The Co-operative news. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1917-1918, 1917-11-22
THE COOPERATIVE
MOVEMENT IN RUSSIA
(Bv M. Fainberg)


societies in Russia, representing over
l3 million households, and over 60
million of the Russian population.
II is impossible to understand the
Russian Revolution or to picture
Russia's future development without
knowing the history and achieve
ments of the Russian cooperative
movement and its international ten
denotes.
Mr.. Bubnoff is well qualified to
write on the subject, having had
experience and having travelled in
many remote corners OF cooperative
Russia, being manager Of the Lon
don branch Of the Moscow Narodny
Bank and the originator OF the
Russian. British Cooperative lnfor-
nation Bureau, recently organized.
The book gives sketch Of the
different methods of the economic
development of Russia; the method
of the Russian autocracy, to break
up by force the village communal
ownership, and the way chosen by
the people themselves, of buying,
selling, and working together, the
way that is leading to co-opera-
tive commonwealth.
/ The Government prosecuted the
cooperative movement. People were
exiled to Siberia for the offense of
organizing cooperative societies of
producers (Artels). Forced to rec
ognize the movement, it tried to di-
vert it from true cooperative lines,
by big subsidies to organizations
that would sell the spirit of CO.
operation and confine themselves to
its economic side. The book shows
how the cooperative spirit broke
through all restraints, whereas the
cooperative bastards of the Gov
eminent persisted. From the con-
sumers point of view, it is inter
esting tc note the Moscow Union Of
Consumers Societies formed in 1898,
with an affiliation of 1,700 societies
in 1905, and 5000 in 1916. Recent
ly, after the Revolution had swept
down obstacles to the cooperative
movement, the Moscow Union was
transformed into the All Russian
Wholesale Society, and there are
now about 10000 consumers socie-
ties in Russia The Moscow Union
has its own brands of tea, coffee,
olive oil, and own candy factories,
tobacco, match and soap factories,
vegetable and friut-drying estab-
lishments, flour mills, herring salt
ing works, macaroni works, col
lieries, oil crushing mills, etc. Guild
ed by cooperative principles, the CO.
operative societies undertook all
work neglected or .hampered by the
Russian authorities; they have their
schools, hospitals, peoples palaces
and libraries, and construct roads,
telephone systems, etc.
An interesting feature of the Rus
sian cooperative movement is that
the cooperative credit societies, of
which there are 10000, act not only
as local banks, receiving deposits
from outsiders, but also as local con-
sumers' societies and marketing or
CARNATIONS. The centre of this
side of the movement is the Moscow
Narodny Bank, in which the Mos
COW Union of Consumers Societies
is an important shareholder.
There is an interesting chapter
on the international tendencies of
Russian cooperation and the Inter-
national Cooperative Exchange The
book brings the history of the move
ment to the Russian Revolution.
Since then, the movement has as
sumed an enormous role in Russian
life, being entrusted by the Govern
ment with the distribution of cloth
ing and other necessities when the
machinery of private trade broke
| "O"ii NoihPioVSiy, anu WIFI ulllefenC
purchases for the Russian Govern
ment, the supply of seeds for the
farmers, etc. To quote the words
of Mr.. Sack, of the Russian Infor-
nation Bureau, "The Cooperative
Movement has saved Russia at the
critical movement"
The strength and spirit of a CO.
operative movement can be judged
by its literature, and the Russian
movement measures up to this test.
Apart from many books on coop
Grafton written by people we'll known
in sciences, and the prominent place
the cooperative movement occupies
in the general press, the Russian CO.
operative movement has numerous
cooperative publications and period
icals.