In the first 15 years many co-operatives were established, thanks to the autarky of the market and the awakening of the Spanish economy. During those years, also with the encouragement of Don José María, two bodies were set up that were to play a key role in the development of Mondragon: Caja Laboral (1959) and the Social Welfare Body Lagun Aro (1966). The first local group was created, Ularco, the embryo of the industrial co-operative associativism which has been so important in the corporation’s history. In 1969, Eroski was set up by a merger of ten small local consumer co-operatives.[5]