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Undaunted, the conservatives pressed on, launching their movement with a website and flagship publication “Nuts & Bolts – how to start a food co-op”, the author of which prefaces by saying that they have no technical expertise in how to set up co-ops... and the site doesn't list what co-op values are, nor link to the national federal body for the movement - Co-operativesUK
And this new movement has been subject to some criticism, not least because although espousing co-op values, it was a self-selecting body, accountable to no-one... But now, all that’s changed! It’s incorporating itself as a formal co-operative entity, with membership open to all (a snip at £10 a year!)
And that got me thinking... if enough people in the ‘main’/pre-existent co-operative movement became members, we could exercise member democracy, call an extraordinary meeting, and agree to dissolve the co-op, distributing its assets throughout the wider non-partisan co-op movement.
Anyone with me?
I'm with you! It's not the first time they've done this. Way back in 1869 they set up a Conservative Co-operative Society in Rochdale in competition with the Rochdale Pioneers, although without much success. But then Conservatives are not very good at understanding the term co-operate, just as Thatcher only understood the word 'solidarity' if it was in Polish.
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