What is a Cooperative?

A cooperative is an autonomous association of people who come together voluntarily to meet common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a collectively owned and democratically managed enterprise.

Cooperatives are based on values of mutual aid and responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, transparency, social responsibility and concern for others.

Cooperativism

The emergence of cooperativism as a socio-economic enterprise was recorded in the city of Rochdale, England, on December 21, 1844. Under the growing threat of substitution by steam engines and the worsening misery of the working class, 28 weavers gathered in the search for alternatives of work. They thus created a small cooperative consumer warehouse: the “Rochdale Equitable Pioneer Society”.

In a short time they began to become professional, developing strategies such as the formation of social capital for the emancipation of workers; acquisition of houses for cooperative members; and the creation of industrial and agricultural establishments aimed at the production of essential goods for the working class, directly and at affordable prices.

While the logic of capitalism instituted competition, the new system encouraged cooperation. Each of the 28 weavers entered the business with a Libra. In one year, the capital of the organization reached 180 pounds. Within a decade, the organization already had 1,400 members.

Founders of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in 1844

Some authors speak of Ana Tweedale as the only woman who supported the group, helping to get the place where the cooperative operated. On March 16, 1946, Eliza Brerley joined this cooperative, becoming the first female member of a cooperative enterprise.