6. Cooperation among cooperatives. All cooperative organizations, to best serve their member's interests and their communities, should actively cooperate in every practical way with other cooperatives at local, national, and international levels. The same way that co-ops seek to aid and protect their members through the implementation of these principles, co-ops can do the same for each other. Through helping one another, co-ops can strengthen the movement and broaden the social vision.

In its 1997 survey, the USDA reported that 3,791 farmer cooperatives generated a net business volume of $106 billion. AFCNA is part of a vital and vibrant component of American agriculture, and we owe much to the trail blazers that preceded us.

John Merrell has served as both a President and a Director of AFCNA.  He and his wife, Susan live outside of the small town of Scio, nestled in the foothills of Oregon's Cascade Mountains where they operate Gateway Farm.

More information - http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~laurel/cooproots/history.html