Evening star., 1944-01-16

Is SnOrtly TO be neld mere IN washington
and, while it is not likely to get the top
headlines, the final results may we'll be
of greater consequence than the inn
portant pronouncements which come
out of the meetings Of international
bigwigs.
At the coming conference representa-
tives Of cooperative organizations from
all over the world will sit down together
to discuss how co-ops may help in world
reconstructions. Delegates sent by the
United Nations, and particularly those
with strong cooperative movements,
will spend two days considering plans
and proposals with the probability that
a permanent organization will come out
Of the meeting. The sessions will be
held January 10 and 20 at Hotel WASH
ington.
In the chaos and confusion that came
with the end of the last war, co-ops in
various countries performed small
miracles in distributing food and cloth
ing. Here were organizations still intact,
going down to the grass roots, prepared
to carry on in a crisis. Co-operators
in this country and those who escaped
from Nazi Europe believe they may per-
form the same service when with the
end Of the present war there is far
greater chaos and destruction.
10000, 900 Members.
Prior to Hitier's occupation of Europe
in the spring of 1910 there was an active
world organization known as the Inter-
national Cooperative Alliance. with
headquarters in London. In 1888 the
alliance consisted of $4,000 societies
with an individual membership of 120,-
100000. Twenty-Five of the countries
in this membership had national CO.
operative WHOLESALERS belonging to two
international cooperative wholesale
societies. They conducted a world wide
trade across national boundaries on
cooperative basis.
When Hitler took over power in Ger
many he liquidated most Of the CO.
operative organization that had received
its chief support from the Social-Demo-
cratic party. When the Nazis moved
into Austria in 1888 there was some ef-
fort to curtail the widespread CO.
operative movement. But by this time
they had discovered that the co-opera-
tive system could scarcely be replaced as
medium for distributing essential
goods
In Germany proper they had actually
been compelled to take certain CO.
operative leaders out of concentration
camps to work again in what was left
Of the cooperative distributing system.
AS Hitler ground Germany's economy
down to minimum basis, preparing for
war, big supply problems developed
which it was necessary to call on CO.
operative help in solving.
In Sweden last spring I was told by
leading Swedish co-operators that a
considerable vestige of the cooperative
organization remained in Germany, ac-
cording to their best information, and
that in Austria the cooperative setup
had been very little disturbed. The
Swedes. who with the British were
among the pioneers in cooperation and
who have done much to foster its in
ternational aspects. believe that the CO.
operatives-what is left of them and
what can be pieced together-will give
invaluable aid in restoring some order
Is ruined postwar Germany. That, of
course. will be one OF the important
subjects to be taken UP at the coming
conference here.
Relied on Co-ops.
In Russia after the revolution of 1917
the widespread organization of the CO.
ops was almost the only thing that pre-
vented complete collapse of the dis
tribution system. At the direction OF
Lenin the Bolsheviks left the coop or
ganization intact as a means for getting
what food there was to the people. Later
Of course, when the Soviets had de-
veloped their own system of state stores
they took over the co-operatives and
ended their independence, incorporat-
| ing them within the state, step which
| dismayed co-operators throughout the
world.
After World War I the French gov
ernment used the consumer cooperative
societies for distributing and fixing the
price of many foods The Italian gov
ernment placed in the hands of the
consumer co-operatives the distribution
of meat and potatoes. The Swedish
government has made extensive use OF
the independent cooperative movement
in rationing and for the import OF goods
both for co-ops and for private whole
! salers and retailers. It was thanks
largely to the foresightedness OF CO.
operative leaders, and particularly Albin
Johansson. head of the movement, that
Sweden had large stockpiles of scarce
and strategic materials in September
| of 1899.
| Serious consideration is to be given
| at the conference to establishment OF
some sort of international cooperative
credit agency. The co-ops that survive
in Norway, Holland. Belgium. France
and the other countries that have lived
under the invaders tyranny will need
funds for rehabilitation. Representa-.
tives Of the Cooperative League of The
U. S. A., which is sponsoring the coming
communities in order to sell the power
| to repay the Federal Government. The
National Capital has been established
for more than 140 years. In all Of thi.