Les coopératives de production au service des coopératives de consommation : le cas de la coopération socialiste en Belgique (1872-1983)

Abstract

In Belgium, the cooperative movement developed since the last quarter of the 19th century as the backbone of a socialist workers’ movement where the party form will be both the fruit of a grouping and the centralizing and leading force of the other components that are mutuals, unions and cooperatives. Cooperatives are at the heart of the development of socialism in Belgium and give it significant economic power. Beyond a logistical aspect, for the Belgian socialists « [The cooperative] appears (…) as a kind of embryonic realization of socialism, which prepares minds to conceive a social order very different from the current capitalist regime ». The Belgian cooperative movement adopted the principles laid down by Rochdale’s pioneers, but added an obligation to join the Belgian Workers' Party (POB) and to allocate part of the profits to socialist propaganda. This addition clearly differentiates the Belgian cooperative model from that of other countries. Another specificity is to have developed almost exclusively on the consumption model, the few production cooperatives feeding it.

Keywords

• socialism
• trade unionism
• emancipation
• cooperatives
• Belgium
• Maison du peuple