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The LCS played a large part in the national co-operative movement and was a member of the national and regional organisations, chief of which being the Co-operative Union to which the LCS subscribed. The LCS was also a shareholding member of the English Co-operative Wholesale Society , generally known as the CWS, a federal wholesaling organisation for co-operative societies in England and Wales . By 1952, the LCS and its associated co-operative organisations, the major being the London Co-operative Chemists Limited , had over 550 establishments of sales and services, varying from large department stores to small grocery shops. These establishments consisted of grocers, butchers, fruit, vegetable and flower sellers, coal depots, furniture sellers, drapers, tailors, footwear sellers, chemists, laundries, estate agencies, funeral services and even guesthouses. The LCS also administered many manufacturing and processing establishments. The Society was amalgamated with the Co-operative Retail Society in 1981. Politically, the LCS has also had a major impact. In the interwar years, the LCS Political Committee played an important role in winning Londoners over to the Labour Party , mobilising people behind co-operative ideals, and shaping policy at a national level. At the 1945 election, all 11 LCS sponsored candidates were elected, including Don Chater in Bethnal Green North East, Percy Holman in Bethnal Green South West and C.S.Ganley in Battersea South. Alfred Barnes , also elected for East Ham South, even became a Cabinet Minister in the Attlee administration after 1945. In the post-war world, it has continued as an important campaigning force, providing key organisational backing for mass movements like CND , supporting the fight against the Vietnam War and campaigns during the miner's strikes, and generally at the forefront of the campaign for peace, Co-operation and Socialism . A political presence was also maintained in the House Of Commons through the work of MPs, such as Stan Newens , Alf Lomas and Laurie Pavitt . REFERENCES
OTHER LONDON-AREA CONSUMER CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES
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