Page 24 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

The Story of the C.W.S.

The co-operation of the Lancashire pioneers was Owenism with a
difference. To apply a saying of Robert Southey's, it was " a sprig of
Owenism grafted upon a stock of common sense." Under Owen's
influence they formed their programme as leading up to " a home
colony of united interests." Their homely ideas, however, led them
to fix upon mutual storekeeping, which Owen had patronised rather
than preached, and to spend the efforts of the first few years in
putting this small thing upon a sound basis. The rules dra\\'n up by
Howarth and Daly maj' not have varied greatly from those already
in force, unlaio\\Ti to Rochdale, upon the other side of the Pennines,
but the}' embodied a dilTerent zeal. The mere Is. entrance fee, with
provision for making up the four necessary £1 shares mainly out of
profits accruing, and the subsequently-given power to draw out
capital down to £1, together with the system of dividing profits in
proportion to the amount of purchases, practically meant an open
door. Insisting also upon cash payments, the Pioneers helped
their fellows to break the almost universal fetters of debt. And they
kept the way of approach clear of special obstacles by maintaining
neutrality concerning Owenite metaphysics and everything else of
the kind. At the same time the P^ochdale group included men
who valued knowledge and secured its endowment, and who had
the ability and will to make their own movement known.
In this narrative we shall need to visit Rochdale more than once.
Upon the solid basis of success which the Pioneers laid in 1844 the
Rochdale corn mill was erected in 1850, and the experience gained
through this federal mill largely contributed to the shaping of the
Wholesale Society. But for the moment we must turn aside to
discover another movement separated from pure Owenism.
Removed from Rochdale and its weavers, this second development
proceeded during the same period. In 1844 Frederick Denison
Maurice was joined by Charles Kingsley, and within the next few
\'cars the adhesion of Ludlow, Mansfield, Hughes, Neale and
others increased the brilliance and distinction of the little band of
Christian Socialists. Nowadays there are rectors, deacons, and
even bishops who would call themselves socialists simply; but in
1850 the term had a different meaning. Maurice and his friends
felt it necessary to assert their position. Writing to Ludlow in
"
January, 1850, Maurice declared that the term " Christian Socialism
would " commit us at once to the conflict we must engage in sooner
or later with the unsocial Christians and the unchristian socialists."
The idea of co-operation, which Owen had proclaimed, was now by
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