Practical Utopians

Australia than New Zealand, at no point did the movements in the two countries reach the same heights as their counterpart in Britain. A preliminary examination of the movements in Australia and New Zealand demonstrates that Rochdale co-operatives in both countries had similar 'waves of interest'and obstacles to their advancement. While the movement has collapsed in both countries, a number of Rochdale consumer co-operatives survive in rural areas of Australia, chiefly by drawing upon a reciprocal loyalty relationship with the local community. The idea of Rochdale consumer co-operatives (hereafter co-ops) was imported from the United Kingdom (UK) to Australia and New Zealand. The ideology of the co operative movement ranged from what may be termed 'business co-operativism/, which focussed on the regular vdivvy' or dividend (based on purchases and the return of capital), to a fundamental belief in the need to replace capitalism with a 'Co-operative Commonwealth'. Under this model, the consumer co-ops would generate sufficient capital for the establishment of co-operative banks, co-operative insurance and producer co-ops, which would supplant capitalist enterprises. This article undertakes a preliminary examination of Rochdale co-ops in both Australia and New Zealand. It is concerned with mapping the extent and impact of Rochdale consumer co-ops in the two countries and providing some explanation for the movement's failure to consolidate in both Australia and New Zealand. Undertaking such a study poses a number of challenges. While there has been one major study of Rochdale consumer co-ops in Australia, it deals with New South Wales (NSW) and does not focus on the local level.2 In New Zealand, labour historians have largely ignored the Rochdale consumer co-ops, with major secondary studies coming mainly from economists and accountants. There are also problems with finding basic statistics on Rochdale consumer co-ops, particularly at the local level. In NSW official data, details concerning local co-ops are not available after 1952. Currently the NSW Registrar of Co-operatives only retains the annual reports of co-ops for seven years. Similar shortcomings are evident in the official data for New Zealand. For instance, researchers seeking to explain the collapse of the Manawatu Consumers Co-operative at Palmerston North in New Zealand have been able to obtain little data from the Department of Justice despite a requirement for the lodgement of annual accounts.3 Further problems arise from the aggregation of information on Rochdale consumer co-ops with that relating to other co-ops. The Mt Barker Co-operative in Western Australia, for example, was established in 1918 to serve the interests of fruit growers with the provision of a packing shed. It built and operated a power station from 1929 to 1934 and did not enter the retail trade until

Archaeology · Capital (architecture) · Capitalism · Commonwealth · Economics · Economy · Ideology · Political science · Sociology · Cooperative Studies and Economics · History · Law

• The Politics of Consumption and Labour History

  Open Access•Nikola Balnave, Nikola Balnave Nikola Balnave et al.•Labour History•2011

  Add to list

• Rochdale consumer co-operatives in Australia

  Nikola Balnave, Greg Patmore•Business History•2012

  Add to list

• The outsider consumer co-operative

  Nikola Balnave, Greg Patmore•Business History•2015

  Add to list

• Marketing community and democracy

  Nikola Balnave, Greg Patmore•Consumption Markets & Culture•2010

  Add to list

• Localism and Rochdale Co-Operation

  Open Access•Nikola Balnave, Greg Patmore•Labour History•2006

  Add to list