Cooperatives

**Pattern Name:**

Cooperatives

**Introduction:** Millions of people currently work in self-governing cooperatives.

**Illustration:**

**CONTEXT:**

# This quote from Albert Einstein is a prime reason that we must foster more cooperatives: > By using the means of production, **the Worker produces new goods which become the property of the Capitalist**. ...It is important to understand that even in theory **the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his product**.

Cooperatives were first organized, based upon Cooperative Principles, in the industrial north of England, starting with the Rochdale Pioneers (1844) and spreading widely over the next fifty years.

Cooperative organizations abound around the world. There are a few exemplary cooperatives, Mondoragon Corporation in the Basque region of Spain and the network of local industrial co-ops in the Emilia Romagna region of northern Italy.

**PROBLEM:**

**External actors return less to you than you give to them. They are taking advantage of you.**

**Forces:**

**THEREFORE (SOLUTION):**

**Organize with others and keep the savings.**

**Actions:**

Study the businesses you are interested in from the perspective of cooperative organizing and cooperative action.

See partial list under Known Uses, below.

**Consequences:**

Much more responsibility. _(See Cooperative Principles 2, 3, 5, and 6.)_ Much more understanding of the business. Less business uncertainty from being subjected to an outsider's motives and decisions.

You will not get rich quick at the expense of others.

**Known Uses:**

Consumer Co-ops

Consumer Co-op

Credit Co-op

Housing Co-ops

Worker Co-ops

Worker Co-op

Farm Co-op

Agricultural Co-op

Industrial Co-op

Forestry Co-op

Fishery Co-op

Marketing Co-op

Hybrid Co-ops

Community Co-op

**Secondary Level Co-ops** School Co-op College Co-op Research Co-op

**RELATED PATTERNS:**

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