Interesting and useful presentation from Ed Mayo on examples of cooperatives and mutual society throughout history. Ed’s intro:

You may know the story. In 1844, weavers and workers in Rochdale in the North of England - the 'pioneers' - started a food store, in a venture that has come to be seen as the first co-operative in the world.

There were pioneers before, but only when I saw this map of co-ops in Britain before 1844 did I realise their extent. What follows is a series of examples of co-operatives and mutuals around the world that can also perhaps be considered as pioneers.

Below are some selections from the slides above: