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History of the Co-operative Party
For the first seventy
years of the history of he Co-operative Movement, from the foundation
of the Rochdale Pioneers, the Movement as a whole had largely
refrained from participation in the formal political processes.
The Rochdale Pionners,
indeed, had pronounced that their Society should be 'politically
neutral' and this principle was held for decades almost as a sacred
cow and is still quoted now. Co-operation was held by many to
be (to paraphrase) such a great idea that everyone would come
round to it eventually, and it therefore felt no need to engage
in politics.
What is usually overlooked
is that, for most of the 19th century, the overwhelming majority
of Co-operative Society members could play no part in the political
processes of Britain as they did not possess the necessary property
qualifications. The argument of 'political neutrality' prevented
the Co-operative Movement from participating in the foundation
of the Labour Party in 1900, though it was probably true that
most of those concerned would have been Co-operative Society members.
On the outbreak of the
Great War and the consequent introduction of rationing and conscription,
it became clear that the Movement still had many bitter enemies
within the ruling power structure of the country. Local conscription
and rationing Boards were set up and were packed with representatives
of capitalist interests.
Many local co-operative
societies henceforth found it difficult, if not impossible, to
obtain the staple foodstuffs that were on ration, and some societies
found the majority of their workforces conscripted - sometimes
overnight. No such problems faced the private traders. Other actions
by Government unfairly penalised the over 1000 societies that
made up the Movement, and at a special Congress in 1917 it was
resolved that a Co-operative Representation Committee (soon renamed
the Co-operative Party) was set up.
It fought six seats
in the 1918 'khaki election' and saw its first MP elected: Alfred
Waterson in Kettering. He took the Labour whip in Parliament,
as the Movement clearly saw that its best interests would be served
by an alliance with Labour. An electoral agreement was signed
in 1927 and has remained (though amended) ever since.
Because of the fact
that the Co-operative Movement has consisted mostly of the retail
Societies with their relatively large resources, little had been
made of other aspects of co-operation until the mid 1970s when
the Industrial Common Ownership Acts and the Housing Co-operatives
Act were passed. The (national) Co-operative Development Agency
(axed under the Thatcher government) was also founded at that
time and at the end of the 1970s the Credit Union Act also came
into being. Since then, the 'new co-operative movement' (housing
co-ops, workers' co-ops, credit unions, community co-ops, etc)
has begun to thrive and take its rightful place in the spectrum
of activities backed by the Party.
Representatives are
styled 'Labour and Co-operative' and the Party was registered
as a bona fide political Party under the Registration of Political
Parties Act of 1999.
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