L’âge héroïque de la Fédération des coopératives ouvrières de Bretagne 1902-1914

This article looks at the birth of the consumer cooperative movement in the 19th century and its close ties with socialist organizations and labor unions. These organizations would try to gain control of the consumer cooperative movement. In the west of France, the consumer cooperative movement was organized within the framework of the Federation of Worker Cooperatives of Brittany (Fédération des coopératives ouvrières de Bretagne), which covered a large geographical area. The movement brought together both cooperatives that belonged to Charles Gide’s Cooperative Union, which advocated keeping the movement nonpartisan, and cooperatives that were members of the Socialist Cooperatives’ Bourse. In April 1905, the Federation of Worker Cooperatives of Brittany organized in Nantes the Fourth National Congress of the Socialist Cooperatives’ Bourse. The ideological aspect of the regional federation remained strong, but economic realities quickly led it to focus on developing federal structures. After the unity congress in Tours, which saw the birth of the National Federation of Consumer Cooperatives (Fédération nationale des coopératives de consommation, FNCC), the Federation of Brittany became one of the first regional federations to implement the program for modernizing cooperatives.