Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1940, Page 171

THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT
IN DENMARK
By A. Axelsen Drejer,
Secretary of the Danish Central Co-operative Committee.
THROUGHOUT the greater part of a century the parti-
cular form of economic and commercial organisation
which is known as co-operation or the co-operative move-
ment has played a dominant part in the economic life of Den-
mark and hence influenced other important aspects of the life
of the nation. The Danish co-operative movement, therefore,
may deserve attention also from an international point of view,
not only because of the extent to which it has developed, in an
absolute sense as well as in relation to the individual trades and
industries, but also because special forms have been evolved, dif-
ferent to those of other countries, so that we may speak of a
specifically Danish co-operative movement. In essential respects
this is due to developments of a general nature, and the Danish
co-operative movement is, so to speak, organically connected with
these developments, economically and commercially as well as
in relation to other aspects of Danish national life, such as cul-
tural movements.
Just as the origin and subsequent development of the various
co-operative enterprises have as their background and often as
their direct cause the general situation in the domain in question,
so we must also bear in mind that certain general conditions of
a historical, social and personal nature, which have characterised
the Danish people and the Danish community, have had a decisive
mfluence on the particular form and present situation of the co-
operative movement. Thus, it was undoubtedly of importance
that almost simultaneously with the introduction of the move-
nient in the latter half of the last century a strong cultural deve-
lopment took place, not least within the rural population,
which was particularly active in adopting co-operative methods.
The influence which the Folk High Schools above all exercised
°n the peasant youth undoubtedly created an interest in endea-
vours also outside the narrow circle of the home; and alongside
with valuable cultural and economic progress large sections of
the population developed a capacity and an impulse to participate
m common enterprises and their management. Although the Folk
High Schools neither took an active part in the establishment of