Editing Beatrice Webb (section)

===Contributions to the theory of the co-operative movement===
Beatrice Webb made a number of important contributions to the political and [[Co-operative economics|economic]] theory of the co-operative movement.

In her 1891 book ''The Cooperative Movement in Great Britain'', based on her experiences in Lancashire, she distinguished between "co-operative federalism" and "co-operative individualism". She identified herself as a co-operative federalist, a school of thought which advocates [[consumer co-operative]] societies. She argued that consumers' co-operatives should be set up as [[Co-operative wholesale society|co-operative wholesale societies]] (by forming co-operatives in which all members are co-operatives, the best historical example being the English [[Co-operative Group|Co-operative Wholesale Society]]) and that these [[federal co-operatives]] should then acquire farms or factories.

Webb dismissed the idea of [[Worker cooperative|worker co-operatives]] where the people who did the work and benefited from it had some control over how it was organised, arguing that – at the time she was writing – such ventures had proved largely unsuccessful, at least in ushering in her form of socialism led by volunteer committees of people like herself.<ref>Potter, Beatrice, ''The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain'', London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1891.</ref> Examples of successful worker cooperatives did of course exist, then as now.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} In some professions they were the norm. However, Webb's final book, ''The Truth About Soviet Russia'' (1942), celebrated [[central planning]]. {{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}

She also is credited with introducing the concept of “[[collective bargaining]].”<ref name="fmcs.gov"/>“[[Collective bargaining]]” defines the process in which unions discuss with their employers the conditions, hours, pay, and safety of their work environment.<ref>American Federation of Labor. "Collective Bargaining." America's Unions | AFL-CIO, 
aflcio.org/what-unions-do/empower-workers/collective-bargaining. Accessed 28 February 2024.
</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Susan Hayter|title=The Role of Collective Bargaining in the Global Economy: Negotiating for Social Justice|website=[[International Labour Organization]]|date=30 May 2011|url=https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/@publ/documents/article/wcms_173298.pdf|accessdate=28 February 2024|archive-date=13 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313115112/https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/@publ/documents/article/wcms_173298.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>