Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
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Vol. 39, Nº 71 (2021), 579-593
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Inuence of cooperative ideologies on
the origin of credit societies in Russia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3971.34
Vladislav Vladimirovich Nevlev *
Larisa Vladimirovna Solovyova **
Vladislava Igorevna Solovyova ***
Inna Mikhailovna Nevleva ****
Anastasia Vladislavovna Nevleva *****
Vladimir Kuzmich Nevlev ******
Abstract
The aim of the research was to examine the inuence of
cooperative ideologies on the origin of credit societies in Russia.
The emergence of a legal framework for consumer and, later,
credit cooperation in Russia came in two ways. The rst formal
credit union was established in 1831 by Russian military ocers
banished to Siberia after the December 1825 revolt. Other
cooperatives were organized in a Western model by enthusiasts from the
wealthy strata. Later, the history of cooperation in consumer credit before
the revolution in Russia can be divided into three stages: rst, 1831-1860
(before the peasant reform); second, 1861-1904 (after the peasant reform);
and third, 1905-1917 (adoption of government regulations on cooperation).
To solve the objective set, the authors used the documentary method close
to the historical method. It is concluded that analysis of the preconditions
of the rst cooperative organizations in Russia shows that there were
some known forms of primitive cooperation or pre-cooperation over the
centuries.
Keywords: classics of cooperation; economic conditions; credit
cooperation; legal regulation; history of the ideas of credit
societies.
* Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law, Belgorod, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.
org/0000-0002-2889-8380
** Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law, Belgorod, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.
org/0000-0002-0091-3374
*** Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law, Belgorod, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.
org/0000-0003-0497-9431
**** Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law, Belgorod, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.
org/0000-0003-2229-9405
***** Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law, Belgorod, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.
org/0000-0002-2442-9819
****** Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law, Belgorod, Russia. ORCID ID: https://
orcid.org/0000-0002-7178-5090
580
Vladislav Vladimirovich Nevlev, Larisa Vladimirovna Solovyova, Vladislava Igorevna Solovyova,
Inna Mikhailovna Nevleva, Anastasia Vladislavovna Nevleva y Vladimir Kuzmich Nevlev
Inuence of cooperative ideologies on the origin of credit societies in Russia
Inuencia de las ideologías cooperativas en el origen
de las sociedades de crédito en Rusia
Resumen
El objetivo de la investigación fue examinar la inuencia de las ideologías
cooperativas en el origen de las sociedades de crédito en Rusia. La aparición
de un marco legal para la cooperación de consumo y, más tarde, de crédito
en Rusia se produjo de dos maneras. La primera cooperativa de crédito
formal fue establecida en 1831 por ociales militares rusos desterrados a
Siberia después de la revuelta de diciembre de 1825. Otras cooperativas
fueron organizadas en un modelo occidental por entusiastas de los estratos
ricos. Más tarde, la historia de la cooperación en crédito al consumo antes
de la revolución en Rusia se puede dividir en tres etapas: primero, 1831-
1860 (antes de la reforma campesina); segundo, 1861-1904 (después de
la reforma campesina); y tercero, 1905-1917 (aprobación de reglamentos
gubernamentales sobre cooperación). Para resolver el objetivo planteado
los autores utilizaron el método documental próximo al método histórico.
Se concluye que un análisis de las condiciones previas de las primeras
organizaciones cooperativas en Rusia muestra que hubo algunas formas
conocidas de cooperación primitiva o pre-cooperación a lo largo de los
siglos.
Palabras clave: clásicos de la cooperación; condiciones económicas;
cooperación crediticia; regulación legal; historia de las
ideas de las sociedades de crédito.
Introduction
A study of the origin and development of cooperation in Russia should
involve an analysis of legal regulation. Therefore, the history of consumer
cooperation from the second half of the 19th century to the early 20th century
should be taken into account. This would imply a critical review of the impact
of Western cooperative practices on the establishment of cooperatives in
Russia and an analysis of the legal status of credit cooperatives in legal
practices of the 19th century. Terminological approaches to the denitions
“credit cooperation” and “cooperation” should be also included with regard
to the analyzed period.
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1. Literature review
The word “cooperation” comes from Latin and literally means the act
of working together. The Brockhaus and Ephron Encyclopedic Dictionary
(1895: 156) provides an interpretation of cooperation as: “Any joint eort of
several people toward a common shared objective”.
Ever since the time of origin of the cooperative movement within
the ideological stream of utopian socialists, such as Claude Henri Saint-
Simon, Charles Fourier and Robert Owen, the idea of cooperation had been
understood as a form of economic management opening the potential to
transform the socioeconomic formation. Only cooperation, in their view,
was capable of reinstating labor as a natural tendency and joy, of combining
science and production and smoothing out social disproportions.
Assimilation of cooperation with the practical realisation of the principle
of mutual assistance and social interaction in economic operation can be
found in the works of Herbert Spencer (1898), Auguste Comte (1912), P. A.
Kropotkin (1922) and others.
The Russian cooperation scholar V. S. Sadovsky in the 1870s
dened cooperation as the consolidation of productive forces leading
to the emergence of new forms of economic management enabling the
development of self-governance skills, free exchange of opinions and nding
trade-os (Sadovsky, 1868). A major role in understanding the principles
of cooperation was played by the Russian scholar M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky
(2010: 94) who observed that a cooperative is an economic enterprise
comprising several voluntarily combined people which has as its aim not
obtaining the greatest prot on capital expended, but rather increasing the
labour income of its members or reducing the outlay of members on their
consumer necessities.
An analysis of various denitions of “cooperation” suggests that since
the time of origin of the concept, two main approaches had developed,
specically institutional and functional approaches. Institutionally,
cooperation is dened as the consolidation of eorts in cooperatives for
running joint economic operation and social activities. Under the functional
approach, cooperation is primarily joint engagement in some sort of activity
for the attainment of a common outcome.
The Brockhaus and Ephron Encyclopedic Dictionary of the late 19th
century identies a specic type of cooperation, namely, credit cooperation
existing in two primary forms, mutual loan associations and loan-and-
savings societies. The latter refer to alliances of low-resourced individuals
needing small loans, established to build up, through gradual small
contributions, a more or less signicant mutual capital to extend loans to its
members and to facilitate borrowings from third parties based on mutual
joint liability as may be necessary for running their business or enterprise
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Inuence of cooperative ideologies on the origin of credit societies in Russia
on more favorable terms than would be accessible to them individually.
(Brockhaus and Ephron Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1895: 156).
Thus, credit cooperation was understood as a type of cooperation
uniting small rural and urban producers, workers and servicemen to
establish a mutual cash fund to meet the requirements in small credit. Ideas
concerning the nature of credit cooperation at a later stage will be discussed
further.
The development of the “cooperative ideology” is credited to the utopian
philosophers Charles Fourier and Robert Owen who pioneered the idea
of class antagonism in the society, which inuenced their understanding
of the nature of cooperation. The French scholar Ch. Fourier (1772-1832)
believed that the state would become redundant under communal socialism
and would only administer minor functions. Fourier believed society was
based on a commune he called a phalange (phalanx). He believed that the
cooperative ideology was about free labour exercised to attain the personal
happiness of community members, understood as the principle of an
equitable society. Fourier presented his views in his works, “Théorie des
quatre mouvements et des destinées générales” (1808; “The Social Destiny
of Man; or Theory of the Four Movements”, 1857); “The Theory of Universal
Unity” (1822; originally “Traité de l’association agricole domestique”,
“Treatise on Domestic Agricultural Association”) and “Le Nouveau Monde
industriel” (1829–30; “The New Industrial World”).
The “English” viewpoint on the cooperative ideology is represented by
R. Owen (1771-1858). While Fourier was a utopian dreamer who never put
his ideas to practice, Owen had had successful experience in managing
production. In his rst work, “A New View of Society, Or Essays on the
Principle of the Formation of the Human Character” (1813-1814), he
presented his guiding principles he would stick with in his practice. For
him, cooperative communities would be created to change human nature
and instill a better moral character. Reviewing Owen’s years of educational
eort, F. Engels noted, “All social movements and all real advances made
in England in the interest of the working class were associated with Robert
Owen’s name” (Marx and Engels, 1961: 118). The cooperative ideology of
Fourier and Owen, as well as their followers later, was rather social than
economic.
A Fourier follower, Christian socialist Philippe Buchez (1796-1865),
proposed the idea of “production associations” for collective labour and
further marketing of the manufactured goods. Part of the proceeds should
be distributed to the community fund along the lines of contributions to the
church (Bulgakov, 1913). One of Owen’s rst followers was notably William
King (1786-1865). A physician by education, W. King was among the
agents of the cooperative movement in practice. He supervised the launch
of the monthly journal “The Co-operator” running an active promotion
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of cooperative eorts. The fundamental principle of cooperation for King
was free labour for the common good arranged through the establishment
of cooperative unions. The cooperative theory credits him with the
establishment of the “co-operative socialism” movement.
In France, socialist and economist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-
1865) proposed the “progressive association” project for a peaceful social
reorganisation; he believed social freedom for workers could be attained
through production, credit and consumer associations. The rst Secretary
of the British Co-operative Union E. Vansittart Neale and the prominent
cooperator and Christian socialist T. Hughes published a seminal scholarly
work titled “Foundations: A Study in the Ethics and Economics of the Co-
operative Movement” (1879) which contributed to the English cooperators
toward the development of the ideology of credit (Webb, 2015).
Fourier’s ideas had the strongest inuence on the development of the
Russian cooperation doctrine. So, the next observation should concern
the followers of this movement in the Russian Empire. This list notably
includes M. V. Petrashevsky, N. Ya. Danilevsky, I. L. Yastrzhembsky, D.
D. Ashkharumov, V. S. Sadovsky, M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky, F. G. Turner
and many others who “stepped directly from German philosophy toward
Fourier’s phalanx...” (Delo Petrashevtsev, 1937: 538).
The ideas of association and Ch. Fourier’s views made the subject of
some of the articles included in the “Pocket Dictionary” published by M.
V. Petrashevsky, specically “Owenism,” “Organic epoch,” “Production
engineering,” “Explanation on the Fourier system,” etc. Ch. Fourier’s
teaching was particularly popular in Russia. Specically, the N. S. Kashkin
circle focused on the legacy of Fourier (Delo Petrashevtsev, 1937). A. I.
Herzen believed this particular preoccupation of Russian scholars with Ch.
Fourier’s ideas could be explained by the resemblance between the phalanx
and the traditional Russian commune (which the Petrashevsky circle also
found to be the most equitable social form).
Here comes a notable observation of the ideas of A. I. Hertzen concerning
the cooperative ideology. E. g., in contrast to many Western socialists’
ideas, A. I. Herzen’s views of the Russian peasant commune focused on the
elements of socialism and included, as one of the main priorities, encouraging
entrepreneurial and competitive spirits in peasantry while sticking with the
communal principles. The success of the Rochdale Pioneers convinced A.
I. Herzen (1955) the former bore the potential of further development of
the cooperative movement in England and America, though he pointed at
the challenges of competition between such cooperatives with capitalist
enterprises.
Democrat and utopian socialist N. G. Chernyshevsky followed A. I.
Herzen where it comes to the recognition of the commune as the ideal
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Vladislav Vladimirovich Nevlev, Larisa Vladimirovna Solovyova, Vladislava Igorevna Solovyova,
Inna Mikhailovna Nevleva, Anastasia Vladislavovna Nevleva y Vladimir Kuzmich Nevlev
Inuence of cooperative ideologies on the origin of credit societies in Russia
social form. However, being a personality of “tremendous intelligence and
tremendous knowledge”, according to M. I. Tugan-Baranosky (2010: 2),
Chernyshevsky went further in his studies and oered his own accounts
on some aspects, particularly, the future socialist economy. The commune
fascinated N. G. Chernyshevsky (1950: 619) as a “unity supported and
protected by the forces of society itself resulting from the initiative of
private individuals”. Going further, the development of these forces of
communal organisation could make the involvement of central authorities
and administration redundant. He defended communal land use as the
only possible way to maintain peasants’ land possession.
N. G. Chernyshevsky believed that after the land is transferred to private
ownership, peasants would inevitably lose possession of it, as private
law contained no guarantees to maintain the independence of peasants’
enterprise and could not protect it from the danger of being lost to the
capitalist system. Even with collective ownership, small private economies
would not survive competition against large capitalist enterprises. The only
way to conclusively ensure the independence of workers is via “collective
production uniting them in partnerships commanding the benets of large-
scale production. Thus, the commune is only an initial form.”
Chernyshevsky believed that cooperative associations should spread
across all areas of the economy and life to become universal. In farming,
the association of people in “shared interest communities” should follow
the trajectory of advancement of communal principles. In manufacturing,
Chernyshevsky (1950: 619) argued, it should also involve a transition of
ownership of plants and factories to “collective possessions of all those
working at the respective factory or plant” (Chernyshevsky, 1950: 619).
Working on his own “Political Economy for Workers” and a translation
of J. S. Mill’s “Principles of Political Economy”, Chernyshevsky focused on
the “fullest development of the communal principle,” as well as his own
plan of social reorganisation. That plan was largely inuenced by the ideas
of R. Owen and Ch. Fourier and to some extent Louis Blanc’s concept of
the system of “social (production farming) workshops” included rules of
production engineering and management and also living arrangements for
the people. This is a concise outline of the literature for the period.
There are also co-authored papers on the subject in Web of Science-
rated journals focusing on the historical, legal or economic aspects of the
development of pre-cooperation in the context of a commune-based society
(Nevleva et al., 2020) and on the ethnic and social nature underlying the
legal origin of cooperation in the Russian Empire (Nevlev et al., 2021).
Also, V. V. Nevlev (2019) takes a legal perspective to consider the roots of
cooperation in the West and Russia.
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Some aspects of the problem under study have been reected or touched
on in contemporary articles of journals of the international SKOPUS system.
J. Grashius and M. Elliott (2018) explore the potential role of capital
capacity, competition and strategic orientation for mergers and acquisitions
of U. S. farmers cooperatives. J. Juga and J. Juntunen (2018) from the
University of Oulu analyse the antecedents of retail patronage in the
cooperative retail context.
G. McKee, A. Kagan and A. Ghosh (2019) approach executive succession
concerns in small asset credit unions. V. Milovanovich, L. Smutka and G.
Jusu (2016) cover the aspects of work cooperation in rice farming in rural
Bangladesh.
Developing further the subject of rural cooperation, K. Hakelius (2018)
proposes techniques of selecting board composition and interaction
patterns in Swedish farm cooperatives. I. Hatak and K. Hyslop (2015) focus
on cooperation between family businesses of dierent sizes
2. Methods
The theoretical and methodological basis for writing this work is
legislative, regulatory, and instructional documents, certain provisions of
legal theory, the history of the state and law, and legal laws. Based on the
topic of the problem under study, the methodology of the article was built
on a set of methods: universal (dialectics, metaphysics), general scientic
(analysis, synthesis, comparison, forecasting, modeling of social and legal
processes, systemic and functional) and particular scientic (historical,
statistical, formal-legal and comparative-legal).
3. Results and Discussion
The theoretical and legal principles of cooperation and, thus, credit
cooperation, adopted in Russia were originally laid out by the Western
ideologists. And one should draw clear distinctions between the main
cooperative doctrines. The socialist concept represented by Robert Owen,
Charles Fourier and Philippe Buchez was based on the idea of transformation
of a capitalist society into a socialist one. For that, Robert Owen proposed,
for example, establishing: “Agricultural and manufacturing villages of unity
and mutual cooperation” (Koryakov, 1998: 14).
Formerly a manager of a major enterprise, Owen attempted to transform
the moral foundations of the existence of labour and the setbacks he faced
drove him to conclude that there was no moral transformation without
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Vladislav Vladimirovich Nevlev, Larisa Vladimirovna Solovyova, Vladislava Igorevna Solovyova,
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Inuence of cooperative ideologies on the origin of credit societies in Russia
a transformation of the social environment. He thus moved to America
and established the community called New Harmony on the land plot he
acquired in Indiana. Even though Robert Owen’s communist settlements
which he called cooperative societies had little resemblance to cooperatives
in the modern sense, there is no denial of his role in the development of the
foundations of the cooperative ideology.
Charles Fourier believed that rural cooperatives could accumulate
the functions of procurement, marketing and credit thus sustaining the
full business cycle of an industrial complex. Under Fourier’s concept, a
community, or a phalange, should be a symbiosis of a commune and a joint-
stock company forming initial capital from contributions of its members.
Income would be distributed in accordance with labour, skills and other
inputs — thus, all members of the phalange, including the under-resourced,
could eventually become owners of property over time, Fourier believed.
The high social ideal sought by Charles Fourier constituted a planned
progression of the poor toward the class of small proprietors while bringing
the rich more anity with labour, which would ease class pressures.
Building on Fourier’s ideas, the Christian socialist theoretician Philippe
Buchez called for the establishment of “production associations” to
engage in joint manufacturing operations at the joint expense and further
marketing of the output. Such associations, Buchez believed, would replace
capitalist enterprise from the market. Thus, socialist ideologists believed
the development of cooperation and specically credit cooperation could
help resolve social issues and smooth out political contradictions.
The (charitable and religious) doctrine of support supported most
prominently by Wilhelm Raieisen (1818-1888) and Victor Huber (1800-
1869) prioritised assistance to the poor in running economic operations.
E. g., W. Raieisen rst founded a rural aid society in Flammersfeld and
later a charitable society in Heddesdorf, which were legally half cooperative
and half charitable institutions. Yet, the good causes of helping former
prisoners, orphaned children and other needy people left Raieisen’s
societies with huge debt.
This led Raieisen to establish a credit cooperative of its kind respecting
the Commandments of the Gospel. Raieisen insisted that the capital of the
credit society should remain the undivided property of the society and all
excessive gains above a specied threshold should be used for charitable
purposes. Notably, the initial capital of such societies primarily owed in
from donations and loans of the wealthy members of the community.
Societies of a similar type as those created by Raieisen rejected the idea
of equity capital even though the charter of the rst Heddesdorf society
provided for such capital accruing dividends. Wilhelm Raieisen himself
strongly opposed the equity system and when all credit cooperatives were
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obliged to have share equity capital after German laws changed, he only
settled for nominal compliance with a symbolic amount of equity units. This
was quite reasonable given the subject composition of prospective members
in credit cooperatives. The under-resourced population in Germany would
be challenged by the requirements to contribute any signicant amount.
April 25, 1869, is deemed to be the founding date of the rst German
credit cooperative when the Heddesdorf Benevolent Society set up earlier
by Raieisen was transformed as a credit society. Its operations ran on non-
equity-based principles and consisted in the provision of loans to society
members at an interest, while its initial capital was built from external
borrowings, not member equity contributions (Antsyferov, 1909).
Loan repayment guarantees were founded on personal trust based
on the borrower’s moral character. Loans were only available subject to
personal acquaintance with the borrower who had to live in the same area
with society members. And still, as M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky (2010: 94)
reasonably observed, W. Raieisen largely viewed credit cooperatives as a
tool for a profound “transformation of the contemporary social order to be
founded on the basis of Christian duty and brotherly love”.
The third ideological movement we would call the dimension of economic
eciency of cooperation was developed by Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch
(1808-1883). Without denial of the social aspects of cooperation, he still
prioritised the outcomes, i. e., the economic value of such operation. The rst
credit cooperatives in Germany emerged in response to cash requirements
of production societies that lacked funds to purchase materials, which
created the need for loans.
Loan-and-savings societies of Schulze-Delitzsch, in contrast to credit
cooperatives of Raieisen’s type, were created to cater to urban populations,
specically petite bourgeoisie, merchants and artisans. Schulze-Delitzsch
believed credit cooperation should not be class-based and consolidated the
interests of dierent social strata based on private property and freedom of
enterprise.
Interestingly, the organisational and legal status of Schulze-Delitzsch’s
loan-and-savings societies prompted debate among scholars, specically,
V. A. Kosinsky (1901), M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky (2010) and others. They
pointed at the dual nature of loan-and-savings societies showing in two
contradictory trends, the need to provide loans to the members on the
cheapest possible terms and simultaneously to provide their equity holders
with maximum dividends on equity capital. Raieisen in his criticism of
Schulze-Delitzsch’s organisations of cooperative credit reproached the
latter for his departure from cooperative objectives in favour of capitalist
motives.
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Inuence of cooperative ideologies on the origin of credit societies in Russia
Thus, Schulze-Delitzsch’s loan-and-savings societies, among other
cooperative organisations, came closest to capitalist enterprise. This is
also underscored by the fact that equity capital in Schulze-Delitzsch’s loan-
and-savings societies accrued dividends proportionally to the amount of
the society’s net income rather than the number of services provided, i. e.,
loans. Members of societies operating on a model of Schulze-Delitzsch had
unlimited joint and several liability within the amount of all their assets,
which substantiated the provision of credit.
Cooperation in the modern sense was created articially. And while
capitalist economic management emerged in the natural historical process,
cooperation was: “A result of inuence on the capitalist society of the
socialist ideal” (Tugan-Baranovsky, 2010: 94). Some authors sought
to lay theoretical foundations under the ideas of R. Owen, S. Simon and
Ch. Fourier, specically N. G. Chernyshevsky who believed that land
communes could provide the basis for establishing production societies; A.
I. Herzen who viewed traditional communes as a potential embodiment of
communist principles; and M. V. Petrashevsky who understood cooperation
as a collective form of consumption and production based on the principles
of proportional distribution of goods aligned with labour and capital
contributions.
E. g., N. G. Chernyshevsky’s works (Chernyshevsky, 1987) substantiated
the idea that successful development of agriculture in Russia is only
possible if returns are to be ensured on invested capital in the agricultural
sector, which, in his view, required market and population growth. Indeed,
the small peasant enterprise economy could not compete against major
producers, and that created the need for developing a collective form of
economic management, communal land management.
N. G. Chernyshevsky believed that traditional communes as a primeval
form of land relations could be transformed, by gradual improvements, into
an ideal highly developed form of agriculture. The scholar proposed that
the state should provide nancial support in the form of interest-bearing
loans for setting up production and farming societies. The state would also
assist in attracting skilled competent talent to lead the association-building
process on the new principles.
Society members’ earnings, according to Chernyshevsky, should be based
on the level of labour input, “The basis for calculation will be a classication
of needs taking into consideration what level of labour can go into fullling
a given need without a loss for other more or less urgent needs” (Nikitina,
1952: 34). The scholar specically emphasised the principles of freedom
universal to all operations of societies, e. g., joining and leaving the ranks,
selecting the occupation, lifestyle and residence.
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Similar ideas were consistently proposed by M. V. Petrashevsky, who
pinned hopes on the promise of production and consumer associations as
a vehicle for a socioeconomic renaissance of the Russian society (Nikitina,
1952). M. V. Petrashevsky understood cooperative forms (M. V. Petrashevsky
used the term “associations”) potentially as production and consumption
arrangements based on the principle of proportional distribution tied to
capital, labour and talent inputs.
Many researchers associate the birth of the rst credit and consumption
cooperatives in Russia and consumer cooperation in general with the abolition
of serfdom, reforms of local government, education, the development of
capitalist relations and other socioeconomic transformations. According
to T. A. Seliverstov (2001: 14): “The modern history of cooperation dates
back to the mid-19th century and is fully a consequence of the transfer of
Western practices to the Russian soil”. Let us disagree with this point.
A typical form of social association for mutual assistance and interaction
was the traditional peasant commune, which administered economic,
scal, social and educational functions. Even despite certain resemblance
between the institute of cooperation and the peasant commune, more
aspects dierentiated these phenomena (Nevlev, 2018).
Conclusion
Early on in the development of the cooperative movement, utopian
socialists proposed an idea that cooperation, as a form of economic
management, could embody the ideals of a principal new socioeconomic
formation. The theoretical basis of cooperation was created by Western
ideologists whose views were adapted in the three main collective doctrines
in Russia. The rst one, the socialist doctrine, developed by C. H. Saint-
Simon, R. Owen, Ch. Fourier, Ph. Buchez, W. King, P. J. Proudhon, N. G.
Chernyshevsky, A. I. Herzen, M. V. Petrashevsky, N. Ya. Danilevsky and
others approached cooperation as a tool for the transition to socialism
that would provide work and income to the needy and bring the rich more
anity with labour.
The religious and charitable doctrine, or the doctrine of support,
supported most prominently by W. Raieisen, V. Huber, H. Spencer,
A. Comte, P. A. Kropotkin and others, prioritised assistance to the poor
in running the cooperative economy. And nally, the third ideological
movement, dubbed the dimension of economic eciency of cooperation
was developed by V. S. Sadovsky, F. G. Turner, M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky,
V. A. Kosinsky, V. F. Totomiants, L. Blanc, H. Schulze-Delitzsch. The
latter approached cooperation in connection with the potential to improve
economic performance.
590
Vladislav Vladimirovich Nevlev, Larisa Vladimirovna Solovyova, Vladislava Igorevna Solovyova,
Inna Mikhailovna Nevleva, Anastasia Vladislavovna Nevleva y Vladimir Kuzmich Nevlev
Inuence of cooperative ideologies on the origin of credit societies in Russia
There were some known forms of primitive cooperation or precooperation
over the centuries of Russian history. Those included the peasant commune,
artel-based forms of arts and crafts, various institutes of resource-pooling
and mutual help, which contributed toward the adoption of credit and
consumer cooperation in the living context of the Russian peasantry.
Before the revolution, credit cooperation was approached in research as a
type of cooperation uniting small rural and urban producers, workers and
servicemen to establish a mutual cash fund to meet the requirements in
small credit. That said, there were two major forms of credit cooperation
during the analysed historical period, namely, mutual loan associations and
loan-and-savings societies.
The rst Russian association we would refer to, a prototype of a credit
cooperative, was the Malaya Artel (small artel) established in 1834 as a
mutual aid society resembling the features and functions of a loan-and-
savings society. Emerging in the 1830s, consumer credit cooperation only
became subject to legal regulation in 1872 when the Model charter of loan-
and-savings societies was developed and approved.
On June 1, 1895, the Regulation on institutions of small loans was
approved, which was the rst regulatory act governing the operations
of credit organizations and providing for the existence of two types of
consumer credit cooperatives, loan-and-savings, and credit societies. The
Regulation provided for government aid measures to be supported by the
National Bank and available for credit societies; meanwhile it also stepped-
up control of economic operations run by credit societies, which negated
the cooperative principles of autonomy and self-governance.
Credit cooperation was integrated into social practices in Russia in the
third quarter of the 19th century amid the advance of exchange relationships,
the transition from closed-cycle natural economy arrangements toward the
market economy and weakening of the communal form of land management.
This institute organically drove artel and commune-based traditions of the
rural world, enabling the peasantry to gain the privileges of market-based,
nancial and industrial urban development while maintaining traditional
economic forms. Credit cooperation became a genuine instrument of
modernization of the Russian society which contributed to social stability
and harmony of the interests of the industrial urban and patriarchal rural
environments.
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