American Economic Association

Consumers' Co-operation in Great Britain: An Examination of the British Co-operative

Movement by A. M. Carr-Saunders; P. Sargant Florence; Robert Peers
Review by: Gladys Boone
The American Economic Review, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Sep., 1939), pp. 641-643
Published by: American Economic Association
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19391 Socialism and Cooperative Enterprises 641

"The study has four main purposes: (1) to indicate the value in unem-
ployment compensationof providing incentives to employers to reduce cer-
tain types of irregular employment, (2) to show that some opposition to
experience rating derives from misunderstandingof its implications, (3) to
point out that opposition based on faults of legislative drafting should not
becloud the real issues, and (4) to present an appraisal of the administra-
tive problems in the experience-ratingprovisions of state laws and other
proposalsbeing consideredand to suggest a simple and effective experience-
rating method."
MACLEAN, J. B. Life insurance.5th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill. 1939. Pp.
xii, 668. $4.)
SHEPARD, H. B. Forest fire insurancein the northeasternstates. U. S. Dept. of
Agric. tech. bull. no. 651. (Washington: Supt. Docs. 1939. Pp. 46. loc.)
WHITE, R. C. Administeringunemploymentcompensation.(Chicago: Univ. of
Chicago Press. 1939. Pp. xi, 312. $2.)
WILSON, A. and LEVY, H. Workmen'scompensation.Vol. I. Social and political
development. (New York: Oxford. 1939. Pp. 349. $3.50.)
Economicaladministrationof health insurancebenefits. (Geneva and Washing-
ton: Internat.LabourOffice. 1939. Pp. 332. $1.75.)
Pensionsand you. (London: LabourParty. 1939. Pp. 111. id.)
Statisticaltables from New York insurancereport. Advance printing. (Albany:
N.Y. InsuranceDept. 1939. Pp. 143.)

Pauperism, Charities, and Relief Measures

NEW BOOKS

MANGUS, A. R. Changing aspects of rural relief. Res. monog. xiv. (Washington:

Supt. Docs. 1938. Pp. xxiii, 238.)
TITMUSS, R. M. Poverty and population: a factual study of contemporary social
waste. (New York: Macmillan. 1939. Pp. 348. $3.50.)
Unemployment and relief-federal or local responsibility? Found. of democracy
no. 7. (New York: Columbia Univ. Press. 1939. Pp. 23. lOc.)

Socialism and Cooperative Enterprises

Consumers' Co-operation in Great Britain: An Examination of the British
Co-operative Movement. By A. M. CARR-SAUNDERS, P. SARGANT
FLORENCE, ROBERT PEERS, and Others. (New York and London:
Harper. 1938. Pp. 556. $4.00.)
This comprehensive examination of the British cooperative movement
grew out of a desire on the part of members of the Association of Tutors
in Adult Education for a thorough and impartial survey which would
provide adequate material for lecturing to their students. The reviewer is
reminded of the origins of Henry Clay's Economics for the General Reader,
particularly since both books may be considered classics in their fields. The
present volume was in itself a co6perative undertaking, for the general

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642 Reviews and New Books [September

responsibility for the study was undertaken by a committee of individuals

associated with the universities and adult education, together with repre-
sentatives of the Cooperative Union and the Wholesale Societies. The
Cooperators provided facilities for the committee to visit the premises and
examine books and accounts. In addition, a group of students, under the
direction of Professor P. Sargant Florence, of the University of Birming-
ham, undertook special investigations on subjects ranging from methods
and problems of management and democratic control to consumer tastes
for cooperative as compared with non-cooperative products. Masses of
factual material were thus accumulated from varied sources. It is a tribute
to the success of Professor Peers in revising the manuscript that the final
volume reads as smoothly as though it were the work of a single author.
The conclusions of the report are favorable both to the theory and prac-
tice of cooperation. "It is the only alternative scheme of economic organiza-
tion actually in existence in this country, and the only attempt at general
economic planning on a large scale. It has achieved its present scope and
dimensions without sacrificing anything of the principles of voluntarism."
The verdict echoes that of Sydney Elliott's The English Cooperatives, writ-
ten from within the movement; but the report deals much more critically
with certain weaknesses in general organization and details.
At present, capitalist organization struggles with the problem of ensur-
ing that every increase in production should be accompanied by a corre-
sponding distribution of the means by which it may be bought for consump-
tion. The cooperative system approaches this objective by the distribution
of dividends on purchases and has worked back from consumption to
production in such a way that, theoretically, it seems to have "a continuous
capacity for expansion." However, the potentialities of cooperation as a
basis for a new system depend on its efficiency in achieving this expansion
of trade. Can a large and democratic organization, insistent on local auton-
omy and necessarily somewhat slow-moving, match the aggressiveness and
flexibility of private enterprise?
In this connection, the report is especially valuable in contributing an
analysis of coi5perativefinance and investment. More than 58 per cent of
the movement's financial resources is invested in non-cooperative funds,
mainly in gilt-edged securities. This is far more than is necessary to maintain
liquidity to meet possible withdrawal of members' shares, and argues lack
of enterprise in developing new ventures. It is suggested that defects in
leadership are responsible for this over-cautious conservatism. Boards of
management, including the Boards of the Wholesale Societies, are often
over-burdened with routine duties and have not adequate trained technical
assistance. In the retail stores there is a tendency to recruit employees from
the elementary schools at the age of fourteen, and little is done within the

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
1939] Socialism and Cooperative Enterprises 643

movement to train leaders and educate them in the aims of cooperation.

On the other hand, the cooperative movement has given chances to the
ordinary man and woman, as an active member of the local society, to, share
in responsibility for an immense trading concern. Again, is it possible to
combine this local, democratic autonomy with sufficient centralization and
unified direction to ensure efficiency and successful competition with capi-
talist enterprises organized on a national basis? At present, the movement
has no unified central authority, and the report, considering this a serious
defect in organization, suggests the setting-up of an elective coi5perative
parliament. This body should meet often enough and long enough to deal
adequately with large questions of policy, and its decisions should be bind-
ing on the local societies which have helped to elect it.
In addition to defects within itself, the cooperative movement today is
beset by certain external hindrances to its development. Capitalism has
entered on a new restrictive phase, fostered by the devices of marketing
agreements, quotas, subsidies and tariffs. Producers have invoked the aid
of the state to enforce restrictions, which are now backed up by the power
of the law. Co6peration can only gain by expansion both nationally and
internationally, and must fight these tendencies in its own interest and
also in the interest of the general body of consumers.
The report states that it "stops short of prophecy." But the authors have
not hesitated to discuss obstacles in the way of future expansion and to make
suggestions which deserve serious consideration from those who are inter-
ested in organizing co6perative activities. The wide scope of the report as
a whole makes it equally valuable to students of the development and theory
of consumers' cobperation.
GLADYS BOONE
Sweet Briar College

NEW BOOKS
BROWDER, E. The economics of communism: the soviet economy in its world
relation. (New York: Workers Lib. Pubs. 1939. Pp. 23. 5c.)
PETERSEN, A. Communistjesuitism. (New York: N.Y. LaborNews Co. 1939.
Pp. 110. 15c.)
STALIN,J. From socialism to communismin the Soviet Union: report on the
work of the Central Committeeto the Eighteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.
(B.). (New York: Internat.Pubs. 1939. Pp. 63. 5c.)
STRACHEY, E. J. S. L. How socialism works. (New York: Modern Age Books.
1939. Pp. 212. 50c.)
STEWART, M. S. Cooperativesin the United States-a balancesheet. Pub. affairs
pamph. no. 32. (New York: Public Affairs Committee. 1939. Pp. 32. lOc.)
Historyof the CommunistPartyof the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks): short course.
Editedby a commissionof the CentralCommitteeof the C.P.S.U. (B.). (New
York: Internat.Pubs. 1939. Pp. 376. $2.)

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