If #cooperatives (as opposed to other forms of mutuality) are understood to have emerged as institutions in response to the development of #capitalism, the earliest known modern proto-#coops are the #AntiMills of 18th century England.

As the #enclosures forced many peasants off the land, they crowded into cities to work in the docks servicing the Atlantic trade. In these quick-growing and anonymous cities in an era before food safety regulation, merchants would routinely adulterate food to...