Cooperatives
were the earliest form of organisation of working people in the world.
Over the years, they exemplified the importance of worker cooperation
and underlined the potential of organisation, solidarity, mutual
assistance and unity of action of the working class in a capitalist
society. Indeed, the idea of cooperatives had its origins in utopian
socialism; earliest proponents of cooperatives held the romantic view
that socialism can be grafted into the capitalist system using
cooperatives as an instrument.
Over the years, Co-operatives have grown as
a collective management of social production, thereby creating a
strong alternative institution of Business and Management.
