The History of the Co-operative Movement
The Origins of the Movement
The Consumer Co-operative Movement has its roots in the economic and political circumstances of the early part of the nineteenth century. The industrial revolution in reshaping the nature of society created many problems and challenges. The development of political ideas and movements in this period, particularly associated with Robert Owen, gave ordinary people the encouragement and opportunity to organise aspects of their lives. This development, although now primarily equated with the Chartists, was about more than just demanding the vote; the objective was very much about changing the world not in dreams but in practical realities. One real practical reality was the difficulty many ordinary families experienced in obtaining food of acceptable quality at fair prices. The development of shops did not keep pace with the growth of the new industrial communities, and unscrupulous shopkeepers maintained a monopoly of trade in their localities. So the need and ability to organise, together with the social needs and self-help values of the Victorian age, became combined in the co-operative movement, which was to revolutionise retailing during the century ahead.
History of the Co-operative Movement
Many people imagine that the Co-operative Movement is a single national organisation - this is far from reality. The movement is in fact made up of many separate and independent societies united in their common belief in certain values and principles with the shared aim of serving their members. The Co-operative Movement has its roots in the 19th Century when the Industrial Revolution resulted in widespread exploitation and misery for many working people. One particular form of exploitation that was common was the way many people found it difficult to obtain good quality food at a fair price. The development of political movements such as the Chartists, gave ordinary people suffering similar injustices the opportunity and ability to organise aspects of their lives. This, coupled with the increasingly popular ideas of social reformers such as Robert Owen and Dr. William King, led people to realise that they could achieve far more by acting collectively than they ever would do working separately. They formed trade unions to overcome exploitation at work and improve their terms and conditions of employment and set up their own shops to avoid exploitation as consumers. The Rochdale Pioneers are credited with starting the first successful retail co-operative society in 1844, although there had been earlier attempts. The Pioneers opened a shop in Toad Lane, Rochdale selling unadulterated goods at reasonable prices to raise funds to create their own co-operative community. They also introduced a dividend that meant that all of its customers could become members of the Society and received a return in accordance with their expenditure. The ideas behind their work have become known as 'The Rochdale Principles' - the values by which they would trade. These are still used by Co-operatives around the world today and are expressed as:-
- Voluntary and Open Membership
- Democratic Member Control
- Member Economic Participation
- Autonomy and Independence
- Education, Training and Information
- Co-operation among Co-operatives
- Concern for Community
These principles still form the basis of the values and principles articulated by the International Co-operative Alliance, and so provide a common identity for co-operatives, of all types, throughout the world today. By 1890, the efforts of ordinary men and women had forged a Movement of some 1,400 societies right across the length and breadth of the century, with even more in Europe and elsewhere throughout the world. However, during the last century, the co-operative movement has undergone many changes in order to meet the challenge posed by multiple retailers, including combining to create larger and more efficient organisations. Today, there are around 39 retail co-operative societies in the UK ranging in size from small 'one shop' societies to giants with sales of over £5 Billion. The movement still retains its original principles by being owned and democratically controlled by its members. It still uses its profits for the mutual and individual benefit of members and seeks to give its customers a fair deal. Societies also continue to provide a wide range of educational, social and cultural activities and are widely involved in the communities they serve.
Expansion - Extending Activities
One of the main difficulties faced by those early co-operative societies was to procure goods to sell in their shops. Individually, they had neither the skill nor the buying power to get the best deal for their members. In 1863, a group of societies formed the Northern Co-operative Wholesale Society. The CWS eventually extended its activities beyond wholesaling into manufacturing, farming, importing and the provision of services which local societies could not undertake individually. The CWS subsequently became directly involved in retailing and is now the largest retail society in the UK and is called 'The Co-operative Group'. The Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) and The Co-operative Bank are just two offshoots of CWS.
The Co-op Today
Today there are around 39 Co-operative societies ranging from small one-shop societies to large national societies as well as workers co-ops, housing co-ops, credit unions, agricultural co-ops and many other others. In total they account for over £10.5 billion of turnover. The consumer co-operative movement is just a small part of an international co-operative movement, which straddles over 100 countries and has over 700 million members.
The Midcounties Co-operative
Many of the people inspired by the Rochdale Pioneers decided to set up their own local co-op stores in towns and villages across the UK. Swindon saw a society formed in 1853, Gloucester in 1860, Walsall in 1866, Chipping Norton in 1866, Oxford in 1872 and Cinderford in 1874. Locally there were dozens of Co-op societies by the end of the nineteenth century. In the UK, there were over 2,000 co-op societies. These grew to become a dominant economic force by the 1930s. Locally there were thousands of Co-op shops, department stores and other businesses. Nationally, their needs were supplied by the Co-operative Wholesale Society, which operated a vast network of farms, factories and distribution to service the movement. Slowly these Co-op societies began to merge together. Locally there were two by the end of the twentieth century, Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-op and West Midlands Co-op. In 2005 the members of these two co-ops agreed to merge to create The Midcounties Co-operative.