Correction: “The Truth about the Co-operative Movement”

The writer of the article under the above heading, published in the September issue, asks us to state that an error crept in. It was asserted that each member of the Co-operative Societies spends on an average only £10 a year in the Co-operative stores. This should have been “each member and dependant,” making the expenditure per family about £30 a year. This weakens somewhat the argument which was based on the figures given, but it is still obvious that Co-operators spend a large part of their money elsewhere than at Cooperative stores. Allowance has to be made for the fact that some of the transactions of Cooperative stores are with non-members, which means that the average amount spent at Co-operative stores by the families of Co-operators is not so large as the above figure would indicate.

A correspondent draws attention to the passage, “Co-operation bears no relation to Socialism,” which appeared in the article, and asks if it is correct. It should be obvious that the writer was not referring to co-operation in general but to the Cooperative Movement. It is the latter, not the former, which “bears no relation to Socialism.”

ED. COMM.