Routledge Revivals: New Views of Co-operation (1988) Working-Class Politics in Britain and Sweden

First published in 1988, this book sets out to reinterpret the changing place of working-class association in capitalist Britain. It argues that in combination, co-operation and association constitutes labour’s power — what is has to work with and who to work for — yet social historians have tended to overlook such views in a co-operative setting. What was the struggle, what form did it take, who were the protagonists and what relevance did they have to the community co-operators of the 1980s? The essays collected in this book explore class potential and class conflict within and against co-operative thought and practice.

Notes on contributors; Preface; 1 Introductory: Rival Clusters of Potential: Ways of Seeing Co-operation Stephen Yeo 2 William King of Brighton: Co-operation’s Prophet? Andy Durr 3 Change and continuity in the Development of Co-operation, 1827-1844 Robin Thornes 4 George Jacob Holyoake: Socialism, Association and Co-operation in Nineteenth-Century England Peter Gurney 5 ‘The Lord does Combination Love’: Religion and Co-operation amongst a Peculiar People Mick Reed 6 The ‘Co-operative Commonwealth’: Ireland, Larkin, and the Daily Herald Keith Harding 7 Domestic Drudgery Will Be a Thing Of the Past’: Co-operative Women and the Reform of Housework Alistair Thomson 8 Working Out their Own Salvation: Women’s Autonomy and Divorce Law Reform in the Co-operative Movement, 1910-1920 Gill Scott 9 Let Me Dream: John Wall, Bristol Shoemaker Poet, 1855-1915 Sally Mullen 10 An Event in the Culture of Co-operation: National Co-operative Festivals at Crystal Palace Lawrence Magnanie 11 Co-operation and Crisis: Government, Co-operation and Politics, 1917-22 Paddy Maguire 12 Limits to Mutuality: Economic and Political Attacks on Co-operation During the 1920s and 1930s Neil Killingback 13 On the Uses of ‘Community’: From Owenism to the Present Eileen and Stephen Yeo; Index