3c hapter - Index of

162 Locavesting
The defi nition I like most, however, comes courtesy of go.coop,
which explains on its web site: We all have childhood memories
of parents, teachers, and others encouraging us to work together.
A co- op is what “working together” looks like all grown up.
Often, workers were forced to spend their meager wages at
company- owned stores, which overcharged them for basic goods.
That’s what led a group of 28 weavers and textile mill workers in
Rochdale, England, in 1844 to pool their savings and open their
own store, where they could buy staples such as butter, sugar,
fl our, and oatmeal at reasonable prices. The Rochdale Equitable
Pioneers Society, as they called themselves, is widely considered
the fi rst successful co- op, and its governing principles, known as
the Rochdale Principles, are at the heart of the worldwide co- op
movement today. The Rochdale store tracked each member’s
purchases, and at the end of each year it distributed any surplus
profi ts back to the members in proportion to how much they had
spent. The weavers welcomed new members, growing to 74 by the
end of the fi rst year. As their enterprise thrived, they rented extra
space in the building, where they set up a library and held educational
lectures for the betterment of their members and community.
The cooperative eventually operated bakeries, dairies,
painting services, coal delivery, a laundry, and mills.
By the 1860s, the Rochdale pioneers were receiving visitors from
all over the world who came to see how a successful cooperative was
run. The operating philosophy that allowed the cooperative to
thrive boiled down to seven principles that were adopted by the
International Cooperative Alliance in 1937 and are adhered to by
cooperatives today: Economic participation of members, open
and voluntary membership, democratic control, autonomy and
independence, education and training, concern for the community,
and cooperation with other co- ops. Through these governing ideals,
co- ops balance profi t- making with a commitment to work in the best
interests of their communities.