The roots of cooperative activities go back to the year 1844 in northern England, in the town of Rochdale.At that time, weavers founded the first viable cooperative company.The Industrial Revolution and the urbanisation that followed had created new social classes – industrial workers and middle-class bourgeoisie – which possessed a suitable frame of mind for cooperative activities.Read more on cooperative activities (Link S Group – 04 Cooperative activities).
Cooperative activities arose from consumer needs. In 19th-century Europe, many individual merchants pursued maximal profits, often maintained their customer relations through burdens of unpaid debts and did not care much for the hygiene or quality of their products.To counterbalance these phenomena, cooperatives were established.
Cooperative activities land in Finland
In Finland, urbanisation progressed more slowly than in the rest of Europe.The cooperative concept also arrived in Finland almost 60 years after the Rochdale weavers, at the end of the 19th century.However, Finnish trade suffered from the very same problems as elsewhere.
In Finland, trade was dominated by Russians in the east and Swedish corporate tradesmen in the west.Outlets were located far apart from each other and, especially in the periphery, people hoped for shops closer by.The urban middle class, independent peasants in the countryside and industrial workers alike believed that cooperative activities could be used to promote financial equality.A favourable breeding ground for the cooperative concept was further nourished by the national awakening after the years of Russification of Finland.Cooperative activities were also used to promote political agendas, the ultimate goal of which was the independence of Finland.
The first consumer cooperative in Finland was founded by the workmen of Viipurin Konepaja, an engineering workshop in Vyborg, in 1882.According to the rules of Helsinki General Grocery Company, founded in 1889, outlets were open to all, credit sale was strictly forbidden, each member had a vote and surplus was primarily distributed based primarily on the purchases made and only secondarily on share ownership.
Principles such as membership open to all, democracy and distribution of surplus based on service use still guide the operations of regional cooperatives and S Group as a whole.