How does the co-operative instinct emerge in low-income communities?

Anne Power

A little personal history

• Tanzania, US, Holloway• Defining co-operation• Pooling resources to maximise

shared gains• Solidarity and reciprocity

Human survival depends on co-operation

• Evidence from pre-historic times• We have moved far into complex,

competitive, unequal groups• So are co-operative models

relevant today?

Pre-historic co-operation

Bottom-up, member controlled, small scale

Multiple models emerge in:• Complex modern economies with ‘big

government’• Advanced fast changing urban communities• Sophisticated private and public services• Industrial, agricultural service systems• Financial, construction, professions, care.

Danish co-operatives

Danish Co-operatives

Root – Industrial revolution ‘shocks’

• Labour > wealth > shared unequally• Powerlessness among masses• Individuals at bottom group together• Urgency of survival – social protection, distribution of benefits, solidarity.

• Higher-level structures to tackle collective conditions

Spawns ‘bottom-up’ groupings

• Associations and clubs• Friendly societies• Mutual aid and self-help groups• Co-operative producers, builders, retail• Proliferation of co-operative experiments• Rochdale Pioneers galvanised movement• Leading to ‘bottom-up’ ideas and bodies• Spread world-wide from UK

Alongside powerful social movements creating

• Public health bodies• Local government• Evangelical ‘chapels’• Trade unions• ‘One man one vote’• Women’s suffrage• Civil rights• Leading to ‘top-down’ systems

Co-operation advances human condition along many lines

• Pure ‘survival goods’ through collective savings e.g. food

• Sanitary homes at reduced cost through collective building organisations (Spain, Scandinavia)

• Health, unemployment, death insurance (Italy)• Education, learning (Denmark)• Democracy, participation, voice (US Civil Rights)• Savings investment for individuals and common good

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the US Civil Rights Movement

Powerful ‘niche organisations’ work alongside government

• Health and social care – Italy, Belgium• Housing – Spain, Scandinavia• Retail – Britain, France, Spain• Industrial production – Spain (Basque)• Architecture and engineering – UK (Arup)• Fisheries (Japan, West Africa)• Savings and insurance – worldwide

Core principles of co-operation

• Open membership• Democratic control – one member one vote• Distribution of surplus value• Limited interest on capital• Political and religious neutrality• Promotion of education• (no credit – cash trading only)

Open Membership

One manOne vote

The ‘divi’ Shared surplus

Pure good No debt

Education

Conditions of success - inspiration

• Pressing, visible problems and acute need• Common cause and unifying idea• Clear targets for action• Small early steps• Trust – clear mutual benefits• Elements of self-interest, reciprocity• Shared gains

Vision – Mondragon

Conditions of success - organisation

• Leadership from within• Organising skills and business development• Ideas and access brokers• Ideas and action planning• Financial controls and probity• Ground rules – mediating, resolving conflict• Transparency

Organisation

Co-op Group Booming

Co-operative organisations today

• Tenant co-operative and tenant management organisations

• Play-schemes, Nurseries• Employee owned services - Locke Fyne Oyster Co

& John Lewis• Rapid expansion of Co-op Group since financial

crisis• Mondragon industrial co-operatives

Deprived Council estates – unlikely co-operative enterprises

• Public landlord problems• Steady revenue stream in rents• Consultation or control• Local knowledge and commitment prevails• Local management and local budgets• Local management saves money and creates jobs• Hands-on learnable skills and training

Tenant Management Organisations

Outcomes

• Higher tenant satisfaction• Higher quality service• Managing within budget• Conserving resource• Better environments• Higher rewards for effort• Mutual gains

Community Fund

Lessons for government

• Complex public framework of support systems• More essential - remote, complex systems• Community instincts useful and strong • But need to BROKER community self interest• Therefore supporting framework• Distribution of resources• Training and ‘hand-holding’

Lessons for local authorities

• Mutuals can deliver key services• Profit sharing• Front line v. bureaucratic jobs• New ways of creating social progress• Community energy services• Participatory budgeting• Sustaining motivation• Looking to Europe

Inspired by example

Social care-taking in Torino

Saving birds’ nests King Penguins