CREATION OF A COOPERATIVE GROUP IN THE STATE DUMA OF RUSSIA (1912–1915)

The article examines the problem of participation of representatives of the cooperative movement of pre-revolutionary Russia in the political life of the country. This issue is still a debatable topic among experts, especially since the cooperators themselves have repeatedly declared their apoliticality and neutrality.
The purpose of this article is to analyze an episode related to the participation of cooperators in the creation of a cooperative group in the State Duma of Russia. This story from the history of cooperative movement is of undoubted interest for researchers. Touching upon little-known plots of direct participation of cooperators in the election process, it broadens and supplements our ideas about the insufficiently known aspects of the activities of cooperation in creating a cooperative group in the State Duma. To achieve this goal, archival sources were identified and reviewed, the views of theorists of cooperation and the statements of representatives of cooperative organizations on this issue were analyzed. The preparatory work of the cooperators is investigated, examples of the attitude to the creation of a cooperative group in the Duma of political parties are given. The article is based on the general scientific principles of cognition, such as historicism and objectivity. These principles helped to evaluate the essence of the problem under study, taking into account the different points of view of both scientists and contemporaries of the events studied. An analysis of the policy of state institutions in relation to the cooperative movement showed that the system of state power has traditionally been directed against emerging public associations and movements, the government did not want to transfer at least a small part of its authority into the hands of cooperative institutions. While the ever-increasing role of cooperation in the economic life of the country at the same time increased its political claims. Political parties also encouraged the participation in the work of the State Duma of cooperators, which strongly supported the opposition sentiments of the cooperators.