Vestnik of Samara University. History, pedagogics, philologyVestnik of Samara University. History, pedagogics, philology2542-04452712-8946Samara National Research University833710.18287/2542-0445-2021-27-1-8-14Research ArticleCooperation of small rural commodity producers in post-reform Russia:
factors and conditionsKabytovP. S.<p>Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, head of the Department of Russian History</p>don.kabytov2012@yandex.ruhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2359-2155BezginaO. A.<p>Doctor of Historical Sciences, associate professor, honorary worker of the education sector of the Russian Federation, head of the Department of History and Philosophy</p>bezgina@tltsu.ruhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7045-4310Samara National Research UniversityTogliatti State University260420212718140202202102022021Copyright © 2021, Kabytov P.S., Bezgina O.A.2021<p>In this article, the authors, based on the principles of historicism and objectivity, using the statistical method and a systematic approach, analyzed the first steps in the development of cooperative societies in the rural environment using the example of the Volga region provinces. The factors and conditions were identified, the totality of which influenced the rate of spread and development of cooperative forms of management in the peasant environment during the post-reform period. This is, firstly, the urgent economic need for the peasant in inexpensive credit: the lack of financial resources forced them to borrow from usurers at a high interest rate; secondly, the efforts of representatives of the aristocracy, intelligentsia and zemstvos to draw attention to this problem, to promote and demonstrate the first experiences of cooperative work; thirdly, the actions of the state to create and develop cooperative legislation. The authors analyze examples of cooperative endeavors that were initiated by the most enlightened people of their time; trace the activities of the zemstvo in the dissemination of cooperative ideas in the peasant environment, the promotion of cooperative knowledge, assistance in opening cooperative partnerships and the provision of initial loans to peasants by rural credit and savings and loan associations; state measures at the legislative level to activate peasant self-help. The analysis of all the above factors in the development of cooperative societies in the peasant environment allowed the authors, following the ups and downs of the processes described, to draw a conclusion about their interaction and influence on the development of the cooperative movement in Russia. In zemstvo and state circles, an understanding has been formed that without the inclusion of peasants in a market economy, it is impossible to develop the infrastructure of the agricultural sector. At the same time, the authors are convinced that without the gradually emerging objective conditions, all these efforts would hardly have been justified.</p>кооперацияинициаторы кооперацииземствокооперативное законодательствофакторы
и условиякооперативное движение.cooperationcooperative movementinitiators of cooperationZemstvocooperative legislationfactors and conditions.[Bezgina 2018 – Bezgina O.A. (2018) Cooperative movement of the Volga region at the end of the XIX – beginning of the XX century: interaction between government and society. Togliatti: Izdatel’stvo Tol’yattinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 306 р. Available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=35396607. (In Russ.)][Vasilchikov 2001 – Vasilchikov A.I. (2001) Loan-saving partnerships in Russia (Report made at the meeting of the Political and Economic Committee of the VEO on March 14, 1872 and debate on it). In: Cooperation. Pages of history. Selected works of Russian economists, public figures, cooperative practitioners. Vol. 1. Book 2. Part 1. Moscow, pp. 99–126.][Witte 1991 – Witte S.Yu. (1991) Selected memoirs, 1849–1911. Moscow: Mysl’, 719 р. Available at: https://vk.com/wall-77265500_60849. (In Russ.)][Witte 1960 – Witte S.Yu. (1960) Memories. Vol. 2 (1894 – October 1905). The reign of Nicholas II. Moscow: Sotsekgiz, 639 р. Available at: https://royallib.com/book/vitte_sergey/vospominaniya_tom_2.html. (In Russ.)][Egorov 2013 – Egorov V.G. (2013) Formation of the Russian agricultural cooperation: problems and prospects. Bulletin MRSU, no. 1, p. 1. Available at: https://evestnik-mgou.ru/ru/Articles/Doc/260 (accessed 19.08.2020). (In Russ.)][Isaev 1918 – Isaev A.A. (1918) New cooperative legislation. Petrograd: Mysl’, 176 р. Available at: http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/46586-isaev-a-a-novoe-kooperativnoe-zakonodatelstvo-pg-1918. (In Russ.)][Kabytov 1982 – Kabytov P.S. (1982) The agrarian relations in the Volga Region in the period of imperialism (1900–1917). Saratov: Izd-vo Saratovskogo universiteta, 199 р. Available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=25041167. (In Russ.)][Kabytov 2000 – Kabytov P.S. (2000) Search for a way out of the crisis. In: The history of the Samara Volga region from ancient times to the present. Second half of the XIX – early XX century. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 134–181. (In Russ.)][Kabytov, Barinova 2020 – Kabytov P.S., Barinova E.P. (2020) The role of agricultural societies and zemstvo agronomy in the spread of new agricultural practices in the Samara province. In: Scientific conference dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the Imperial Moscow Society of Agriculture «Historical heritage of the Moscow Society of Agriculture and the modernization of the agrarian sector of Russia». Moscow, pp. 78–82. Available at: http://www.viapi.ru/download/2020/MOCX-2020.pdf. (In Russ.)][Kozlov 2020 – Kozlov S.A. (2020) «Serving the interests of the whole country»: Moscow Agricultural Society (1820–1930 years): in 3 vols. Vol. I: «Introduction», chapters I–III. Moscow; Saint Petersburg: Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ, 588 р. (In Russ.)][Korelin 2009 – Korelin A.P. (2009) Cooperatives and cooperative movement in Russia, 1860–1917. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 391 р. (In Russ.)][Martynov 2008 – Martynov P. (2008) Simbirsk. Collection of historical information. Ulyanovsk: Genezis, 479 р. (In Russ.)][Maslov 1922 – Maslov S.L. (1922) Cooperation in the peasant economy. Leipzig: Tsentr. t-vo koop. izd-va, 143 р. (In Russ.)][Sokolovskii 1890 – Sokolovskii P.A. (1890) Zemstvo activities in the organization of loan and savings partnerships. Saint-Petersburg: S.-Peterb. otd-nie Kom. o sel’sk. ssudo-sberegatel’nykh i prom. t-vakh, [2], VIII, 336, 16 р. Available at: https://rusneb.ru/catalog/000199_000009_003548008/; <a href='https://minfin.gov.ru/ru/document/?id_4=129015-sokolovskii_p.a.dyeyatelnost_zemstva_po_ustroistvu_ssudo-sberegatelnykh_tovarishchestv._spb._1890.'>https://minfin.gov.ru/ru/document/?id_4=129015-sokolovskii_p.a.dyeyatelnost_zemstva_po_ustroistvu_ssudo-sberegatelnykh_tovarishchestv._spb._1890.</a> (In Russ.)][Totomianz 1922 – Totomianz V.F. (1922) Cooperation in Russia. Praga: Nasha rech’, 174 р. (In Russ.)][Fitzpatrick 2008 – Fitzpatrick Sh. (2008) Stalin’s peasants. Resistance and Survival in the Russian village after Collectivization. Translation from English. 2nd edition. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 422 р. Available at: http://yakov.works/libr_min/21_f/iz/patrik_9.htm. (In Russ.)][Kheisin 1917 – Kheisin M.L. (1917) Historical outline of credit cooperation in Russia. Petrograd: [Mysl’], 184 р. (In Russ.)]