ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 explores the international growth of the co-operative movement from the formation of the CWS in 1864 to the outbreak of the First World War. Three major factors underpinned these developments: the growth of international trade; immigration; and colonialization. The British co-operative movement grew and diversified into a range of activities that included banking, insurance, and agriculture. British co-operative wholesalers developed trading networks internationally that brought to British consumers everything from butter from Denmark to tea from India and Ceylon. Co-operatives spread beyond Europe, North America, and Australasia to Africa, Asia, and South America. Consumer, financial, and agricultural co-operatives spread and new forms of co-operatives, such as housing co-operatives, appeared. The internationalization of the movement took organizational form with the establishment of the ICA in 1895.
