CO-OPERATIVE STORES.

Grey River Argus, 12 October 1922, Page 3

CO-OPERATIVE STORES.

(To iho Edifor. > .Sir, — llio advice I rcc.-’vo during the) course of a year would fill several is- . sues of your valuable paper, but th ■ poorest bit 1 haw been, trie recipient j of this year is the advice fetiuered by • Mr John D. Desmond when he suggest . that I should ‘‘throw in the towel.’ : No doubt he is a kind-hearted opponent, and wishes to spare me a i<>; t t punishment; however. .1 am not calling for tenders. ’When, my friend Mr Desmond starts talking about th,e coop. movement in Dussia ho abandons farts or anything having that appearance ami becomes romantic. Da savs “eight out of ten of the present ministry have been . . . highly posi • i.;m-: 1 in the co-op. movenienl.” J‘as;-ir.a over the fact that there arc about ! muiistry, let B s have son.-e facts, just one little quotation from anv one of the; , with the date, place ami ocahortivc revolution, co-operative stores sprung up every where like some toadstool grow iiu The workers, defeated by the Cossack ’knouts and White Guard soldiery, in their desperation set up <lll sorts of back door emancipation societies. After the ”917 revolution in that country, when the crimuml blockade was slowly draining the life’s blood from JT . ;sia, the capitalist Go vernment of Britain, mainly responsible had >o much faith in the capitalist character of the Russian Co-operatives as to oiler io trade with them behind the backs of the Soviets, the instruments of tire proletariat. Probably you have forgotten this, Mr Desmond. The London “Daily Herald,’ 7 in tie* days before it was owned by the Labour Party, -was honest enough to record that the directorate of the British Co-op. .Societies, in order, no doubt, to give its employees a thorough lesson in the great advantages of co-operation, absolutely refused to meet its employees on the wages issue, but depressed their wages and lengthened their hours the former with the meanness of any Jew capitalist, and the latter with the lavish hand of a Newcastle ISteci Works boss. Seeing that gentlemen like Arthur Henderson are closely connected with the co-op. movement in tee homeland, we have no need to marvel at the treatment the workers receive there. No isolated instance here and you will not find these facts recorded in the New Zealand “Co-operator.’’ I feel sure that the directorate of the British Co-op. Societies will ..gre<with Mr Desmond that the co-operative principle is bascu on sympathy, seeing that they would gladly give their employees unstinted sympathy, providing they, the employees, would work follower wages 17mn other workers engaged in similar trades. Let the working class minds of the European world testify as io the concessions achieved by the co-operatives, uo not trust to the parochial small ; shopkeepers. Co-operativeS afb really noxious growths that flourish in an atmosphere of defeat, and we must expect a recrudescence of those impediments to the growth of a sound Labour movement in New Zealand now that the workers are suffering from the effects of a world-wide crisis. I am afraid, Mr John P. Desmond, that you are over-fond of action or movement forward; may you be just as anxiom to see that the movement forward i? not of tho kind wherein we take om step forward and two backward. Trusi a sound Labour organisation for taking every concession from the powers the be, but be sure they arc concessions and not “reforms” that will turn t< . ashes in our grasp. The struggle o the workers has often been marked b defeats, but nevertheless tho capitalis

system bears within itself 11m promise of the ultimate victory of the prolerarist. This is explained by Hie, full•, Hint the development of cnpic Y”. io. ;.. ; volvvs the transformation of broad I masses of the people iuio prulclariaas ■ by running miliiuns of small propriet- i ors, farmers, artisans, eke. The work- ! ing class not only grows stronger mi- ! uierically but its members are lu’.ng ■ more closely welded together. This ' is so, because large factories grow ui> ; with the development of capitalism- ; Each of these factories unites with in Its walls thousands and in some s U ns of thousands of wage workers. As I these workers perform their iu.-7.-shoulder to shoulder, they sec lu w Hi capitalists exploit them, and they gra- [ dually recognise in one a fricml ; and comrade. The c >iuiitiuns of th i. ! work and their frequent strugg'es 1>:’! luo of united action. TL'rei'orn with • lhe development of capitalism not only ; the number, but the solidarity, of I lhe working class increases. As the 1 economic conditions di termine the I ideas and actions of ike pruKiarmL I and the development of capital creates I the economic foundations for the realisation of the Communist order of so- 1 ciety, the inevitable outcome will bo a [ flirt her accentuation of the bitterness of the war between the classes. Re- | member that the German Communists were unable to overthrow Schcidemann and Noske because they were scarcely strong enough to first of all scatter Hie "White Army. The revolution in Rus- I sia has resulted not only in securing! j the freedom of the workers of that j j country from the tyrannical domination | of the feudal lord and bourgeoisie, but | t has also proved to the workers of the i j world the ferocity of the capitalist j class wnen the workers become as po- ! werful as they. This leads mo to the I conclusion that mightier forces than the I arbitrary lessons to be learned on cooperatives is uniting Hh workers of all lands, teaching them to disru; ■ rd | social palliatives and reforms, and mak | ing them resolute exponents of the l scientific Socialist movement. I am, etc. i J. B. BANKS. I liunauga.