Cooperatives in India: A Historical Perspective "I shall help you and identify myself with you on one condition.

You promise to work on the strength of your idealism and the efforts of the co-operators. Let cooperatives remain members' organisations. They shall not identify with and depend on the government, for cooperatives are basically self-reliant associations where people come together voluntarily to help each other." - Mahatma Gandhi. Co-operative Movement in the World: The cooperative movement began in Europe in the nineteenth century, primarily in England and France. The industrial revolution and the increasing mechanization of the economy transformed society and threatened the livelihoods of many workers. The concurrent labour and social movements and the issues they attempted to address describe the climate at the time. The earliest co-operatives were set-up among the weavers, in other words workers in cottage industries, who were the first and the hardest hit by the development of the mercantile economy and the industrial revolution. So the weavers, in order to gain access to the market in the tools of their trade or to the market in foodstuffs set up the first co-operative in Scotland (Fenwick, 1761; Govan, 1777 ; Darvel, 1840 ), in France (Lyons, 1835 ), in England (Rochdale, 1844 ) and in Germany ( Chemnitz, 1845 ). Robert Owen (17711858) is considered the father of the cooperative movement. A Welshman who made his fortune in the cotton trade, Owen believed in putting his workers in a good environment with access to education for themselves and their children. These ideas were put into effect successfully in the cotton mills of New Lanark, Scotland. It was here that the first cooperative store was opened. Spurred on by the success of this, Owen had the idea of forming "villages of cooperation," where workers would drag themselves out of poverty by growing their own food, making their own clothes, and ultimately becoming self-governing. He tried to form such communities in Orbiston in Scotland and in New Harmony, Indiana in the United States of America, but both communities failed. Although Owen inspired the cooperative movement, otherssuch as William King (1786 1865)took his ideas and made them more workable and practical. King believed in starting small, and realized that the working classes would need to set up cooperatives for themselves, so he saw his role as one of instruction. He founded a monthly periodical called The Cooperator, the first edition of which appeared on May 1, 1828. This gave a mixture of

cooperative philosophy and practical advice about running a shop using cooperative principles. King advised people not to cut themselves off from society, but rather to form a society within a society, and to start with a shop because, "We must go to a shop every day to buy food and necessarieswhy then should we not go to our own shop?" He proposed sensible rules, such as having a weekly account audit, having 3 trustees, and not having meetings in pubs (to avoid the temptation of drinking profits). In 1844 a group of 28 artisans working in the cotton mills in the town of Rochdale, in the north of England established the first modern co-operative business, the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society. The weavers faced miserable working conditions and low wages, and they could not afford the high prices of food and household goods. They decided that by pooling their scarce resources and working together they could access basic goods at a lower price. Initially, there were only four items for sale: flour, oatmeal, sugar and butter. The Pioneers decided that it was time shoppers were treated with honesty, openness and respect, that they should be able to share in the profits that their custom contributed to and that they should have a democratic right to have a say in the business. Every customer of the shop became a member and so had a true stake in the business. At first the co-op was open for only two nights a week, but within three months, business had grown so much that it was open five days a week. The principles that underpinned their way of doing business are still accepted today as the foundations upon which all co-operatives operate. These principles have been revised and updated, but remain essentially the same as those practiced in 1844. In France Charles Fourier (1722-1837) , a commercial clerk, published in 1822 his main work, a Treatise on Domestic Agricultural Association. This could be one of the first works on co-operation. In France Saint-Simon (1760-1865) worked on various theories of "associations". But it was Proudhon (1796-1865) who advocated mutual aid and "free credit" for free access to the money market and Buchez (1796-1865) who championed the idea of inalienable collective capital and workers production co-operative societies. Schulze-Delitzsch (1808-1883) was the apostle of urban credit co-operatives and cooperatives in handicrafts, while F.W.Raiffeisen (1818-1888) did the same for rural credit cooperatives. Though all these visionaries had articulated the philosophy of co-operation it was not until the World-War II that an Authoritative Commission was appointed by the International Cooperative Alliance. Founded in 1895, the International Co-operative Alliance is an independent, non-governmental organisation which unites, represents and serves co-

operatives worldwide. It is the largest non-governmental organisations in the world. ICA members are national and international co-operative organisations in all sectors of activity including agriculture, banking, fisheries, health, housing, industry, insurance, tourism and consumer co-operatives. Currently, ICA has 223 member organisations from 85 countries, representing more than 800 million individuals worldwide. According to cooperative economist Charles Gide, the aim of a cooperative wholesale society is to arrange bulk purchases, and, if possible, organize production. The best historical example of this were the English CWS and the Scottish CWS, which were the forerunners to the modern Co-operative Group. A second common form of Co-operative Federation is a Co-operative Union, whose objective (according to Gide) is to develop the spirit of solidarity among societies and in a word, to exercise the functions of a government whose authority, it is needless to say, is purely moral. Co-operatives UK and the International Co-operative Alliance are examples of such arrangements. In some countries with a strong Co-operative sector, such as the UK, Co-operatives may find it advantageous to form a Parliamentary Political party to represent their interests. The British Co-operative Party and the Canadian Co-operative Commonwealth Federation are prime examples of such arrangements. The modern co-operative concept or principles in the formal sense may not be very old but the concept of co-operatives is definitely the ancient one. The informal co-operation can perhaps be cited from the primitive age of mankind. Two men or women working together to hunt down an animal in the forest for their food must have been the first example of cooperative effort or a work of cooperation