ABSTRACT
Co-operators have always been inspired by the ancient doctrine of human fellowship, by the new spirit of social service, by a firm faith that the day would come when each man and woman would work, not for personal subsistence or personal gain, but for the whole community. The rising spirit of the people at the time of the Reform Bill first demanded enfranchisement. Much of the reforming legislation in regard to the health of the workers and the Co-operative Movement itself sprang out of the teaching and practice of Robert Owen. The movements of municipalisation, enfranchisement and manifold co-operation have proved complementary to each other, and have provided the English people with a means of creating and expressing public opinion, of organising it for action under statute or voluntarily, and of thus securing a healthy and a larger life.
