Hermann von Schullern zu Schrattenhofen: Review of Hans Crüger (1892)

Hermann von Schullern zu Schrattenhofen’s 1892 review of Hans Crüger’s Die Erwerbs- und Wirthschaftsgenossenschaften in den einzelnen Ländern combines appreciation of comparative documentation with criticism of the author’s positions on state assistance and cooperative liability. Moving from conceptual questions through international coverage to an extended discussion of Austria, Schullern emphasizes the material conditions, social composition, and institutional diversity of cooperative development.

Schullern places Ugo Rabbeno’s research foremost in cooperative scholarship, but values Crüger’s current information and practical experience as first secretary of the German cooperative federation. These make the book a useful complement to research assembled from others’ reports, especially concerning Germany. He also endorses its account of cooperation as a means of giving dispersed working people access to credit and capital, enabling them to compete with large enterprises and participate in technological progress.

The significance of cooperation extends beyond these competitive advantages:

Mit besonderer Genugthung müssen wir es begrüssen, wenn auch die ideale Bedeutung der Genossenschaft als Schule der Arbeiter für das gesamte öffentliche und private Leben hervorgehoben wird.

English translation: With particular satisfaction must we welcome it when the ideal significance of the cooperative society as a school of the workers for the whole of public and private life is also emphasized.

Schullern welcomes this educational conception while questioning whether ethical achievement depends more heavily on economic success than Crüger allows. Solidarity within a struggling association does not necessarily overcome hostility toward competing cooperatives or independent entrepreneurs. Cooperation’s moral promise therefore requires conditions under which solidarity can broaden beyond the immediate group.

Es ist gut, dass neben der materiellen Seite des Problems die ethische nicht vergessen wird und es wäre dringend zu wünschen, dass im praktischen Leben diese Funktion der Genossenschaft immer schärfer hervorträte.

English translation: It is good that alongside the material side of the problem the ethical one is not forgotten, and it would be urgently to be wished that in practical life this function of the cooperative society should emerge ever more sharply.

This endorsement expresses an aspiration rather than treating moral improvement as an automatic consequence of association. Schullern’s conditional confidence also informs his defense of temporary state assistance. Voluntary foundation and eventual independence remain desirable, but appropriately timed support can help a viable cooperative become secure. Self-help need not entail the categorical exclusion of public aid.

The review then follows the book’s transition from principles to comparative institutional inquiry:

Auf einleitende Ausführungen über Wesen und Bedeutung der Erwerbs- und Wirthschaftsgenossenschaften, in Betreff welcher wir uns eben einige Bemerkungen erlaubt haben, folgen bei Crüger Untersuchungen über die Institutionen in verschiedenen Staaten.

English translation: Upon introductory expositions concerning the nature and significance of industrial and economic cooperative societies, with respect to which we have just permitted ourselves a few remarks, there follow in Crüger investigations of the institutions in various states.

After acknowledging Crüger’s treatment of established movements and less familiar countries, Schullern concentrates on Austria. He traces early credit associations, their spread from German-speaking crownlands to Czech communities, and the formation of federations. His account attends to collapse as well as expansion, distinguishing enthusiasm for cooperation from institutional durability.

The Austrian discussion sharpens his disagreements with Crüger. Limited liability, permitted by the law of 9 April 1873, may weaken creditworthiness, but it can also protect economically vulnerable members whose security matters to the wider economy. Schullern consequently rejects an unconditional judgment against it. Similarly, he finds opposition to governmental support for Raiffeisen banks too doctrinaire: resistance to innovation among sections of the rural population can make assistance from state and provincial authorities beneficial.

Schullern supplements Crüger’s treatment of Austrian consumer associations with statistics for 1873–1890. He distinguishes the decline of unregistered associations from the slower growth of registered ones, noting the comparatively stronger increase among registered associations with limited liability. These distinctions support contextual assessment of institutional forms rather than categorical judgments. He also regrets Austria’s scarcity of producer cooperatives and identifies inadequate knowledge of members’ social composition as an obstacle to evaluating cooperation’s economic significance. This evidentiary limitation, he acknowledges, constrained both Crüger and Rabbeno.

The closing discussion considers the Società dei braccianti of Romagna, whose impoverished members undertake roadbuilding, drainage, and other work without intermediary entrepreneurs. Their achievements demonstrate mutual self-help, while assistance from the crown and credit institutions illustrates its compatibility with external support. Recommending Crüger to optimists and pessimists alike, Schullern couples confidence in cooperation’s capacities with demands for social evidence, institutional flexibility, and attention to the material conditions of ethical progress.