The basis for this limited commitment is the absence of a continuing historical prqactice of an ongoing co-operative education program.

Without this historical practice, it is a constant challenge to convince co-operaqtives that an ongoing co-operative education program is a prerequisite to the survival and development of co-operatives. There are, of course, notable exsceptions such as the Capricorn Society in western Australia and the Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co Limited in Victoria.

It is not surprising, therefore, when co-operatives accept the advice of their managers, boards and 'independent' advisers about the desirability and profitability of demutualisation.

In each and every actual and proposed demutualisation there is an absence of an ongoing co-operative education program.

It is instructive, therefore, to read  With Light Knowledge: A Hundred Years of Education in the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society, 1877-1977 by John Attfield. Published by the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society Ltd and the Journeyman Press in 1981,  it is a detailed study of the educational work of the co-operative which examines its changing but continuing role since the establishment of the co-operative.

The founders of the co-operative believed that there was an urgent need for personal enlightenment of members  aqbout the co-operative movement and the co-operative's Half-yearly Report in January 1878 stated: " The stability of the great Cooperative Movement depends more on the enlightened intelligence of its members than (we venture to say) on high dividends."

In 1877 the co-operative decided that 2.5% of net surplus would be allocated to an education department. While the % committed between 1877 and 1977 varied, the commitment remained.

In 1897 the co-operative established the publication Comradeship - quarterly and then monthly from 1900. It's peak circulation was 20,000 in 1939. Comradeship ceased publication in 1964.

Joseph Reeves  was Education Secretary between 1918 - 1938.  Reeves believed that the role of co-operative education was to prepare men and women for social change.  He said that the aim of co-operative education "... should be to encourage those individual and collective efforts which minister to the higher life of the individual, and by these means emphasise the altruistic dynamic at the heart of nature, which will ultimately transcend the mere selfish desire for personal gratification."

Needless, to say demutualisation has and will serve personal gratification!