Journal of Co-operative Studies, 35(3), 167-182

Abstract

This article explores the political manoeuvring of the Norwegian union of consumer  co-operatives - NKL - in the period prior to the second world war, with particular attention devoted to the 1930s. One of the most pressing issues the NKL was faced with in this period was how far the co-operative movement would be able to stay out of party politics and, moreover, of the expanding realm of state regulations. The co-operative principle of political neutrality was challenged at the inception of the 1930s when the Labour movement attempted to integrate the NKL as a 'third pillar' of socialism. Later in the decade, political planners of both Liberal and Socialist origins opened up for increased state supervision of the consumer co-operatives as part of a proposed anti-trust legislation. The ensuing debate regarding the position of the consumer co-operatives in relation to the political sphere brought the NKL to the core of the broader debates of the era surrounding the fate of liberal democracy.