I mentioned St John's Methodist Church in a previous post. Here it is again. Inside the front entrance there is a foundation stone which lists several worthy men from the Sheffield steel industry. They include T W Ward and Samuel Osborn. I'm sure there was one other major name.
I've also seen a photograph of J G Graves preaching at St John's. He was a local preacher and it seems the founder of the first ever mail order company. His name is known throughout the city as he donated a park and an art gallery and probably a few other things to the city.
At the time in the late nineteenth century this type of benevolence was known in most cities. I certainly don't want to idealise it. The Victorians were benevolent up to a point; the conditions for working people left a lot to be desired.
These great benefactors produced little compared with the mutuals. Many of the institutions we know today as part of the capitalist system grew out of the mutuals. Insurance companies, building societies, some of the banks, wholesalers, the transport system that gets goods to the shops, department stores. All these grew out of working people's commitment to mutuals.
Many of these institutions survive but have lost their cutting edge. Insurance is no longer a shared risk; personal contributions increase in line with insurance claimed. Many building societies have been demutualised and turned into banks. All the major ones that demutualised have suffered disproportionately in the recent credit crunch. Shared ownership is no longer understood.
And of course private capital has survived. Its role? Obviously they are important to the country as governments will always ensure the tax system favours them. Their role? Asset stripping for private wealth. Private wealth never builds up, always it knocks down and pockets the proceeds.
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