Cooperative Principles

This book provides a rich history of the Rochdale Pionners and highlights the important role the town of Rochdale pplayed in ushering in the Industrial Revolution. It records the economic and social conditions facing the working place people of Northern England during the first half of the nineteenth century. It also uncovers the influence of the British Cooperative movement of the 19th Centur on the development of national policies in such areas as consumer standards, women's rights, and popular education

EE embarked on its pioneering efforts to sell Fair Trade products in the United States with coffee from Nicaragua. From the beginning, EE paid the producers an above market price for their products out of a desire to help provide a better, more stable income and to more equitably distribute the proceeds of the final sales. The producers are typically small farmers indigenous to their region. On each product the company slogan -- “Small Farmers, Big Change” -- is prominently displayed.

We will be using the US Federation of Worker Co-operatives (USFWC) as the example to examine the larger question of “authority versus liberty”; of which authority can be defined as a federation where co-operatives are members of a larger organization and therefore limiting individuals control over certain aspects and decisions; and of which liberty can be defined as the autonomy of individual co-operatives and their members to control their fate.