Hermann von Schullern zu Schrattenhofen · 1893
Schullern’s 1893 review jointly examines Rabbeno’s Le società cooperative di produzione, La cooperazione in Inghilterra, and La cooperazione in Italia. It combines appreciation of historical research with criticism of cooperative theory. The theoretical portion of the study of producers’ cooperatives receives particular praise:
Diesem letztern Theile glauben wir besondern Wert beimessen zu sollen, da er nicht nur den Charakter der Originalität an sich trägt, sondern auch berufen scheint, für die weitere Entwicklung der einschlägigen Lehren den Ausgangspunkt zu bilden.
English translation: To this last part we believe we ought to attach particular value, since it not only bears in itself the character of originality but also appears called upon to form the point of departure for the further development of the doctrines in question.
This endorsement frames a selective disagreement. Schullern values Rabbeno’s explanation of cooperation through observed institutions, while questioning both an exclusively inductive method and a categorical opposition between cooperation and speculative enterprise.
The English case places cooperation within workers’ responses to economic conflict:
Der Kampf zwischen Capital und Arbeit hat die letztere genöthigt, in ihrer Menge und Organisation Widerstandskraft zu suchen.
English translation: The struggle between capital and labour has compelled the latter to seek power of resistance in its numbers and its organization.
Cooperation develops as peaceful collective self-help alongside organized labour. Consumer societies prove more successful than independent producers’ associations, but their involvement in production does not automatically realize the cooperative ideal: the position and profit participation of their employees also matter. Schullern broadens his assessment beyond producers’ associations:
Mit wenigen Worten wollen wir noch auf das zurückkommen, was Rabbeno über den Einfluss und die Erfolge der Cooperation in England sagt: hiebei kommen natürlich nicht nur die Productivgenossenschaften, sondern alle Formen der Arbeitercooperation in Betracht.
English translation: In a few words we wish to return once more to what Rabbeno says about the influence and the successes of cooperation in England: here, naturally, not only the productive cooperatives but all forms of workers' cooperation come into consideration.
The benefits include savings, dependable goods, and reduced dependence on consumer credit, together with intellectual and moral changes arising from workers’ greater economic independence. Institutional success is measured not simply by commercial growth but by its effects on participants’ capacities and relationships.
Italy offers a contrasting range of institutions: popular banks, Raiffeisen credit societies, dairy associations, and cooperatives of agricultural and earthwork labourers. The dairies demonstrate adaptation to local circumstances, while labourers’ associations help exploited workers bypass contractors. Federation and sensitivity to national conditions shape prospects for expansion. Schullern particularly welcomes extending cooperative processing from milk to wine and oil. These examples support his hope that self-help can reach poorer groups and alleviate social antagonisms without violent upheaval.
In discussing productive cooperation, Schullern admires Rabbeno’s willingness to qualify his earlier enthusiasm in light of evidence. Profit-sharing appears as a possible bridge from capitalist to cooperative production: accumulated workers’ shares might gradually secure ownership and participation in management. Rabbeno doubts that many employers will adopt this path; Schullern allows greater scope for moral and intellectual development and for an example set by public authorities.
The theoretical issue is how labour and capital can become joint entrepreneurs on equal terms. Cooperation seeks more than higher wages: it aims to overcome labour’s subordinate position within the enterprise. Yet actual associations mix cooperative and capitalist features. Schullern challenges the claim that speculation belongs only to imperfect cooperative forms. Even an ideal association must anticipate future conditions when purchasing materials and equipment. Cooperative speculation is distinguished by whose interests it serves, not by its disappearance.
Production directly serving a consumer cooperative’s requirements offers a coherent institutional possibility, potentially strengthened by federation. Associations producing for the market face a different problem: their prospects depend partly on smaller enterprises’ ability to withstand large-scale industry. Technical change and limits to concentration leave openings without guaranteeing success.
Schullern’s methodological criticism follows from the distinction between actual institutions and their ideal form. Historical evidence cannot exhaust possible arrangements or rule out future developments. Abstract analysis must test and supplement empirical generalization; he regards Rabbeno’s own achievement as depending on this combination.
The review concludes with qualified confidence. Management difficulties, discord, profit distribution, and degeneration are serious but not uniformly fatal. The central difficulty is preserving equality between labour and capital within institutions still motivated by personal interest. Education and moral development therefore matter alongside material resources. Productive cooperation may emancipate particular groups of workers without soon providing a solution for the entire working class.
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