Vendor
	Edward Everett Root John Spiers
Original language
English
Categories
United Kingdom, Great Britain 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999 Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies

A Useable Past - A three volume set

C. Stephen Yeo

The History of Association, Cooperation and un-Statist Socialism in 19th and early 20th century Britain.

*Volume 1. Victorian Agitator, George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906): Co-operation as 'This New Order of Life.' * Volume 2. A New Life, The Religion of Socialism in Britain, 1883-1896: Alternatives to State Socialism. * Volume 3. Class Conflict and Co-operation in 19th and 20th Century Britain. Education for Association: re-membering for a new moral world.

Volume 1. Victorian Agitator, George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906):

Co-operation as 'This New Order of Life.'

Holyoake was a classic example of Gramsci’s working-class ‘organic intellectual’. An Owenite ‘social missionary’, he became a Radical Liberal, Secularist and Co-operator, responsible for the legend of ‘the Rochdale Pioneers’. A journalist, thinker, multiple ‘joiner’ and promoter of freedom in many settings, Holyoake was also a highly-readable stylist. An influential 19th century public figure, his life and work have recently been neglected among co-operators as by well historians. The case for reviving work on his ideas is powerful.

Volume 2. A New Life, The Religion of Socialism in Britain, 1883-1896: Alternatives to State Socialism.

Starting with an unusual, ‘revivalist’ phase in the history of socialism in the late 1880s and early 1890s, this book goes on to explore the distinctive character of socialism in English history more widely understood. The book characterises ‘the three socialisms’: associationism, statism and collectivism, establishing their presence in the social history of socialism in Britain and elsewhere.

Volume 3.Class Conflict and Co-operation in 19th and 20th Century Britain. Education for Association: re-membering for a new moral world.

This book begins with ‘ways of seeing’ the lives and times of religious and other organisations as instances of cultural creativity, and as rival clusters of social potential. It tells the story of class conflict over forms of association - for example between the Friendly Societies and the private insurance industry since National Insurance began with Lloyd George in 1911. Stephen uses his experience at Ruskin College to think practically as well as historically about co-operative schools, ‘access’ to Higher Education and the idea of a co-operative university.

The book ends by suggesting ways forward for Co-operative Studies and co-operative politics – examining the obstacles and opportunities facing twenty-first century Co-operative and Mutual Enterprise.