The Masses (periodical)/Volume 1/Number 1/Why Socialists Should Join Co-operatives

by Piet Vlag

Why Socialists Should Join Co-operatives

 

A Talk by the Manager of the American Co-operative on the Benefits
to be Derived by Socialism from the Co-operatives

 

By P. Vlag

 

BECAUSE the Socialist movement in the United States is very much in need of an economic basis.

Co-operatives, like labor unions, are a means of securing an economic basis for the Socialist movement.

Our highest council, the International Socialist Congress, after mature deliberation, passed a resolution to that effect.

What is meant by an economic basis?

It means to apply the Socialist philosophy to the present economic situation of the working class.

It means that we Socialists realize that we will never reach our ultimate goal unless we do something besides teaching philosophy in an abstract form.

It means that we know that we must reach the workers through their stomachs as well as through their brains.

To illustrate:

The European Socialist movement appeals to the industrial factory slave through industrial unionism.

They never lose sight, however, of the fact that Socialism is the goal, and not a mere increase of wages.

They teach the workers that their only hope to combat capitalism effectively, lies in collective, concentrated and well-organized action.

Furthermore, the European move rent appeals to the wives of the workers through co-operatives. They do not preach to these women that a decrease of the cost of living secured through co-operatives will settle the economic problem. They teach them that the only remedy for the present economic problem, is Socialism, and that the co-operatives are merely used as a preliminary education for the establishing of the co-operative commonwealth.

They prove to these women and their husbands the necessity of collective action.

They teach them the democratic management and control of the means of production and distribution.

They bind them together on an economic basis into a well-organized body of men and women. These men and women are much better fitted to combat the capitalist system than the type produced by our present industrial system in the United States. The type which is willing to suffer all sorts of abuse and slaver with the silent hope that some time in the future he will be a small employer or business man himself.

The methods of the Socialist movement in the past did not reach the type above mentioned.

The workingman of this type believes that we are very good and sincere fellows, but that we are dreamers, and far off. This type of American workingman considers himself practical. He does not really approve of the present grafting system, but considers that under the system it is better to be on the inside than on the outside: therefore, Tammany Hall appeals to him.

Tammany Hall never professed to understand economic determinism, but it works in conformity to it, nevertheless.

No man can secure employment through Tammany Hall, unless Tammany Hall feels reasonably sure that uncle, nephew, aunt, cousin, wife and baby are going to vote for it—vote for it as often as possible.

This goes to show that an economic basis for the Socialist Party is sorely needed in this country. Not as a vote-catching machine, as Tammany Hall uses it, but to bind the workers together with economic ties in a highly efficient and strongly centralized organization. When this is accomplished, we will get a hearing from the workers.

Now as to the educational side of co-operation. What will co-operatives do for the workers from the educational point of view?

The workingman of the present type, whose sole occupation consists in doing a minute specialized part of the industry in which he is engaged, necessarily has a very limited mental horizon.

If this workingman is taken away from his present sphere, to democratically manage the means of production and distribution, do you not think that the mind of this workingman will broaden out?

Then let us consider the effects of the co-operative movement upon our Socialist organizations?

How much of a Socialist organization have we at present in this country?

Is not our present organization, to a very large extent, only a dues-paying affair?

How many locals have we that really deserve the title of organization, and are not merely groups of rebellious individuals?

How many branches have we, where the minority will abide by the decision of the majority, and faithfully and unmockingly carry out its decision?

How many locals are there in which there is such discipline as to make the comrades carry out the orders which the officers give regarding propaganda?

Until we can answer all these question satisfactorily, for the majority of our locals, do we deserve the title organisation?

I think not, comrades.

The next question is, what will co-operatives do to teach our people organization?

This question can be best answered by the results obtained in Europe, where the co-operatives have become a power.

The results obtained by the Socialists in Germany, Belgium, Holland and Denmark are the most satisfactory in those districts where co-operatives are the most highly developed.

Co-operative organizations and labor unions are organizations the members of which have a stronger community of interest than merely a sharing of opinions on philosophical subjects.

They are tied together in these organizations by economic conditions. If they break the rules of the organization, they are punished economically. They either lose part of their dividends, or in case of labor organizations, fines are imposed upon them. Thus the members of these economic bodies are taught organization.

Recently, the organizer of New York city expressed his dissatisfaction with the New York local.

He asserted that the only people within the local who really understood organization, were the Germans.

This is in itself sufficient to prove my point.

As Dr. Karl Liebknecht expressed it, "The Germans have in their Workingmen's Sick and Death Benefit Fund the greatest Socialist co-operative in this country." Hence their comprehension of organization.