A History of Struggle for Equality and Democracy
Cooperation was born as a tool for organization, autonomy, and the achievement of rights by workers and individuals who wished to be the protagonists of their time, people who believed in the opportunity for a civil society built around the values of equality, solidarity, and equity.
Social Redemption, Labor, and Rights
Cooperation was founded to provide answers to the most vulnerable layers of the population through their own self-organization. The first cooperative experiences in Emilia-Romagna involved day laborers, whose living conditions were miserable. They were exposed to seasonal work and the coercive power of landowners, the same landowners who supported Fascism to violently suppress the struggles of the laborers.
Cooperatives: A Democratic and Republican Force
After the tragic twenty years of Fascism, cooperatives were reborn in freedom and were recognized in Article 45 of the Italian Constitution: “The Republic recognizes the social function of cooperation based on mutuality and without the purpose of private speculation. The law promotes and encourages its growth through the most suitable means and ensures, through appropriate controls, its character and purposes.”
The Cooperative Model: Economic Solidity, Growth, and Future
Since then, Italian cooperation has grown, giving rise to national and international industry leaders, sharing foundational values, and promoting the participation of its members. It guarantees high-quality, secure labor while pursuing socially and ecologically sustainable development, improving the well-being of the communities where it is established.
An Emilia-Romagna Story:
Cooperation is Born and Grows Here
Emilia-Romagna is considered the homeland of Italian cooperation, a benchmark for cooperation in Europe and worldwide.
It is the region with the highest percentage of cooperative employees relative to the total population.
of the regional economy
Of Legacoop national affiliates
of the national cooperative turnover
The origins
As in the rest of Italy and Europe, the first cooperatives in Emilia-Romagna developed in the second half of the 19th century. In 1886, the “National Federation of Cooperatives” was founded in Milan; in 1892, at the Sampierdarena congress, it took the name of the National League of Cooperatives (later Legacoop). With national unity recently achieved and a process of industrialization and economic development drawing illiterate, landless, and unemployed laborers to the cities, the first labor cooperatives were born in Ravenna, Budrio, Bertinoro, Forlì, and Meldola. In Reggio Emilia and Imola, consumer cooperatives were established, while people’s banks (banche popolari) and rural credit unions (casse rurali) developed throughout the region. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, notwithstanding the forced hiatus of the hateful Fascist dictatorship, cooperation in Emilia-Romagna continued to structure itself increasingly as a defined economic system. This journey was marked by significant legislative interventions and, above all, by the ability to keep pace with the profound social and industrial changes occurring in both the region and the country.
The second post-war period
Between 1945 and 1962, the cooperative movement was reborn. Cooperatives that had survived during Fascism took off, dissolved cooperatives were reconstituted, and new ones were founded. In 1962, through the efforts of 14 purchasing groups comprising 420 members, the National Consortium of Retailers (CONAD) was established in Bologna. Its purpose was to jointly organize supplies and the purchasing of food, beverages, and consumer goods. That same year, Coop 1 was born in Reggio Emilia, the first large Italian cooperative department store, whose logo was designed by the renowned graphic artist Albe Steiner. In Bologna, Unipol also began its activities: in just a few years, the insurance company would expand from the region across the entire national territory.
The economic boom years
The Sixties and Seventies marked the transition toward a more mature configuration of the movement. A model of cooperation emerged that was linked to the rapid maturation of civil society, which required responses to new needs. Legacoop cooperatives proved they could look beyond “the doorstep of their own shops,” contributing to the resolution of issues of general value: employment, through forms of inter-company solidarity during times of crisis; the development of agricultural areas through the creation of modern enterprises; and the protection of workers’ purchasing power through the expansion and rationalization of the distribution system. To respond to the new demands of productive and technological evolution, the Emilia-Romagna Committee of the League of Cooperatives was established in 1970. Based in Bologna, its main task was the representation of member enterprises’ interests, as well as the coordination and direction of provincial and sectoral structures.
Toward the third millennium – the 80s
In the 1980s, the major transformations of the production system led the member enterprises of the League of Cooperatives to face the market and competition decisively, ensuring they were not pushed to the margins of the economic system. This resulted in: the need to consolidate processes of autonomy from political forces; the emphasis and enhancement of functional interconnections between enterprises; the expansion of horizons beyond national borders and traditional cooperative exchange channels; the requirement to adopt modern tools in terms of management, technology, and finance; and the necessity for a serious update of cooperative legislation. All of this was pursued without losing sight of the core values of cooperation: solidarity and mutuality. In 1987, the regional congress of Legacoop was held in Modena, which named the regional organization Lega dell’Emilia-Romagna. In addition to the traditional tasks of representation, direction, and coordination, it was also assigned the new responsibilities of developing systemic entrepreneurial strategies to allow for the further development of cooperative enterprises within the market economy.
Towards the Third Millennium - The 90s
The 1990s saw the League of Cooperatives of Emilia-Romagna committed to relaunching the presence of cooperation within regional society. The goal was to play an economic role that does not look solely at profit, but seeks to offer everyone the opportunity to fulfill their lives in the most complete way possible. This commitment was accompanied by important legislative action by the Emilia-Romagna Region, which on March 23, 1990, issued Regional Law No. 22, regulating interventions aimed at the promotion, development, and qualification of cooperative enterprises. This law, which brought many benefits to cooperation, was deeply amended by the Legislative Assembly of the Emilia-Romagna Region on May 31, 2006.
The Values of Cooperation
- Self-Help
- Self-Responsibility
- Democracy
- Equality
- Equity
- Solidarity
Principles of the International Cooperative Movement
We adhere to the principles shared by the cooperative movement worldwide. The seven principles of cooperation are promoted by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA).
1. Voluntary and Open Membership
Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political, or religious discrimination.
2. Democratic Member Control
Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives, members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and cooperatives at other levels are also organized in a democratic manner.
3. Member Economic Participation
Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing their cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.
4. Autonomy and Independence
Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.
5. Education, Training, and Information
Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operatives. They inform the general public, particularly young people and world leaders, about the nature and benefits of co-operation.
6. Cooperation among Cooperatives
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional, and international structures.
7. Concern for Community
Cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.