Nikola Balnave and Greg Patmore | 'Practical Utopians': Rochdale Consumer Co-operatives in Australia and New Zealand | Labour History, 95

'Practical Utopians': Rochdale Consumer Co-operatives in Australia and New Zealand

Nikola Balnave and Greg Patmore^*

Rochdale consumer co-operatives have played an integral role in the lives of many people in particular localities in Australia and New Zealand, but have been largely overlooked by labour historians in both countries. While the Rochdale movement was more advanced in Australia than New Zealand, at no point did the movements in the two countries reach the same heights as their counterpart in Britain. A preliminary examination of the movements in Australia and New Zealand demonstrates that Rochdale co-operatives in both countries had similar 'waves of interest' and obstacles to their advancement. While the movement has collapsed in both countries, a number of Rochdale consumer co-operatives survive in rural areas of Australia, chiefly by drawing upon a reciprocal loyalty relationship with the local community.

The idea of Rochdale consumer co-operatives (hereafter co-ops) was imported from the United Kingdom (UK) to Australia and New Zealand. The ideology of the co-operative movement ranged from what may be termed `business co-operativism', which focussed on the regular `divvy' or dividend (based on purchases and the return of capital), to a fundamental belief in the need to replace capitalism with a 'Co-operative Commonwealth'. Under this model, the consumer co-ops would generate sufficient capital for the establishment of co-operative banks, co-operative insurance and producer co-ops, which would supplant capitalist enterprises. This article undertakes a preliminary examination of Rochdale co-ops in both Australia and New Zealand. It is concerned with mapping the extent and impact of Rochdale consumer co-ops in the two countries and providing some explanation for the movement's failure to consolidate in both Australia and New Zealand.

Undertaking such a study poses a number of challenges. While there has been one major study of Rochdale consumer co-ops in Australia, it deals with New South Wales (NSW) and does not focus on the local level.² In New Zealand, labour historians have largely ignored the Rochdale consumer co-ops, with major secondary studies coming mainly from economists and accountants. There are also problems with finding basic statistics on Rochdale consumer co-ops, particularly at the local level. In NSW official data, details concerning local co-ops are not available after 1952. Currently the NSW Registrar of Co-operatives only retains the annual reports of co-ops for seven years. Similar shortcomings are evident in the official data for New Zealand. For instance, researchers seeking to explain the collapse of the Manawatu Consumers Co-operative at Palmerston North in New Zealand have been able to obtain little data from the Department of Justice despite a requirement for the lodgement of annual accounts.³ Further problems arise from the aggregation of information on Rochdale consumer co-ops with that relating to other co-ops. The Mt Barker Co-operative in Western Australia, for example, was established in 1918 to serve the interests of fruit growers with the provision of a packing shed. It built and operated a power station from 1929 to 1934 and did not enter the retail trade until 1934 when it took over a struggling local store. However, it subsequently breached the Rochdale principle of one vote for each shareholder. Registered as a company, it allowed farmers who were members full voting rights, but allowed town members access only to a share of profits and denied them a voice in its management.⁴

While the focus of comparative labour history is generally on nation states, this poses some problems for the study of Rochdale co-ops in Australasia. In Australia, the states had legislative responsibility for co-ops, which meant that the legislative and political context for the Rochdale co-ops varied. In both Australia and New Zealand the attempts to form permanent national associations for the Rochdale co-ops were unsuccessful. By the same token, absence of strong centralism meant that localism assumed even greater importance in co-op viability. Indeed, the survival of some Rochdale co-ops in Australia relates more to specific factors in the local economy and community.⁵

Origins

The origins of Rochdale consumer co-ops date back to 1844 when, following an unsuccessful strike, 28 flannel weavers in Rochdale, England, began a movement to combat low wages, high prices and poor quality food. Their interest in co-operation was built upon the foundations laid by Welsh manufacturer and social reformer Robert Owen, who believed that ideal communities based on co-operation rather than competition would eliminate unemployment and pauperism and create a prosperous and harmonious community. The Rochdale consumer co-ops were founded on the basis of a clear set of principles. These included: the provision of capital by members at a fixed rate of interest; unadulterated or pure food to be supplied, with the full weight and measure given; market prices; cash purchases only and no credit; a dividend or 'divvy' based on profits to be divided among members in proportion to the amount of purchases; management to be based on democratic principles with 'one member, one vote' rather than 'one vote, one share'; and a share of profits to be allotted to education.⁶

Despite a number of legal and economic obstacles, the Rochdale movement grew rapidly in England. Private retailers attempted to limit competition from the co-ops by persuading wholesalers to stop or restrict supplies to the co-ops. There were also concerns about relying upon private manufacturers more concerned with profits than product quality. Therefore, the consumer co-ops established a Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) in England in 1863 and in Scotland in 1868. The wholesalers also operated on Rochdale principles such as a fixed rate of interest on capital and a 'divvy'. The wholesale societies ultimately became global enterprises with purchases of primary products from countries such as Australia and New Zealand and tea plantations in Sri Lanka and India. The English CWS also moved into banking and insurance. The consumer co-ops formed a Co-operative Union in 1872 for education, legal, propaganda and political purposes. A notable outcome of the Co-operative Union activities was the formation in 1883 of the Womens Co-operative Guild, which aimed to promote an interest by women in the co-operative movement and protect female employees. Consumer co-ops even formed a Co-operative Party in 1917, which formally affiliated with the British Labour Party in 1927. By 1948 there were 1,030 consumer co-ops in the United Kingdom with over ten million members.⁷

Rochdale Co-ops in Australia and New Zealand to 1945

There was some early interest in Rochdale consumer co-ops in Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand, settlers employed by the New Zealand Company on road construction established the first consumer co-op at Riwaka in the Nelson area in 1844. William Fox, the company's local agent and a later Premier of New Zealand, suggested the idea and offered to provide two months wages in advance to provide capital for the store if it was run on co-operative principles. The first registered consumer co-operative in Australia was in Brisbane in 1859, before the separation of Queensland from NSW. One of Australia's longest surviving Rochdale co-ops opened for business in Adelaide in 1868 with nine members. Consumer co-ops experienced waves of interest and spread widely throughout the two countries, although in both countries many co-ops had a fleeting existence.⁸

In Australia, there were waves of interest in Rochdale co-ops related to levels of British immigration and economic conditions. Despite the economic long boom that followed the Australian gold rushes, Rochdale consumer co-ops peaked in the 1860s against the background of concerns over unemployment and urban poverty. Concerns about living standards and disillusionment with the existing political system led to a second wave of interest in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Over 50 societies were registered in NSW between 1886 and 1900. Many were short-lived, and when the first official statistics were collected in 1895, only 19 societies still existed. There was a lull in registrations from 1895 until 1905 as the economy faced depression and drought. In the following decade, against a background of economic prosperity and rising prices, 55 new societies were registered in NSW. However, by the end of 1914 only 45 remained, four of which were in liquidation. While there was little activity during World War I, the post-war boom and its aftermath provided the conditions for a renewed interest in consumer co-ops, particularly given growing concern over rising prices and declining living standards. There were 31 registrations in NSW alone in the three immediate post-war years, and during the subsequent three years, new registrations in NSW totaled 22. By 1923, there were 152 consumer co-op societies in Australia, with a membership of 110,000 and a capital of £1,800,000.⁹

In New Zealand, the first surge of consumer co-ops occurred in the years 1889–94. Workers at the Addington railway workshops in Christchurch formed the Christchurch Working Mens Co-operative Society along Rochdale lines in June 1889 in order to combat high prices for 'the necessaries of life'. Many co-ops established in this period were short-lived. Of the 20 registered at this juncture, only five were still in existence at the turn of the century, with only one still in existence at the outbreak of the war in 1914. A post-war boom in co-op formation reached its peak in 1921. However, commercial competitors, such as chain stores, undercut the New Zealand co-ops through price competition and many co-ops went into liquidation.¹⁰

While the Depression of the 1930s weakened the Rochdale co-ops in both countries, the movement grew in the recovery that followed. Lewis has calculated that while the membership of Rochdale co-ops in NSW fell by more than half from 60,000 in 1929 to 24,000 in 1933, their numbers began to recover from 1935. Likewise, it was during the later years of the 1930s depression that the consumer co-op movement began to flourish in New Zealand. In 1933 the National Dairy Association of New Zealand (NDA), the agent for the English CWS, produced the first issue of The Co-operator (later The New Zealand Co-operator), and sponsored a conference attended by potential co-operators, resulting in the establishment of the New Zealand Co-operative Alliance. The main objective of the Alliance was to ?dvance the co-operative movement in New Zealand, and it was initially successful in achieving this objective. In early 1934 there were six consumer co-ops in New Zealand, with overall membership totaling 1,500. The number of co-ops grew to 15 and 2,250 members in 1935, and to 21 co-ops and 5,206 members in 1936. By August 1937, the movement had 26 co-ops and 8,000 members. The link between the Depression and the formation of a Rochdale co-op in New Zealand is highlighted by the example of the Foxton co-operative, which was formed in 1934 by the local unemployed, who were endeavouring to make their dole money go further by buying at wholesale prices.¹¹

British immigrants played an important role in introducing Rochdale principles to coalmining districts, in which retail co-ops became a common feature. In 1929, there were 40 consumer co-ops operating in NSW, more than a third of which were on the coalfields. In NSW, the Hunter Valley, the Illawarra, and the Lithgow Valley had some of the largest and most prosperous societies in the state. Wonthaggi in Victoria and Collie in Western Australia were also dominant societies. Similarly, in New Zealand, consumer co-ops became a common feature of the coal-mining districts of the West Coast such as Westport, which established a society in 1890. One of the earliest and most enduring consumer co-ops was established in the West Coast coal-mining district of Runanga in 1906. By 1941, it had 595 members and a sales turnover of £63,472. The Runanga Co-op played a key role in the launch of the national movement in New Zealand in the 1930s.¹²

There were also Rochdale co-ops outside these areas. In New Zealand, eight 'old British co-operators' formed the Christchurch Workingmens Co-operative Society in 1889, drawing their rules from the Kinning Park and Torquay co-ops in the UK. There were other co-ops established in industrial towns such as Petone and in metropolitan areas. The Wellington Co-op was established in 1914, and prospered until the onset of the post-war recession in 1921, ultimately going in to liquidation in 1923. The Canterbury Industrial Co-operative Society in Christchurch grew from 322 members in December 1918 to 844 members in July 1926. In Australia, noteworthy metropolitan co-ops included those in Adelaide , which had 9,412 members in 1923, and Balmain in Sydney, which was established in 1902 and had 14,000 members in 1921. The Balmain Co-op was hard hit by the closure of local industries during the 1930s Depression. Membership declined while the body fell into debt and went into voluntary liquidation in 1936.¹³

Rochdale co-ops also became a feature of rural areas of Australia, particularly in fruit-growing and poultry breeding districts such as Eastwood, Sydney, or in towns at important railway junctions, such as Junee in the Riverina region of NSW. A group of Junee residents chose to purchase the local branch of the Railway and Tramway (R&T) Co-operative Society in June 1923, four months before the parent body went into liquidation. The R&T Co-operative Society differed from Rochdale consumer co-ops in that it sold at cost. By 30 June 1925, the Junee & District Co-operative Society had 40 members. Membership rose to a peak of 144 in 1931 and thereafter remained very stable � at just under 100 � in the period to 1945. The increase in membership in the depths of the Depression may have been a reaction by some Junee residents to the harsh credit policies of local privately owned stores.¹⁴

Both Australian and New Zealand Rochdale consumer co-ops moved to form their own wholesale societies prior to World War I. As in the UK, local Rochdale consumer co-ops faced serious challenges including price-cutting by competitors, and the refusal of supply by some wholesalers concerned with maintaining relationships with existing businesses. In Australia, the NSW Co-operative Wholesale Society (hereafter NSW CWS), founded in 1912 by four Hunter Valley consumer co-ops (Newcastle & Suburban, West Wallsend, Wallsend & Plattsburg, Cessnock & Aberdare), faced significant obstacles in its early years, including boycotts by flour millers and oil companies in the years prior to World War I. Manufacturers, importers and the agents of overseas companies refused to include the NSW CWS on their wholesale list. It became clear to the directors of the NSW CWS that 'the only way to gain recognition was to become cash buyers on a large scale'. To achieve this 'it was essential that the whole retail section of the Movement combine and make one strong buying organization'.¹⁵ Over the following years, the NSW CWS attracted an increasing number of societies as affiliates. It launched the Co-operative News in 1923, which was the main journal for the co-operative movement. A slump in membership occurred in the decade 1924–34, but from 1935 the number of affiliates increased. In 1934, 15 societies were affiliated with the CWS, with the number of affiliates growing to 37 by 1945. Even so, many consumer co-ops, such as that at Junee, chose to remain independent of the wider movement.¹⁶

In New Zealand, merchant boycotts were a perennial problem. The Christchurch Workingmens Co-operative faced a merchant boycott when it was formed in 1889 but overcame the challenge with the support of the New Zealand Farmers Co-operative Association. A conference of consumer co-ops in Wellington in December 1920 led to the formation of the Co-operative Union and Wholesale Society (CUWS). However, the lack of support from affiliated societies undermined the financial viability of the CUWS, which went into liquidation in 1924 with the Runanga Co-op losing £210 through its investment in the Society. Moreover, during the 1930s, the refusal of supply by wholesalers in New Zealand was partially overcome by buying through the NDA, which established a merchandise department to service co-operative stores in 1933. There was also a push for the Alliance to establish a New Zealand CWS (NZCWS), which began trading in October 1937. However, the NZCWS also faced many obstacles. Some manufacturers refused to supply it, allegedly due to concerns about its viability. In addition, the NZCWS was not supported by many consumer co-ops and thus lacked capital. The NZCWS operated for less than a year, and when it fell, so too did the alliance. The last issue of The New Zealand Co-operator was printed in March 1938.¹⁷

The co-ops in Australian and New Zealand recognised the significance of women as the main purchaser of goods in most working-class households. This recognition ranged from the fashion shows put on by the Lithgow Co-op in the 1930s to features in The Co-operative News on the upbringing of children, romance, beauty tips, cooking and knitting. The New Zealand Co-operator also promoted to societies the significance of women's shopping decisions. While there were calls in the movement for equal pay, co-ops in towns such as Lithgow followed the general practice of requiring women to resign from their jobs upon marriage. In New Zealand, women played a key role in the formation of the Manawatu Co-operative in 1935. The first Womens Co-operative Guild in New Zealand was formed at Ranunga in 1928 after an earlier failed attempt in 1924, and a national organisation was established in August 1936. The Manawatu Guild had an extensive educational and social program, and its success led to the co-op establishing the only Mens Guild in New Zealand. In NSW, the Womens Co-operative Guilds went beyond the supportive role expected by the NSW CWS. Some guilds frequently challenged the male-dominated CWS by criticising their leadership and or?anising conferences to promote alternative paths for the Rochdale movement. There were also regional variations in NSW in the strength of the Womens Guilds. While they were active in the Illawarra and the Hunter Valley, they were not significant in the Lithgow Valley and rural areas.¹⁸

In Australia and New Zealand, unlike the UK, the Rochdale co-operative movement did not establish a close official relationship with the labour movement before 1945. The co-operative movement regularly appealed for a closer link with the labour movement, urging unions to invest funds in co-ops in preparation for industrial action. In turn, some Rochdale co-ops in Australia and New Zealand provided credit to striking workers and allowed union closed shops. In New Zealand the Locomotive Engineers, Firemen and Cleaners Union played a crucial role in the formation of the Manawatu Co-op in 1935. While the Runanga Co-op welcomed the election of the first New Zealand Labour Government in 1935(which had three members previously associated with this society), it was disappointed when the government failed to honour a promise to give the Co-op a contract for the building of public housing. Calls within the Rochdale movement in Australia for the formation of unions of co-operative employees and the creation of a Co-operative Party pleased neither the trade unions nor the Labor Party. There were also concerns about the political effectiveness of the Rochdale movement in challenging capitalism and fears that the co-ops were reinforcing capitalism through 'business co-operativism'. Despite claims to the contrary, some unions believed that there was little difference between the co-ops and private sector firms in how employees were treated.¹⁹

Rochdale Co-ops in Australia and New Zealand Since 1945

In both New Zealand and Australia, the Rochdale co-ops failed to exploit the potential of the economic buoyancy of the post-war era. In January 1945, the Manuwatu Co-op convened a meeting of consumer co-ops in Palmerston North, which set up the Co-operative Information Service (CIS) to advise new co-ops on registration, organisation and trading. The initial success of the CIS encouraged 22 consumer co-ops to form the New Zealand Federation of Co-operatives (NZFC) at a conference at Palmerston North in May 1946. The NCFC launched the publication Common Wealth, grew to 30 affiliates by March 1948 and initiated a policy of grouping co-operatives together into a number of central offices with branch shops. However, it did not survive. The co-operative women's organisations also collapsed. The Manawatu Womens Co-operative Guild was wound up in 1958 and the sole surviving guild � that at Taita � voted in February 1961 to disband the New Zealand National Co-operative Womens Guild.

Nevertheless, the post-war years witnessed some promising developments at the local level. In June 1945, residents of the housing estates in the Hutt Valley near Wellington formed three consumer co-ops following a visit from a CIS organiser from Manawatu. The CIS saw the new housing estates as fertile ground for the development of retail co-ops. These consumer co-ops merged to form the Hutt Valley Consumers Co-operative Society in September 1946, with a membership of 1,045. By November 1947, the Hutt Valley experience had encouraged the formation of 13 other co-ops in state housing suburbs; a development which overwhelmed the organising capacity of the NZFC. There were, however, only six new co-ops registered between 1950 and 1957 of which only one survived until the late 1960s. The Hutt Valley Consumers Co-op ceased to be trading entity in November 1969 and continued as an investment society until a final shareholders meeting in November 1975.²⁰

By 1949 the NSW CWS had 110 affiliates, including a number in Victoria. However, the body went into permanent decline after 1957, and the Co-operative News ceased publication in 1959. The Co-operative Womens Guilds in Australia also folded. A major loss to the movement was the Adelaide Co-op, which went into liquidation in February 1962 � after 94 years of trading. In the previous six years, the membership of the Adelaide Co-op had fallen from 26,000 to 9,000, with resigning members taking large amounts of capital with them. The Woonona Industrial Co-operative Society in the Illawarra district of NSW had a membership of 6,186 by 1952 and branches at seven locations including Wollongong and Port Kembla. Yet it too was wound up in 1970. Defying these trends was the Junee Co-op, which showed steady growth after a membership slump in the mid-1950s. Its membership increased from 80 in 1956 to 324 in 1966.²¹

Many Australasian Rochdales did try to take steps to broaden their appeal. The Hutt Valley Co-op opened the first 'self-service full-line food store' in New Zealand at Taita North in February 1949. After facing growing losses between 1959 and 1961, the Junee Co-op introduced self-service trading in September 1962 and immediately returned a slight surplus for that year. The Lithgow Co-op also introduced self-service in 1962. In 1958, the Newcastle and Suburban Co-op purchased a large van as a travelling 'self-service shop' to serve shareholders who could not readily buy their goods at its outlets. It also established a credit union for members and employees in 1962, as well as opening a large car park in 1967 to accommodate the post-war growth in car ownership. In 1958 the Manawatu Co-op offered 10 shillings to any existing member who recruited a new member. Despite the impact on rebates, in 1963 the Manawatu Co-op adopted a policy of direct price competition with non-co-operative retailers that included 'permanent reductions' in grocery prices and grocery specials, and by April 1975 it was operating 26 grocery stores, 16 butcheries, a department store, a wholesale liquor store and a service station. Against the background of post-war immigration, the Adelaide Co-op targeted traditional UK migrants by establishing two branches in local migrant hostels. In Victoria, the co-op in the coal-mining town of Wonthaggi diversified its constituency by 'welcoming' Italian members and providing an Italian translator on staff. Stores also opened delicatessens to provide a greater range of 'continental' smallgoods.²²

Many previously successful co-ops failed to survive the economic uncertainties of the post-1974 era. The most spectacular collapse was the Newcastle and Suburban Co-op, which achieved a peak membership of 95,000 in 1978, but closed in 1981. In New Zealand, the Manawatu Co-op, which had 34,000 members in June 1981, went into receivership in February 1988. Faced with increased competition and rising costs, it discontinued its grocery delivery service in April 1976 and withdrew from the food business in November 1984. This affected other departments and turnover went into decline. The Manawatu Co-op covered these losses by selling off property and borrowing to invest in property development. However, rising interest rates eroded returns, while the sharemarket crash of October 1987 thwarted plans for financial restructuring, and the Manawatu Co-op folded soon afterwards.²³

On the wholesaling side, the NSW CWS ceased operations in 1979. The Co-operative Federation of NSW (CFNSW), which in 1986 became the Australian Association of Co-ops (AAC), did make an attempt to float the idea of reforming a co-operative grocery-buying group in the early 1980s, but without success. The AAC finally collapsed in 1993 due to financial problems associated with its internal banking services to members, with a number of co-ops losing funds. The AAC had made some bad loans to the struggling NSW Rochdale consumer co-op at Singleton, which also went into liquidation. The CFNSW was reformed in the wake of the collapse of the AAC, but it now restricts its activities to lobbying governmental agencies and providing advice on legal and financial matters.²⁴

While the Australian Rochdale consumer co-operative movement has generally collapsed, some Rochdale co-ops continue to thrive in rural areas. The consumer co-op in Nurioopta, South Australia, had 13,193 members and a gross turnover of $49.78 million in 2005/06. The Junee Co-op in NSW had 1,401members in 2001/02 and a turnover of $7.9 million in 2004/05. The survival and prosperity of these Rochdale co-ops needs to be placed in the context of 'localism'. The Junee Co-op and those who led it have played an active role in the community, and formed networks with local businesses and the Chamber of Commerce. Over the years the Co-op has encouraged residents to 'shop local' rather than at other regional centres. In recent years, the Junee Co-op's strategy for maintaining (or at least containing) local shopping has resulted in the stocking of additional lines if other businesses in the town closed and even taking over other failing businesses. This has contributed to the survival of the Junee Co-op, but also to the preservation of local job opportunities and to the sustainability of Junee as a viable rural community.²⁵

There are a number of explanations for the decline of the Rochdale Co-ops in the post-World War II period, not least being direct competition from the non-co-operative private sector. In 1947, the Auckland Master Grocers Association decided to deny membership to consumer co-ops. To overcome the general reluctance of non-co-operative wholesalers to provide supplies, the Manawatu Co-op opened a menswear and footwear store under the title of 'Manly Outfitters' in 1953 and adopted the trading name Premier Drapery Company (PDC) when the Co-op acquired direct ownership in 1956 in the hope that suppliers would not be aware that they were dealing with a co-op. The demise of the Collie Co-op in Western Australia followed the arrival in the town of a Coles supermarket, some of whose suppliers refused to supply the Co-op at wholesale prices and encouraged Co-op management to buy from Coles at retail prices. The specials and permanent reductions offered by the growing number of supermarket chains and shopping centres outweighed in consumer minds the advantages of credit and rebates offered by co-op stores. This changing nature of retailing, along with the decline of working-class communities in mining areas and the more widespread ownership of automobiles created further difficulties. Car ownership reduced the need for home deliveries � a service traditionally provided by many co-ops � and caused many rural co-ops to lose customers to nearby retail centres. Retailers also lobbied against tax concessions for co-ops. In New Zealand, the National Government (1949–57) introduced taxation reforms that weakened the financial viability of consumer co-ops.²⁶

There were management problems and divisions within the movement. There were tensions between full-time managers and the elected board of directors over the management of the consumer co-operatives. The Hutt Valley Consumers Co-operative was thrown into confusion when Charles Cameron, the general manager, resigned in June 1963 following the dismissal of the supervisor of the home appliance department. The Board of Directors excluded Cameron from the deliberations concerning the dismissal of the supervisor. While Cameron offered three months notice (as required in his contract), the board terminated his employment immediately, but with a vice-president and director also resigning in protest. John McQuilton claims that the decline of the co-ops in the Illawarra was partly due to 'bad management' arising from poor employee training and inadequate recruitment of new co-op members. In Australia, federalists subordinated production to consumption and stressed the loyalty of tied stores to the NSW CWS. They were concerned that autonomous producer co-ops would not share their profits with consumers and would, through a Co-operative Union, dominate the consumer. Individualists believed that the NSW CWS was necessary but not sufficient to achieve a Co-operative Commonwealth. They saw production as the primary act of humanity and feared that the CWS, if dominant, would fritter away surpluses through endless dividends and be governed by commercial rather than social imperatives. In both Australia and New Zealand, tensions remained between some women in the Guilds and the male-dominated co-operative leadership over the direction of the movement.²⁷ Rita Stockbridge, the Secretary of the New Zealand Co-operative Womens Guilds, complained to Vera Semmens, the Secretary of the London-based International Co-operative Womens Guilds in June 1957 that there were 'many instances of women being overlooked by the male members of our Co-operative Societies'.²⁸

The relationship with the labour movement also remained problematic. The non-political stance of the co-operative movement created suspicions on both the Right and Left in Australia, particularly during crises such as the Labor Party split of the 1950s. Some Rochdale co-ops did not explicitly encourage union membership. There was no union presence at the rural Junee co-operative until the late 1970s � and none of the current workforce are union members. While the Queensland Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) published The Consumers Co-op from 1946 � this was a six-page monthly featuring co-operative news alongside political matters � the attitudes of Labor/Labour governments to the co-operative movement in Australasia were generally lukewarm.²⁹

A notable exception was the post-World War II Labour Government in New Zealand. Key figures in the Labour Party, such as the Prime Minister Peter Fraser and Deputy Prime Minister Walter Nash, were sympathetic to the ideas of consumer and producer co-ops. Their government supported the formation of consumer co-ops in new state housing areas such as Taita and Naenae in the Hutt Valley. In December 1946, the Labour Government announced that if 75 per cent of the residents in state housing areas voted to establish a consumer co-op then privately-owned traders would be prohibited from setting up competing businesses in the same area. However, there were conditions for gaining access to the state housing areas. The Orakei Consumers Co-operative, near Auckland, had to have 500 fully paid members, preference to returned soldiers in employment, and be registered under the provisions of the 1908 Industrial and Provident Societies Act. The Labour Party used photographs of the Naenae Co-op store in its election material to highlight the benefits of modern town planning. Despite this support, antagonistic local councils rezoned nearby land to allow private retailers to compete with the co-ops and refused to allow co-ops to operate in temporary premises near the housing estates while awaiting permanent facilities. The limited savings of members in the housing estates meant they did not have sufficient capital to invest in types of stores required by Labour government planners. Post-war shortages of building workers and materials also delayed the construction of the shops. The NZFC criticised the Labour Government in March 1948 for maintaining a wartime system of import controls that restricted the consumer co-ops' ability to meet consumer demand, particularly in the new housing estates, for goods such as dried fruit and tobacco compared to non-co-op retailers. The NZFC accused Labour of viewing the gradual collectivisation of retailing as 'too hot' in it efforts to win the votes of 'middlemen'.³⁰

While the Rochdale co-ops were part of an international movement in both an ideological and business sense, the relationship was ambiguous. The various co-op publications in the two countries continued to publish articles on overseas developments to highlight the international dimension of the Rochdale movement. Ideas were exchanged through trips abroad and visits to Australia and New Zealand from representatives of overseas Rochdale co-ops. English CWS delegates visited Australasia in 1946 and 1949. Booth, President of the NSW CWS, paid a visit to Rochdale and the Manchester headquarters of the English CWS in 1951. Australians and New Zealanders celebrated International Co-operators Day and there were affiliations with the International Co-operative Alliance. There was a business link between the English CWS and the Australasian Rochdales. The Runanga Co-op in New Zealand began importing goods directly from the English CWS in 1913 and successfully applied to affiliate to it in 1924. It decided to disaffiliate in 1936, but this proved to be a 'retrograde' step, as the Runanga Co-op could not obtain a licence to import directly English CWS goods. The NSW CWS imported from the English CWS manufactured goods such as cigarettes, lawnmowers, steel office furniture and pianos. A representative of the English CWS had an office in Sydney and sat on the NSW CWS board of directors.³¹

There were also tensions between the Rochdale movements in Australasia and the UK. Gary Lewis, whose study is critical of the role of the English CWS in Australia, portrays the English CWS as having little interest in Australian Rochdales except as a market for its exports. Its higher- priced imports may have helped reduced the competitiveness of local Rochdales. The English CWS was more interested in maintaining good relations with Australian primary producers and was hostile to attempts by the NSW CWS to manufacture goods that would undercut its export market in Australia. Given a similar relationship between New Zealand primary producers and the English CWS, Lewis' argument could be applicable to both countries. Jock Churton, Organising-Secretary of the NZFC, visited CWS officials and factories in the UK in 1949–50. Chorton sought to persuade both the English CWS and the Scottish CWS to invest capital in the New Zealand co-ops and establish a CWS in Auckland. There were concerns, however, that any English CWS investment should not be for the purpose of exporting profits out of New Zealand. The New Zealand co-operators did not want a repeat of the experience with the Longburn freezing works, which were owned by the English CWS. The NZFC instructed Churton to make this 'objection clear' in any discussions with the English CWS. The English CWS were not happy with the balance of trade with New Zealand and wanted the local co-operatives to purchase more of their manufactured goods.³²

Compared with their considerable links to the UK, contact between the Australian and New Zealand co-ops was limited, although there were some notable exceptions. Immigrant Australian coalminers such as Semple played key roles in the early years of the Runanga Co-op. Rita Stockbridge, a Secretary of the New Zealand Co-operative Womens Guilds in the 1950s, had been a secretary of an ALP branch in Australia. Occasionally there were visits by activists across the Tasman, exchanges of greetings between co-operative bodies and their respective publications carried material on the developments in the other country. While in 1937 the NZCA saw the consumer co-op movement in Australia as small given the size of its population, the NZFC in 1949 perceived Australia's consumer co-operative development as greater.³³ It noted, however, that both Australia and New Zealand 'were too prosperous to afford a live and active c?nsumer co-operative movement'.³⁴

Conclusion

Rochdale consumer co-ops have played an integral role in the lives of many people in Australia and New Zealand, not only in mining areas, but also in rural regions, and in metropolitan and suburban centres. In the years prior to the end of World War II, both countries experienced waves of interest in consumer co-ops. With a few exceptions, co-ops tended to be established at the back-end of an economic slump. During such periods, consumers sought a level of security, particularly when faced with new concerns such as rising prices and thus cost of living. Central bodies such as the New Zealand Co-operative Alliance and the NSW CWS played a key role in advancing the co-operative movement in both countries during such periods, as did the Womens Guilds through their social and educational role.

While the record of survival for these co-ops is not positive, the movement in both countries was showing increasing signs of support moving into the post-World War II period. Nevertheless, one by one, central bodies fell into permanent decline, and Womens Guilds were disbanded. Many leading co-ops failed to survive the major economic upheavals of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and unlike the trend in early years, renewed interest in consumer co-ops did not emerge in the periods of recovery. The rise of chain supermarkets and shopping centres increased the degree of competition from private for-profit competitors, and many co-ops, like other enterprises, fell victim to poor business decisions. The decline of working-class communities in mining areas, and increasing car ownership in rural areas, created further difficulties for co-ops reliant on their remoteness for success. Nevertheless, some co-ops in rural areas of Australia have survived, largely due to their 'locality' stance and the reciprocal relationship they have developed with the community.

Nikola Balnave is a Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations at the University of Western Sydney. Her research interests include consumer co-operatives and welfarism. Nikola is the federal secretary of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History.
<n.balnave@uws.edu.au>

Greg Patmore is editor of Labour History and Director of the Business and Labour History Group at the University of Sydney. He is chair of the discipline of Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney. His interests include consumer co-operatives, non-union forms of worker representation and a history of Citibank in Australia.
<g.patmore@econ.usyd.edu.au>

Endnotes

^*� This article has been peer-reviewed for Labour History by anonymous referees under the supervision of the guest editors. The phrase in the title is taken from S. Leiken, The Practical Utopians: American Workers and the Co-operative Movement in the Gilded Age, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 2005.

^1.� G.J. Lewis, A Middle Way: Rochdale Co-operation in New South Wales 1859–1886,

^2.� D.V. Coy and L.W. Ng, The Collapse of the Manawatu Consumers' Co-op: A Case Study, Department of Accountancy, Massey University, Discussion Paper no. 85, 1989, p. 3.

^3.�The Albany Advertiser, 29 November 1968, pp. 11, 14, 16.

^4.� N. Balnave and G. Patmore, 'Localism and Rochdale co-operation: The Junee District Co-operative Society', Labour History, no. 91, 2006, pp. 47–68

^5.� H. Heaton, Modern Eco?omic History with Special Reference to Australia, 3rd ed., Workers Educational Association of South Australia, Adelaide, 1925, pp. 296–299; Lewis, A Middle Way, pp. xv-xvii.

^6.� A.M.G. Carr-Saunders, P. Sargant Florence and R. Peers, Consumers' Co-operation in Great Britain: An Examination of the British Co-operative Movement, 3rd. ed., George Allen and Unwin, London, 1940, pp. 156–7; D.H. Cole, The British Co-operative Movement in a Socialist Society, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1951, p. 24; Heaton, Modern Economic History, pp. 300–303; M. Hilson, 'Consumers and Politics: the co-operative movement in Plymouth, 1890–1920', Labour History Review, vol. 67, no. 1, 2002, pp. 7–27.

^7.�The Co-operative News, 1 March 1925, p. 12; Heaton, Modern Economic History, p. 305; Lewis, A Middle Way, p. 9; K. Morgan, 'A Fragment Of A Better Order?' The Manawatu Co-operative Society Ltd, 1935–1939, BA Hons thesis, Department of History, Massey University, 1995, p. 11; The New Zealand Co-operator, March 1938, pp. 8–9.

^8.�Co-operative News, 1 March 1925, p.12, Heaton, Modern Economic History, p. 305; W.K. McConnell, 'Consumers' co-operation in New South Wales', The Economic Record, vol. v, no. 9, 1929, pp. 263–264.

^9.� Morgan, 'A Fragment Of A Better Order?', p.11; The Christchurch Working Mens Co-operative Society Limited, Co-operation: Its Objects, Its Methods, Its Results, Christchurch, 1897, p. 7; W.A. Poole, Co-operative Retailing in New Zealand, New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, Wellington, Research Paper, no. 13, 1969, pp. 15–16.

^10.� Consumers' Co-operatives in New Zealand, typescript, April 1947, Robert Henry Ellis Papers, Alexander Turnball Library, Wellington (hereafter, RHEP, ATL), 81–214–017; Coop Consumer Times, May-June 1977, p. 9; Lewis, A Middle Way, p. 133; E. O'Neil, History of the Co-operative Wholesale Society of NSW from1912 to 1948, p. 22; Morgan, 'A fragment of a better order?', pp. 12–13.

^11.� T. Bowes, History of the Runanga Co-operative Society 1906–1941, Grey River Argus, Greymouth, 1941, pp. 3, 43; Morgan, 'A Fragment Of A Better Order?', p. 12; Poole, Co-operative Retailing, p. 38; The Christchurch Working Mens Co-operative Society Limited, Co-operation, p. 7; The New Zealand Co-operator, 1 May 1935, p. 3, 1 April 1936, p. 3.

^12.� Canterbury Industrial Co-operative Society, Half-yearly Report and Balance Sheet for Period ending July 5th 1926, Christchurch, 1926; Co-operative News, 1 November 1923, p. 6; Lewis, A Middle Way, pp. 135, 145; McConnell, 'Consumers' co-operation in New South Wales', p. 269; Poole, Co-operative Retailing, pp. 36–37, 39–40.

^13.� Balnave and Patmore, 'Localism and Rochdale co-operation', pp. 55–6; McConnell, `Consumers' co-operation in New South Wales', pp. 267–9.

^14.� E. O'Neil, History of the Co-operative Wholesale Society of NSW from 1912 to 1948, p. 19, unpublished typescript, University of Newcastle Archives, B8045.

^15.�Ibid., pp. 19–23.

^16.� Bowes, History of the Runanga Co-operative Society, p. 14; Morgan, 'A Fragment Of A Better Order?', p. 14; The Christchurch Working Mens Co-operative Society Limited, Co-operation, pp. 7–8; The New Zealand Co-operator, 2 December 1936, p. 3.

^17.� Bowes, History of the Runanga Co-operative Society, pp. 16, 19; Lewis, A Middle Way, pp. 108–109, 137,170–1; Lithgow Co-operative Society, Report of the Secretary to the President and the Board of Directors, 4 January 1932, 8 August 1932,Lithgow City Library; F. McKergow, `New Zealand Co-operative Women's Guild 1928–1965', in A. Else (ed.), Women Together, Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Daphne Brassel Associates Press, Wellington, 1993, pp. 308–9; Morgan, 'A Fragment Of A Better Order?', pp. 31–34; The New Zealand Co-operator, 1 November 1935, p. 11.

^18.� Bowes, History of the Runanga Co-operative Society, pp. 9, 13, 27–30; Common Wealth, September 1947, p. 1; Co-op Consumer Times, September 1975, p. 3; Lewis, A Middle Way, pp. 105–6; The New Zealand Co-operator, 1 June 1936, p. 6.

^19.� Lewis, A Middle Way, p. 167; McKergow, `New Zealand Co-operative Women's Guild', p. 309; Morgan, 'A Fragment Of A Better Order?', p. 22; H. Radi, P. Spearitt and E. Hinton, Biographical Register of the NSW Parliament 1901–1970, ANU Press, Canberra, 1979, p. 21.

^20.� J.H. Churton, Review of co-operative development in state suburbs, NZFC [New Zealand Federation of Co-Operatives], 1 November 1947, typescript, pp. 1–2. A.R. Syder, National Executive's Report to the 1947 Conference on the First Year of the NZ Federation of Co-operatives, typescript, n.d. RHEP, ATL, 81–214–017; Hutt Valley Consumers Co-operative Society Ltd., Notice of Meeting: The 23rd Annual General Meeeting, Naenae, 1975; Letter from R.M. Stockbridge to Mrs. Stevens, 21.2.1961, Manawatu Co-operative Womens Guild, Minutes, 4 March 1958,NZ Co-operative Womens Guild Collection, Alexander Turnball Library, Wellington, Acc 88–98 (hereafter WCGC, ATL); McKergow, `New Zealand Co-operative Women's Guild', p. 310; NZFC, 2nd Annual Report and Balance Sheet for Year Ending March 31st, 1948; NZFC, 3rd Annual Report and Balance Sheet for the Year Ending March 31st, 1949; Nanae pro term Co-operative Committee, The Naenae Co-operator, Wellington, n.d., pp. 3–5; Poole, Co-operative Retailing, p. 31; The Hutt Valley Co-operator, October 1946, pp. 1–2, January 1947, p. 3; The Orakei Co-operator, August 1946, p. 3.

^21.�Co-operative News, 1 August 1949, p. 18; Junee District Co-operative Society (hereafter JDCS) Shareholder Register, 1966. Held by the JDCS; Junee Southern Cross, 24 February 1956, p. 8; Lewis, A Middle Way, pp. 206–7; The Advertiser (Adelaide), 2 February 1962, p. 8.

^22.�Common Wealth, February 1949, p. 1; Coop Consumer Times, April 1975, p. 10; Co-operative News, 1 July 1957, p. 8, 1 April 1958, p. 4, 1 December 1958, p. 9; Hutt Valley Consumers Co-operative Society Limited, Annual Accounts and Directors' Report for the Year Ended 30th June, 1964, Naenae, 1964, p. 9; JDCS, Balance Sheets, 30 June 1961, 30 June 1962; Junee Southern Cross, 19 September 1962, p. 2; Lewis, A Middle Way, p. 207; Lithgow Co-operative Society Research Group, The Life and Times of the Lithgow Co-operative Society: A Social and Industrial History 1891–1980, Lithgow Co-operative Society Research Group, Lithgow, 2001, pp. 223, 243; Newcastle and Suburban Co-operative Society, 121st Balance Sheet for the 28 weeks ended 16 August 1958, Newcastle, 1958; Newcastle and Suburban Co-operative Society, 128th Balance Sheet for the 26 weeks ended 10 Febr?ary 1962, Newcastle, 1962; Poole, Co-operative Retailing in New Zealand, p. 34; K. Webber and I. Hoskins, What's in Store? A History of Retailing in Australia, Powerhouse Publishing, Sydney, 2003, p. 29.

^23.�Coop Consumer Times, April 1976, p. 1, June 1981, p. 10, April 1985, p. 1; Coy and Ng, The Collapse of the Manawatu Consumers' Co-op, p. 2; Morgan, 'A Fragment Of A Better Order?', p. 39; Webber, Hoskins, What's in Store? p. 29.

^24.�Australian Financial Review, 8 March 1993, p. 20; Balnave and Patmore, 'Localism and Rochdale co-operation', pp. 64–5; Sydney Morning Herald, 11 March 1993, p. 4.

^25.� Balnave and Patmore, 'Localism and Rochdale co-operation', pp. 60, 65; Community Co-operative Store (Nurioopta) Limited, Concise Financial Report for the year ended 31 January 2006, http://www.communitystore.com.au/downloads/2006AnnualReport.pdf#search=%22Nuriootpa%20Cooperative%22, accessed 10 October 2006.

^26.�Common Wealth, November 1947, p. 1; Coop Consumer Times, December 1975, p. 3, April 1981, p. 2; Co-operative News, 1 April 1950, p. 18; Coy and Ng, The Collapse of the Manawatu Consumers' Co-op, pp. 14–15; Hutt Valley Consumers Co-operative Society Limited, Directors' Report for the Period Ended 30th June, 1962, Naenae, 1962, p. 2; Interview by Greg Patmore with Trevor Mandry, former assistant manager, Collie Co-operative, 20 June 2007; McKergow, 'New Zealand Co-operative Women's Guild', p. 310.

^27.�Co-operative News, 1 November 1953, p. 4; Heaton, Modern Economic History, p. 297; Hutt Valley Consumers Co-operative, Special Meeting Minutes, 11 June 1963, RHEP, ATL, 81–214–015A; Letter from R.H. Ellis to L.R. Torrie, 29 June 1963, RHEP, ATL, 81–214–014B; Lewis, A Middle Way, pp. 108–109, 137,170–1; J. McQuilton, 'Community 1940–1980', in J. Hagan and H. Lee (eds), A History of Work and Community in Wollongong, Halstead Press, Rushcutters Bay, [2001?], pp. 147–9.

^28.� Letter from R.M. Stockbridge to V. Semmens, 6 June 1957, WCGC, ATL.

^29.�Common Wealth, January 1948, p. 3, March 1948, p. 3, Aug-Sept 1949, pp. 3–4; Co-operative News, 1 May 1946, p. 12, 1 November 1953, p. 4; Lewis, A Middle Way, pp. 190–1, 198, 201, 222–4, 234–5, 228–9; Interview by authors with Ian Cooper, manager, Junee District Co-operative Society, Junee, 14 February 2005.

^30.�Common Wealth, October 1947, p. 1, March 1948, pp. 1, 3; C. Bricknell, 'The politics of post-war consumer culture', New Zealand Journal of History, vol. 40, no. 2, 2006, pp. 136–7; Churton, Review of co-operative development in state suburbs, p. 3; McKergow, `New Zealand Co-operative Women's Guild', p. 309; NZFC, Report of the Third Annual Conference of the NZ Federation of Co-operatives held in the ESU Hall, Wellington on May 22–23 1948, p. 1. RHEP, ATL, 81–214–017A; Poole, Co-operative Retailing in New Zealand, p. 29; The Hutt Valley Co-operator, December 1945, p. 3, January 1947, p. 1; The Orakei Co-operator, April 1947, p. 1.

^31.� G. Booth, `Jubilee Message', in E. Entwisle (ed.), The Jubilee Co-operative Handbook of NSW, Co-operative Institute, Sydney, 1952, p. 18; Bowes, History of the Runanga Co-operative Society, pp.?8, 17, 29; Common Wealth, Aug-Sept 1949, p. 4, November 1950, pp. 2–4; Co-operative News, 1 April 1949, p. 15, 1 November 1948, p. 20; Lewis, A Middle Way, pp. 141, 202, 207, 211, 235; The Hutt Valley Co-operator, June 1946, p. 5.

^32.� Lewis, A Middle Way, pp. 211, 235; NZFC, Report of the Third Annual Conference, p. 9, RHEP, ATL, 81–214–017A; NZFC, 3rd Annual Report and Balance Sheet for the Year Ending March 31st, 1949; W. Richardson, The CWS in War and Peace 1938–1976, CWS, Manchester, 1977, pp. 169–170.

^33.�Common Wealth, October 1947, p. 2, Oct-Dec 1949, pp. 2–3; Consumer Times, September 1947, pp. 2–3; Coop Consumer Times, September 1976, p. 14; Letter from R.M. Stockbridge to V. Semmens, 6 June 1957, WCGC, ATL; NZFC, National Executive Minutes, 3 July 1948, RHEP, ATL, 81–214–017A; The New Zealand Co-operator, 1 November 1935, p. 4, August 1937, p. 11.

^34.�Common Wealth, Oct-Dec 1949, p. 2.

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'Practical Utopians': Rochdale Consumer Co-operatives in Australia and New Zealand