The government and cooperatives in the early 20th century (based on materials from Kostroma and Yaroslavl provinces)

The study of the relationship between the government and cooperatives in the early 20th century is necessary for a better understanding of the peculiarities of the development of the cooperative movement in pre-revolutionary Russia. Based on the materials of Kostroma and Yaroslavl provinces, which were part of the Central Industrial Region of the Russian Empire, the specifics of the bureaucratic process of approving cooperative charters are shown. The process of collecting the necessary information about the political reliability and moral behaviour of each founder of cooperative organisations, carried out with the help of two officials – the district police officer or police chief and the head of the provincial gendarmerie department – is considered. The article also showed white spots that remain not fully disclosed. The source base of the article was the funds of the state archives of Kostroma, Ivanovo and Yaroslavl regions. The funds of a clerical nature were taken as a basis – F. 73 (“Office of Yaroslavl governor”) and F. 133 (“Office of Kostroma governor”). It was the governors who were responsible for approving cooperatives of various types – consumer and agricultural societies, labour artels, credit and savings and loan partnerships. In Russian historiography, such an analysis of archival materials from Kostroma and Yaroslavl provinces has been conducted for the first time, which determines the scientific novelty of the study. Historical and comparative method was used, which demonstrated the similarity in the evolution of the relationship between government and cooperatives in the provinces under consideration.