Serving the People: The Co-operative Party History from Sam Perry to Gordon Brown
Greg Rosen
Mutuo, 112pp, £6.99

I was brought up on the belief that the Labour movement consisted of a strange bird – one that had three wings – the Labour party, the trade unions and the Co-operative movement. The three-legged stool is also a useful simile: all three legs combined keep the stool upright, but if one is lost, the other two fall as well.

Greg Rosen has amply illustrated the relevance of this in his excellent book produced to coincide with the 90th birthday of the Co-operative party. Having spurned the opportunity to be in at the birth of the Labour party in 1901, the Co-op painfully realised by 1917 that, being without direct political representation at a local and national level, it had fallen prey to harsh economic and political winds which left it defenceless against commercial opponents.

Rosen has painstakingly traced the path followed in those 90 years in which the party had to seek to protect the movement from unfair attacks, including the nationalisation of its insurance arm, and the Selective Employment Tax, while at the same time promoting the practical application of co-operative principles over an ever-widening sphere of activity. It was therefore essential that access was gained to the highest levels within the Labour party and governments. We are reminded of some of the giants of the Co-operative party – A.V. Alexander, Alf Barnes, Sam Perry, George Darling, Bert Oram, Bob Edwards, Alf Morris, to name but a few.

Rosen reminds us that without the financial and moral support of local Co-operative societies and the backing of the newly merged Co-operative group – with its family businesses including the Co-operative Bank and the Co-operative Insurance Society – not only would the Co-operative party be redundant but that the Labour party and government would be the poorer.
2007 sees the alliance of Labour and Co-operative alive and thriving. There are more Co-operative Members of Parliament than ever in its history and thanks to the party secretary, Peter Hunt, and his team, the application of co-operative principles are increasingly being sought. Rosen has produced a record of achievement of great value to the new co-operator and a timely reminder of the relevance of co-operative ideas to a Labour government.