THE Members’ Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 PIONEER Liverpool’s quiet Florence Eshalomi MP: Love it? List it! co-operative A new Co-operative Our new community revolution voice in Parliament assets campaign 06 10 24 ‘By amplifying diverse voices and empowering members to take action, you can build change from the bottom up.’ See ‘Movement Building’, page 10 02 The Pioneer Spring/Summer 2020 Letter from the General Secretary Welcome to your latest edition of The Pioneer he beginning of a new decade commonwealth. brings with it fresh ambition and In this edition we reflect on the Contents T fresh opportunity. co-operative movement’s history In the run up to the New Year, (p. 08), explore how we can build 04 Let’s Build It there was a trend of people posting on those traditions to modernise our Together ‘2010 vs 2020’ pictures on social movement (p. 10), and we hear how media. If the Party were to be able trade unions are organising to win 06 Case Study: to be pictorially characterised in a in the gig economy (p. 18). A quiet revolution similar fashion, I believe it to would We also look at the work our in Liverpool demonstrate incredible growth and councillors are doing to build local 08 change. co-operative economies (p. 04) The Co-operative However, we are by no means with the case study of Inclusive Movement: Values in Action content. This edition of The Pioneer Economy Liverpool (p. 06), and our focuses on how we can grow our new Love It? List It! campaign to 10 movement in the upcoming years. protect our community spaces (p. The Long Read: Movement Building This decade must be one of 23). co-operative and Co-operative Finally, we introduce you to our 14 Party proliferation – we have such newest MP Florence Eshalomi (p. Explained: How It All Fits a positive and apposite message 16) and our new Disability Network Together allied with our values and principles, (p. 26). And if you live in England, we owe it to our communities and you can find out about standing for 16 The Conversation: society to ensure that the answers election this May (p. 25). Florence Eshalomi we have for the times we live in are We have a busy few months and Andrew Pakes felt, embraced and adopted. ahead – so it’s great to have you as 20 I hope if that social media trend part of the team! Spotlight: Northern Ireland, comes around again in 2030, we Scotland & Wales can collectively look back with true pride at the steps we have taken 23 Love It? List It! together in building the co-operative Campaign Joe Fortune, General Secretary 24 Policy Process THE PIONEER 2020 Tel: 02073674150 Promoted by Joe Fortune on behalf of Email: [email protected] the Co-operative Party, both at Unit 13, 25 Editorial enquiries: Georgia O’Brien 83 Crampton Street, London, SE17 3BQ. Member Updates: and Shane Brogan. Printed by Solopress, 9 Stock Road, Elections, Disability Southend-on-Sea Essex, SS2 5QF. Co-operative Party Limited is a registered Network and Society under the Co-operative and Events Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. Registered no. 30027R Letter from the General Secretary 03 Feature Let’s Build it TOGETHER Anna Birley Policy Officer, Co-operative Party We can help restore trust in politics by giving people the means to create and build wealth in their communities. That’s what Labour and Co-operative councillors are already doing - and more should follow their example. 04 The Pioneer Spring/Summer 2020 ince the EU referendum result it has become signed the city up to an ambitious something of a cliché to talk about how to pledge to double the co-operative S respond to the sense of powerlessness felt in sector. In Manchester, the many communities. The foundations of our economy Greater Manchester Co-operative have been shifted by Brexit, technology and Commission seeks to create a deindustrialisation – and in turn these have shone co-operative enterprise zone where a light on a growing divergence in views and values new co-operative enterprises can across geographies and generations. This divergence thrive. In Oxfordshire, councillors is both a symptom and cause of the breakdown of the have brought the community ties that traditionally brought people together. together to create a community- The mantra of trickle-down economics is being run bus. In Leeds, self-employed tested, as towns and cities who have long relied on workers are piloting co-operative inward investment to revitalise their economies have ways of providing each other sick grown tired of waiting for austerity to end. They find pay and security. themselves bearing the brunt of distant corporate These are not isolated examples decision-making. Britain’s manufacturing heritage – our co-operative values of has been replaced by call centres and warehouses participation, social responsibility where jobs are too often secure only until the service is and democratic accountability are cheaper to provide elsewhere. taking root and finding practical But, despite a bruising election defeat for Labour, application up and down the our co-operative movement and activists aren’t country. Imagine how extending mourning. They’re organising. democracy to our workplaces, They represent a different way of doing politics - one cultivating engagement in civic grounded in communities, which builds from the bottom decisions and building communities up and empowers people to take control over the things which support each other looks that affect their daily lives. From Preston to Plymouth, like on a national scale – Labour from North Ayrshire to Merthyr Valley, you can see does not need to be in power in this politics in practice. Labour and Co-operative Westminster to make this happen councillors are building community wealth, using public now. procurement and working with anchor institutions to Our mission now as a Party keep money circulating in their local economies. And and a movement is to grow this crucially, they are growing the co-operative economy. activism and to demonstrate our In Preston, for example, freelance psychologists values and principles through their have organised into a co-operative to share services practical application. We know that and support each other. Plymouth councillors have co-operation offers many of the answers that our communities are asking for, and that it also offers a way forward for the left. Feature 05 Case study A quiet revolution in Liverpool Cllr Patrick Hurley CEO, Inclusive Economy Liverpool here are almost too many co-ops in the city to keep that Inclusive Economy Liverpool track of. There’s the Smithdown Social, proving the are doing with Creative Spaces Co. T local community with access to great music, arts, and Social Impact Consulting. Our culture and training. The Naked Lunch Cafe, Windmill CoStarters Pioneers programme is Wholefoods and Homebaked Bakery, and Lock and helping potential co-operators learn Quay Pub all give a retail food offer that is tough to the basics of running a co-operative beat. Meanwhile, Urgent Care 24, Kitty’s Launderette business and is running throughout and Arts Hub 47 all provide different services to the 2020 and beyond to help people community that aren’t catered for elsewhere. turn their ideas into action. Taking this mini-renaissance to its next level, with Since launching in Autumn an expected further expansion in the sector is the work 2019, our programme has already 06 The Pioneer Spring/Summer 2020 had one recognisable success: The and talents of local people have perhaps been given Clocktower Neighbourhood Society, insufficient attention. Changing that situation is part of formed with a view to taking over the reason for the creation of CoStarters Pioneers. the running of a disused 19th It’s a tough ask to protect state-funded business century building on the outskirts of advice and support in an era of cuts to frontline the city centre and turning it into a services all round. But if the country is to grow its Co-op Academy to hothouse new grassroots business sector, including the co-operative ideas, and act as a recognisable movement, and genuinely reverse the trend of retail physical home for the sector in the closures, protectionism and gig economy work, then city. There should be more where it’s imperative that choices along those lines are made that came from over the next twelve with an eye on the longer-term prospects for jobs and months too. business growth throughout the next decade. Over the last couple of decades, In Liverpool, we’re hopeful that the work we’ve Liverpool’s economic growth started will bear fruit in the coming years, and a renewal strategy has had a large focus of the co-operative model will become evident. And of on attracting external capital course, we’re all stronger when we work together, so investment, both from large please do get in touch so we can all share knowledge private organisations and from of what works and how to survive in trying times. the European Union. It’s highly likely that such a strategy has run its course for both obvious and unexpected reasons. In the meantime, the entrepreneurial skills More information at: ieliverpool.com Case Study 07 From a store in Rochdale to a Feature movement of three million co- operatives worldwide, co-operation is an idea with a proud history and an exciting future. The co-operative movement: a history of values in action Anna Birley Policy Officer, Co-operative Party ust before Christmas 1844, a working-class As the number of co-operatives community in Rochdale came together to take a grew so did the movement: 150 J stand.