This was the year in which something fundamental for the future of the incipient MONDRAGON co-operative movement took place: Father José María Arizmendiarrieta invented Caja Laboral Popular.
What makes Caja Laboral different from the grassroots co-operatives is the mixed composition of its social bodies, based on both worker-members and representatives from the associate co-operatives. In accordance with its suprastructure nature, which Caja Laboral has had from the start and during its subsequent development, the representatives from the co-operatives have the majority in its social bodies.
For more than twenty years the cooperatives would guarantee with 25% of its share capital all the new credit co-operative’s operations. Likewise, in the early years all of Lagun Aro’s financial reserves were fully deposited in Caja Laboral Popular.
