A Manual for Co-Operators. Prepared at the Request of the Co-Operative Congress, Held at Gloucester, in April, 1879

In 1878–9 Thomas Hughes with Vansittart Neale, began writing The Manual for Co-operators (1881) for the Co-operative Congress. The present proposal came from the Southern Section of the Central Co-operative Union, which in December 1878 decided that it would be desirable to prepare a Guide and that the first thing to do was to submit a plan for their organization to be approved. This was done on February 9, 1879, when the following plan was approved and submitted to the United Board. It contains of introductory and four main parts. Introductory: Historical Sketch of Co-operation. Part one: The Moral Basis of Co-operation, and its Relations to: Religious Faith; Other Philanthropic Movements; Socialism, Communism, and other Politico-Social Movements. Part two: The Economical Basis of Co-operation, and its Relations to: Competition; Current Economic Theories; The State. Part three: The Practice of Co-operation: In Distribution; In Production; In Social Life; As respects the Law. Part four: The Helps and Hindrances to Co-operation- Dangers to be guarded against.