The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1921-01-28
CAN WORKERS COOPERATIVE
FACTORIES SUCCEED?

Can workers co-operatives succee,
as sound business ventures? This i
a question which presses for answe
! as reports of the organization by va
rious unions and groups of workers O
cooperative factories increase.
Within the past year there hav,
been started by the workers factorie,
for the manufacture of underwear, no
siery end overalls, a cigar factory,
piano factory, shoe factories an,
clothing shops.
The trade unions called upon to sup
ply the funds to finance these coop
erative producers factories face a
the present new danger.
| A well-thought-out plan on the part
Of tie big aggregations of bushes.
has apparently been launched t.
Smash the unions A thing calico
the American PLAN, which is an.
other name for the non-union shop
has come to the front with a ven.
geance. Representative of these or.
CARNATIONS frankly assert that they
are out to destroy unionism.
Hw will the new producers CO.
operative organizations which are
springing mp in many places fare I'M
der these conditions, considering that
they have Jared badely in the past a
comparatively free field?
The union will suffer the first at
tack. Its resources will need to be
conserved. Its treasury should not
be depleted. For its own safety, as a
matter of expediency and wisdom, the
money Of the working people in the
trade union treasury should not he
hazarded in cooperative producers
enterprises at this particular period
in the worlds history.
If the workers savings cannot be
safely invested in producers enter
prises, where is it safe?
The worker is going to spend his
money in some channel or other. The
most of it will go for the necessities of
life. He has the choice of going out
alone and buying these things at re-
tail from the private merchant, or he
can put the money that he is going to
spend anyway, along with the money
Of his neighbors, and with them spend
it in the wholesale market. - The latter
is the cooperative way.
In doing this he need not expert
ment or wonder what is going to hap
pen. The consumers cooperative
movement is growing in the member
ship Of its societies and in the amount
OF business done, in "a countries of
the world, with a sweep that seems al
most fantastic. The form of organi-
cation is closest to the worker. In
this movement his money is invested
in what he most needs, and what he
has to buy from somebody.
The majority Of industries, which
are operated either by capitalists or
by cooperative producers, fail: this
is their common destiny. The majori-
ty Of productive industries operated
by societies of cooperative consum-
ers succeed; their failure is of rare
occurrence. This is momentous fact
in the economic world.
Now for three-quarters of a CEN
fury the British consumers co-opera-
tive movement has been engaging
more and more in production. At
present it is carrying on some 65 diff
ferent industries. Some of these are
on a large scale. Their eight -four
mills at Manchester are the greatest
flour mills in England. Their shoe
factory, biscuit works, soap factories
and textile mills, farms, tea and grain
plantations, are on large scale.
Failure has taken place in none of
them. They are all part of the Co.
operative Wholesale society, which
has behind it 100000 families of
consumers, patronizing their own dis
tributive industry to the amount of ov-
er billion dollars a year.
These industries succeed because
they are following the one line of ac-
ton which is neutrality-suspicious.
for the known want or organized con-
sumers, under the ownership and con-
troll of the organized consumers, with
the motive of production for service.
not for profit, as the underlying prin-
ciple.
There has not been started in Eu-
rope or America during this present
industrial era any producers COOP
erative enterprise which the powers of |
capitalistic industry could not crush |
out at its will. just by shutting off |
the supply of raw material. The raw
materials and the natural resources
of the world, including coal and trans
portation, are today in the control of |
the capitalists.
In connection with the raw mater
ial is the matter of credit. The cred |
its of industry are controlled by five
capitaliGtic banking syndicates, ac- |
cording to the report of the Puio
committee which inves-
tigated banking, They can shut off |
the credit of any producers group in
slack times or between the periods of
production and the collection upon
sales, and squeeze it out of business.
But consumers cooperation is much
less vulnerable. With the profits or
surplus savings derived from it's as
sured sales, it can accumulate a suf-
icient reserve to meet the boycott. if
necessary, by starting its own pro-
luctive enterprises.
The product of every shop. except
hat owned and run by the co-opera-
i've consumers or the socialized gov
eminent shop, must be thrown into
he market to find problematical pur-
;hasers. The selling business is as
iifficult a speciality as the producing
BUSINESS. Any one who has watched
hese developments has seen the in
locent selling organizations of pro-
ucerg' co~Onaratiya fncfory ar, n,,f =, |