Description

We observed a sequential development in the events from 1919 onwards. This took the form of a local history account, supported by documentary evidence, of the activities of members of the Talsi consumer co-operative movement, mentioning the names of individuals and recounting their fates. The process by which people of that era sought mutual understanding, cooperation and compromise in the management of money and goods holds valuable lessons.

In everyday life, cooperation is one of the fundamental elements of interaction between members of society. Even a simple conversation can be seen as a form of cooperation; however, let us focus on cooperation based on the participants’ own labour, skills, and the property or financial contributions they have invested. As people with different interests came together, various types of cooperatives were organised. The most common types are credit unions, consumer co-operatives, agricultural co-operatives, fishermen’s co-operatives, dairy cooperatives, mutual insurance societies, production cooperatives and agricultural machinery sharing associations.