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This chapter focuses on the development of Co-operative Party policy in 1930s Britain, investigating the extent to which it advocated co-operative forms of ownership. Although the Co-operative and Labour Parties had an electoral alliance from 1927, there remained organisational and ideological differences. The chapter explores the tensions between the more dominant Labour Party’s focus on nationalisation and the smaller Co-operative Party’s efforts to promote social ownership. It argues that internal struggles within the co-operative movement over its political identity and structural limitations on the Co-operative Party limited its ability to offer an alternative vision to Labour’s statist model, while the complex relationship between the two parties further inhibited the Co-operative Party’s potential to mainstream co-operative methods in Labour policies and in politics more generally.

This chapter traces the growth of Rochdale model consumer co-operatives in nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain, highlighting the ways in which gender shaped, complicated, and sometimes constrained co-operative development. The chapter explores the gendered division of labour and its impact on the developing movement, which politicised household consumption which was mostly performed by women. Subsequent sections highlight women’s economic importance to the movement as consumers and explore the barriers to women’s participation, arguing that despite the movement’s commitment to gender equality in membership, women’s consumer power did not translate to high levels of female membership and participation in co-operative leadership in this period.

This chapter is concerned with how co-operatives cope with arguably the greatest threat to staking a claim to the economic mainstream: the crises which emerge from time to time within co-operatives and events which threaten to undermine the credibility of co-operation as a viable economic, business and social model. Its’ main focus is on the recent crisis of The Co-operative Group in Britain and its historical roots since the 1950s, but also draws on the postwar experiences of several European co-operative movements.

This chapter analyses a series of issues around the nature and place of history and citizenship within formal co-operative education in the early twentieth century. It begins with a consideration of an educational campaign at the end of the nineteenth century, which put the teaching of the history and principles of co-operation at the core of the movement’s educational endeavour. Next, the chapter examines the kind of history being expounded in the movement, and compares co-operative history instruction with the curricula taught in schools. The chapter carries the story into the interwar years, by which time the movement’s educational programme had expanded considerably. It argues that, at least until the 1930s, the educational programme represented a national initiative to ensure co-operation had a place in the educational and cultural mainstream.

Drawing on the histories of other international organisations, the chapter explores the practice of co-operative internationalism within the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) from its foundation in 1895. The chapter traces the development of the ICA’s internal organisation and the conflict that this sometimes generated, especially over the need to balance the diverse interests of different national members. The chapter analyses the role of the International Co-operative Congresses, held triennially in different European cities and how these changed over the period. It asks what the co-operative congresses can tell us about the rituals and practices of inter-war internationalism, including practical matters such as language and the logistics of travel. It also examines the changing geography of international co-operation, tracing the shift in the ICA’s centre of gravity towards northern Europe over the period.

This chapter explores life and ideas of George Jacob Holyoake, one of the leading figures of the British co-operative movement in the nineteenth century. An Owenite socialist and secularist who became well known as the last Briton imprisoned for blasphemy, Holyoake was a powerful orator and journalist on behalf of the developing co-operative movement. The chapter argues that Holyoake’s life and work offer key insights for the present co-operative movement, by offering a set of ideas that offer a moral and social dimension conspicuously absent from the profit-maximising individualism of neoliberal theory and modern capitalism.

For the vast majority of men and women who joined co-operative societies and used their services, co-operation was ultimately about goods - especially daily staples such as tea, coffee, bread, flour, sugar. The co-operative movement inherited the liberal internationalist belief that trade between nations was the best means to guarantee peace and after 1918 many in the movement continued to defend the principle of free trade, while also arguing however for a new vision of international trade organised on co-operative, rather than competitive principles. The challenge for co-operators was to put this vision into practice. Attempts to establish an International Co-operative Wholesale Society (ICWS) under the auspices of the ICA proved difficult, but there was one conspicuous success in international co-operative trading, namely the Nordic Co-operative Wholesale (NAF), founded in 1918. The NAF was often cited in the ICA as a model, but attempts to emulate it were largely unsuccessful. The chapter considers why this was the case and what it can tell us about relations between different co-operative organisations.

Chapter 1 introduces the concept of co-operation and reviews the relevant secondary literature, as well as outlining the significance of the study in the context of broader debates on transnational history. Co-operation was from its beginnings shaped by transnational contacts and exchange, and from 1895 it also had its own international organisation, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), but there hitherto been very few studies of co-operation beyond the confines of the nation state. The aim of the book is to explore the meanings of co-operation and co-operative internationalism in the ICA from the late nineteenth century until the Second World War. The introductory chapter also discusses the historiographical context for the book and briefly discusses the methods and sources on which it is based.

The Co-operative Party was formed in 1917, though its obvious links with the Labour Party were not formalised until the 1920s. Whilst this development has often been seen by historians, such as G. D. H. Cole, as an immediate to conditions in the Great War and lacking in any real sense of class consciousness, Joan Allen sees it as a much more as a long-term product of the radicalisation of a membership which was gradually unwinding its links with Liberalism much along the lines suggested by Sidney Pollard. Examining the Co-operative branches in the north east of England, she argues that whilst there might have been some disagreement about establishing a political party for the co-operative movement, and difficulties with the local constitutions of co-operatives which were not geared to providing money for political activities, it is clear that was, for a long time, the direction that co-operative societies in the north east were drifting towards in a region where working-class solidarity always counted. There was not the diffidence towards political action and class consciousness in the co-operative movement which some writers have suggested.

The chapter introduces the co-operative movement in the Nordic countries (excluding Iceland), summarising the history of co-operation in each country in turn. It asks what were the main influences on the development of co-operation in the Nordic context, and in particular, what was the role of foreign models of co-operation. The Rochdale system of co-operation was a common reference point across the entire region, but it was never the only model for how to organise a co-operative society: co-operators also drew on examples from Germany and Ireland, among others. Particular attention is paid here to the role of Nordic contacts in shaping the development of co-operation and how the personal networks of certain key individuals were gradually replaced by more formal institutional links. The chapter examines similarities and differences across the region and considers the extent to which these supported or undermined the existence of a common co-operative movement.

This chapter returns to the question of the distinctiveness of the co-operative movements in the Nordic countries, while at the same time considering the significance of co-operation for the emergence of the idea of the Nordic ‘middle way’ in the 1930s. The emergence of a joint Nordic position within the ICA helped to raise the international profile of the region and by the 1930s the successes of the Nordic co-operative movements were attracting the attention of foreign journalists, including the American Marquis Childs whose bestseller Sweden – the Middle Way (1936) dealt extensively with co-operation. The chapter analyses some of the reasons for the attractiveness of Nordic co-operation, in particular its claims to reconcile the interests of consumers and producers and also its efforts to tackle the problem of monopoly. President Roosevelt’s 1936 Inquiry on Co-operative Enterprise in Europe dealt extensively with the Nordic countries, and provides an important snapshot of the status of the movement in the mid-1930s.

This chapter provides an overview of recent trends in the global co-operative movement’s development, noting that after many years at the margins there is now a more promising climate for co-operative ideas and practices. It outlines the themes of the book and summarises the contributions of subsequent chapters.

In approaching the question of Hubert Butler's ‘intellectual genealogy’, this chapter evaluates and identifies his ‘selective kinship’ with certain Protestant activists from the Revival generation preceding his own. It introduces his family background and circumstances and summarizes the events of his early life. It unpacks his rejection of his family's Anglo‐Irish Unionist values and his espousal of Irish nationalism. It summarizes the salient features of the careers of his three primary influences: Standish O'Grady, Sir Horace Plunkett, and George W. Russell. In the process, it attempts to integrate the personal events of Butler's young adulthood with the public events overtaking Ireland as a whole. It notes the impact of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War on the Southern Protestant minority and analyses the contribution of the Irish Statesman and the Carnegie Library Network to the political and cultural life of the Irish Free State.

This chapter seeks to address the lack of academic research into the role of women in co-operative leadership, and surveys the current situation across the global movement, in both the developed and developing worlds. It explores the current literature on women and leadership, and points out that co-operatives offer dual paths to leadership, through participation in operational management or democratic membership structures. The chapter highlights the need for further data collection and research, and notes strategies used by co-operatives in promoting women’s participation, including affiliated women’s organisations and gender mainstreaming activities.

The conclusion returns to the main questions posed at the start of the book and sums up the findings of the empirical chapters. The main challenge for the ICA during the period studied was to develop a distinctively co-operative ideology and programme that would allow it to respond consistently to the crises and political challenges that it faced. This was not always easy, and different positions over the aims of co-operation were often the source of conflict. The Nordic co-operative organisations made a prominent and distinctive contribution to this debate, arguing for the neutrality of co-operation and its independence from other organisations such as the socialist labour movement.

This chapter explores the development of co-operatives, collectives, and employee owned enterprises that provide architectural services in Britain, and the growth of such architectural practices, particularly in periods of economic recession since the 1980s. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, new architectural co-operatives developed as architects sought to share resources and combat high levels of unemployment and underemployment in the profession. Architects surveyed noted the better work-life balance and flexibility of co-operative practices, and cited the importance of collaboration, transparency, and a sense of shared purpose among the advantages. The author offers insights from his own experience of creating and working in a co-operative architectural practice.

This chapter examines the ways that a co-operative creates shared value for the community that it serves and works to define the concept of ‘Co-operative Advantage’ in a context where competitive advantage is more commonly discussed. It uses a case study approach, based on research conducted between 2008 and 2013 with the Lincolnshire Co-operative Society, in the East Midlands of the UK. The chapter details the co-operative’s approach, and contrasts it with that of a standard investor owned firm (IOF) model. It suggests that the co-operative identity and practices are effective in creating shared value, enhancing the co-operative’s competitiveness while simultaneously advancing the economic and social conditions in the wider community.

This chapter discusses the impact of co-operatives and co-operative identity on poverty reduction, based around the author’s research on a dairy co-operative in a semi-arid province of Eastern Kenya. The study found that the co-operative’s dual economic and social goals, which emphasise member and community priorities across a range of concerns, have helped it to engage in multiple areas of activity, ranging from the provision of goods and services to education and training, all of which led to a reduction of household poverty for members and nonmembers. The chapter suggests a nee for further research to explore the links between co-operative identity and poverty reduction in other regions and economic sectors.