ABSTRACT
The concept of political neutrality was of central importance to the co-operative movement. A commitment to this principle was laid down in the original rules of the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844.1 G. D. H. Cole has emphasized that ‘political neutrality’ originally meant abstention from ‘faction fights’ between the rival groups that were appealing for working-class support. As conditions changed, the term ‘political neutrality’ was used in a broader sense, and came to be understood as neutrality between the Liberal and Conservative parties and their competition for control of the government.2 At the Co-operative congress of 1917, however, this principle was abandoned; a motion calling for direct representation of the co-operative movement in parliament ‘as the only way of effectively voicing its demands and safeguarding its interests’ was passed by a majority of 1,979 to 201.3 The passing of this resolution marked the co-operative movement’s formal entrance into the political scene. In 1918, ten candidates sponsored by the cooperative movement stood in a general election for the first time.
