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https://www.positive.news/society/co-operative-business-a-recipe-for-resilience-in-turbulent-times/>
"No toilets, expensive food of dubious quality, crowded housing. This was the
reality for many in 1840s Britain. And it was set to get worse: cholera had
already claimed the lives of 50,000 people in the UK and another epidemic was
looming. “It was a particularly bad time for the economy,” says Liz McIvor,
manager of the UK- based Co-operative Heritage Trust. “People were out of work
and certain areas faced starvation.”
Something had to change. And the Rochdale Pioneers knew it.
The group of 28 artisans and cotton weavers from an area that today forms part
of greater Manchester, wanted to start a co-operative society in order to
provide their community with affordable and unadulterated food.
But that wasn’t the full thrust of their intent. They were determined to
harness the albeit limited power of the working-class wage for the benefit of
working- class people, explains McIvor. This was about much more than food, but
improving opportunities and quality of life. In short, by forming the Rochdale
Equitable Pioneers Society – the first co-operative of its day to find real
success – they built a business that could improve life for their community.
Their small grocery shop started by selling only flour, sugar, oatmeal and
butter and opened just before Christmas 1844. Any profit was shared among
member-owners.
With this, the co-operative movement took root. By the end of the 19th century,
there were an estimated 1,400 co-ops with 1 million members in Britain, and in
1895 the International Co-operative Alliance was set up in London to unite the
global co-op community.
Today, these businesses employ some 280 million people around the world – 10%
of the employed population, according to Co-operatives UK. Approximately 3m
co-ops with an astonishing 1.2bn members, more than an eighth of the world’s
population, exist internationally."
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
