People's Co-operative Bookstore

Date of Incorporation: July 17, 1945
Membership: approximately 700
Activities: Consumer-owned bookstore, focusing on progressive literature
Area Served: Lower Mainland, BC

Historical context - World War II

The People's Co-operative Bookstore's original brochure pointed out that "[t]he struggle against fas­cism and Nazism must be carried on. Because of this people are grasping for solutions.... The People's Co-op Bookstore will be more than just a book selling business. It will aim to stimulate the circulation of books that are socially significant."

People's Co-operative Bookstore is the only co-operatively owned bookstore in BC.  It is also the longest running bookstore that focuses on selling progressive literature. A number of other progressive bookstores that pre-dated People's were unable to sustain themselves for long as Harold Griffin, chair of People's from 1971-87, recalls: "The tradition of progressive bookstores was carried on by Tom Bernard in Nanaimo, who became the first chairman of our Board of Directors, and then by the establishment of the New Age Bookstore in 1935. As a result of section 98, that store was raided by police." The infamous legislation stated:

Any association, organization, society or corporation, whose professed purpose is to bring about any governmental, industrial or economic change within Canada by use of force, violence, or physical injury, or which teaches, advocates or defends the use of force, violence, terrorism, or physical injury, in order to accomplish such change, or for any other purpose, or which shall by any means prosecute or pursue such purpose or professed purpose, or shall teach, advocate, advise or defend, shall be an unlawful asso­ciation.

Griffin proceeds to explain:

The intent of this section of the Criminal Code was revealed by the presiding judge at the trial of Communist party leaders, the first to be acted against. He informed the jury that sedition consisted of acts, words or writings which disturbed the tranquility of the state or excited ill will between the classes. In other words the legislation sought to outlaw the class struggle.

Volunteers and customers of New Age Books were jailed under Section 98 after the store was raided. The People's Co-operative Bookstore was organised in an environment that was hostile to left wing thought. The store provided resources to its members and served as a safe space where like-minded individuals could get together, discuss issues and make friends.

Start-up

The bookstore's first location was the Boilermakers' union hall.  A cross section of well-known activists raised the starting capital of the store by pre-selling shares through networks such as the labour move­ment, UBC, non-profit and church groups.

In a 1995 interview with the Vancouver Courier, long-time People's director Betty Griffin lists the occupations of the founding members: "riveter, welder, machinist, seaman, housewife, trapper, trade union official, conductress, motorman".  She also points out that they lived in every part of BC: "Vernon, Grassy Plain, Wells, Cedar, Revelstoke, Salmon Arm.... When the call went out, [money] just poured in."

Why co-op?

The founders purposefully chose a co-operative form of organisation because it fit with the principles they were trying to promote. An early brochure states:

Co-operative ownership by the consumer is a thoroughly democratic institution. It is a movement of the People, by the People, and for the People. Through it the People supply themselves with the goods and services they require, without exploitation or profit and with mutual help and service as their motive. It is a co-operative service at cost.

Filling a need for progressive literature

On April 26^th, 1949 the directors passed a special resolution:

Therefore be it resolved that his meeting elect or appoint or call for volunteers to com­prise themselves into a sub-committee of the People's Co-operative Bookstore Associa­tion for the purpose of assisting the manager in selecting the best of modern progressive books, and to make recommendations which will stimulate a greater awareness among all sections of Canadians of the necessity to read and study the advanced thinkers.

From the beginning the store has sold literature that no other store would stock, including books from the Soviet Union and leftist and socialist material, as well as art and children's books and Canadiana. Today the spirit of social activism continues to define the store's unique purpose.  The current manager explains:

If we weren't doing displays at environmental or peace groups and also with the literary people, we'd just become any other store and the community wouldn't care if we existed or not. Because of what we do we have customers drive in from Surrey or Coquitlam to shop here.

The services of the bookstore are not limited to members. It serves a wide readership of members of the public who seek out the kind of literature that the People's Co-operative Bookstore offers.  The book­store has been successful in meeting its goal of providing an at-cost service that stimulates the circula­tion of books that are socially significant, but this has not been easy.

Struggle to remain financially viable

The founders recognized early on that if the bookstore was to be successful it needed a broad customer base. Managers and volunteers brought in new members through their political work and social net­works. People's was the first bookstore to hold book fairs and support local authors, and at one time it even visited remote BC communities with a traveling bookmobile. Customers from across BC and into the US (where Marxist and socialist literature was especially hard to find) could also mail-order material from the Bookstore.

Despite its broad customer base, the bookstore always struggles to break even. The share purchase price, $1, has not increased since 1945. As original brochure states, "Membership is by $1 share sub­scription with the hope that members will help finance their co-op to the extent of at least $5." If the store was experiencing a crisis, the owners were called and asked to buy additional shares. The co-op also offers a 10% discount per year for the purchase of 10 shares, but these purchases are too insignifi­cant to offset operating expenses.  Up until 1986, the store recorded an annual 'net loss' on its operating statements. However, over the years several people made substantial bequests to the bookstore, and the co-op used the interest from these sums to break even.

In 1986, the Soviet Pavilion at Expo asked People's Co-operative Bookstore and Toronto's Progress Publishing to jointly manage a bookstall. After some debate, the bookstore decided to take the risk and proceeded to stock up their inventory, rent a storage space, and increase the payroll from 2 to 16 employees. The bookstore made $90 000 during Expo 86. The store has since managed that money conservatively, drawing on the interest to make ends meet.

The bookstore has endured many hardships, but the fact that it is still here is due to all those incredible, hardworking and dedicated people who worked for and volunteered their time to ensure the survival of the People's Co-operative Bookstore.  And everyone has somehow managed to cope with constantly being on the 'brink'. (Libby Griffin)

In recent years the co-op experienced consecutive, yearly losses due to the onslaught of competition from national book chains. The support of the members and the practice of fiscal conservation pulled the co-op through a time when many bookstores, including all but one location of the famous Duthies chain in Vancouver, declared bankruptcy.

Outreach and backlash

The members of the People's Co-operative have promoted themselves as progressive booksellers by setting up stalls at various events, organising traveling book exhibits, and establishing relationships with local authors and publishers. These events were primarily fun opportunities to sell books and debate with the public. However, members also encountered hostility due to anti-red hysteria, starting in the 50's with the McCarthy trials and lasting into the 80's when RCMP officers taped customers as they entered the store. For many years the co-op rented a stall at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE). In 1968, the bookstore fought and won a challenge to a PNE rule that attempted to prohibit People's and three other organiza­tions from renting a stall.

PNE Political Test Faces Court Test

AVancouver bookstore will challenge in court a Pacific National Exhi­bition regulation banning political activity at the fair.

Lawyer and city alderman Harry Rankin said Thursday the Co-opera­tive Bookstore, 311 West Pender, will initiate a Supreme Court action to quash section 25 of the PNE's rules and regulations.

The regulation, approved in February by PNE directors prohibits po­litical and partisan activity of all kinds at the fair.

It reads in part: "No political, party, program, theory, interest, or idea of any nature whatsoever... shall be promoted, opposed, protested or in any way whatsoever publicized by an exhibitor."

 (Excerpt: July 10, 1968 the Vancouver Sun)

With the help of long time member and renowned Vancouver civil rights lawyer Harry Rankin, the bookstore won its legal battle.

Role of volunteers and supporters

The store is able to continue operations largely because of many hours of volunteer work.  Members who were interviewed often mentioned Jonnie Rankin in particular.

"Jonnie Rankin is a wonderful person who worked on a volunteer basis and put many hours into pro­moting our store." (Columba Smith)

"Although Jonnie volunteered her time, she treated her work with dedication and enthusiasm. Everyone had an enormous amount of respect for Jonnie and her contribution, not to mention the thousands of dollars of books that she bought." (Libby Griffin) "Especially people like Jonnie and Columba.... The two of them ran the store for many years." (Ray Viaud)

I visited Jonnie Rankin and Columba Smith at Rankin's East Vancouver home on a sunny November day.  We sat for hours in front of Rankin's window sipping coffee while she and Smith regaled me with stories stretching from 1945 through to the 1980's.  In addition to work such keeping track of books, ordering stock, paying bills, running the cash register, and cleaning, Rankin spoke fondly of the vibrant social life surrounding the bookstore.

The store was a meeting place for people from out of town, who invariably stayed at Rankin's.  Her house became famous for its garden parties, and was often a second home to Soviet leaders, Cuban delegates and refugees from Nicaragua.

"They'd come from all these places. And they knew the bookstore so that was a natural place to meet. They had the same ideas about politics. It was a great meeting place." (Columba Smith)

"Nobody ever had any money and I had a big house, and I liked them. They were interesting to have." (Jonnie Rankin)

Volunteers also played a crucial role in organising bookstalls, hosting local authors and completing the annual inventory.  The bookstalls, inventory, and literature reviewing had a social element to them; for example, the directors would bring their families to the store to help out with inventory.

"It was during this time that I made lifelong friendships with Jonnie Rankin and Columba Smith." (Libby Griffin)

"Often at the end of a meeting of directors, we would adjourn for refreshment to a nearby pub, cement­ing friendships as we revived ourselves." (Elspeth Gardner)

Role of the staff

Over the years the bookstore has had several managers, but three long standing ones stick out in mem­bers' minds:  Binky Marks, Ozzie Lahti and Ray Viaud.  Marks was known for having food in his pockets and for broadening the selection of books in the store. Lahti was known for his enthusiasm for outreach activities-he often spent 50 or 60 days of the year out of town promoting the bookstore. Viaud is credited with building relationships with publishers and with establishing the co-op as the events bookseller for many social and or environmental justice writers such as David Suzuki.

"Ray is a first class book-seller." (Don Todd)

"Ozzie was a hardworking person and he too reached out to people who had no idea what our progres­sive bookstore was all about." (Columba Smith)

"Binky had the store looking like a mess, but he knew every book in the store and he also knew books. He brought in books, particularly leftwing books, which you couldn't get anywhere else."  (Jonnie Rankin)

Part of the store's success is due to the relationship between the staff and the board.  The board trusts the staff to do their job, supports them in taking time off for political work and personal time, and recognises their hard work by paying better than industry rates.

"They [the board] really care about the store a lot. They pay attention to what is happening to the store in a general sense, but they don't get too caught up in all the minutiae and let the staff have the freedom to go with it." (Jane Bouey, assistant manager/bookkeeper)

Future challenges

If we really want to build up an active, involved membership, we have to think of some creative ways to get people involved. We still haven't figured that out yet.  ...It [lack of volunteerism] may partly be because [there are] less people that are financially able to devote their time to something like this... I just think that it's much more stressful for people in general, for society in general, to be able to commit long term. (Jane Bouey)

"The times do not look easy to me. In good times people have money to spend on books. But in bad times, it is a place for people to turn to for the literature they want and learn the issues. From that point of view, there will continue to be a need for the store."  (Elspeth Gardner)

The times were not easy in 1945, either; the difference lies in society's current political orientation. Leftist thought was once fresh, radical, and nearly illegal. Today leftist philosophies are routinely de­rided for being outdated, naïve, and contrary to public interest. The rights of people to hold these beliefs and be "misguided" are protected, but leftist thought is undermined by rampant materialism that is both the cause and effect of the stress cited by Bouey and Gardner. The People's Co-operative Bookstore still has a fundamentally important role to play as a bastion of alternative politics and philosophy in an increasingly homogenous world.

Case Study Information

This case study was developed for a report entitled Situating Co-operatives in British Columbia - 2000 - 2001, which was prepared for the Province of B.C. (Ministry of Community Development, Co-operatives and Volunteers) by the British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies, University of Victoria.  To obtain the information for the case study BCICS and the co-op entered into a partnership agreement. BCICS is grateful to the co-op members for their contributions and time. The case study is published with the approval of the co-operative.

Researcher: Nicole Chaland

Date of research: 2001

Author: Nicole Chaland

Date of writing: 2001

Editing: BCICS editorial group

Supervision: Kathleen Gabelmann, BCICS Research Co-ordinator

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