Mutual aid and the origins of the Greek welfare state: workers’ associations and social insurance, 1890–mid-1930s

Abstract

This article examines the origins of the Greek welfare state through workers’ associations and mutual aid societies from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Moving beyond dominant historiography, it highlights self-organized solidarity in the emergence of early social protection. Drawing on legislative records, institutional documents, and quantitative data, it shows that mutual aid associations operated as proto-insurance institutions compensating for limited state capacity. This configuration is interpreted as regulatory liberalism, whereby the state supervised collective welfare without assuming full responsibility. The Law on Associations in 1914 marked a turning point by introducing oversight while preserving associational autonomy.