Co-operative movement FRANCESCA FORNO The co-operative movement first emerged in Europe during the nineteenth century. Although scholarly research remains in dis- agreement about exactly where the movement began, many trace its origins back to a number of cooperative experiences that developed in Britain and France in the eighteenth century, especially in the farming industry and consumer organizations (Holyoake 1908). During the years of the industrial revolution, co-ops spread across all Western countries as a reaction to the negative side-effects of indus- trialization. At that time, cooperatives became a means of economic organization for workers. Regardless of their type, size, geographical location, or purpose, cooperatives provided a tool by which to achieve one or more eco- nomic goals, such as improving bargaining power when dealing with other businesses, bulk purchasing to guarantee lower prices, obtain- ing products or services otherwise unavailable, gaining market access or broadening market opportunities, improving product or service quality, securing credit from financial institu- tions, and increasing income. Although the first cooperatives appeared in the eighteenth century, it was from the Equi- table Pioneers of Rochdale Society that the steadily spreading co-operative movement first began to gain ground. The Rochdale Society, generally recognized as the founding father of the modern cooperative movement, was estab- lished by a group of 28 weavers and other craftsmen in Rochdale, England, who decided in 1844 to band together to open their own store selling food items they could not oth- erwise afford (Digby 1948). The idea behind the Rochdale Pioneers – who between 1850 and 1855 also established a flourmill, a shoe factory, and a textile plant – was to reorganize industry from the consumption end, on the basis of The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, Edited by David A. Snow, Donatella della Porta, Bert Klandermans, and Doug McAdam.  2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbespm055 production for use instead of production for exchange (Webb & Webb 1921). This successful example was quickly emu- lated throughout Britain and elsewhere. By 1863, more than 400 British cooperative associ- ations, modeled on the Rochdale Society, were in operation (Seth & Randal 1999). There- after, the number of societies and their mem- bers grew steadily and the British coopera- tive movement became the model for similar movements worldwide. Notable among the European countries in which workers’ coop- eratives were soon to gain grassroots support were France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In the United States, the cooperative move- ment became widespread later than in Europe. The first co-ops were formed by farmers, either to help them buy necessities at lower cost or to help them market their produce more efficiently and at higher prices. Although a few large associations existed before World War I – such as the California Fruit Growers’ Exchange and the Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange – US cooperative societies remained mainly local and independent from one another for many decades (Hibbard 1929). It was in fact not until the early 1900s that the co-op societies began to increase in num- ber and coordination, both as associations of producers and of consumers. In 1895, the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), a nongovernmental organiza- tion, was established as an umbrella organiza- tion designed to promote amicable economic relations between cooperative organizations of all kinds, both nationally and internationally. The major objective of the ICA was to promote and strengthen “the autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise” throughout the world (ICA 2011).