ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the specific context of the formation of the Consumers Co-operative of Berkeley (CCB) and its early years. It examines the early history of Berkeley and then proceeds to look at the factors that assisted the establishment of the CCB during the 1930s such as Upton Sinclair and the ‘End Poverty in California Movement’ campaign in 1934 and the visit by the Japanese Christian co-operator, Toyohiko Kagawa, to the Bay Area. With the annexation of California by the US in 1847 and Californian gold rush, the character of Berkeley began to change with the arrival of more US citizens and other immigrants to the Bay Area. The Second World War created an economic boom in Berkeley and the Bay Area, with increased demand for everything from toothpaste to shipbuilding. The military-built Camp Ashby in Berkeley for a segregated unit of African American military police and the Savo Island housing project for married personnel in South Berkeley.
