The Shaping of British Consumer Co-Operation: Conflict and Community 1870–1914

By 1900 the British consumer co-operative movement boasted 1200 local consumer co-operative societies with over a million members, its own wholesale organisations in Scotland and England/Wales, a national political mouthpiece (the Co-operative Union – CU) and the Women’ Co-operative Guild (WCG). The movement improved the position of its members and working-class people through increasing their wealth, improving education, food safety and quality and a strong engagement with local communities, via engagement in a social and community-oriented activities. This article will explore the movement’s conflicts with private interests between 1870 and 1914. A central argument is that institutional, political and cultural developments within this period served to determine later developments in the 20th century. A form of ‘Path Dependence emerged with long term consequences for the movement. It will show how a culture of ‘rugged independence’ shaped lasting attitudes within the movement to other emergent local and national interest groups.