cooperative movement

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co‐operative movement. Unlike British co‐operative activity, which centred on urban retailing, the Irish co‐operative movement was based on agricultural processing and marketing. The co‐operative form of organization involved the pooling of small capitals to create new enterprises which were democratically owned and controlled by the shareholder‐farmers. In the eyes of its more visionary leaders, such as the unionist Sir Horace Plunkett or the nationalist George Russell (AE), the co‐operative movement had the potential to reconstruct an agriculture and rural society battered by the economic depression of the later 19th century.

Co‐operative societies took three major forms. There were the co‐operative creameries producing butter, which were located in the traditional dairying areas of Munster and Ulster. There were agricultural societies which achieved economies through the bulk purchasing of farm inputs. Finally there were the co‐operative credit societies which extended credit to the poorer sections of rural society, and which were particularly numerous in the west of Ireland.

From small beginnings in the 1890s co‐operative societies spread extensively through Ireland, in the process generating hostility from vested interest groups, in particular shopkeepers, traders, and home rule politicians. By 1914 there were over 800 co‐operative societies on the island. The largest group, and by far the most significant in financial terms, was composed of some 350 dairy or creamery societies. Other types of co‐operative went into steep, usually terminal, decline during the First World War or soon thereafter.

While the future belonged to the dairy co‐operatives, the inter‐war period proved to be a testing time. Depressed markets faced agricultural producers and exporters. As in the rural economy generally, the name of the game was survival. The period between the Second World War and Ireland's entry to the European Economic Community (see european union) in 1973 was one of consolidation and slow expansion. Some co‐operatives diversified into new activities, including the manufacture of cheese and milk powder, and the provision of a range of farm services. This period witnessed also the introduction of the co‐operative livestock mart, which was of particular value to livestock farmers.

The decade after entry to the EEC was one of unprecedented prosperity for Irish farmers, though the gains were more muted thereafter. There was a flowering of small industrial and service co‐operatives, as well as a renewed interest in co‐operative ideas, but the dairy sector retained its predominant position. The process of amalgamation of small dairy co‐operatives into larger units gathered pace, culminating in the creation of large agro‐industrial enterprises. The largest of these extended their business horizons to European and global markets, becoming in effect multinational corporations owned and controlled from Ireland. Inevitably much of the democratic and participative ethos which inspired the early pioneers declined over time in deference to financial imperatives. Still the journey from crossroads creameries to transnational companies is one of the more remarkable stories of modern Irish enterprise.

Liam Kennedy

Co-operative movement. The Co-operative movement is often identified solely with retailing, and its foundation ascribed to the ‘Rochdale Pioneers’ who set up the first store to pay dividends to members on the basis of how much they had purchased from the society. It actually originated in the ideas of Robert Owen, the visionary factory owner and social thinker of New Lanark. During the 1820s and 1830s many groups of people started on the road to creating an alternative society based on mutual assistance rather than competitive individualism, the ‘New Moral World’ whose superiority, once established through the working of communities in which labour was the unit of currency, would drive out the irrationality of capitalism. The first step on the road to community-building was to set up a shop, whose surpluses could then be applied to manufacturing and ultimately farming; but most of the early co-operative societies fell at this first hurdle. The Rochdale Pioneers system rendered Co-operation attractive to those who sought to save as they spent, and brought the movement into line with prevailing social values. After the Pioneers began in 1844 the movement spread rapidly, supplying unadulterated foodstuffs at accessible prices and making a distinctive virtue of refusing credit. Co-operation was especially popular in the textile towns of Lancashire and west Yorkshire in the mid-Victorian years, later gaining a strong following in Scotland and colonizing the midlands and south. Membership had reached saturation point in some industrial towns by the turn of the century, and middle-class recruitment began in earnest in the inter-war years. Societies were locally based, but the Co-operative Wholesale Society co-ordinated purchasing and then manufacturing for the whole movement from 1863. Although most members came to view the dividend as the most important aspect, the Co-op never lost its idealism completely, providing classes and libraries, supporting strikes, and (through its Women's Guild) offering political confidence and empowerment to working-class women. The societies were democratically run and in 1918 a Co-operative Party was set up, which ran in harness with the Labour Party. The Co-op also diversified its retail services, went into banking and home loans, and built houses for its members. It sustained its strength into the mid-20th cent., despite campaigns against it by private traders, and came to hold a dominant position in retailing, which it gradually lost in the changing climate of the 1950s onwards. Societies amalgamated, local identities were lost, the dividend itself was abandoned, and the Co-op seemed to many to have lost its way. Attempts are still being made to adapt it to modern circumstances without losing its distinctive identity, but the struggle is an uphill one.

John K. Walton

Co‐operative movement The Co‐operative movement is often identified solely with retailing, and its foundation ascribed to the ‘Rochdale Pioneers’ who set up the first store to pay dividends to members on the basis of how much they had purchased. It originated in the ideas of Robert Owen, the factory owner and social thinker of New Lanark. During the 1820s and 1830s many groups of people started on the road to creating an alternative society based on mutual assistance rather than competitive individualism, the ‘New Moral World’ whose superiority would drive out capitalism. The first step was to set up a shop, whose surpluses could then be applied to manufacturing and ultimately farming. The Rochdale Pioneers system rendered Co‐operation attractive to those who sought to save as they spent. After the Pioneers began in 1844 the movement spread rapidly, making a distinctive virtue of refusing credit. Co‐operation was especially popular in the textile towns of Lancashire and west Yorkshire in the mid‐Victorian years. Societies were locally based, but theCo‐operative Wholesale Society co‐ordinatedpurchasing and then manufacturing for the whole movement from 1863. Although most members came to view the dividend as the most important aspect, the Co‐op never lost its idealism completely, providing classes and libraries, supporting strikes, and (through its Women's Guild) offering political confidence to working‐class women. The societies were democratically run and in 1918 a Co‐operative Party was set up, which ran in harness with the Labour Party. After 1945 the movement faced difficulties. Societies amalgamated, local identities were lost, the dividend itself was abandoned, and the Co‐op seemed to many to have lost its way.

Cooperative Movement An organization owned by and run for the benefit of its members. First developed in many of the new industrial towns in Britain at the end of the 18th century, the Cooperative Movement was largely an attempt to offer an alternative to competitive CAPITALISM. In the early 19th century the social reformer Robert OWEN made several attempts to set up his own cooperative communities, but it was with the founding of the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844 that the cooperative movement in Britain really got under way. In 1864 these came together in a federation known as the Cooperative Wholesale Society. In 1869 the Cooperative Union, an advisory and educational body, was formed. The Cooperative Wholesale Society developed as a manufacturer and wholesale trader, opening its first factories and developing its own farms. The Cooperative Party was established in 1917 to represent its members' interests in Parliament, and subsequently contested elections in alliance with the Labour Party. The movement spread rapidly to northern Europe. In the USA the first cooperatives were established at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. In India and other developing countries, particularly in Africa after World War II, cooperatives have been an important factor in the growth of the economy.

cooperative movement Variety of worldwide organizations, founded to provide mutual assistance in economic enterprises for the benefit of their members. The first such movement was founded (1844) in England by the Rochdale Pioneers, who established a cooperative retail society to eliminate the middleman and share profits among its members. The cooperative movement has been extended to include cooperative agriculture, cooperative manufacturing (in which the workers own and manage their own plant) and cooperative banking and finance. See also Cooperative Party; Cooperative Wholesale Society; Owen, Robert