Long before it was a chain of supermarkets, the Co-op was a movement. It started with a small group of skilled craftsmen (many of them Chartists), banding together to open their own store selling high-quality, fairly priced goods that they couldn’t otherwise afford.

They inspired a movement which by the turn of the century encompassed hundreds of independent co-operative societies with millions of ordinary shoppers as their members, all with a democratic voice and the “divi” — dividend, a share of the profits.

When in 1917, at the height of WWI, a government dominated by big business tried to clamp down on co-operatives the movement responded as it has always done. It joined together to seek a direct voice in politics via own political party — the Co-operative Party.

Those early pioneers made little distinction between co-operatives and trade unions. For them, both were a means of collective action. Whether a fair day’s pay or a fair price for everyday essentials, those early radicals knew that change is only possible through collective action and through their principles of organising, provided models for its success.

It’s only by pooling resources, sharing mutual benefit, standing shoulder to shoulder with one another that we’ll bring about the more fundamental changes in our politics that we all need.

As we face five more years of brutal Tory austerity, the breakup of Britain and our place in Europe put at risk, there are vital lessons from co-operation.

We’re currently in the middle of Co-ops Fortnight (June 20–July 4) and once again it is co-operatives that are providing one of the first lines of defence, as well as sowing the seeds for a revival in our politics.

Take Enabled Works in Morley as one example. For many years the Leeds Remploy Factory offered employment, training and vital independence for disabled people in the area. When it faced closure at the hands of the coalition government in 2012, workers there (some of whom had worked there for more than 20 years) faced redundancy and an uncertain future.

A group of 12 former staff took matters into their own hands, putting £5,000 of their own redundancy pay towards re-establishing the company as a worker-owned co-operative.

The two-story factory and office space now employs over 40 staff and, as a worker-owned co-operative, all are given a say in how the company works and a share in the profits.

The company recently affiliated to the Co-operative Party — putting it on a footing with the multibillion-pound Co-operative Group — and giving it a voice in the Party’s policy process, elections to its NEC and direct links with our MPs and candidates.

The lesson here is perhaps even more fundamental than the number of jobs saved. It’s about standing up for ourselves and for one another, taking control of our lives and communities and using that power to look after one another.

At best, the Co-operative and Labour Parties are political movements with a direct link to the priorities and experiences of ordinary people.

Fundamentally, they are a means of seizing back control of the state from privilege and using it as a means to enable people to improve their lives.

Reviving democratic politics therefore means reviving the movements that sustain it. It means reviving the spirit of the pioneers in Rochdale or the Remploy workers in Leeds and rejecting the deeply unfair consequences of the politics handed to us, building something new and strong and different — from the ground up if needs be.

The team at Enabled Works aren’t alone in using the tools of co-operation to take on the challenges of austerity Britain and failing markets. 2012 also saw the creation of the first student housing co-ops in Britain in decades, in Edinburgh and Birmingham.

With tuition fees increased by the coalition government, maintenance grants cut, the average weekly rent for students now standing at £95, this generation of students are being squeezed like never before.

As Sean Farmelo, co-founder of the Birmingham project put it: “Students have been taken for cash cows and no-one has done anything about it.” With a £550,000 start-up loan from the Phone Co-op, the project’s founders purchased houses in Selly Oak, which will remain permanently available to student members of the co-operative.

The houses are run via the democratic involvement of their members and, by cutting out agents and landlords, rent stands at less than £40 per week. In doing so and with the support for the wider co-operative movement, they’ve created a model of affordable, decent-quality student housing which they are now pushing student unions and other groups across the country to adopt.

And that’s the point. What began as practical solutions to failures by the market or products of injustice at the hands of government policy are in fact deeply political.

Whether it’s unemployed workers taking over the business, students setting up housing co-ops, service users taking charge of their social care, football fans’ trusts standing up for supporters and buying out the club, or community energy schemes putting solar panels on the roof of tower blocks to take on the Big Six — all are pioneering solutions to the big problems that our society faces.

They’re showing that an alternative to the conventional economic wisdom is not only possible, but practical, and providing models that can be adopted and adapted elsewhere.

Just as in 1844 or in 1917 this grassroots holds the key to reviving our politics. 

The role of political parties such as the Co-operative Party is to provide them with a platform in the democratic process.

When co-operative and community-based enterprises successfully challenge the economic status quo and take on the established interests, it is inevitable they will come under attack. Whether facing onerous legislation, regulatory hurdles or, most pernicious of all, an attitude of neglect and disregard from those with power, co-operatives need a voice that can stand up at all levels of government and clear the way.

It will be a long and tough five years, but this Co-ops Fortnight, and as this year’s Co-operative Economy Report by Co-ops UK shows, a new generation of co-ops are at the forefront of the fightback against austerity. We’ll be backing them — just as we have done for almost a century.

• Karin Christiansen is general secretary of the Co-operative Party. Join the campaign keepit.coop, @letskeepitcoop, fb.me/keepitcoop