ABSTRACT
Co-operation was more than simply a trading organisation. As an article in the Co-operative News, and the reports of individual societies recorded, the movement’s service to the community extended beyond the provision of everyday requirements. Retail societies sought a comprehensive range of services ranging from aid given to members during times of hardship (such as sickness and unemployment) to serving an array of needs for special occasions, such as a wedding day. 1 This chapter explores the relationship of co-operative retail societies and ‘community’ in a number of ways. Firstly, it examines the presence of co-operative retail societies in various towns and cities in Britain, discussing the spaces they occupied, their impact on shopping habits in particular districts and the services they provided to the local community. Secondly, the chapter considers the notion of an all-encompassing ‘co-operative trading community’. It examines the extent to which principles of collective strength and mutual assistance, on which the movement was based in the nineteenth century, remained relevant a century later. In so doing, it explores the concept of retail societies as ‘general provider of all needs’, not only in terms of material goods, but also in terms of the assistance rendered to members experiencing difficulties (for example, due to death of a family member or financial hardship). It also considers how, at a grass roots level, meeting the financial needs of members could, in some instances, conflict with the ideology of the Rochdale Pioneers and meet with disapproval by certain members of the movement’s leadership. Finally it explores the international dimension of the cooperative movement and its role as an organisation that was part of a community that extended beyond Britain.
