"Politics and publicity were oddly mixed in the mile-long procession of decorated cars and gaily dressed children which wound its way from Ardwick Green to Platt Fields in a mass demonstration for Co-operators' Day on Saturday."
The event was organised jointly by the M&S Co-op Society's Co-operative Party and the Manchester and District Co-operative Party. It took place on the first Saturday of July which is International Co-operative Day. It still is, the first one was in 1923.
The two-horse landau gets a mention...."once the carriage of the Lord Mayors of Manchester. The horses still wore the city arms in their harness, and 'they do enjoy following a good band,' said J. Railton, their coachman...
Besides the floats and the bands there were some political speeches, and two resolutions passed by the crowds listening. Once of them condemned the National Government for abandoning sanctions against Italy. These had been announced during the Second Italo-Abyssian War. That's one Mussolini had won in May, and Emperor Haile Selassie went into exile in Britain with the gold reserves. The National Government had a policy of appeasement of fascist dictators Mussolini, Hitler and later Franco.
Source : Manchester Guardian Monday July 6th 1936.
Picture : Eccles Co-operative Record August 1935 page 183. A horse drawn float from a previous International Co-operative Day pageant.
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