The Rochdale Pioneers

Last updated

The Rochdale Pioneers
The Rochdale Pioneers Poster.jpg
Official film poster
Directed byAdam Lee Hamilton and John Montegrande
Written byJS Papenbrock
Produced byJohn Montegrande and Kevin Atkinson
Starring John Henshaw, Robert Maxfield and John McArdle
Release date
  • 11 November 2012 (2012-11-11)(UK)
Running time
57 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
BudgetLess than £90,000

The Rochdale Pioneers is a British biographical feature film, released in 2012, that tells the story of the foundation of the first successful cooperative retail store by working class members of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, in 1844. This came at a time of chronic unemployment, poverty, hunger and social inequality, and it was met with prejudice and opposition. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Contents

A documentary, The Making of 'The Rochdale Pioneers', was also created to accompany the film.

Background

The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 brought with it famine, chronic unemployment and drastic wage cuts. These affects were especially common amongst textile weavers and spinners, and this – coupled with a lack of suffrage (voting rights) – led to calls for reform which culminated in the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 in Manchester, England when a peaceful demonstration of radical reformers was attacked by cavalry. [8]

Several cooperative ventures had since been begun, in an attempt to improve conditions, but they had all failed, and the pioneers in Rochdale, too, were faced with a hard struggle. [9]

The Rochdale pioneers' aim was to provide an affordable alternative to poor-quality and adulterated food and provisions, using "honest weights and measures", and to use any surplus to benefit the community. [1] The vision and efforts of these twenty eight working-class men is recognized as the birth of the co-operative movement, [7] and the Rochdale Principles which they developed formed the foundation of the principles still in use by the modern cooperative movement which now numbers around 1.4 million independent enterprises with nearly 1 billion members worldwide. [5] [6] [7]

31 Toad Lane, where the Rochdale Pioneers started trading ToadLane2009.jpg
31 Toad Lane, where the Rochdale Pioneers started trading

The Rochdale Pioneers was inspired by the 1944 film, Men of Rochdale which had marked the centenary of the first shop's opening and had been in turn based upon G.J. Holyoake's The History of Co-operation. [10] [11]

The original shop at 31 Toad Lane in Rochdale in Lancashire, England opened on 21 December 1844 and was used for trading until 1867. It was re-opened in 1931 as the Rochdale Pioneers Museum and again reopened in 2012 after renovations costing £2.3 million. [4]

Plot

The story is set in 1844 when a group of working-class people from the town of Rochdale came together to change the unfair society they were living in.

Fed up with dishonest and corrupt shopkeepers selling poor quality products at high prices they decide to take matters into their own hands. By pooling the few resources they have, the group manage to get enough money together to open their own shop and pledge to only sell quality, unadulterated products, sharing the profits fairly with their customers.

The shop is only small and stocks just a handful of products like butter, flour and sugar, but the idea itself is revolutionary and the way they do business is fundamentally different in its nature.

Cast

Production

Commissioned by The Co-operative Group [12] and produced by the Co-operative British Youth Film Academy, [12] The Rochdale Pioneers was released as part of the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives, 2012. [13] [14]

A documentary, The Making of 'The Rochdale Pioneers', was also created to accompany the film. This was directed and produced by Darren White. [15]

Many of the cast and crew were recruited from local communities, to work alongside established actors like John Henshaw and John McArdle. [7] Shooting was partly carried out in the historic Yorkshire village of Heptonstall, just a few miles from Rochdale.

Screenings and availability

The Rochdale Pioneers premiered at Co-operatives United in Manchester, England on 1 November 2012. [13] [16] The television premiere was on Film4 on Sunday 11 November 2012.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Manchester</span> County of England

Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochdale Principles</span> Organizing guidelines for a co-op

The Rochdale Principles are a set of ideals for the operation of cooperatives. They were first set out in 1844 by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in Rochdale, England, and have formed the basis for the principles on which co-operatives around the world continue to operate. The implications of the Rochdale Principles are a focus of study in co-operative economics. The original Rochdale Principles were officially adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) in 1937 as the Rochdale Principles of Co-operation. Updated versions of the principles were adopted by the ICA in 1966 as the Co-operative Principles and in 1995 as part of the Statement on the Co-operative Identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Henshaw</span> English actor (born 1950)

John Joseph Henshaw is an English actor, best known for his roles as Ken Dixon the landlord in Early Doors, Wilf Bradshaw in Born and Bred and PC Roy Bramwell in The Cops. Often associated with characters who are "hard men", he played John Prescott in the 2007 ITV drama Confessions of a Diary Secretary.

A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by every worker-owner who each have one vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society</span> Former English consumer co-operative

The Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (RACS) was a large consumer co-operative based in south east London, England. The co-operative took its name from the Royal Arsenal munitions works in Woolwich and its motto was: "Each for all and all for each". In 1985 it merged into the national Co-operative Wholesale Society.

The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844, was an early consumers' co-operative, and one of the first to pay a patronage dividend, forming the basis for the modern co-operative movement. Although other co-operatives preceded it, the Rochdale Pioneers co-operative became the prototype for societies in Great Britain. The Rochdale Pioneers are most famous for designing the Rochdale Principles, a set of principles of co-operation, which provide the foundation for the principles on which co-ops around the world operate to this day. The model the Rochdale Pioneers used is a focus of study within co-operative economics.

The United Kingdom is home to a widespread and diverse co-operative movement, with over 7,000 registered co-operatives owned by 17 million individual members and which contribute £34bn a year to the British economy. Modern co-operation started with the Rochdale Pioneers' shop in the northern English town of Rochdale in 1844, though the history of co-operation in Britain can be traced back to before 1800. The British co-operative movement is most commonly associated with The Co-operative brand which has been adopted by several large consumers' co-operative societies; however, there are many thousands of registered co-operative businesses operating in the UK. Alongside these consumers' co-operatives, there exist many prominent agricultural co-operatives (621), co-operative housing providers (619), health and social care cooperatives (111), cooperative schools (834), retail co-operatives, co-operatively run community energy projects, football supporters' trusts, credit unions, and worker-owned businesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consumers' co-operative</span> Autonomous association owned and managed democratically by its clients

A consumers' co-operative is an enterprise owned by consumers and managed democratically and that aims at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of its members. Such co-operatives operate within the market system, independently of the state, as a form of mutual aid, oriented toward service rather than pecuniary profit. Many cooperatives, however, do have a degree of profit orientation. Just like other corporations, some cooperatives issue dividends to owners based on a share of total net profit or earnings ; or based on a percentage of the total amount of purchases made by the owner. Regardless of whether they issue a dividend or not, most consumers’ cooperatives will offer owners discounts and preferential access to good and services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Co-operatives</span> Former consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom

United Co-operatives Limited, or simply United Co-op, was a regional consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom, until its merger with the Co-operative Group in 2007. The society operated across Yorkshire, the North West and North Midlands of United Kingdom. In September 2002, it came about from the merger of United NorWest and Yorkshire Co-operative Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Co-operative economics</span> Study of autonomous associations interactions with production and distribution

Cooperative economics is a field of economics that incorporates cooperative studies and political economy toward the study and management of cooperatives.

The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement began with the application of cooperative principles to business organization.

Rochdale Pioneers may refer to:

Henshaws Society for Blind People is a specialist charity providing support, advice and training to anyone affected by sight loss and other disabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociology of Manchester</span>

Manchester has historically influenced political and social thinking in Britain and been a hotbed for new, radical thinking, particularly during the Industrial Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochdale Pioneers Museum</span> Collection (museum), Heritage centre in Toad Lane, Rochdale

The Rochdale Pioneers Museum is housed in the building where the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society started trading on 21 December 1844. The museum is regarded as the birthplace of the modern co-operative movement. It is located in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England.

St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic High School is a coeducational secondary school located in the Thornham area of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Howarth</span> English co-operator (1814–1868)

Charles Howarth was a British cotton-worker, co-operator, Owenite, and co-founder of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers. Howarth also played a key role in the establishment of the North of England Co-operative Wholesale Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Ashworth (co-operator)</span> English co-operator (1825–1871)

Samuel Ashworth was an English co-operative movement organiser, flannel weaver, shop worker, and founding member of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers. He was the son of fellow Rochdale Pioneer Miles Ashworth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miles Ashworth</span> Rochdale Pioneer co-operator (1792–1868)

Miles Ashworth was an English co-operator, weaver, chartist, and marine. In 1844 he was a founding member of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers and served as the society's first president. He was father to fellow Rochdale Pioneer Samuel Ashworth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Greenwood</span> British co-operator (1824–1911)

Abraham Greenwood was a prolific English co-operator who from 1863–1870 served as the first President of the Co-operative Wholesale Society.

References

  1. 1 2 "Story of the men who battled for fairness and honesty in hungry years". The Bolton News . 10 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  2. "What's on: The Rochdale Pioneers, Film Four, Sunday, 5.45pm". Lancashire Telegraph . Newsquest (North West) Ltd. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  3. Jones, Chris (7 September 2012). "Film about Rochdale Pioneers to receive world premiere". Rochdale Observer . Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Rochdale Pioneers Museum opens after £2.3m revamp". Manchester: BBC News. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Fact is better than fiction". Rochdale Online. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Story of co-operative movement founders to premiere". ITV Entertainment news. ITV Granada. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Flynn, Tony (16 November 2012). "Salford actor in new film on the Co-operative Movement". SalfordOnline. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  8. Frangopulo, N. J. (1977). Tradition in Action: The Historical Evolution of the Greater Manchester County. EP Publishing, Wakefield. p. 30. ISBN   0-7158-1203-3.
  9. Pen, Peter (November 2012). "Film review: The Rochdale Pioneers". Neontetra Films. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  10. "National Co-operative Film Archive". Co-operative College . Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  11. Torr, Andrew (20 January 2012). "Film Tribute to the Spirit of the Rochdale Pioneers". Creative Times. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  12. 1 2 "The Rochdale Pioneers – The Co-operative". Therochdalepioneers.co.uk. 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  13. 1 2 "International Film Premier of The Rochdale Pioneers". Co-operatives United. 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  14. "United Nations International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) 2012". United Nations. 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  15. [ dead link ]
  16. Barker, Emily (2 November 2012). "Rochdale Pioneers film premieres at Co-operative United". Co-operative News. Co-operatives United. Retrieved 16 November 2012.