Margaret and the Guild
The Women's Co-operative Guild
We remember 1914, of course, primarily for the beginning of World War One. But on a very different level, 1914 also marked a turning point for the Women’s Co-operative Guild.
That May, the Guild received an ultimatum from Co-operative leaders: either withdraw from its controversial campaign for easier divorce, or lose a substantial grant. The Guild’s Annual Congress, which took place within weeks, was furious. Delegates wildly applauded speakers like the woman who declared ‘They wanted to work with the men side by side, not as subordinates with restrictions, for they possessed the powers and abilities of adult women … They were not prepared to be dominated’. When Congress voted overwhelmingly to defy the ultimatum, Margaret was jubilant: ‘I feel the women have ‘arrived’ and will never go back’.
This would have been unthinkable in 1889, when she was first elected General Secretary. How had it come about?
As its name suggests, the Guild was part of the Co-operative movement: a major working class organisation which ran stores in communities nationwide. Theoretically all Co-operators had equal rights, yet although it was women who actually shopped at the Co-operative stores, in practice men ran the show.
Founded only six years before Margaret took over, the Guild was run democratically, with annual elections for both the General Secretary and the Central Committee which she answered to. Members were mostly home based working class wives and mothers who, after giving up regular paid work when they married, now managed the relentless toil of keeping home and family going. In its early years the Guild had concentrated primarily on domestic matters and social activities, and stressed that it would not challenge male Co-operators’ domination: women would be ‘the sunbeams, the encouragers’.
Margaret, however, wanted things to change. She believed passionately in the moral and ethical aspects of Co-operation, arguing that it should aim to ‘make people not only richer but better’; and also that Guildswomen could and should make their views felt beyond home and family.
Her ideas fell on fertile ground within the Guild, which soon agreed both to play a part in the wider Co-operative movement, and to take up public issues. To make this happen Margaret devised an organised system of education, discussion and campaigning, which soon began to bear fruit. As the leading historian of the movement put it, once she became General Secretary the Guild became a ‘really powerful progressive force’, both in Co-operative politics and in wider social reform. The Guild expanded hugely, especially in the industrial north, reaching nearly 13,000 by 1900 and over
50,000 by the time Margaret retired in 1921. While this coincided with a favourable political and social climate, along with a general growth in Co-operative activity, her leadership was undoubtedly crucial.
Although some members preferred to stick to domestic and social activities, Margaret’s programme struck an immediate chord with many Guildswomen, even those with whom she did not always see eye to eye. One such was Mrs Bury, a formidable Guild leader who crossed swords with Margaret on several occasions. Mrs Bury was ecstatic after her first Guild Congress: ‘Here was the very opportunity I had always been seeking, but never put into words .... At the close of the meetings I felt as I imagine a war-horse must feel when he hears the beat of the drum’. On the other hand many members, initially more timorous, needed ‘bringing out’ as the Guild termed it. For them, Margaret’s emphasis on education and discussion made all the difference. As one woman proudly declared, ‘Our Guild has turned out women who are capable of making speeches such as few men could beat – women who all our lives have worked hard in the factory and the home.’ The Guild was changing lives.
Margaret also enjoyed the Guild’s sociable side, especially important for women who spent much time relatively isolated at home. Thus when she organised the first major national meeting in 1892 she dubbed it a festival and made sure it included a day’s outing and an informal ‘conversazione’ with music. And her personal warmth and charm fitted in perfectly with the supportive style of the Guild – what we might today call sisterhood. Mrs Dickenson summed this up after she travelled to from Leeds to London to speak at a mass women’s meeting in support of the bitter 1893 miners’ strike; a new and daunting prospect for this miner’s wife.
‘When I got to St James’ Hall, and saw so many faces I knew ... and the kindly welcome they each and all gave me, I felt no longer frightened and nervous. It was then I fully understood the power of our Guild, how we could make each other feel at home away from home.’
In his autobiographical novel ‘Sons and Lovers’, D. H. Lawrence wrote about a Guild branch in a mining area:
‘The Guild was called by some hostile husbands, who found their wives getting too independent, the ‘clatfart shop’ – that is, the gossip-shop. It is true, from off the basis of the Guild, the women could look at their homes, at the conditions of their own lives, and find fault. So the colliers found their women had a new standard of their own, rather disconcerting.’
Margaret’s individual encouragement, too, could make all the difference. Mrs Hood, who later rose to be Guild President, wrote about making her first public speech:
‘I was almost frightened to death, but when I stood up to speak, I saw your face in the audience ... when you smiled and clapped I went on with a fresh heart ... I am not the only one who has to thank you for showing them what they are capable of doing, over and over again.’
The respect and affection between Margaret and Guildswomen was clearly mutual. When she retired, Margaret said about their thirty years’ work together:
‘... it had been the greatest privilege to have helped to build up an organisation of those who had previously been without organised power, and to have seen it grow into a vital force in the Co-operative Movement and in the Nation. She expressed her affection for her fellow guildswomen, and her admiration for their unselfish devotion and courage. Guild work had been a wonderful experience with such fellow workers for such ideals …’