The Global History of Cooperatives: Evolution, Types, and Milestones (AI-GENERATED REPORT)

---

NOTE FROM BEANCHAIN TEAM

We use ChatGPT Deep Research to help us research reports on certain ideas and topics to get the ball rolling for our research or to help us explore ideas. AI can hallucinate things, and for that reason, you should always be wary of AI-generated research. That being said, we have found this to be a helpful tool, and we wanted to share the results in an effort not to be wasteful. We hope this information can help you!

Query used to generate this report: "I need a report concerning the history of Cooperatives in the world. Focus on big events, successful cooperatives, important developments, and information that can help a reader contextualize and understand the evolution of the cooperative philosophy.

Organize the report chronologically and include a condensed timeline section near the end of the report."

The Global History of Cooperatives_ Evolution, Types, and Milestones.pdf

Download PDF • 99KB

---

The Global History of Cooperatives: Evolution, Types, and Milestones

Cooperatives are member-owned and democratically governed enterprises that have evolved over centuries from informal mutual aid practices into a worldwide movement spanning diverse sectors. While forms of cooperative behavior (such as mutual insurance or shared farming) existed long before the industrial era, the modern cooperative movement began when people applied formal cooperative principles to business organizations in the 19th century. Today, cooperatives include worker-owned companies, consumer-owned retail societies, farmer cooperatives, financial co-ops (credit unions, mutual banks), housing cooperatives, and many others. This report chronicles the global history of cooperatives across major types, highlighting key events, influential models, philosophical developments, and how co-op ideals adapted to different social-economic contexts. The narrative is organized chronologically, followed by a condensed timeline of global cooperative milestones.

Origins and Early Cooperative Experiments (Pre-1840s)

Long before cooperatives were formalized, the principles of cooperation appeared in various forms. Medieval guilds, rotating savings clubs, and friendly societies provided mutual aid and collective benefits to members. For example, mutual insurance societies and communal sharing practices date back to ancient times. These early arrangements laid a cultural groundwork for later cooperatives by showing the benefits of pooling resources and risk among a community.

The earliest recorded cooperative business is often traced to 18th-century Scotland. On March 14, 1761, in Fenwick, Ayrshire, a group of weavers formed a small consumer cooperative – the Fenwick Weavers’ Society – by collectively buying a sack of oatmeal and selling it at a discount to members. This modest initiative, organized in a weaver’s cottage, is recognized as a pioneering example of a cooperative store. Throughout the late 1700s and early 1800s, other proto-cooperatives emerged: for instance, Rev. Henry Duncan established a parish savings bank in 1810 in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, where poor parishioners could pool savings for sickness and old age – an early financial co-op model. In the United States, farmers began forming cooperatives in the early 19th century; historians note that by 1810 dairy farmers in Goshen, Connecticut had organized a cooperative creamery, and a similar cheese-making cooperative formed in 1810 in South Trenton, New Jersey. These early farmer co-ops allowed producers to jointly process or market their goods, foreshadowing the agricultural cooperative movement.

Robert Owen (1771–1858) is often celebrated as the “father of the cooperative movement.” A successful Welsh industrialist turned social reformer, Owen believed workers could improve their conditions through cooperation. He put his ideas into practice at New Lanark, Scotland, where he provided decent housing, education, and a company store for mill workers. In 1817 Owen proposed “villages of co-operation” – self-sufficient communities where workers would jointly farm, manufacture, and share the proceeds. He attempted to establish such utopian cooperative communities (e.g. at Orbiston in Scotland and New Harmony, Indiana in the U.S.), but these experiments ultimately failed to sustain themselves. Even so, Owen’s vision greatly influenced early cooperative philosophy, inspiring others to pursue more practical cooperative models.

Another influential thinker, Dr. William King (1786–1865), built on Owen’s ideas in a more realistic way. King founded a monthly newsletter The Co-operator in 1828, which offered practical advice on running cooperative societies. He urged working-class people to start small co-op stores for daily necessities, famously reasoning that “we must go to a shop every day to buy food… why not go to our own shop?”. King’s guidance – such as keeping clear accounts and avoiding divisive politics in co-ops – helped early cooperators avoid pitfalls and “form a society within society” rather than withdraw completely. By the 1830s, hundreds of cooperative societies had sprung up in Britain and elsewhere. Many of these first-wave co-ops were short-lived due to limited experience and capital, but a few survived (for example, the Lockhurst Lane Industrial Co-operative Society founded 1832 in Coventry continued on and still exists in modified form). The stage was set for a breakthrough in cooperative organization.

The Rochdale Pioneers and the Birth of Modern Cooperativism (1840s–1890s)

 The founding members of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (1844) set down guiding principles that became the foundation for modern cooperative enterprises. In 1844, a group of 28 working men – primarily weavers – in Rochdale, England formed the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, creating what is widely considered the first successful modern cooperative. Reeling from the economic dislocation of the Industrial Revolution (which had thrown skilled workers into poverty), these Rochdale Pioneers decided to open a member-owned grocery store to sell affordable, unadulterated food. Each member painstakingly contributed one £1 share (over several months) until they had enough capital (a mere £28 in total) to open a tiny store at 31 Toad Lane on December 21, 1844. They started with a very meager stock of butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal, and candles – but crucially, they ran the enterprise on a new set of Cooperative Principles.

The Rochdale Principles included democratic member control (“one member, one vote” regardless of investment), open membership, a limited interest on capital, distribution of any surplus back to members in proportion to their purchases (the origin of patronage dividends), selling at honest fixed prices for cash (no credit), and a commitment to education. These principles – particularly democratic governance and member economic participation – distinguished the co-op from a traditional business and provided a replicable model. The Rochdale store thrived by providing higher-quality goods at fair prices, and it began paying dividends to members, attracting more customers. Within a few months the Pioneers expanded their inventory to include tea and tobacco, earning a reputation for honest dealing in contrast to the adulterated or overpriced products common elsewhere. The Rochdale Society’s success ignited the cooperative movement in Britain and beyond: it demonstrated that a cooperative enterprise could be both ethical and economically viable.

Following Rochdale’s example, consumer-owned cooperatives proliferated across the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. By 1863, about 300 local co-ops in northern England federated to form the North of England Co-operative Wholesale Society, pooling their resources for wholesale purchasing. This federation evolved into the famous Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS), which by the 1870s was supplying retail co-ops with goods and even manufacturing products – a major step toward a vertically integrated cooperative economy. The British co-op movement grew rapidly: by the late 19th century, many towns had co-operative groceries, and co-ops expanded into baking, milling, and other consumer services. The cooperative model also spread through Europe, North America, and the British Empire during this period, often as a grassroots solution for workers, artisans, farmers, or consumers facing hardships.

Worker Cooperatives – businesses owned and managed by their employees – also began to appear in the 19th century. Inspired by ideas of economic self-help, some skilled workers formed producer cooperatives (co-owned workshops or factories). Notably, in France after the 1848 revolution, there was a surge of worker co-op projects (backed by socialist thinkers like Louis Blanc), though many failed due to capital shortages and political pushback. Still, the ideal of worker-owned industry took root. Over time, legal frameworks emerged (France passed a law recognizing cooperatives in 1867) and some worker co-ops endured, laying groundwork for the robust worker cooperative sectors seen in countries like France, Italy, and Spain in the 20th century.

Financial cooperatives were another vital innovation of the mid-1800s. In Germany, cooperative pioneers Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch and Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen each developed models of community-owned financial institutions to serve people excluded from traditional credit. Schulze-Delitzsch organized the first urban credit cooperatives in the 1850s, essentially cooperative banks for craftspeople and small business owners. Raiffeisen, a rural mayor, founded the first rural credit union in 1864 to combat usurious moneylenders impoverishing farmers. Raiffeisen’s rural credit co-ops pooled farmers’ savings and provided low-interest loans for agricultural needs. Though Schulze’s initiatives predated Raiffeisen’s, Raiffeisen’s credit union model proved more influential globally, becoming a template for credit unions and cooperative banks worldwide. By the late 19th century, the idea of member-owned financial institutions had spread: for example, Canada’s first credit union (La Caisse populaire de Lévis, Quebec, founded by Alphonse Desjardins) would open in 1900, and credit societies were introduced in British-ruled India in 1904 to aid peasants. Likewise, building societies (housing savings co-ops) and mutual insurance societies grew in Britain, further reflecting cooperative principles in finance.

Agricultural cooperatives also took off in the latter 19th century. Farmers began forming co-ops to collectively purchase supplies, store and market crops, and leverage better prices. A famous example is in California, where citrus fruit growers, squeezed by middlemen and railroad fees, banded together in 1893 to form the Southern California Fruit Exchange – a marketing cooperative that later adopted the brand name Sunkist. By uniting through a co-op, these farmers could standardize quality, jointly advertise (Sunkist was a pioneer in commodity advertising), and bargain as a group, which dramatically improved their incomes. Similar agricultural cooperatives appeared worldwide: Danish farmers organized dairy and bacon cooperatives in the 1880s, helping Denmark become an export powerhouse, and by the early 20th century, millions of farmers in Europe and North America were members of co-ops for milk, grain, coffee, sugar, and other products. Co-ops became especially important for small farmers to survive in market economies, practicing the motto “doing together what we cannot do alone.”

By the end of the 19th century, cooperative enterprises had demonstrated success across multiple sectors – consumer retail, finance, agriculture, and small industry – and in many countries. To connect these burgeoning cooperatives internationally, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) was founded in 1895. Delegates from co-ops in Argentina, India, the USA, and eleven European nations met in London for the 1st Co-operative Congress, aiming to exchange information and promote trade among cooperatives. The ICA defined its mission as spreading cooperative principles, facilitating inter-coop cooperation, and representing the movement’s interests globally. Remarkably, the ICA survived through two World Wars and remains the oldest extant international civil-society organization. By 1900, the cooperative movement had truly become an international phenomenon, adapting the Rochdale model to local needs around the world.

Cooperatives in the Early 20th Century (1900–1945)

In the early 20th century, cooperatives expanded in scope and scale, while also influencing social reforms. Many national governments began recognizing and supporting cooperatives through legislation. For instance, Britain’s Industrial and Provident Societies Acts provided a legal framework for co-ops, and other countries followed with similar laws, making it easier to form cooperatives. By the 1920s, nearly every industrialized nation – and many colonies – had some form of cooperative sector, whether in consumer retail, farming, banking, or housing.

Consumer cooperatives grew into large federations. The British CWS continued to thrive, eventually becoming The Co-operative Group, which by mid-20th century was one of the UK’s largest retailers. In Scandinavia, consumer co-op stores became widespread (cooperative chains like Sweden’s KF and Denmark’s FDB took major market shares). Housing cooperatives also emerged as a response to urbanization and tenement living conditions. The cooperative housing movement began in 19th-century Europe (Britain and France saw early housing co-ops to provide affordable flats for workers). In the United States, the first co-op apartments appeared in New York City in the late 1800s – initially luxury “home clubs” for elites in the 1870s – but by the 1920s, limited-equity housing co-ops for middle-income and immigrant families were developed (notably, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union sponsored a large housing cooperative in the Bronx in 1927). These housing co-ops let residents collectively own their building, gaining security and quality housing at cost price, an idea that later spread globally to places like Sweden, Canada, and India.

Worker cooperatives and mutual aid were intertwined with labor movements in this era. In Britain, cooperatives even entered politics: the Co-operative Women’s Guild, founded in 1883, had grown to tens of thousands of members by the 1910s and advocated for women’s rights (including suffrage and maternity benefits) within the co-op movement and society at large. The Guild is an example of how co-ops provided a platform for marginalized groups – in this case, working-class women – to organize for social change. In 1917, the British cooperative societies formed the Co-operative Party to represent co-op members’ interests; it soon entered an electoral pact with the Labour Party, resulting in Co-operative MPs in Parliament by the 1920s. This political expression underscored cooperatives’ broader philosophical impact: they were seen not just as businesses, but as vehicles for economic democracy, education, and social justice.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, cooperatives in various countries played a crucial role in economic relief. In the United States, for example, President Roosevelt’s New Deal supported the creation of rural utility cooperatives. Thousands of electric cooperatives and telephone co-ops were formed (with federal backing via the Rural Electrification Administration) to bring power and phone service to rural areas that investor-owned utilities had neglected. These member-owned utilities dramatically improved rural living standards and still serve many communities today. Similarly, farmer co-ops in the U.S. and Canada helped members survive the Depression by jointly marketing crops and pooling resources (e.g. the formation of Land O’Lakes dairy cooperative in 1921 and growth of grain co-ops). In Europe, consumer co-ops often extended credit to members in hard times or ran soup kitchens. Cooperatives showed resilience and a solidarity-based approach to economic crisis.

Internationally, the cooperative movement’s coordination advanced further. The International Labor Organization (ILO), founded in 1919 after World War I, established a Cooperative Division to support cooperative development, recognizing co-ops as a tool for improving workers’ livelihoods. The ICA held global congresses that refined cooperative definitions and principles – in 1937 the ICA formally adopted a set of cooperative principles based on Rochdale’s, emphasizing political/religious neutrality and cooperation among co-ops. Co-ops also spread in the Global South during the early 20th century, often introduced by colonial administrators or missionaries as development tools. For example, British India passed the Cooperative Credit Societies Act in 1904, leading to thousands of village credit co-ops and later multi-purpose co-ops for farmers. By the 1930s, cooperatives were present in parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America: in 1902 the first cooperatives were established in Latin America (in Mexico and Uruguay), and by the 1940s many newly urbanizing regions had consumer or credit co-ops.

However, cooperatives also faced challenges in this era. Authoritarian regimes were often hostile to independent co-ops: in fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, cooperatives were suppressed or absorbed into state-controlled structures (though Italy’s pre-fascist co-ops re-emerged strongly after WWII). In the Soviet Union, genuine cooperative enterprise was largely replaced by state collectivization, except for some limited consumer co-ops; under Stalin, independent cooperation was not tolerated. Interestingly, in the 1930s China, a movement of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (nicknamed “Gung Ho”) was launched during the Second Sino-Japanese War: with international supporters, these small co-ops provided war supplies and local employment, embodying the cooperative ethos under difficult circumstances.

By World War II’s outbreak, cooperatives had become an integral part of many economies and communities. There were national cooperative federations (e.g. the National Cooperative Business Association in the U.S. formed in 1920) and growing links across borders. Co-ops were not only economic entities but came to symbolize ideals of self-help, democratic management, and community empowerment. These ideals would guide the movement’s post-war resurgence and growth.

Post-War Growth and Global Expansion (1945–1980s)

The decades following World War II saw a significant expansion and diversification of cooperatives worldwide, underpinned by both grassroots energy and government support. In war-torn Europe and Japan, cooperatives helped rebuild economies. Consumer co-ops provided essential goods in the austere post-war years; for example, Japan’s consumer cooperative movement grew rapidly from the 1950s onward, eventually making Japanese co-ops (like the Seikatsu Club and university co-ops) some of the largest in the world. In many European countries, cooperatives became key pillars of certain industries: by the late 20th century, co-ops held major market share in retail banking and insurance in Europe. Cooperative banks such as Crédit Agricole in France, Rabobank in the Netherlands, and mutual insurers grew to dominate their national markets, and their member-focused model was credited with providing stability (for instance, co-op banks largely weathered the 2008 financial crisis better than commercial banks).

A landmark development in cooperative history was the rise of the Mondragón cooperative network in the Basque region of Spain. Founded in 1956 under the guidance of a young Catholic priest, Father José María Arizmendiarrieta, Mondragón began amid the poverty and repression of General Franco’s dictatorship. Arizmendi focused on education and technical training for youths in the town of Mondragón, then helped a group of five graduates establish a worker-owned manufacturing cooperative (ULGOR) to produce home appliances. From this humble start, Mondragón Cooperative Corporation grew into one of the world’s largest and most successful group of worker cooperatives, spanning finance, manufacturing, retail, education, and R&D. By creating its own cooperative bank (Caja Laboral in 1959) and a federation of co-ops, Mondragón developed a self-sustaining ecosystem: when one co-op did well, it helped fund new co-ops and supported any that struggled. Today Mondragón’s network encompasses around 95 cooperatives employing over 80,000 people, demonstrating that worker-owned businesses can compete globally (Mondragón firms produce everything from machinery and automotive parts to consumer goods, with billions in annual revenue). Mondragón’s success, achieved in a challenging political climate, inspired cooperative advocates worldwide as a model of industrial democracy and worker empowerment on a large scale.

In other parts of the world, cooperatives were tied closely to development and nation-building. Across newly independent countries of Asia and Africa, post-colonial governments promoted cooperatives to modernize agriculture, extend credit, and involve citizens in economic self-management. For example, in India, which gained independence in 1947, cooperatives became central to rural development strategies. A shining example is the Amul dairy cooperative in Gujarat: founded in 1946 as a tiny farmers’ milk co-op amid a struggle against exploitative middlemen, Amul grew under leader Verghese Kurien into the hub of India’s “White Revolution” in milk production. Starting with just two village societies and 247 liters of milk, Amul today is a cooperative enterprise owned by 3.6 million dairy producers, and India has become the world’s largest milk-producing nation largely thanks to the replication of the Amul cooperative model. Likewise, in many African countries, agricultural marketing cooperatives for cash crops (coffee, cocoa, cotton, etc.) were established in the 1950s–60s to help farmers gain bargaining power in global markets.

Not all government-led cooperative efforts succeeded; the approach mattered. In Tanzania, President Julius Nyerere pursued a vision of African socialism through Ujamaa – organizing people into cooperative “ujamaa” villages in the late 1960s. Unfortunately, these were often forced collectivizations rather than voluntary co-ops, and they largely failed economically. In contrast, where cooperatives were allowed to arise organically or in response to genuine needs (even if encouraged by policy), they tended to thrive. Kenya’s credit unions (SACCOs) and Ghana’s cocoa marketing co-ops are examples of successful member-driven co-ops in Africa.

In Latin America, cooperatives also expanded as tools for development and solidarity. By the mid-20th century, many Latin American nations had credit unions, agrarian cooperatives, and consumer co-ops (often initiated with help from church groups or the Alliance for Progress). Cooperatives in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico grew especially robust. For instance, in Argentina’s economy, worker cooperatives saw a resurgence much later, when in the early 2000s employees took over bankrupt factories and ran them as co-ops (a movement born out of crisis in 2001). In Brazil, the concept of the solidarity economy gained traction in the late 20th century – the idea of democratically-run enterprises (co-ops, collectives, etc.) as a parallel economy was articulated during forums like the World Social Forum (first held in Porto Alegre, 2001). This reflected a broader philosophical development: cooperativism became linked with other social movements (e.g. fair trade, environmental sustainability, feminism) as part of an alternative globalization.

Within the Communist world, cooperatives took on different forms. In the Yugoslav socialist system under Tito, rather uniquely, worker self-management was implemented: factories and enterprises were run by elected workers’ councils (though under one-party oversight). These were not co-ops in the market sense, but they gave workers a cooperative role in management, illustrating another model of workplace democracy. China during the late 1950s Great Leap Forward organized rural people’s communes which were nominally cooperative, but these were state-driven and disastrous. Decades later, however, China would cautiously re-introduce genuine cooperatives (e.g. farmer specialized co-ops in the 1980s–2000s) to address market gaps. Meanwhile, Western Europe saw its cooperative sector flourish in certain regions: Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region is famous for having a high density of co-ops (in manufacturing, construction, retail, and social services). Emilia-Romagna’s success stemmed from two strong cooperative movements – one socialist/communist, one Catholic – that, despite Cold War pressures, worked in parallel to build a vibrant cooperative economy with support from regional government. By the 1980s, co-ops in that region accounted for a significant portion of GDP and exemplified how cooperatives can be competitive, innovative businesses (some Emilia co-ops grew into multinational firms, all while adhering to democratic ownership).

New sectors for cooperatives emerged in the late 20th century. One notable area was renewable energy: starting in the 1970s, Denmark led in forming wind turbine cooperatives, allowing communities to collectively invest in wind farms. This concept spread – by the 1990s, Germany had citizen energy co-ops that challenged energy monopolies and promoted green power. Co-ops also entered healthcare (e.g. cooperative clinics in Canada), social care (Italy’s social cooperatives, first legally defined in 1991, to provide social services and integrate marginalized people through co-op employment), and technology (the late 20th-century saw cooperatively owned ISPs and open-source software co-ops among tech enthusiasts).

Throughout these developments, the cooperative movement continually revisited its guiding principles. In 1966, the ICA updated the Rochdale Principles (for example, dropping the old Rochdale principle of political neutrality and emphasizing concern for community). Finally, in 1995 – at the ICA’s Centennial Congress – a Statement on the Cooperative Identity was adopted, defining a cooperative and codifying Seven Cooperative Principles (adding a 7th principle: “Concern for Community”)file-n4gj8cn7aypseqdxchblglfile-n4gj8cn7aypseqdxchblgl. These principles (voluntary open membership, democratic member control, member economic participation, autonomy, education, cooperation among co-ops, and concern for community) remain the shared value framework for co-ops everywhere, ensuring that despite operating in different industries or cultural contexts, all cooperatives uphold the same core ideals of democracy, equality, and solidarity.

Cooperatives in the 21st Century: Resilience and Renaissance (1990s–Present)

As the world globalized and faced new challenges, cooperatives demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability. In many countries, co-ops endured through waves of deregulation and corporate consolidation by focusing on member needs and long-term stability. In fact, in some sectors cooperatives gained ground: for example, cooperative banks and credit unions continued to be major finance providers, especially after the 2008 financial crisis highlighted the pitfalls of investor-driven banks. Studies showed that co-op banks often had stronger stability and member trust during the crisis, partly due to their ethic of member service over profit maximization.

The cooperative model also found new relevance in addressing contemporary issues like inequality, climate change, and precarious employment. The late 1990s and 2000s saw the rise of concepts like “social and solidarity economy,” in which cooperatives play a key role as enterprises that pursue social objectives and include stakeholders in governance. In 2016, the importance of the cooperative idea was given a unique honor: UNESCO inscribed the “Idea and practice of organizing shared interests in cooperatives” on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This designation recognized cooperativism as a living social practice that has been passed down and deserves protection as part of world heritage – underlining that cooperation is not only an economic model but also a cultural value globally shared.

By the numbers, cooperatives became a significant force in the global economy. As of the mid-2010s, the ICA estimated over 1 billion people were members of cooperatives worldwide, and cooperatives employed around 250 million people. The world’s top 300 cooperatives (a list including giant dairy co-ops, retail/consumer co-op federations, insurance mutuals, and financial co-ops) had a combined annual turnover of about $2.2 trillion USD (equivalent to the GDP of a large country). From rural villages to major cities, co-ops proved capable of scaling their impact. For example, Kenya’s cooperative sector grew to account for a significant portion of GDP through savings and credit co-ops (SACCOs) and agri-coops, while France’s cooperative banks (Crédit Mutuel, etc.) became household names with millions of members.

New kinds of cooperatives have also emerged. In the digital economy, the idea of platform cooperatives has gained traction – envisioning online platforms (like ride-sharing or freelance marketplaces) that are owned by their users or workers, as an alternative to venture-capital-backed tech firms. While still nascent, a few platform co-ops exist, and the concept reflects how cooperative principles can be applied to cutting-edge industries. In addition, there’s been a renaissance of worker cooperatives in some regions, with a new generation of entrepreneurs interested in employee ownership for equitable workplaces. Cities like New York and Montreal have seen growing networks of worker co-ops in sectors like home care, tech services, and food. And in countries such as Spain and Italy, existing co-op ecosystems (e.g. Mondragón, Emilia-Romagna) continue to innovate, including incubating spin-off co-ops and experimenting with cooperative ventures in education and R&D.

The cooperative movement today is truly global and interconnected. Cooperatives actively collaborate across borders through bodies like the ICA and sector-specific unions (e.g. the World Council of Credit Unions). International cooperative trade has grown as well, with co-ops importing/exporting fair trade goods – notably, the Fairtrade certification movement (launched in 1988) has often required farmers to organize in cooperatives to be certified, thereby directly linking ethical consumption to cooperative enterprise. This requirement helped spur the formation of many small farmer co-ops in the Global South (for coffee, cocoa, tea, etc.), giving producers a fairer share of profits and a collective voice.

The United Nations has repeatedly affirmed the value of cooperatives in development. The UN first declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives, highlighting how co-ops contribute to poverty reduction, job creation, and social integration. The year 2012 saw celebrations and awareness campaigns worldwide under the slogan “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World.” The success of that year – which raised public awareness and prompted supportive policies – led the UN General Assembly in 2023 to proclaim 2025 as a second International Year of Cooperatives, calling on governments and stakeholders to promote the cooperative model as key to achieving sustainable development goals. It is a testament to the enduring relevance of the cooperative movement that in 2025, more than 180 years after the Rochdale Pioneers, the world is again spotlighting cooperatives as a viable pathway to inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

From their humble beginnings in village shops and mutual aid societies, cooperatives have grown into a diverse, global phenomenon. Yet the core philosophy remains constant: people united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. This philosophy has proved remarkably adaptable – encompassing an English worker buying affordable flour in 1844 and a Kenyan farmer accessing a microloan through a credit union today. Each era has left its mark on the cooperative movement: the utopian fervor of the 19th century gave co-ops their ethical foundation; the tumult of the 20th century proved their resilience and flexibility; and the challenges of the 21st century are driving cooperatives to innovate and collaborate on a global scale.

Below is a timeline of major milestones in the history of the cooperative movement, summarizing its development and highlighting key global turning points.

Timeline of Global Cooperative Milestones

• 1761 – Weavers in Fenwick, Scotland form the Fenwick Weavers’ Society, often cited as the first consumer cooperative (selling oatmeal at fair prices) .

• 1810 – First recorded farm co-ops in the U.S.: a dairy cooperative in Goshen, Connecticut and a cooperative cheese factory in New Jersey allow farmers to jointly process and market their products . That same year in Scotland, Rev. Henry Duncan opens a member-owned savings bank for poor parishioners – a precursor to credit unions .

• 1844 – The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers opens its cooperative store in Rochdale, England, and establishes the Rochdale Principles of cooperation. This event is regarded as the birth of the modern cooperative movement .

• 1852–1864 – Cooperative banking is born in Germany. Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch founds the first urban credit cooperative (1852) and Friedrich W. Raiffeisen organizes the first rural credit union (1864), providing a model for financial cooperatives globally.

• 1863 – Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) is formed in Great Britain, as hundreds of local consumer co-ops unite to collectively purchase and manufacture goods. CWS (now part of the Co-operative Group) becomes one of the largest consumer co-op federations.

• 1883 – The Co-operative Women’s Guild is founded in the UK by Alice Acland and Mary Lawrenson. It empowers women co-op members, advocates for women’s rights (such as suffrage and maternal health), and by 1910 grows to 32,000 members.

• 1893 – Farmers in California form the Southern California Fruit Exchange, a marketing cooperative for citrus growers, to fight middlemen’s exploitation. It later adopts the brand Sunkist – becoming one of the first famous agricultural cooperatives.

• 1895 – The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) is established in London with delegates from co-ops in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. The ICA becomes the global apex organization for the cooperative movement, dedicated to defining cooperative principles and linking co-ops worldwide.

• 1909–1918 – Cooperative housing takes hold in North America. The first co-op housing community in the U.S. is built in 1909 near New York (East Cedar St., Chicago), and in 1918 Finnish immigrants in Brooklyn start the Finnish Home Building Association, an early affordable housing cooperative. Housing co-ops soon spread to numerous U.S. cities and later to countries like Sweden and Canada.

• 1919 – The newly formed International Labour Organization (ILO) creates a Cooperative Branch to support cooperative development, recognizing co-ops’ role in social justice and labor improvement.

• 1920 – The National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) is founded in the United States (originally as the Cooperative League of the USA). By this time, national cooperative federations or leagues exist in many countries, helping coordinate co-op development. (In 1971, a World Council of Credit Unions would also be formed, reflecting co-ops’ global networking.)

• 1930s – During the Great Depression, cooperatives expand as self-help solutions. In the U.S., the Rural Electrification Act (1936) leads to thousands of rural electric and telephone cooperatives. Consumer and producer co-ops in Europe provide essential goods and services during the economic crisis.

• 1946 – In newly independent India, the Amul Dairy Cooperative (Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union) is established in Gujarat. Starting with just two villages, Amul grows into a massive co-op enterprise and spearheads India’s “White Revolution,” illustrating the power of cooperatives in economic development.

• 1956 – The first Mondragón worker cooperative (ULGOR) is founded in the Basque Country of Spain under the mentorship of Father José María Arizmendiarrieta. This marks the beginning of the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation, which over subsequent decades becomes the world’s largest network of industrial worker co-ops, noted for its democratic governance and social innovation.

• 1960s – A wave of new cooperatives aligns with civil rights and anti-poverty movements. For example, in 1965 Japanese women start the Seikatsu Club Consumers’ Cooperative, which grows into a large consumer co-op union known for ethical and eco-friendly purchasing. In 1967, Tanzania launches (ultimately unsuccessful) Ujamaa cooperative villages as part of African socialisminfed.org. Around the same time, many U.S. “food co-ops” and health co-ops emerge from counterculture communities.

• 1980s – Worker cooperatives and employee-ownership see renewed interest as industrial economies restructure. In 1985, the United Steelworkers union in the U.S. negotiates employee buyouts of failing steel mills, converting them to co-ops. In 1988, the Fairtrade labeling movement starts (Netherlands), stipulating that participating farmers must organize as co-ops, thereby boosting cooperative agriculture in developing countries.

• 1995 – On the ICA’s 100th anniversary, the Statement on the Cooperative Identity (defining a co-op and its values) and the 7 Cooperative Principles are formally adopted at the ICA Congress in Manchester. The addition of the “Concern for Community” principle reflects the modern ethos that co-ops work for sustainable community development, in addition to the original Rochdale principlesfile-n4gj8cn7aypseqdxchblglfile-n4gj8cn7aypseqdxchblgl.

• 2012 – The United Nations International Year of Cooperatives is celebrated worldwide (UN Resolution 64/136). Under the theme “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World,” events in 100+ countries raise awareness of co-ops’ contributions to socio-economic development. The UN praises cooperatives for their role in poverty reduction and social integration.

• 2016 – UNESCO recognizes the cooperative movement’s historical and social significance by listing the “Idea and practice of organizing shared interests in cooperatives” as Intangible Cultural Heritage of humanity. This highlights the cooperative approach as a valued cultural practice across diverse communities and eras.

• 2025 – The United Nations designates a second International Year of Cooperatives (IYC), 13 years after the first. This IYC is aimed at showcasing how cooperatives advance sustainable development, inclusive growth, and resilience in the face of global challenges. With around 3 million cooperatives worldwide and over a billion members at this point, the cooperative movement continues to be a dynamic and vital force in the world economy.