The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-15
CO-OPS FAIL IN
TRUSTIFIED U. S.,
NEARING SHOWS
Economist Lays Down
Some Hard Facts
BY SCOTT NEARING.
Federated Press staff Writer.)

Consumers co-operatives undoubt-
eddy have their uses. They train work
ers in cooperative activity. They
teach them the art Of economic con-
troll. They save money.
But as a substitute for an organiza-
ton Of producers, and as, Il structural
basis for immediate social progress,
they will not qualify. Yet there are
millions who now believe in the posi-
bility. Have they a reasonable ground
for their beliefs?
There are several momentous qres-
lions which the advocate of the peace
full consumers cooperative revolu-
ton must answer.
1. The benefciaries OF the present
order-the steel trust, Standard OIL
etc.-already control the coal, iron,
oil and timber reserves. How can they
be induced to part with them?
Control State Machinery.
2. These same masters of the pres
ent order also control the machinery
of the state. If the cooperative asso-
Citations, formed according to law, real
ly threaten these interests, will the CO.
operatives not be outlawed and their
property confiscated?
8. The co-operatives, according to
the theory, will be the employers Of
all the labor in mines, factories,
stores. Will they permit it to or
ganize? To select workers councils
to direct the works?
4. AS they proceed in accumulation
of property will not the co-operatives
develop into defenders of the present
system which protects their property
and defends them in their right to
direct production?
5. BY what method will the transit
ton be made from the present order?
Will those who now dominate econom-
ic life voluntarily surrender their pri-
vileges?
One of the most attractive claims of
those who advocate consumers CO.
operation as method of building the
new society, is that their plan can be
put into operation here and now.
There are three reasons why this must
be denied for the United States.
In the first place, the great bulk of
American industry has no direct con.
nection with the consumer. Farms
produce wheat and cotton and cattle
which are manufactured In their fin
ished forms before they reach the con-
sumner. The bulk of the manufacture
ing in the heavy or key industries
turns out machinery that never gets
to the consumer at ALL Most of the
coal and all of the copper and iron
ore go into manufacturing and not to
the consumer. Therefore, in all of
these industries, an organization of
producers comes great deal closer
to the actual functioning of society
than an organization of consumers.
In the second place, merchandising
is so highly organized in the United
States that consumers societies find it
almost impossible to compete with the
chain store and the department store.
American co-operatives Meet.
Third, the margin which the Amer
lean worker still enjoys above his ac-
tual needs makes him Indifferent to
the savings which a cooperative can
promise. He prefers to invest his sur
plus in some business and climb the
ladder Of success.
The cooperative movement has
gained firm footing in Europe. Dur
ing the same period it has met with
widespread failure in the United
States. Perhaps these reasons ac-
count for the difference.