Emilee is a volunteer at the Co-operative Archive, currently working on the film catalogue and society’s histories book collection.

When I began volunteering at the archive, I made clear my passion for film and was given the opportunity to explore and catalogue the Trust's film collection. After coming across the same titles a few times, I began to wonder what these films were about and started to research more about the Co-op’s history with film.  

Cover of a catalogue of films which could be borrowed by different societies from the CWS Film Unit 1940's

This began with watching some of the films that are available on BFI Player’s Britain on Film and reading as much as I could about the way film was used by the Co-op Movement. As I read more and more, I found that the Co-op were early adopters - starting in 1899 (only three years after the first public showing of film in Britain), creating films not only for advertising and entertainment but for propaganda and education of co-operative members. 

The oldest surviving film in storage documents the Wishaw Co-operative Society’s Gala Day in 1909. It shows a parade of the children of the members of Wishaw Co operative Society on the way down High Street to the station to begin their gala day out on 26 June 1909. The front of a store is shown and it is likely to be the Society’s store. The Gala outings were annual events and one outing in 1939 was also filmed. The Wishaw Co-operative Society is in the Clyde Valley in Scotland. Formed in 1889, by 1909 the society had 2,334 members, a central store and four branches.

While the earliest films are unfortunately no longer around, many later films have been kept safe and can demonstrate how businesses were run as well as how communities spent their time, such as From Back to Back (1933), which promoted the Co-operative Wholesale Society’s tailoring department by showing the process of wool coming from the sheep’s back, being made at the factory and then worn on the man’s back.

Many of the collection I have come across focus on different societies, such as the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society and the London Co-operative Society, as film-making was taken up by individuals across the country, rather than a single nationwide effort.

Film for Education and Propaganda

A flyer for a cinematograph display organised by Ambleside Co-operative Society Ltd. in 1915.

The purpose of film for the co-op movement  was primarily to promote the principles and values of co-ops, support new co-ops and encourage new members to join. This was most obvious in the inter-war period due to an ever-growing left wing labour movement. The war pushed co-operatives to create an ‘alternative’ cinema, not dissimilar from the way cinema was used in the Soviet Union, which acted as a way to bring workers together in unity. As scholar Alan Burton has stated:

"Films could thus aid in stressing the ‘co-operative difference’, the crucial ideological and economic distinction between co-operation and capitalism."

The British Co-operative Film catalogue complied and edited by Alan Burton (1996: p.453)

One notable film was Advance Democracy (1938), which called for workers to join the Popular Front against Fascism ahead of the Second World War. As film became more accessible with the invention of 16mm, non-flammable material, a push was made to create more films promoting the Co-op’s socialist aims, attempting to “counter-act […] the subtle propaganda […] which comes to us from Hollywood and elsewhere” (The Co-operative News, 3^rd September 1938: p.7).

A still from Advance Democracy made by the Co-operative Union (Now Co-operatives UK) in 1938.

One of the seven original principles of the Rochdale Pioneers - which form the modern version of the values and principles defined today by the International Co-operative Alliance was the promotion of education, and the camera provided a way to do so. Many societies had rooms for education and lectures. Pre moving image, lectures used glass plates and lanterns, later becoming ‘Cinématographe shows’ – these showings were likely some of the first films the British public would have seen.

Two men looking at a projector in the CWS Film Unit trade show booth c.1940's

The advent of the CWS mobile film unit in 1948 brought these shows to some of the most remote districts of the country. These lectures were certainly a draw for members and their families to see the wonders of moving pictures and to congregate together for an evening of discussion, and maybe even singing and dancing. 

Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society Education department mobile film unit van c. 1940's.

Film was also used to document the history of the Co-operative Movement, like in the centenary feature film Men of Rochdale (1944), which detailed how the Rochdale Pioneers modelled the modern Co-operative and spread the word to create their legacy. Budgeted at £15,000 - this film was the most expensive ever produced by the Left in Britain at that time. This story was later revisited by the British Youth Film Academy (a co-operative!) in the 2012 feature film The Rochdale Pioneers.

Film for Advertisement and Entertainment

With the creation of the CWS Film Unit in 1940, more and more films were created as training material for employees, bringing both entertainment and instruction to co-operators. Films like Behind the Scenes (1935) demonstrate workshops and services of societies that may not be known to outsiders, providing an insight into the Co-op and potentially acquainting new members.

The general public’s relationship with the Co-op was a customer of its goods and services, therefore, film was a useful tool in promoting and improving this trade. Two notable films were Co-operette (1938) and Sam Goes Shopping (1939), both starring stage performer Stanley Holloway as Narrator, which provided comedy and musical entertainment as a form of advertisement. Using a well-known actor-comedian like Holloway, now most famous for his role as Albert P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964), broadens the appeal of the Co-operative and provides star endorsement of its products and values.

Cats on a projector, Co-operative Union Photograph Collection CUP/1/5/1 

The use of music and animation in Co-op advertisements was also an effective method of advertisement due to the catchy tunes that get stuck in audiences’ heads and the exciting visuals onscreen. Some of my favourites include the ‘Co-op for Value’ an animated cartoon and song advertising the grocery store, and the ‘English Folk Song Suite’ which was performed by the CWS Brass Band in the film Symbol of Success.

In the 1960's, the Co-op Movement was forced to respond to societal and industry changes, which unfortunately led to the demise of the film production department, focusing on the advertisements for television which we are familiar with on our screens today. The films made in the 1980s focus more specifically on individual societies and co-operative events or staff training.

To request material and book a space in the archive, please see our 'Visit the Archive' page. we also have subject guides to help with researching and this includes co-operation on film.

Banner image: A still from the film 'Men of Rochdale' made in 1944. All images are from the Co-op Archives, Co-operative Heritage Trust.