The Present Application of the Rochdale Principles of Co-operation (1937)

Introduction At the London Congress of the ICA in 1934, the Special Committee appointed to enquire into the Present Application of the Rochdale Principles presented their Report on the first part of their task, that is to say, on the enquiry into the historical facts and their present application by Retail Distributive Societies (Consumers' societies). It had been agreed in the early days of the enquiry that this investigation was fundamental, and by reason of the greater extension of consumers' co-operation within the International Co-operative Alliance in comparison with the other forms - viz., Co-operative Wholesale Societies; Workers' Productive Societies; Agricultural Productive Societies; Credit Societies; and Co-operative Banks - constituted at least half of the task of the Special Committee.

Certain of the proposals of the Special Committee having been received with opposition on the part of some of the delegates, the congress eventually decided to adjourn their decision upon the recommendations until the work of the Special Committee had been completed. For this purpose, the Report was remitted to the Special Committee, who took up the enquiry again and, as a preliminary step, decided the issue of separate Questionnaires to each of the five remaining groups above mentioned. The original Questionnaire being adapted to each group ensured that the main lines of the enquiry were identical in all the types. It must be admitted at the outset that the responses to our enquiries have been disappointingly few, and in many instances too vague to provide the basis of sure conclusions. They have, however, been sufficient to show that considerable variations exist in respect of the practice in different countries, but not sufficient in many to constitute serious abrogations of Co-operative Principles.

The method of the Committee's enquiry and the results obtained from the original Questionnaire addressed to Consumers' societies were set out in the Report to the London Congress, and are available both in the Agenda and Report of the Congress proceedings. Similar details concerning the other groups have been submitted to the Special Committee in several reports. It does not, therefore, appear necessary that they should be reproduced here.

We, therefore, propose to submit the results of the combined enquiries under three aspects:

1. The Principles of Co-operation as practiced by the Rochdale Pioneers;
2. Their Present Application; and
3. Conclusions and Recommendations
.