The Sheffield Co-operator
From May 1922 to July 1939 the Sheffield Co-operative Party published The Sheffield Co-operator, a monthly newspaper. Principle 5 has brought it back, and five new editions have been published so far.
Sheffield’s co-operative newspaper
In the 1920s and 30s The Sheffield Co-operator was the only paper in the city that consistently argued for co-operative principles and promoted co-operatives. It covered the issues that mattered to people in Sheffield and answered the hostile coverage of co-operatives in the mainstream press.
It championed the idea of the Co-operative Commonwealth. It was an eight-page paper, printed by the National Co-operative Publishing Society in Manchester, and it also carried adverts from local co-operative societies. Wartime restrictions brought it to an end in 1939.
The full run of 170 editions was donated to Sheffield Libraries (Local Studies) by Sheffield Co-operative Party, bound in four volumes.
- 1922First issue, May 1922
- 170Editions up to July 1939
- 30,000Guaranteed monthly circulation
- 4Bound volumes at Sheffield Local Studies
The revived editions
The new series carries on the original numbering. Read each edition as a PDF.
No. 176 · June 2026
2026
Marks a century of the Co-operative Party and Labour in Sheffield, with pieces on food co-ops against the far right, the University of Sheffield’s new Community Hub, and the Mondragón co-operatives.
Centenary edition
2022
Marks 100 years since the first Sheffield Co-operator, and includes a starter pack for setting up a food co-operative.
Nos. 173–174
2020
Follows up the Co-operative Party’s Sheffield meeting on Co-operatives Unleashed, the New Economics Foundation report.
No. 172
September 2018
Community wealth for Sheffield, with Preston held up as the model for a co-operative future.
No. 171
2017
Celebrates the centenary of the Co-operative Party and welcomes back the Sheffield Co-operator.
Find out more
Building the co-operative commonwealth in Sheffield
Dr Christopher Olewicz’s paper on The Sheffield Co-operator from 1922 to 1939 and its successor, the SC Bulletin, from a special edition of the Journal of Co-operative Studies. Recommended for anyone interested in co-operative politics.
Read the paperAbout the original paper
A short guide to the original Sheffield Co-operator: who published and printed it, and where to find the archive.
Read the guideFrom the archive: June 1934
An original eight-page issue from the paper’s first run.
Read the June 1934 issue