Alphonse Dejardins

By Pierre Poulin

March 28, 2017

Alphonse Desjardins was a journalist, officw holder, newspaper owner, and founder of the caisse populaire. 

Although it remained unfinished, the work of Alphonse Desjardins aroused admiration, and many of his contemporaries had been able to grasp its full social and economic significance It was a success from the start, thanks to the tireless work of Desjardins and the unwavering support of Father Gosselin and the priests at the Collège de Lévis Through him Desjardins obtained the names of many French, Belgian, Italian, and Swiss cooperators, who were all directors of people’s banks or rural credit unions, and he got in touch with them [The principal source for the career of Alphonse Desjardins is the Fonds Alphonse Desjardins, held by the Confédération des Caisses Populaires et d’Économie Desjardins du Québec, in Lévis, Que In May, Desjardins even confided to a priest at the Collège de Lévis that he was thinking of liquidating everything, but the support and encouragement of Father Gosselin and Archbishop Bégin helped them get a grip on themselves He was welcomed by politicians and various associations to which he spoke, and in Massachusetts and New York City he helped draft bills that would lead to the creation of savings and loan cooperatives similar to the caisses populaires When it ceased publication on 12 July 1876, Desjardins went to Quebec City and joined Joseph-Israël Tarte*’s editorial staff at Le Canadien, a newspaper of which Louis-Georges had recently become co-owner Desjardins observed that the common people were victims of the concentration of economic power and the many abuses of capitalism, and he stressed their isolation and lack of economic organization

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