Cooperatives

Cooperativism has a long history in Europe, developing in its modern form mainly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, initially as a reaction to the negative social consequences of the Industrial Revolution and the early stages of capitalism. "Great Britain became the cradle of consumer cooperatives, Germany of credit cooperatives, France of producer cooperatives, Denmark of agricultural cooperatives. The Czech Republic and Slovakia were among the top in the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire." (Hajzler, 2018)

Cooperativism is part of the concept of participatory economics, which seeks to reduce income and wealth inequalities in society by increasing participatory and economic democracy. Economic democracy means that at a minimum, all those affected by a decision should have an influence on its consequences.

Cooperativism is based on 7 basic principles as defined by the International Cooperative Federation which include voluntary membership, democratic control of the cooperative by its members and their economic participation, independence, continuous education of members, mutual collaboration between cooperatives and concern for local communities.

The fact that the cooperative enterprise can also be a modern and successful commercial model in today's economic, social and environmental conditions is evidenced by the example of the agricultural marketing cooperative hemp business La Chanvrière, the largest grower of industrial hemp in Europe. In France, cooperatives account for 40% of the food industry and represent one of the pillars of the French economy.