CHAPTER XX.. Educational Work.

EDUCATIONAL WORK.

IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION—EARLY EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE SOCIETY—AN EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE FORMED—ITS CONSTITUTION—WORK AMONGST THE YOUNG—THE U.C.B.S. BAND FORMED—SOCIAL WORK—LECTURES—CLASSES DURING WORKING HOURS—A NEW DEPARTURE—AN EDUCATIONAL TOUR—A SECOND TOUR—VALUABLE WORK—THE YEARS OF WAR.

In all propaganda work there must necessarily be an element of education, for at least a part of educational work consists in the imparting of information, although the more important part is the training to think. Co-operators from the very earliest days of the movement have recognised the necessity of education, and have devoted a part of the funds which came to them from Co-operative trading to its support. Indeed the Rochdale Pioneers went further, and amongst their objects they placed taking control of the functions of education, meantime devoting 2½ per cent. of the surplus which accrued to them from their Co-operative trading to the furtherance of education amongst themselves. This example of theirs was followed by many other societies, and associations of a more or less educational nature were formed wherever a number of Co-operators could find it convenient to meet. It was from the conferences of representatives from the societies that the idea grew of what has become ultimately the supreme educational authority of the movement in Britain, the Co-operative Union. Even before the formation of the Union, conferences were being held in Scotland to discuss Co-operative problems, and almost from the beginning the Baking Society affiliated with the nearest of the Associations under whose auspices such conferences were held. Thus we find them subscribing to the funds of the Glasgow and Suburbs Conference Association and the Renfrewshire Conference Association, and, later, to all the other district associations in the country. But even before they began to subscribe to the conference associations they were taking an interest in and giving support to the literature of the movement. We find them at the quarterly meeting which took place on 26th August 1871 agreeing to subscribe for twelve copies of the Co-operative News, which were to be distributed amongst the employees in the bakery.

The members of the committee were evidently diligent readers of this journal too, for, as has been noted previously, they embodied in their minutes at a later date a criticism of some remarks which had appeared in that journal relative to the Society. It was not until 1896, however, that it was decided to set up a separate committee, which would have under its control the educative and recreative agencies of the Society. Just prior to that they had published a Year Book which contained a history of the Society to date. A branch of the Women’s Guild had also been formed, and classes in singing and ambulance work, as well as a literary society. At a special meeting which the committee held on 1st February 1896 they came to the unanimous decision that the time had now arrived when an educational and charitable fund should be formed by the Society, out of which all charitable donations and subscriptions should be taken. At the following meeting the sum of £50 was voted for the purpose of forming an educational fund.

The members of the board took the employees into consultation with respect to the administration of the educational fund, with the result that the following constitution was drawn up and agreed to:—

DUTIES AND WORK OF EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE.

This Committee shall consist of three Directors, who shall hold office for one year, and shall be elected at the December meeting of each year. They, along with the four members appointed by the employees, shall form the Educational Committee.

They shall take a special oversight of all the clubs, classes, and meetings of an educational nature connected with the Bakery.

They shall have at their disposal for the furtherance of educational work connected with the Bakery 10 per cent. or such other proportion of the Educational and Benevolent Fund (Rule 14) as the Directors may from time to time determine.

It will further be expected from them to make recommendations to the Directors from time to time on matters of public educational interest, and it shall be competent for the Directors at any time to remit such matters to them for consideration and report.

They shall meet monthly or oftener if required, and submit a short minute of their proceedings at the Directors’ bi-monthly meeting.

The first report of the educational committee was issued in December 1896. From this report it appeared that the nucleus of a library had been brought together, and that the library had been opened with 180 volumes; the literary association had had a membership of 105, and the women’s guild a membership of fifty. A musical association had also been conducted under the auspices of the committee, which had secured forty-nine members, and the choir had given a concert in the Wellington Palace. They had also sung at a mass meeting of Co-operators held in the City Hall, and had supplied the music at a propaganda meeting held at Blairdardie by the Glasgow and Suburbs Conference Association council. A swimming class had had a membership of sixty, and an ambulance class had a membership of thirty-five on the roll. A physical drill class had been started for the younger lads in the factory, and a Christian Association with twenty members on the roll had been started, and carried on a service every Sunday in the Society’s hall. Altogether the committee had done a remarkably good year’s work for a beginning, and had reason to congratulate themselves on the success which had attended their efforts.

The members of the educational committee had not been long at work before they came to the conclusion that the Society owed a duty to its younger workers which it could not afford to neglect. The Society employed over a hundred young people under eighteen years of age, and it was the wish of the committee that they should find some method by means of which they could assist these young people. Their first step was the convening of a meeting of the young people in the London Street tearooms, where they were addressed by Dr Henry Dyer and Mr James Campsie; and, as a result of this meeting, eleven of the young people joined the Glasgow continuation classes. It was during the second year of the educational committee’s existence that the Society’s band was formed, and the educational committee lent valuable financial aid in establishing it, with the result that in the years which have followed the band has proved itself a most valuable Co-operative asset. Mr James Campsie, M.A., was also commissioned to write a booklet for the children, which was entitled “Glimpses of Co-operative Land,” and of which some 22,000 copies were sold.

The committee and the various agencies under its control also took an active part in the work of the Homes bazaar, with the result that they were in the happy position of being able to contribute £480 to its funds. The members of the committee also took an active part in the elections to the various local governing bodies of the city and in the work of the Ward Committee. In 1899 a holiday club was formed, which in its first year of existence disbursed £220 amongst the members at holiday time. New agencies were continually being added, and new methods tried of influencing the younger members amongst the firm’s employees and of providing recreation and education for them. In 1903 a junior musical association was started, and continued to do well for a number of years, as did also an offshoot in the form of a kinderspiel choir, which gave each year successful performances of operettas to large audiences. A rowing club also became an immediate success until the war brought to many of the members another form of outdoor exercise of an even more strenuous nature.

In 1905 a series of lectures was organised; such well-known men as Mr Will Crooks, T. P. O’Connor, M.P., and David Macrae being the lecturers engaged. Annual festivals of the employees also became the rule, and later, annual excursions in the summer, which proved very successful. A whist club and a football club were next formed, and in 1908 a beginning with a holiday camp was made, twenty-five young people being sent to the Y.M.C.A. camp at Ardgoil, with the assistance of the educational committee. From time to time the committee paid the fees of employees who attended classes at the Technical College, and in 1912 they came to the unanimous decision that in future the fees of all employees, irrespective of age or sex, who devoted their spare time to attendance at technical or continuation classes, should be paid for them, provided the attendances they made satisfied the committee. They also decided that all junior employees who attended the Technical College for a session should be allowed to attend day classes at the college, time so spent to be accounted as part of their day’s work. This admirable decision, arrived at long before any steps in this direction were taken by the educational authorities on either side of the Border, is an evidence of the value which the committee set on education.

A NEW DEPARTURE.

During these years one or more prominent lecturers were engaged each quarter to deliver lectures to the employees. Amongst such lecturers, there were in later years, Mr Andrew Young, Miss Margaret M‘Millan, and Mr Philip Snowden. The Society’s kinderspiels continued to be very successful, as did the other agencies, but there was a sameness about the work of the committee which made for monotony; and in 1913 Mr James Young came forward with a suggestion to the committee which met with their hearty and unanimous approval. Mr Young pointed out that, while with some people education ceased as soon as they left school, with others it did not cease until they had had a University course and a tour round the world. The workers could not afford a tour round the world, nor a University course, but it was within the power of the educational committee of the Society to appoint several of their employees to make a tour of some of the most prominent concerns on the other side of the Border, and so learn their methods of doing business; how they provided for the housing of their employees, the relation of the employees to trade unionism, recreative societies, conditions of labour, hours, etc., and he suggested that such firms as the C.W.S., Cadbury’s, Lever’s, and Rowntree’s might be visited with profit. On the return of the deputation, short papers might be prepared by the members in which they would give accounts of what they had seen.

He pointed out that civic and other bodies believed in the value of deputations as necessary in enlarging the outlook and in helping the development of education.

THE DEPUTATION.

The deputation, which consisted of three male and two female employees, the manager, the chairman, and Mr Cadiz, spent the last week of June 1913 in visiting the premises of several English firms, for the purpose of getting information on the points mentioned above, and recorded their experiences and impressions in a pamphlet which was printed and issued to employees and members of the Society. The principal points dealt with were superannuation schemes; training of youth schemes and technical classes; wages and hours of labour; discipline; piecework, etc., of female employees; conditions of workrooms, costumes, baths, dining facilities, etc., of female employees; wages, hours, and working conditions of men employees and their relation to trade unions; social activities in factories; bands, athletic clubs, holidays and holiday arrangements; and housing schemes; each member of the deputation being responsible for a paper on one of the groups of subjects. The net result of the visit of the deputation was the collection of a considerable amount of valuable information respecting betterment schemes: information which, no doubt, had an influence on the directors when the plans for the erection of the last section of the M‘Neil Street premises were being considered. It had the subsidiary result of showing also that, while so far as wages and hours of labour were concerned, the Co-operative societies were decidedly in the front, in provision of outlets for the social activities of their employees and in housing and environment schemes they were far behind the best which was being done by private firms. It is interesting to note, in view of the fact that since then both the delegates to the Scottish Wholesale Society’s meeting and to the Baking Society’s meeting have refused to adopt superannuation schemes for their employees, that in every one of the firms which were visited, including the C.W.S., a superannuation or pension scheme was in operation; in some cases non-contributory and in other cases contributory. It is noticeable also that, in two of them, housing schemes of an elaborate nature were in operation, and that, in each case, a town on the most up-to-date garden city lines had been erected. It is perhaps also worthy of note here that, as this book is being written, these firms have been placed first and second respectively in a competition as to which firms in Great Britain are the best employers, while no Co-operative society is even mentioned.

This pamphlet, “Education By Impression,” which was edited by Mr Young, must have been of some value in opening the eyes of the more farseeing Co-operators to what they had yet to do before the Co-operative movement could claim to be in all respects a first-rank employer. On the other hand, Mr Young, in his editorial note, pointed out that it might be possible to carry organisation, even the organisation of an industrial heaven, that far that the independent character of the Scot might rebel. As a result of what he had seen, Mr Young recommended certain modifications which he thought could be made at M‘Neil Street with advantage. Some of these have since been incorporated to a greater or lesser extent in the methods of works organisation in use at M‘Neil Street.

A SECOND DEPUTATION.

So successful had the first visit to English factories been, and so great was the information acquired, especially on points affecting the welfare of the employees, that in the following year a second deputation was sent, which was equally successful in its results; and had it not been for the coming of war, doubtless others would have followed. Like their predecessors, the members of this deputation placed their impressions on paper, and these were also incorporated in a pamphlet which was issued under the title, “Seeing Is Believing.”

On this second occasion, the deputation consisted of three ladies and six gentlemen, including Messrs Buchanan and M‘Auslane, directors; and Mr Miller, distributive manager; and as on the previous occasion each member of the deputation was given a special subject, points in connection with which he or she had to note and report on. These points included housing; holiday camps; rest homes, etc.; profit sharing and bonus to labour; general conditions of female employment; superannuation; factory equipment; shop organisation; apprentices and conditions of employment of female employees. In connection with the housing investigation, which was carried out by Mr Buchanan, Letchworth Garden City was visited, as well as several other garden villages of a more or less satisfactory character.

VALUABLE WORK.

There can scarcely be anyone who will question the educational value of such visits as these. Not only are they of great value educationally to those privileged to take part in them, but the results of the investigations carried out, when made available as these were, in book or pamphlet form, convey much valuable information and become the means of imparting many new ideas to people to whom the larger books in which such information is to be found are not available. If they should have served, in however small a measure, in penetrating the veneer of complacency with which the average untravelled and uninformed Co-operator regards his own movement as in all things the last word in perfection of organisation and treatment of those employed, they would be worth far more to the movement than the few pounds which each trip cost.

THE YEARS OF WAR.

At first the war did not make much difference to the work of the educational committee or of its agencies, but as more and more of the younger male employees were called up or joined voluntarily, there was a perceptible falling off in the membership of the various agencies. The rowing club had to suspend operations altogether, and the band was hard put to it to maintain the balance of instruments, new players having to be brought in to take the places of those who had joined up. Meantime a senior choir had been formed, and did much good work, not only by providing concerts in St Mungo Hall, but by singing at concerts organised in aid of war charities and to provide entertainment for convalescent soldiers. In work of a semi-military character, the band also took a full share.

The educational committee also took charge of the funds organised by the various departments to provide parcels for employees serving with the Forces, and in this way a constant stream of parcels went from the Bakery to distant comrades. The provision of lectures by prominent men and women in the Co-operative and kindred movements continued to be a feature of the work carried on by the committee each winter, while it was usually arranged that some prominent Co-operator should give an address at the quarterly meeting held under the auspices of the committee, such addresses being generally on matters of current interest.

The work of an educational committee is usually arduous and somewhat discouraging. In commercial work the results of a policy are generally forthcoming immediately, but educational work is somewhat like scattering bread upon the waters. Doubtless good results accrue, but time must elapse before they show themselves, and the intervening period is one of faith and hope. Then, also, educational work is work in which a departure from stereotyped methods is necessary occasionally. There is a monotony in doing the same work year after year, which tends to “grooviness,” and this is a danger which must be avoided at all hazards, for from “grooviness” comes staleness and with staleness comes satiety. When an educational committee breaks new ground, as the Baking Society’s committee did in 1913 with their deputation to works of prominent firms in England, interest is stimulated, and even the stereotyped work takes on a new freshness. In the future we may hope to see the good work already done by the Baking Society’s educational committee broadening out in new directions, and acquiring fresh vigour with new successes. The educational committee has been in the past a welfare committee in the best meaning of that word, and without any of the prying, sometimes nicknamed “spying” by the employees, it has done much to promote the physical and mental wellbeing of those for whom it works. As the years pass, fresh outlets in this direction for its energies will also manifest themselves, and these it will take advantage of as readily as it has done in the past.