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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 52

Henry George's Objection to Co-Operation

Henry George's Objection to Co-Operation.

An almost universal belief exists among political and social economists that co-operation is destined to produce a marvellous change in the social and material condition of the labouring classes. Since the year 1843 the principle of co-operation has been attracting ever-increasing attention. After the revolution in Paris in 1848 many callings and businesses were conducted on the co-operative principle, and continue to be so until now.

In England the first important commencement took place towards the latter part of the first half of this century. The Rochdale Pioneer Co-operative Society, which then commenced with a capital of £28 subscribed by 28 working men, has now swollen to one of the most gigantic undertakings in the empire. Some idea may be formed of the magnitude of the business transacted by the cooperative societies in England when it is remembered that beside the business done by the Civil Service, the transactions of the year 1881 amounted to over £25,000,000, from which the shareholders, besides getting better and cheaper goods than they could obtain from other stores, received £2,000,000 profit in the shape of dividends.

John Stuart Mill, in the people's edition of his Political Economy, published in 1865, devotes a very considerable space to the consideration of co-operation, and states his conviction that co-operation is destined at no distant time to effect a revolution in the social and material welfare of the labouring classes.

In no country has theoretical co-operation developed with such rapidity or to such extent as in Germany, where, under the influence of the speeches and writings of Rodbertus, Ferdinand Lassalle, Karl Marx, Mario, Schäffle, and the other great leaders of this movement, social life is destined to undergo great transformations.

The Socialist movement developing in a vast scheme of co-operative industry, had drawn into its ranks as teachers and leaders a great number of the leading minds in Germany and Switzerland, including, amongst others, most of the young and rising professors of the Universities, nicknamed the "Socialists of the chair," the Archbishop of Mayence, and many other philosophic thinkers, when at length Bismarck, taking alarm at the vast dimensions assumed by this growing power, prevailed upon the German Government to pass repressive measures against Socialism and Socialists. The great German minister has himself, however, embraced the principles of co-operation, and is attempting, with some success, to strengthen himself and his government in the page 27 affections and judgment of the people by aiding the various cooperative associations in many ways.

The sole exception, so far as I know, to the rule that political and social thinkers believe in co-operation as a potent means of public and social improvement is Mr. Henry George. But it will be seen on examination that he rejects it solely through misconception of its scope and powers.

Mr. George's argument is that all wealth comes from land and the use of land; that the co-operation of labour and capital, however likely to assist in elevating the moral position of workmen, and to produce wealth more plentifully and at less expense, would in the end only act in the same way as improved machinery and means of transmission, and so make greater wealth for the owners of land. It is surprising that so shrewd a thinker did not see that one step more would land the co-operative scheme in safety. If, as he says, co-operation only ends in giving wealth to the land-owner, then let the Co-operative Associations become owners of the land necessary for the purposes of production, and the benefits and increased value will remain to them.

In no scheme of co-operation yet published has the full power and capacity of that principle been at all realised. In its simple but complete capabilities it can, like the Nasmyth hammer, mould the head of a pin or beat into form an iron beam. The engines of the Thunderer or Devastation might be used to work a simple wheel for unloading cargo, while powerful enough to drive through the ocean the great frame of the giant ship.

Like all natural laws and natural forces, co-operation can be used for purposes of utility in most minute particulars, while possessing power beyond calculation. Why should co-operation be restricted to one branch of trade, to one group of callings, to one sort of industry? Why should it be confined to labour only, or to exchange only, or to production, or to capital, or even to exchange and production, or labour and capital joined? Why not at once, as hero proposed, extend the operations of this principle to the production and exchange of all things necessary for human use and enjoyment, and to the utilisation of land, labour, and capital combined? There is now, and always has been, co-operation in the production of wealth, though neither properly organised nor wisely directed. Every member of every community joins in creating wealth; the tiniest child provides a market for some producer in the food and clothing necessary to sustain life; the pauper, the invalid, the wealthy idler and the spendthrift, all make a market which sustains commerce, encourages industry in many lands, gives value to the places where it exists, and they all unconsciously and without knowledge aid in creating national wealth. But beyond doubt the busy throngs of working men, guided by the mental power of the scientific and the thoughtful, create the wealth of nations. They are at once producers and consumers. page 28 Miners bringing forth treasures from the bowels of the earth, sailors manning those fleets which bear over the seas the commerce of nations; the armies of operatives who supply the wants of human kind; the ploughman, the teamster—all, however humble and obscure their station or employment, co-operate to produce that vast wealth, the evidences of which astonish us on every hand.

Let co-operation be carried one step further and all then will be well; let those who co-operate to produce this great wealth, cooperate also in its ownership and its enjoyment, and the problem of social life is solved.