Echoes of Co-operatives from the North —the Breakthrough of the Finnish Cooperative Movement—

Abstract

This article describes the breakthrough of the Finnish cooperative movement as part of the larger societal upheaval of the early 20th century. While the breakthrough of the movement may have come late in Finland, it has left an indelible imprint on Finnish society. The DNA of the Finnish cooperative movement has a hefty dose of international genes, particularly from the UK, Germany, Ireland and Denmark, which was adapted to the Finnish reality. This article discusses what led to the international business model innovation gaining a foothold in a remote and sparsely populated northern country relying predominantly on agricultural production, and what the ramifications of this development were. In this theoretical article, we have used an explanatory historical research method in order to understand what has happened, why it happened and what resulted from it. From the European perspective, Finland was a remote, cold forested land, slow to embrace agricultural and industrial progress. Moreover, delayed land reforms increased social pressures. While the basic motives behind the cooperative movement were economic and social, the actualisation of the movement was triggered by Finland’s relationship with the Russian central power reaching a crisis point. The spread of the cooperative movement cannot be explained solely on the social and political pull factor. It also required a strong figurehead and a group of committed people taking an active initiative serving as a catalyst to direct the change. The past number of decades have demonstrated the practical power of the ideology as Finnish co-operative enterprises have managed to create a credible alternative to other types of business, create healthy competition and provide benefits and services for their members. Cooperatives have been characterized to have a dual nature, which means that although cooperatives have competitive and profitable business operations, simultaneously they have social aims and they have also achieved wider social change. The co-operative movement, which came into existence more than a century ago in Finland, has had a significant impact on the development of Finnish society by pioneering equality and democracy, two values that have since then been universally adopted. Today, in relative terms, Finland is probably the most co-operative country in the world.

Received: 28 April 2023 
Accepted: 05 October 2023