The plan was seldom carried out in full. Co-operatives of production were formed without any such elaborate preparation as outlined above. However, many "societies of credit and saving" were formed. In 1863 there were 200 of them in Paris; and in September, 1863, a central bank, _La Société du Credit au Travail_ was organized. Similar central banks were formed in Lyons, Marseilles, Lille and other large cities.
In Paris the _Credit au Travail_ became the center of the co-operative movement between 1863 and 1868. It subsidized successively _L'Association_ (Nov., 1864-July, 1866) and _La Co-opération_ (Sept., 1866-Feb., 1867)--magazines devoted to the spread of co-operative ideas. It gave advice and information for forming co-operatives. Most of the co-operative enterprises of the period were planned and first elaborated in the councils of this society. Finally it furnished the co-operatives with credit. Its business done in 1866 amounted to 10½ million francs.[31]
[31] P. Hubert-Valleroux, _La Co-opération_ (Paris, 1904), pp. 14-17.
In 1868 the co-operative movement, after several years of development, suffered a terrible blow. On November 2nd, the _Credit au Travail_ became bankrupt; it had immobilized its capital, and had given out loans for too long periods, while some of the other loans were not reimbursed. The bank had to suspend payment and was closed. The disaster for the co-operative movement was complete. The _Credit au Travail_ seemed to incarnate the co-operative movement; "and its failure made many think that the co-operative institution had no future".[32]
[32] P. Hubert-Valleroux, _op. cit._, p. 16.
The failure of the co-operative movement turned the efforts of the workingmen into other channels. They now began to join the "International Association of Workingmen" in increased numbers and to change their ideas and methods.
The "International", as is well known, was formed in 1864 by French and English workingmen. The French section, during the first years of its existence, was composed mainly of the followers of Proudhon, known as _mutuellistes_. The program of the _mutuellistes_ was a peaceful change in social relations by which the idea of justice--conceived as reciprocity or mutuality of services--would be realized. The means advocated were education and the organization of mutual aid societies, of mutual insurance companies, of syndicats, of co-operative societies and the like. Much importance was attached to the organization of mutual credit societies and of popular banks. It was hoped that with the help of cheap credit the means of production would be put at the disposal of all and that co-operative societies of production could then be organized in large numbers. The _Mutuellistes_ emphasized the idea that the social emancipation of the workingmen must be the work of the workingmen themselves. They were opposed to state intervention. Their ideal was a decentralized economic society based upon a new principle of right--the principle of mutuality--which was "the idea of the working-class".[33] Their spokesman and master was Proudhon who formulated the ideas of _mutuellisme_ in his work, _De la Capacité Politique des Classes Ouvrières_.