The 1840s Worker-Owned Cooperative at the Center of Florence’s Progressive Past

Organizing businesses into worker-owned cooperatives feels today like an idea whose time has come. A new model is emerging that is productive and profitable and works for everyone, not just a select few.

In fact, this is not a new idea or model, but has deep roots in Valley history. Historian Christopher Clark, author of the Communitarian Moment: The Radical Challenge of the Northampton Association, and Steve Strimer, thirty-year member of Collective Copies, explore a bold experiment that created a democratic workplace in Florence in 1842. Our conversation is moderated by public historian Tom Goldscheider of the David Ruggles Center. Introducing the panel is Larisa Demos of Green Mountain Spinnery and Flat Iron Café, two Vermont worker-coops, who is the current Board president of the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives.