[ad. L. cooperātiōn-em, n. of action from cooperārī to COOPERATE. Cf. F. coopération (16th c. in Littré).]
1. The action of cooperating, i.e., of working together towards the same end, purpose, or effect; joint operation.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., I. (1495), 7. By the cooperacyon of the holy ghost.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, Cent. x. Introd. Not Holpen by the Cooperation of Angels or Spirits.
1628. Coke, On Litt., 61. As there may be an estate taile by custome with the co-operation of the Statute of W. 2. cap. 1.
1754. Johnson, Adventurer, No. 137, ¶ 11. The business of life is carried on by a general co-operation.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. ix. 408. His temporary cooperation with Swegen.
1879. H. George, Progr. & Pov., X. iii. (1881), 417. Civilization is co-operation.
2. Pol. Econ. The combination of a number of persons, or of a community, for purposes of economic production or distribution, so as to save, for the benefit of the whole body of producers or customers, that which otherwise becomes the profit of the individual capitalist.
For the history of the term see the quotations. As originally used by Owen the name contemplated the cooperation of the whole community for all economic purposes, i.e., communism. In practice, the principle has been carried out in production, when a body of workmen corporately own the capital by which their concern is carried on, and thus unite within themselves the interests of capital and labor, of employer and employed; and in distribution, when an association of purchasers contribute the capital of a store by which they are supplied with goods, and thus combine in themselves the interests of trader and customers. See COOPERATIVE.
1817. Owen, Letter, in Morning Post, 9 Aug, 2/1. The Peculiar Advantages to be derived from the Arrangement of the Unemployed Working Classes into ‘Agricultural and Manufacturing Villages of Unity and Mutual Co-operation.’ Ibid. (1821), Economist, 3 March. Monastic institutions … nevertheless exhibit striking proofs of what is to be effected by the principle of Co-operation. Ibid., in Holyoake, Hist. Co-op., I. 67. The SECRET IS OUT: it is unrestrained CO-OPERATION on the part of ALL the members, for EVERY purpose of social life.
1824. W. Thompson, Distrib. Wealth, vi. Labor by co-operation opposed to labor by individual competition.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Homes Abroad, ix. 126. The colony must be so organized as to secure the due co-operation of labour and capital.
1844. M. Hennell (title), Outline of the various social systems and communities which have been founded on the principle of co-operation.
1863. Q. Rev., CXIV. 418. Most of these thinkers had a glimpse, more or less clear, of the principle of co-operation … but unfortunately they were unable to distinguish this principle from that of community of goods.
1863. Fawcett, Pol. Econ., II. i. (1876), 105. The essential characteristic of co-operation is a union of capital and labour.
1875. Holyoake, Hist. Co-op., I. 68. The term Co-operation was at first, as the reader sees, and for several years afterwards, used in the sense of communism, as denoting a general arrangement of society for the mutual benefit of all concerned in sustaining it. Later, the term Co-operation came to be restricted to the humbler operations of buying and selling provisions.
1879. Rogers, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 180/1. The workman … uniting in a trade partnership with other workmen, with the distinct purpose of using his own capital as well as his own labour under such an association. The latter form is called co-operation.
Hence Co[-]operationist, one who practises or advocates co-operation.
1831. T. L. Peacock, Crotchet Castle, v. (1887), 61. Next to him is Mr. Toogood, the co-operationist, who … wants to parcel out the world into squares like a chess-board, with a community on each, raising everything for one another.
1881. F. Hall, in N. Y. Nation, XXXIII. 182/2. Long and honourably distinguished for his labours and writings as a co-operationist.
