- ANARCHY IN ACTION? 5-
THE QUEBEC CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT
Co-operatives are more important in Quebec than probably
any other place in the world. Consider that out of a population
of about six and a half million, 5,960,000 are members of a co-
operative. No other voluntary institution in society has that
level of participation.
The jewel in the co-op crown is the federation Caisse Populaire
Desjardins. This credit union is the financial backer of the entire
movement and co-operation really didn't become successful before
the Caisse came on the scene. One hundred years ago, no bank
would lend money to a worker or a peasant. Usury from loan
sharks was the only source of credit and people found themselves
enslaved in an endless cycle of debt. It is impossible to judge the
positive impact that this institution has had upon the lives of
ordinary Quebercers. Let's just say a lot fewer workers would own
their own homes without a loan from their local caisse. Nor would
many other forms of co-operative exist without these financial
resources.
Begun in 1900 with a handful of poor villagers and $20.00 in
deposits, it now has 5.4 million members in 1500 local caisses
united in 14 regional federations. Total assets stand at $77 billion,
making it larger than any of the banks operating in Quebec. The
"Caisse Pop.", with 40,000 employees, is also the largest 'private'
employer and is the sole financial institution in 675 communities.
As such, its role in the preservation of village and rural life is
crucial.
The co-operative sector of next greatest importance economically
is agriculture. Farm co-operatives were first formed in the 19th
Century, but did not become a permanent fixture upon the rural
scene until after World War One. Farmers found themselves
strangled by the middle-men, both were buying supplies and
equipment and then selling their produce. The only way to
overcome this sort of parasitism was to band together in supply
and marketing co-operatives. Today, more than 60% of all
producers (38,000 farmers) belong to these organisations and they
do $4 billion in business each year.
Some co-ops provide goods and services for farms such as
petroleum, machinery and seed. Other co-ops own dairies and
processing plants, many of which are the largest in their field.
These include cheese, yoghurt, fruit juice and milk processing.
The agricultural co-operatives are, according to Le Devoir's
Special Supplement On Co-operatives, "the principle source of
prosperity in their regions".
Co-ops play an important part in the life of native and Inuit
communities. Prior to their development, native people were
dependent upon the Hudson Bay Company for goods and
marketing of their furs and other products. This meant a net
outflow of wealth which they could not afford. Starting in 1958,
co-ops were set up to overcome this problem and now there exist
16 native owned and controlled co-operative associations doing
$31 million in business annually. More than 5000 families are
members of these organisations.
The student Co-op Movement was founded in 1983 as a means to
provide cheaper books, stationary and computers for college
students. This group also includes bookstores, services and student
cafeterias. Each year these co-ops have a turnover of $50 million
and membership now stands at 540,000 students. Largely run by
volunteers, this movement has the added advantage of being a
kind of school for co-operators.
Worker co-ops have been in Quebec since 1946, yet the movement
really only got off the ground in the 1980s. At present there are
170 worker co-ops with 7260 members doing $255 million in
business. Most of these are concentrated in the forest industry
which includes saw mills, pulpwood cutting, tree planting and an
enormous nursery for spruce and pine trees. Self-managed co-ops
also exist in printing, manufacturing, taxi driving and
greenhousing. There is an impact beyond the membership for
"worker co-ops have permitted villages to survive", according to
Le Devoir.
Housing co-operatives began to be constructed in the 1970s as a
means to provide inexpensive, yet self-governed, apartments as an
alternative to state-owned social housing. The social breakdown
and anomie found in housing projects does not occur here. People
take pride in their co-ops and when they function properly,
become schools for grass-roots democracy. There now exist in
Quebec 1100 housing with about 60,000 residents. This movement
also puts about $112 million into the economy every year.
Last but not least, are the insurance co-ops of which there are two.
These organisations are the direct descendants of the mutual aid
societies created by farmers and artisans more than 150 years ago.
Today, they have 300,000 members and are worth over one billion
dollars and still maintain the one member-one vote criteria.
Taken together, the 3300 co-operatives did $11.6 billion of
business in 1990 or roughly 8% of the Quebec GNP. This may not
seem like much, but some other figures will put the co-operative
share in a different perspective. Eight percent is more than three
times the percentage of military expenditure in Canada. It is also
more than three times the size of the Canadian income generated
from investment and trade with the Third World. Eight percent is
also greater than the proportion of the American GNP spent upon
the military at the height of the Cold War. (And we all know how
important the "military-industrial complex" once was to the
economy in the USA). Hence co-operation as an economic factor
in Quebec society cannot be lightly brushed aside.
All very well, you might say, but what has this to do with
anarchism? Certainly, few if any co-ops would consider
themselves anarchist. However, the principles by which they
function are libertarian ones. And even if they have "become
conservative" or seem at first no different from any other
institution, these principles are the reason behind their continuing
success and popularity. Due to competition from the co-operatives,
capitalist enterprises have been forced to give a similar level of
prices and services. Hence, any strictly economic advantage of co-
operation is no longer quite as important as it once was. Yet these
institutions continue to grow in membership. The reason for this
must lie in the way that co-operatives are organised, the methods
that capitalism cannot adopt without losing much of its capitalist
nature.
Quebec co-op principles could have come straight from Proudhon.
One principle is mutual aid (the very basis and raison d'=EAtre of the
movement). Also of great importance is the notion of one member-
one vote which is in opposition to the capitalist concept of power
based on the number of shares held. Then there are the concepts of
local control, federalism and self-management (the latter in the
case of worker co-ops). The different co-ops and caisses are proud
of their autonomy and wish to keep it. While certain things might
be better accomplished in a centralised fashion, unity is brought
about through the federalist principle and not a top-down
hierarchy as in the case of a typical business corporation.
Solidarity and the preservation of community are also important
aspects of the Quebec movement, for in many places co-ops were
set up precisely to maintain the rural way of life against the
onslaught of urbanism and capitalism. Nor is this solidarity
restricted to Quebec. Desjardins, as one example, has helped
establish effective credit unions in other provinces such as
Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba. They have also aided the
development of credit unions in Mexico, Russia and West Africa.
There is also the fact that co-ops are so common, so taken for
granted, and indeed so mainstream, that makes them such good
propaganda for anarchism. If mutual aid was confined to half a
dozen anarchists working on some grossly undercapitalised
enterprise in a dingy room, few people will ever become interested
in anarchism. And if these "mainstream" co-operatives, operating
on good libertarian principles function as well as they do, why
can't these ideas be extended to society as a whole? If an important
sector of the economy is co-operative, why not all the economy? If
mutual aid is so successful, why can't mutualism replace statism?
If co-ops preserve community, isn't this an answer to social
breakdown and the destructiveness of the Trans National
Corporation? If local control and federalism work well for credit
unions why not with local government? If workers co-ops function
efficiently under self-management, surely other industries could be
run in this manner. These are the sort of questions that can be
asked in response to a successful co-operative movement, such as
the one in Quebec.
Larry Gambone
FREEDOM PRESS
http://www.lglobal.com/TAO/Freedom