ABSTRACT
The principle underlying the whole organization of the Guild from top to bottom is that of self-government' and it forms a genuine 'democracy of working women'. The analogy of the 'mother's meeting', adequate perhaps at the outset, speedily give way as wider projects made themselves felt, and at the present time, the Guild concerns itself with the largest questions, co-operative and even national. 'Cooperative work has two sides to it; there is the business work and there is the social and educational work', says Messrs. Acland and Jones, in their little book on 'Working Men Co-operators', and it is to the second division that the most fruitful efforts of the Guild are directed. The inception of the movement, which speedily led to proposals, formulated in the first instance by Mrs. Lawrenson, of Woolwich, for the formation of a central organization with local branches, local officers, and the dignity of a distinctive name.
