Co-operative Central Exchange
A split took place in 1931, with hardline adherents of Communist Party control departing the organization to form a rival cooperative group which lasted until 1939.
[4] With a paltry $15.50 in working capital and access to free office space in Superior from a sympathetic local newspaper,[5] the stores began pooling their wholesale orders under the CCE name.
[7] Although originally conceived as an institution that would link farmers with consumers with reduced intermediary expense, in practice the Central Exchange quickly developed into a thriving wholesale supply operation, which ultimately manufactured and marketed its own branded products to a network of more than 200 cooperative stores.
The CCE was based upon the Rochdale system of consumer cooperation and served as a wholesale distribution center for a network of stores predominantly in the Upper Midwestern states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
[8] The group also engaged in common activity with other cooperatives in the region through the Northern States Co-operative League (NSCL), established in 1921, in which the CCE was the largest constituent member.
[9] In addition to offering its affiliated member-stores reduced wholesale prices generated from economies of scale, the Co-operative Central Exchange conducted educational activities aimed at making retail stores more successful.
[14] The CCE was also influential in urging its members to centralize their operations, expanding through satellite branches rather than spinning off independent cooperative entities to alternate locations.
[10] A politically radical institution, the CCE's best-known house brand was "Red Star," with a logo prominently featuring the hammer and sickle emblem of the communist movement.
[26] Located originally in the CCE's headquarters building, by 1925 the growth of the wholesale operation was straining the facility to capacity and the decision made to move the bakery to new quarters.
[26] During the winter of 1929-30 a bitter split developed within the leadership of the CCE between loyal members of the rapidly centralizing Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) and those who favored an independent cooperative organization.
[27] The underlying struggle was not a radical versus conservative battle but was rather was a battle between radical factions over the question of political philosophy and tactics — should the CCE continue to remain open to all working class groups and attempting to remodel society through economic means, or should the organization become a formal disciplined auxiliary of the Communist Party, thereby lending primacy to the political struggle?
[30] At this point the assault of the Communist press was broadened and the entire Co-operative Central Exchange was cast as renegades to the cause of the working class.
[34] The founding editor of the publication, who remained at the helm throughout the 1920s, was CPUSA stalwart George Halonen;[35] its business manager was Eskel Rönn.
[35] The publication included news and photographs of the cooperative and socialist movements, advertisements about new products introduced for sale through member stores, as well as poems and short stories.
The next decade would not be so kind, however, as the Central Wholesale organization began a long-term decline owing in large measure to the growth of supermarkets in the United States.
[42] These plans were approved on March 19, 1963, by the annual meeting of Central Wholesale's members, when it was effectively terminated through merger into Midland Cooperatives.
