Co-operative Commission - Gaitskell Commission

Gaitskell Commission

The first Co-operative Commission was the Independent Co-operative Commission set up in 1956, following a resolution by the 1955 Co-operative Congress of the Co-operative Union calling for a Commission to prepare a report and recommendations "designed to secure the greatest possible advantage to the Movement from its manufacturing, wholesale and retail resources". The Commission - which was also known as the Gaitskell Commission after its chair Hugh Gaitskell - was initially set up to consider co-operative production, but had its mandate broadened to consider co-operative retailing as well. The membership of the Commission - selected as "suitable persons not engaged in Co-operative management or administration" - was as follows:

• Hugh Gaitskell (Chair)
• Tony Crosland (Secretary)
• Miss Margaret Digby
• Professor D T Jack
• Dr J B Jefferys
• Lady Hall
• Colonel S G L Hardie
• Mr. J T Murray
• Alderman F Pette

The Commission was set up in response to the co-operative movement experiencing its first ever halt in its growth, caused by the massive changes in retailing following the end of rationing and the beginning of self-service. The co-operative movement still had a large presence in the retail market, with 30,000 shops, 250 factories and 967 retail societies paying dividends to their customer members of over £40m a year. However, these payments were often made at the expense of retained capital, and there was growing concern about the movements ability to fund its future development. There was also concern about the movement's market share, with 1957 seeing the co-operative share at 11.62% whilst the new supermarkets - luring customers away with competitive prices the movement's structure wouldn't allow it to match - had a 25% share.

Over nearly three years, the Gaitskell Commission held 35 meetings, carried out visits and launched formal and informal consultations before publishing its final report in 1958. The report made 51 recommendations on a variety of issues, including recommending that society's start selling products at market prices and stop expecting the dividend to compensate for high prices, whilst its final recommendation was that the movement should hold similar reviews "at least once a decade": this went unheeded until the 2000 Commission was established.

Despite being described by the 2000 Commission as "prescient in its analysis, and right in nearly everything it recommended", the report failed to have significant impact for the movement, with most of the recommendations being ignored or brought about by circumstance rather than by free adoption. In its 1967 Regional Plan, the Co-operative Union concluded that "If the serious warnings of the Independent Commission had been heeded, the Movement would be in far better shape to withstand the impact of new problems which have developed". Instead, supermarkets such as Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer emerged as serious competitors to the co-operative retail movement.