Co-operatives, unions and Education

It's Co-operative fortnight (23 June - 6 July) and the UN's International Year of Cooperatives, so it's got me thinking about the historic interaction between unions, cooperatives, and lifelong learning.

Just a quick search of 'co-op' in the notes for my book turns up 157 responses, so it's by no means contrived to bring these threads together. In fact, disentangling the two is often remarkably difficult. Men and women were active in both unionism and co-operation and viewed them as the two sides of the same movement. Throughout my research, I've been forced to reflect on the 'lines' between working-class education, socialist education, trade union education, and co-operative education—but these distinctions are rarely clear-cut. The same individuals often straddled both worlds. William Lovett is a great example. Fred Jowett, too, was also a Director of the Bradford Co-operative and had tabled a motion to reduce the working hours for staff in the co-operative stores.

Co-operatives were quick to connect their mission with education. The Rochdale Pioneers' decision to allocate 2.5% of their profits to education soon became a model. (See this nice youtube video for the story of the Pioneers). That funding supported libraries, reading rooms, and adult classes. It's probably no coincidence that one of the WEA's first classes was in Rochdale.

There's a fabulous aside within Industrial Co-operation - the story of a peaceful revolution, edited by Catherine Webb, about the debates over 'education versus 'social' ("tea gatherings and the like"). It's a discussion we still have today and the follow up, at least in my mind, is spot-on,

“To confine the meaning of education to serious book study only is to restrict its area in a manner at once narrow and artificial and out of keeping with the broad ideal upon which the movement rests” P210

These libraries—as the title of my book suggests—were hugely important not just to the community, but for fostering curiosity and a deeper understanding of the world. Time and again, when reading the histories of union autodidacts, we come back to the library and the hours they spent devouring anything they could read. The famous 1909 Oxford and Working Class Education report noted that in 1895 Co-operatives had spent £16 000 on libraries and reading rooms.

"Trade Unionists who are nothing but Trade Unionists are giving up half their rights and half their responsibilities…The artisan co-operator who is not also a member of his trade society is a traitor to all the essential principles of the co-operative faith"

The relationship between Co-operation and Trade Unionism - Beatrice Potter (1892)

One of the most fascinating books I've read for this research is John Attfield's With Light of Knowledge - A Hundred Years of Education in the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society 1877-1977 (1981). It charts the history of the education wing of the Co-operative Society that emerged around the Royal Arsenal munitions works in Woolwich. This initiative was established by the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE), and in 1907 was still described as "essentially an ASE Society"—with committee members serving on both the union and co-operative executive.

The Society's first elected education committee included five engineers, a wheelwright, and a labourer. Of the 23 men newly elected to the RACS education committee between 1892 & 1900, at least 16 were active in the independent Labour movement. Attfield can identify ten as active members of the ASE.

Like many co-operatives, the RACS established a library—at the time, in 1879, the only significant one in the area. It launched with 700 books and expanded to a collection of 10,000 by the 1930s. The Society's courses and activities were wonderfully eclectic—ranging from Esperanto and music appreciation to socialism, bookkeeping, and arts performances—all shaped by a belief that all forms of education were "good for its own sake".

As with many labour organisations, the RACS eventually recognised that true change demanded more direct political engagement. This led to greater focus on political education, whilst the Society supported Mary Bridges Adams' campaign for the local school board. By 1945 the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society could proudly claim six Ministers in the post-war Labour Government.

No doubt there are those who see Co-operatives are a relic of the nineteenth century—the same people who hold similar views about the union movement. The challenges of the twenty-first century are undeniably different, but what hasn't changed is this: "the twin sisters" of unions and co-operatives still have a crucial role to play in shaping the solutions we need.

"The fact is that among the working-class leaders of this period, trade unionism, co-operation, and political Radicalism were all facets of the same movement, and that movement was inspired by Owen’s belief in the infinite power of education to perfect the character of man and his moral and material well-being"

History of Adult Education in Britain - Thomas Kelly

A huge thank you to Jane Donaldson, Archivist at the The National Co-operative Archive, and John Attfield for very kindly sending me a signed copy of his book.