Having cast my vote long ago for the Platt Chapel Community Centre, ‘reclaiming and creating a diverse community space in Manchester’  on the grounds that I’m a Lancastrian and Hazel O’Keefe makes me laugh, I’ve been perplexed to keep getting e-mails from the Cooperative Society addressed, ‘Dear Revolutionary’! Now when I was a nipper nearly 60 years ago my mum used to send me with a book of coupons to the local Co-op [ pronounced ‘Cawp’ round our way] for a bit of this and that – well, to be honest for a loaf of sliced bread and some spuds. In those days the Cawp didn’t do fresh veg. Neither did they stock copies of the ‘Communist Manifesto’ on the shelves. None of which, I must say, bothered me at the time.  Decades on, though, the Co-op’s gross misuse of the notion of revolution does ruffle my untidy political feathers. But, ever pragmatic, no umbrage taken and presuming the Co-op has its tongue in its cheek,, find below details of a series of promising seminars being run by the Co-operative College in early July.

– Opportunities for Mainstreaming : ideas for the future of co-operative education, Monday, July 4 in Manchester.

– Education and Young People : ideas for the future of co-operative education, Tuesday,  July 5 in Plymouth.

– Co-operative approaches to teaching and learning : curriculum, pedagogy and ‘co-operative schools, Wednesday,      July 6 in London.

Fuller details to be found on these Brochures for Co-operative Regional Events or contact Ceri Smith at yourstoshare@coop.ac.uk for the first two gatherings and Tom Wood at t.wood@ioe.ac.uk for the London event.

A significant speaker at two of the meetings is John Schostak from the Manchester Metropolitan University, mention of whom allows me belatedly to post his thoughts on whether cooperatives challenge or collude with the status quo. Certainly a number of youth workers within our campaign – some now redundant-  have been discussing whether to form co-operatives as a way of  resuscitating a democratic and emancipatory practice.

CO-OPERATIVES : FIGHTBACK OR COLLUSION

Is the proposal to set up mutuals or co-operatives in the context of public sector cuts anything other than collusion with the cuts?

There are real dangers here. In my view there is a concerted attack on the concept, the nature and the existence of the ‘public’ to the benefit of private ownership. It is only in the ‘public’ sphere that people can voice concerns, make demands, debate issues, engage collectively in decision making and thus in action to make a difference. That is, it is in the public sphere that democracy is able to exist. In the private sphere, only ‘owners’ are able to make decisions, all others as employees must simply follow them. That is, in the private sphere, democracy can be excluded. The public sphere has been consistently eroded over at least three decades as privatisation after privatisation has taken place, employees safeguards removed, trade union rights to strike constrained and civil liberties reduced by legislation. Today, it can be argued that an even greater attack on the public sector is taking place than in the early 1980s.

In the context of this, does a mutual, or co-operative offer a solution?

Yes, I think there is. The co-operative society and mutuals can be considered to be a sector that is distinct from both the private and public sectors. Its global history gives evidence of its resilience and sustainability throughout whatever political contexts and economic crises that have taken place over the last 150 years or so. Although many co-operatives and mutuals are hierarchical in terms of organisation all have the principle of sharing the proceeds of work. Where State Public Sector organisations are essentially ‘top down’; co-operatives begin as ‘bottom up’ organisations. It is here in this mutual self organisation that I think there is a political force that is worth nurturing. Democracy only means something if it is in the hands of people who can act together freely and equally to work and create a community of mutual benefit. It is through working together freely and equally that people both learn and practice democracy as the basis for the good society. A co-operative or mutual founded upon principles and practices of democratic organisation is in my view the most powerful counter to increasing privatisation. Each co-operative creates and adds to the public sphere that is essential to democratic politics. The larger that sphere, the more effective it can be in shaping national, even global, politics. At the present, the largest sphere of influence is without doubt private patronage by billionaire contributors to political parties because there is no effective countervailing sector now that the State Public Sector is being slashed.

That is why I am involved in discussions with the Co-operative College in Manchester about projects that contribute to the building of a co-operative sector in education through the establishment of co-operative trust schools. Democracy begins with the young! And alliance with youth work would be attractive. The co-operative strategy seems to me to be one of building alliances and support networks. Currently there are approximately 100 co-op schools with another 100 on the way. When you think that this combines with co-ops in health, business, finance, community work…. it starts to be a force to be reckoned with. And if instead of ‘representative democracy’, there is free and equal participation in decision making by members of the co-operative community, then politics gets to be re-owned by people, not politicians and their billionaire masters. Co-ops then are a fight back, not a collusion.

John Schostak, Dec 2010