Book Review #3:Co-operation's Prophet

The third book in my very occasional series of Co-operative book reviews is "Co-operation's Prophet". This book is the biography of a Co-operative icon - William King - and was written by a Co-operative journalist of the early 20th century, T. W. Mercer.

William King was a doctor in Brighton in the early 19th century. He saw Co-operation as a way in which the working class could improve their condition, and overcome that terrible irony of the capitalist system in which those who worked were often destitute, while those who did not had all the comforts that the time had to offer. While he admired the mutual philosophy of trade unions and friendly societies, he thought that it was unfortunate that their assets were conventionally invested - he pointed out that by directly investing their funds in business and employment for their members, the working class could slowly buy themselves out of their enslavement to capitalism.

The Co-operatives envisaged and set up by Dr King can not be simply classified into consumer, worker, housing or any other of the labels that we now apply to co-operatives. Instead, the co-operatives would start by retailing, in order to invest and grow the member's subscriptions. As capital grew, the idea was to employ, one-by-one, members who could provide a good return on the society. Eventually, the idea was to accumulate such capital that self-supporting communities could be developed (although King thought that some such communities could be formed within existing towns and settlements):

"When the capital has accumulated sufficiently, the Society may purchase land, live on it, cultivate it themselves, and produce any manufactures they please, and so provide for all their wants of food, clothing and houses. The Society will then be a Community."

The reason why the name of William King still has such resonance today is that he published a series of monthly newsletters evangelising the Co-operative Movement from 1828 to 1830. These publications enabled the altruistic motivations of King to be communicated to later generations of Co-operators. Indeed, it is thought that part of the inspiration for the later (1844) Rochdale Pioneers came from this source.

But back to the book! In the first half, Mercer presents the story of Dr King's life: his determination to use his medical knowledge in the service of the poor of Brighton, his early involvement in the establishment of a Mechanic's Institute in the town, and his struggle to found a Co-operative Movement within Brighton and further afield. This part of the book is well written, and uses newspaper reports and other primary sources to really evoke a sense of what Brighton was like at this point in its history.


The second half of the book is a complete reprint of every edition of King's "The Co-operator" - and I must admit that this was the reason for my purchase of this book. This is a fascinating read from a language point of view alone - each fantastically long, circumlocutory sentence is a piece of art in itself. King's missionary zeal can not fail to make an impact on anybody well disposed to Co-operation. His descriptions of the Co-operative Commonwealth provide a piece of idealism that all active Co-operators would be well reminded to think upon.

As with the previous books that I have reviewed, this book is available from the Co-op College online bookstore - or can be borrowed from myself.

Previous Book Reviews:

1. Co-op - The People's Business
2. Co-operative Principles - Today and Tomorrow