Economic Justice and the Ethics of Public History (Part II)
NCPH 2019 Working Group Case Statement
Rachel Boyle, Omnia History
Some Context on Cooperatives
I join a generation of public historians pushing to expand the application of shared authority not just to collaborative storytelling, but to shared social and economic endeavors.[1] In other words, shared authority is not just good public history, but a sustainable financial model for cultural organizations. The concept resonates with the core principles of a cooperative, defined by the International Co-operative Alliance defines as an “autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.”[2] A cooperative, then, can be owned and controlled by workers, consumers, or even a group of small businesses or organizations.[3] The growing network of cooperatives in the twenty-first century offers an alternative to late-stage capitalism with its gig economy, wealth disparity, exploitation of workers based on race, gender, and class, and other features well-known to public history professionals. Given the shared values of public history and cooperatives, what role can history work play in a cooperative economy? What might a public history cooperative look like?
In this case statement, I will begin with a brief history of cooperatives and then offer an overview of potential legal structures. I will conclude by offering strategies for starting or transitioning to a cooperative model. My goal is to provide practical context for understanding how cooperatives operate and glean applicable lessons that can help public historians envision—and ultimately enact—alternative economic models for public history.
Modern cooperatives arose in opposition to industrial capitalism. In 1844, a group of weavers and artisans in Rochdale, England, opened a successful cooperative store that modeled many of core principles of today’s cooperative grocery stores.[4] Various short-lived attempts at cooperative stores and societies took place in the nineteenth-century United States; in the second half of the century, agricultural organizations like the Grange, the Farmers’ Alliance, and the Knights of Labor promoted cooperative principles in an effort to empower farmers against eastern monopolies and business interests. Cooperative efforts were further embraced in the Progressive Era as evidenced by the establishment of the Cooperative League of the United States of America (CLUSA), an increase in credit unions, and other affiliated efforts to challenge the excesses of industrial capitalism. The cooperative movement continued to grow in the agricultural sector with the help of federal backing during the Progressive Era and Great Depression.[5] In the decades after World War II, the civil rights movement promoted cooperative principles for black farmers, work that continues today.[6] The pattern of cooperatives emerging in response to hard economic times persists into the twenty-first century, as the number of worker co-ops in the United States nearly doubled in the decade following the 2008 financial crisis.[7] The history of modern cooperatives evidence how the principles of cooperation offer an accessible—and often effective—route to resist capitalism.
In the United States, current legal structures for cooperatives depend on the state.[8] Some states have specific statutes that outline lawful cooperative enterprises, with varying degrees of specificity. Other states provide for low-profit limited liability companies (L3C’s), which are for-profit companies with a social mission. An L3C functions as a middle ground between a nonprofit and a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) and may qualify for certain kinds of investments from charitable foundations. Meanwhile, many cooperatives incorporate as a nonprofit or a business but adopt a cooperative structure. After all, a cooperative is defined by its principles rather than its tax status. However, legal structure may facilitate or hinder the realization of cooperative values.
Start-up funding, for example, depends on a cooperative’s legal structure. Nonprofits can apply to a wider range of government and foundation grants. Some funding opportunities are specifically designed for cooperatives or other unconventional social enterprises.[9] Grant funding can help jump-start a cooperative endeavor by covering labor and supply costs. At the same time, starting a cooperative with outside funding sets a risky precedent of relying on major funders rather than directly depending on members. Community organizing and member education remains a crucial first step in building a cooperative, start-up funding or not.[10]
What about a group that is already affiliated or incorporated—perhaps as a historical society or museum—and wants to transition to a cooperative? An established group of invested stakeholders with existing supplies and resources could provide a strong foundation for a cooperative. A transition to cooperative principles would provide a transformative opportunity to shift the locus of decision-making away from boards, major donors, and grant funders toward public stakeholders (or, potentially, workers).
Although the cooperative is not an infallible financial model, it does illuminate a way to apply shared authority to unite the economic and social imperatives of a cultural organization. When public stakeholders become the arbiters of an organization’s economic conditions, they become collaborators at every stage of cultural work and empower an organization to enact a social mission through their economic relationships.
[1] Originally proposed by Michael Frisch in A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History (Albany: SUNY Press, 1990).
[2] “Cooperative Identity, Values & Principles,” International Co-operative Alliance, Co-operative News, August 7, 2018, https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity.
[3] Margaret Lund, “Cooperative Equity and Ownership: An Introduction,” University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, April 2013.
[4] Rochdale Pioneers Museum, https://www.rochdalepioneersmuseum.coop/
[5] “Cooperatives in the U.S.” Center for Cooperatives, University of Wisconsin-Madison, http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu/whatisacoop/history/
[6] Kali Akuno and Ajamu Nangwaya, Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson, Mississippi (Daraja Press, 2017).
[7] Rebecca Harvey, “What has caused the number of US worker co-ops to nearly double?” https://www.thenews.coop/130862/sector/worker-coops/caused-number-us-worker-co-ops-nearly-double/
[8] “Cooperative Statutes by State,” National Cooperative Business Association, https://ncba.coop/our-work/cooperative-statute.
[9] See: http://cultivate.coop/wiki/Foundations_and_Grantors_for_Co-op_Development
[10] Emily M. Lippold Cheney, “Collecting Ourselves: A Cooperative Entrepreneurship Curriculum,” Kris Olsen Traveling Cooperative Institute, 2015.