The International Co-operative Alliance and the consumer co-operative movement in northern Europe, c. 1860-1939

Abstract

The consumer co-operative movement was one of the most important popular movements in inter-war Europe, but remains under-researched by historians in comparison to other social movements, especially with regard to its international dimensions. From 1895, the co-operative movement also had its own international organisation, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA). This book explores the transnational history of consumer co-operation from the establishment of the movement in the second half of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Second World War, focusing in particular on co-operation in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). The co-operative movement was especially strong throughout the region and the Nordic co-operative federations played a prominent role in the ICA. The fundamental question explored in the book concerns the meaning of co-operation: was it a social movement or an economic enterprise? Did it aspire to challenge capitalism or to reform it? Did it contain at its heart a political vision for the transformation of society or was it simply a practical guide for organising a business? I argue that it was both, but that an examination of the debates over the different meanings of co-operation can also illuminate broader questions about the emergence of consumer interests in the first half of the twentieth century, especially in a transnational context. Studying the Nordic co-operative movement also helps to shed light on the growing international interest in this region and the emergence of a Nordic “middle way” during the 1930s.