Today’s cooperatives trace their origins to England’s Industrial Revolution. In the first half of the nineteenth century, living conditions were extremely harsh for working class people in the textile milling towns of northern England. Mill workers labored long hours under dangerous working conditions for low pay.

Plagued by unending poverty, they were forced to buy food on credit from merchants who charged high prices for goods that were poor quality and often adulterated. Owning no property, workers were unable to vote. These conditions gave rise to labor movements which drew great numbers of followers.

During this period, cooperative initiatives were common, offering their working class members the promise of economic opportunity and democratic control. But until the founding of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society in 1844, none were successful. When the self-described “Rochdale Pioneers” opened their first cooperative food shop, they sold only five products – butter, flour, oatmeal, sugar, and candles – but promised to provide members with “purest provisions, giving full weight and measure.” They went on to establish many other member-owned businesses.

Learning from earlier failures, the founders of the Rochdale society developed a series of operating principles which ensured their success and the success of hundreds of cooperatives in England and beyond which soon imitated them. Today, these basic principles still guide cooperatives around the world.