The International Co-Operative Alliance and the Consumer Co-Operative Movement in Northern Europe, C. 1860-1939 by Mary Hilson

Author:Mary Hilson [Hilson, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Business & Economics, Economic History, History, Social History, Political Science, Comparative Politics
ISBN: 9781526100801
Google: g7PAyAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 37007931
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2018-01-15T10:14:32+00:00

Political neutrality and the Nordic line

The agreement of the Rochdale principles was undoubtedly a milestone in the history of the ICA, but the debate surrounding their adoption was further evidence of the depth of the divisions within the Alliance and of its shifting internal geography. The formal fault line was the question of political neutrality, but the divisions went deeper than this. For the representatives of the ‘social democratic’ bloc – including Britain, Belgium, Austria and Czechoslovakia – co-operation was a working-class movement aspiring to challenge the capitalist system of trade and exchange. In central Europe this position was sharpened during the 1930s by open conflict with representatives of private trade.121 Against this group stood the advocates of neutrality, who insisted that co-operation was a movement defined by its business principles alone. During the 1930s the representatives of the Nordic organisations became increasingly forthright in stating this position, and there is evidence that they were acting more and more openly as a bloc in doing this. According to a report in Andelsbladet, special meetings of Nordic delegations were held at ICA congresses from 1930 onwards.122

In fact, as the representatives of the Nordic organisations often pointed out, their unease with the direction taken by the ICA went back to the early post-war period. Andelsudvalget was not represented among the co-operative organisations from other neutral countries at the Paris conference of 1919, on the grounds that the French decision not to invite delegates from the central powers, while understandable, was incompatible with the neutrality of the Danish state.123 Although representatives of Finland were present, there was some unease about the co-operative programme agreed there, and in January 1920 the leadership of Pellervo and SOK submitted a joint memorandum expressing these reservations. Although there is no evidence that the Danish and Finnish organisations co-ordinated their statements, their positions were similar. Both were wary of what SOK called ‘the permeating idea’ that the Alliance was becoming increasingly dominated by consumer societies, thus ignoring the interests of farmers. Both were also adamant that the ICA should avoid engaging in what they perceived as ‘non-co-operative matters’, namely the adoption of an official stance in response to international questions such as free trade, the occupation of the Ruhr and the reconstruction of war-torn regions.124

In response to these criticisms, and in the wake of the resolution affirming the ICA's neutrality agreed at the Ghent congress in 1924, which was publicly supported by the Danish delegation, the Executive agreed to convene a special meeting with representatives of the Nordic organisations.125 The meeting, which took place in Stockholm in June 1925, was hosted by KF who also took it upon themselves to make the arrangements. They invited not only their Finnish and Danish colleagues but also representatives of Norway and the three Baltic countries.126 Anders Örne drafted a memorandum in preparation for the meeting, as did A. Axelsen Drejer; SOK stuck by their statement from 1920. The meeting heard statements from representatives of all the organisations present (Andelsudvalget, SOK, KK

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