Piet Vlag

“ They teach them that the only remedy for the present economic problem, is Socialism, and that the co-operatives are merely used as a preliminary education for the establishing of the co-operative commonwealth. ”

“ The European Socialist movement appeals to the industrial factory slave through industrial unionism.
They never lose sight, however, of the fact that Socialism is the goal, and not a mere increase of wages.
They teach the workers that their only hope to combat capitalism effectively, lies in collective, concentrated and well-organized action.
Furthermore, the European move rent appeals to the wives of the workers through co-operatives. They do not preach to these women that a decrease of the cost of living secured through co-operatives will settle the economic problem. ”

“ Not as a vote-catching machine, as Tammany Hall uses it, but to bind the workers together with economic ties in a highly efficient and strongly centralized organization. When this is accomplished, we will get a hearing from the workers.
Now as to the educational side of co-operation. What will co-operatives do for the workers from the educational point of view?
The workingman of the present type, whose sole occupation consists in doing a minute specialized part of the industry in which he is engaged, necessarily has a very limited mental horizon. ”