The reputation of the historical community of Ampelakia was dye to its economic growth,which was a result of the yarns 'industry and trade.The product was 'canalized' into the biggest markets of the Central Europe.

But first of all,the historical village was known for it's 'Common Union',which was an industrial-trading co-operative.It is considered to be the first of its kind that was created in Europe and in the world.The majority of the historians describes it as an co-operative of capital and work.

At the end (to the sea) of the postcard Valley of tempi,in Homer's days ,the capital of Magnesias's land was Melivia.It was famous for the dyeing rhodospin (porfyra),which was the plant 'rizari-erythrodanon',whose roots gave the scarlet-red color,that had the property not to fade under the influence of the sun and the passing time.

The inhabitants of Ampelakia followed the example of their neighbours (the inhabitants of Melivia) and developed,on large scale,the spinning and the art of scarlet dyeing.

The inhabitants of Ampelakia,'bold and wise',just like all the Thessalian businessmen,had visited and lived in the big European cities,where they created relations with European trader and industry of the other countries.

With the help of traders from Epirus (who showed the road to Austria and Germany)the inhabitants of Ampelakia,'gentle, honest and studious',started exporting their red yarns to Europe,the Europeans were vividly surprised by the first samples,because they characterized by the special preparation of the yarns and by the colors brightness.

From its first steps Ampelakia's enterprise turned out a great success,because it obtained unimaginable consumption.

So, in the middle of 18th century (1750-1760) the first family society was created.During the next years,there were in Ampelakia five societies,where one thousand were occupied.

All these facts are very interesting.So,the village's history,during the centuries until its decline started unfolding,like a ball of golden thread.

The most important part of this history was the life and the work of Ampelakias co-operative company,whose head was Ampelakia's village!22 small villages of the area came in on the union,whose members were 6.000 people.

The members were:capitalists and landowners,who participated with their money (the first) and thir presence (both of them),masters who participated with their knowledge and working-men and women,who offered their personal work.

This making up of the 'Common Union's members was the characteristic that differentiated the 'Common Union' from other similar partnership,before and after it.

This characteristic evoked and still evokes admiration not just from special student (sociologists,economists ete),but also from many others,who are directly or indirectly interested.

The Union managed to conciliate the interests of the two eternal enemies,the capitalists and the working class,in a critical time,when a ruthless and cruel capitalism was developing.

The society succeeded in conciliating and smoothing out the social inequalities between different productive classes.These inequalities are,now and then,the main causes of social upheavals,in a context of ungovernable capitalism.

The result of all these was to occur certain economic regulations, which could ensure the 'economic justice' in the union.The reason of these restrictions was the avoidance of the co-operative's dominance by the capitalists.

The lowest sum that someone could deposit(in order to have a co-operative portion) was 5.000 piastres-grossia (that is to say 6.800 francs).The largest amount was 20.000 piastres(that is6.80 francs).

The last ones and those who lad more than 20.000 piastres deposited their extra money in the community's savings bank with annual interest 12%.

The landowners,in the fields,cultivated cotton and rizari in the houses,the women and girls worked perpetually with the spindles the distaffs and the spinning-wheels.

The co-operative owned the wash-houses,the dye-houses,the cotton-mills and other essential workrooms,where the yarns were dyed,with unequalled art and systematically.

The growers delivered the cotton,which was estimated by a special committee, and after that,they took in advance its half value and the other half in the end of the year,after the annual account's close and the addition of the profits that corresponded to each one of them.

Each one of the workers had open credit account,which was based to their wages. Any worker could withdraw,from his credits,the sum that was necessary for the support of his family and the various running expenses.

In the end of the year a settlement of them took place,after the addition (to their portion) of the profits that corresponded to each on of them.

The General Assembly of the co-operative's members, which was the sovereign organ, decided for the modification of the Articles and all the other general matters.Every three years the General meeting elected a five-member Board and a twelve-member Auditing Committee.

The Board had the general management of the Union's works.It was also responsible for the attentive observance of the account books and other deeds.The board appointed the employees and sent the agents and the representatives to the agencies and the branches in Greece and abroad.

The Auditing Committee checked the economic management of the company.The facts of this management were given to the Committee by the Board every quarter,as well as the annual balance and report.

The Committee that was a superior organ,had great rights and it submitted (to the annual General Meeting).

However,the system of the profits' distribution shows the realistic conception of the direct and urgent life's needs,the high moral,religious and cultural belief and the supreme noble ideals of the Ampelakia's co-operative.In the end of 'economic' year the General Assembly distributed the profits as follows:

First of all,it deducted the taxes,that the village owed to the Turks.Then,it removed the various expenses of the company. After that,it separated a flat sum of money for the poor,sick and other unfortunate fellow-villagers,in order to buy wheat for their families.

Then,it put a large amount of money by, for the Pashas' briberies and the service of the important guests and tycoons of Europe ,who were hosted in Ampelakia.

The purpose of this hospitality was the gaining of their favour and the facilitation of the village's affairs.The Assembly also removed the expenses of the schools and their public welfare institutions.

And finally,the profits were shared to the landowner,the capitalists,the matters,the workers,the employees etc.

The foundation-operation of the 'Common Union' in Pest,Vienna ,Dresdi,Byrot,Smyrna,Constantinople was characteristic of its potentiality and magnitude.

A characteristic of the robustness of the Greek community in Vienna was that Swartz,Sina and Stavrou (1st manager of the National Bank in 1841)were among the traders of the first class of the 'Greek Fraternity of St.George' of Vienna (participated in the lending of the Austrian government (1809) that had to pay war indemnities to France.

All the agents,the representatives and the employees of the European agencies came from Ampelakia and were members of the co-operative.

A lot of them worked and at the same time studied in various universities. Moreover,the Board made sure that the representatives changed often.

As a result,a lot of inhabitants of Ampelakia went in turn aboard and transfer the culture to Ampelakia .

So,the abudant money,the education and the continious contact with the civilized Europe made Ampelakia look like a modern European city.

In the streets you could hear the inhabitants speak French,German and Italian with admirable fluency.

There was a theatre where excellent plays were staged and also a faculty (that was like o college),the eminent 'Ellinomusion' (Greek museum),where the most famous,for their erudition ,education,morals and virtues Greek scholars and wise men of that time(Evgenios Voulgaris,K. Koumas,Grigoris Konastantas and many others)studied and taught.

These years Ampelakia lived magnificently and lavishly,but even there,in the paradiciac small city,you could hear clearly the groon and the sighs of the brothers-slaves.

The Ampelakia's co-operative was well-known for its original popular character and the domination of a spirit of social consciousness,solidarity and fraternal interdependence between its members.

Its financial standing was of inconceivable prosperity.The profits were so prodigious,that in 1810 the initial capital of the union had been multiplied over a thousand times and just the surplus of this year was 20.000.000 francs.
Unfortunately,for Ampelakia and for the modern Greek civilization,this eminent union existed only for a short period of time.

Historical dates:at these dates 'agitations' took place,regarding the co-operative from the beginning of the 'Common Union's operation until its rot:

1750-1770:these were in Ampelakia small groups, which had the character of a 'company' or 'society'.More specific,it is reported the existence of five companies.The dominant society was the one where G.Swartz participated.

1780: Faindation of the 'Common Union'-it was a limited partnership-with eight members traders and masters-yarn dyers.

ADMINISTRATION:
Eight supervisors-heads in Ampelakia (two of them were 'Swartz') and four abroad (one of them was a 'Swartz').
It acted and achieve great things for 30years (and more) (1780-1811).

1790-1992: Disintegration of the union ,caused by disputes.

1792: Re-establishment of the 'Common Union', without the participation of all the former members.

1795: Re-establishment of the 'Common Union' caused by the quarrels between the 'master' dyers and the traders-supervisors of the company for the way of the profits' distribution(time-consuming trial in foreign consulates-embassies in Salonica ,Constantinople,Vienna),with compromise outcome. According to that Swartz had to compensate the others.

1796: Re-establishment of the 'Common Union',with the participation of two companies (Swartz, Dimitriou).

1798: Split of the 'Common Union'.

1799: Re-establishment of the 'Common Union'.

1799-1805:Merger of some smaller companies which were competitive with the 'Common Union' of Swartz- Dimitriou ( the main shareholders in that company were Tsantalis and Maniaris, who was an ancestor of the subsequent.
In the early 18th century:It is reported that twenty-four dye-houses operated in Ampelakia.

1806: Ali-Pasha send Swartz to prison in Janina,for not having pay the taxes and for aduses.

1807 :Napolenic wars-bankruptcy of the Bank of Vienna,where ten million Francs were deposited by the 'Common Union'.

1812: Disintegration of the 'Common Union'.

1813: Operation of the 'Common Union's.

1814: Purchase of a spinning machine from England ,which however never functioned.

1812-1814: A lot of families were wiped out by the plague.
1818: Swartz's death,dept of Ampelakia's community 86.000 piastres.
1821-1855:Production of small quantities of yarns and especially fabrics.

The elements that constitute the 'Miracle' of Ampelakia's co-operative are:

I)The development and organization of a flourishingly competitive (in European level) productive enterprise ,in a inaccessible, mountains location, far away from the big centre of the Ottoman and other European empires.

II)The organization of a commercial network for the trading of the products , a transport's network with animals and ships ,a traning network with agencies in all the cities (Vienna, Lipsia , Drsdi, Smyrna ,Constantinople) and of a necessary accounting system of supervision and management.

EXTERNAL FACTORS OF AMPELAKIA'S PROSPERITY.

1) Stability of the boundaties.
Ali-Pasha created favourable tenrns for the stability ,especially in Epirus - W. Macedonia-Thessaly - Central Greece.

2) Internal Safety. Men - at-arms (armatoloi) were allowed to go about in Mt.Pelion ( in 1774) an in Ampelakia (in 1779)Ali-Pasha tried to create an independent state, with official language the Greek and unofficial the Albanian.

SOME OTHER FACTORS OF AMPELAKIA'S PROSPERITY.

The existence of abundant raw and auxiliary materials was a basic factor of the growth of production.

1) The cotton ,the timber/cool and of course the raw material of dyeing ,the 'rizari' ,which been was provided mainly from the Valley of tempi ,but also from Agia, Livadia and Smyrna.

2) The constant airstreams that blow particularly in Tempi ,and which were necessary for the yarns' drying.

3) The profuse water of Peneus ,that was essential for the yarns' rinse, after the dyeing.

4) The workforce in Ampelakia and in the thessalian plain.

5) The know-how of dyeing :the mastery of the technique of cotton's process and yarns'production and especially the know-how of dyeing ,that ensured the high quality of dyeing.

1) The tottering of the European economy (caused by the napoleodic wars) and especially the bankruptcy of the Austrian state and the austrian banks ,where the inhabitants of Ampelakia had deposited large amounts.

2) The invention of aniline, that had on a result a nicer ,cheaper,unfading and in various color dyeing of the threads.So,the demand for the products of Ampelakia,in the European markets,stopped.

3) The envy of Ali-pasha of Janina made him impose unbearable taxes to the community.He also prohibited his nationals from buying their fezes from Tynida.

4) The cursed plague,that appeared in 1812 and it literally wiped out the inhabitants of Ampelakia and other villages.The plague forced a lot of natives and particularly the co-operative's executives to leave the village and go abroad or to other places in Greece.

5) The big disadvantage of our nation,the grumble and the disunity between the community's heads.The disputes acted as 'poison' and they withered and dissolved this hive of industry.