Page:William Zebulon Foster - The Russian Revolution (1921).pdf/61



The Russian co-operative movement is comparatively new, but its history, especially since the revolution, has been a very stormy one. In its earlier days, under the Czars, the movement grew very slowly in the face of strong governmental opposition. By the beginning of 1914, however, it had expanded to about 10,000 societies with a total membership of 1,500,000. The war was a period of rapid growth, because the increasing cost of living turned the workers and peasants toward co-operative effort in a mighty stream, and the economic collapse of the old regime compelled the Czar's Government to turn over to the vigorous co-operatives much of the business of handling the retail food trade, etc. The revolution gave the movement another great impulse, so that by January 1, 1918, it had grown to the figure of 25,000 societies with about 9,000,000 members. Its activities covered a wide scope, including buying, selling, manufacturing, credit, etc. The following table, stated in rubles, indicates the increase in the volume of business transacted:

With the advent of the Communists to power a series of adventures began for the co-operatives. The movement had always been of a pronouncedly reformist character. It had given whole-hearted support to the Kerensky Government and its leaders denounced the Communists, then struggling for power, as "criminal adventurers and enemies of the people." Nor did its hostile attitude change when the latter seized the Government, except perhaps to become one of even more determined opposition. The co-operative movement turned its whole enormous educational, political, and economic force against the new Government. It supported every counter-revolutionary attempt; in later