Co-op News (August 2019)

Legacoop to serve the socialist and
communist aligned co-ops, and the
smaller AGCI to serve the secular and
republican aligned co-ops; all three
have worked to build better co-ops – and
when they unite on an issue, they have
a platform which obtains political
support across most political parties.
To reverse the fascist eradication
of co-ops, the three federations came
together in 1946 to reassert their practice
and promise. Together, at the start of
national reconstruction, they supported
adoption of co-ops directly into the new
constitution, “as a form of mutual aid
devoid of all private speculative intent.
The law promotes and encourages the
expansion of co-operation by means
of the most suitable means, and provides
suitable checks designed to guarantee its
character and purpose.”
Piero Calamandrei, a revered professor
of law, spoke about the massive impact
of World War II on the formation of
the Italian constitution. “If you want
to go on a pilgrimage to the place
where our constitution was created, go
to the mountains where partisans fell, to
the prisons where they were incarcerated
and to the fields where they were hanged.
Wherever an Italian died to redeem
freedom and dignity, go there, young
people, and ponder: because that was
where our constitution was born.”
In 1947, the Basevi Law was adopted to
regulate the affairs of co-ops and formed
an important element in the success
of the movement – including housing
co-ops, as it legalised indivisible reserves.
This allowed co-operatives to transfer the
totality of their surpluses to a reserve.
Exempt from corporate tax, these reserves
have been the main source of capital
for co-operatives
The new constitution reaffirmed that
co-ops were an economic and social form
to be protected and supported by the state
– a status unique to Italy, with parliament
later adding more ground-breaking laws
to support them.
In 1985, the Marcora Law
allowed redundant workers to use
accumulated unemployment benefits
to buy their old firm as a co-op.
This has seen many firms saved as
co-ops, and protected numerous jobs.
In 1991, a law gave legal standing/
tax status to a new form of social and
service co-operative. These co-ops were
encouraged to provide services in health,
social welfare and public service. Today,
they employ over 400,000 people, serve
over five million clients and achieve
a turnover of €9bn.
From 1992, a law required every co-op
in Italy to contribute 3% of net profits to
a national co-op development fund. There
are now two national co-operative funds:
Coopfond affiliated with Legacoop,
(€440m) and Fondosvillupo affiliated
with ConfCooperative (€120m).
TOURING ITALY’S CO-OPS
At the invitation of Walter Briganti
of Unipol (an insurance company majority
owned by several Legacoop-affiliated
co-ops), I visited co-ops in Rome and
Bologna in 1978. I have returned to
Bologna and Emilia Romagna on three
times, visiting co-ops and meeting
leaders. Always at the back of my mind
was the over 20-year history of Mussolini’s
attack on the sector.
In September of 2018, I toured round
co-ops in the Lake Como area – which
include consumers, workers, beekeepers,
olive orchards, dairy farmers, fishermen,
social services, health and a local guides’
co-op – Cooperativa Turistica Imago.
Tours on its website, wimagolario.
com, include one of the locations
where Mussolini spent his last
hours, on the northwestern shore of
Como. It seemed fitting that it was
a co-operative which led me to Mezzegra
neighbourhood near Tremezzo, where
Mussolini was executed.
Cooperativa Social Azalea is just a few
streets away. Created in 1985, it is a social
co-op with 25 working members who
create employment for disadvantaged
youth and for disabled people. What a
different world these new co-operatives
seek to build. Italy’s co-operators are to
be commended for building a thriving,
expansive movement from the ashes
of fascism.
I am forever grateful to the Italian
co-operators who did not let Mussolini
kill their spirits or their co-ops. With
all their organisational infrastructure,
policies, objectives, reciprocity and
strategies, the Italian co-operatives
are probably the best national model
of co-operative development in the world.
THE COOPERATIVE
MOVEMENT THAT
MUSSOLINI COULD
NOT KILL*
70,000
Co-operatives in Italy
13 MILLION MEMBERS
of Italian co-ops
1.3 MILLION
employees/worker owners (not
including co-op
insurance companies)
137,000
employees/worker owners
of co-operatives in 1951
7%
of all Italians work
at/for a co-op
136.5 BILLION EUROS
Turnover (not including
co-op banks and insurance
companies)
1 OUT OF 3
Italians buys goods or
services from a co-op
1 OUT OF 5
Italians are members
of a co-op
1 OUT OF 8
Italians uses a social/
health co-op
*2017 STaTISTICS FROM THE
ALLIaNCE OF THE ITALIAN
COOPERaTIVES. A COMBINaTION
OF THE STaTISTICS OF AGCI,
CONFCOOPERaTIVE aND
THE LEGaCOOP.
AUGUST 2019 | 43