Chapter — Rickaby, Socialism
10. Co-operation.
Hobbes, in the frontispiece of one of his works, exhibits the bust of a human figure, whose head, breast, and shoulders are made up of men packed together
We may take this for a figure of a Co-operative Society.
Co-operation may open a great future at once to the small capitalists and to the working man. It has certain drawbacks, notably the difficulty of getting good managers ; still the cause looks hopeful. Even more hopeful still is Profit-sharing, which gives workmen a direct interest in the profits which their labour helps to produce.
The effect hence anticipated is to make “industrial divisions vertical, not horizontal,” the workman’s interests being “ bound up with those of his employer, and pitted in fair competition against those of other workmen and employers ” (Jevons).