On Cooperation

"On Cooperation" is one of the last works of Vladimir Lenin. It was written on January 6, 1923. First published in the "Way of Truth" newspaper, in issues 115 and 116, on May 26 and 27, 1923.

When working on the article, Vladimir Lenin used a number of books on cooperation.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Main ideas

In this article, Lenin emphasizes the great importance of cooperation in a multistructure economy in the country with a predominance of peasant population. He points out that cooperation allows to achieve:

...the degree of combination of private interest, private commercial interest, the verification and control of it by the state, the degree of subordination to its common interests, which used to be a stumbling block for many, many socialists.[8]

Lenin believed that cooperation would allow the peasantry to transition to socialism in a simpler and easier way.

It is emphasized that in a mixed economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat, cooperative enterprises mean an important step from private capitalist enterprises to socialist ones. To develop cooperation, it is proposed to provide cooperative enterprises with various benefits, as well as to raise the cultural level of the peasantry in every way. The Leninist concept of a mixed economy is formulated:

And the system of civilized cooperators with public ownership of the means of production, with the class victory of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie – this is the system of socialism.[9]

Lenin's ideas about the cooperation of the peasantry formed the basis of the resolution of the 13th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) "On Cooperation" and "On Work in the Village".[10]

Estimates

Alexander Yakovlev notes that in this article, a different point of view was expressed from the views of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels on the way of combining personal interest with the public, since Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were opposed to the ideas of the old cooperators (Fourier, Considerant, Saint-Simon).[11]

Roy Medvedev notes that the Leninist principles of voluntariness and gradualism in the co-operation of the peasantry were grossly violated by Joseph Stalin during collectivization, which caused enormous economic and moral damage.[12]

References
  1. Meshcheryakov 1920.
  2. Staudinger 1919a.
  3. Sassen 1919.
  4. Staudinger 1919b.
  5. Chayanov 1919.
  6. Tugan-Baranovsky 1916.
  7. Prokopovich 1913.
  8. Lenin 1977, p. 29.
  9. Lenin 1977, p. 32.
  10. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Resolutions and Decisions of Congresses, Conferences and Plenums of the Central Committee. Volume 3 – Moscow, 1970 – Pages 76–77
  11. Yakovlev 1991, p. 91.
  12. Medvedev 1990, p. 197.

Sources
  • Chayanov, Alexander (1919). The Main Ideas and Forms of Organization of Peasant Cooperation. Moscow.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lenin, Vladimir (1977). Recent Letters and Articles. Moscow: Political Publishing House. p. 71.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Medvedev, Roy (1990). About Stalin and Stalinism. Moscow: Progress Publishers. p. 488. ISBN 5-01-002546-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Meshcheryakov, Nikolai (1920). Cooperation and Socialism. Moscow.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Prokopovich, Sergei (1913). Cooperative Movement in Russia, its Theory and Practice. Moscow.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Sassen (1919). The Development of the Theory of Cooperation in the Era of Capitalism. Moscow.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Staudinger, Franz (1919a). Marxism and Consumer Cooperation. Moscow.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Staudinger, Franz (1919b). From Schulze-Delitzsch to Kreuznach. Moscow.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Tugan-Baranovsky, Mikhail (1916). Social Foundations of Cooperation. Moscow.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Yakovlev, Alexander (1991). The Torment of Reading Being. Moscow: News. p. 368. ISBN 5-7020-0382-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading
  • The Cooperative Plan of Vladimir Lenin / Antonov // Konda – Kun – Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1973 – (Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / editor-in-chief Alexander Prokhorov; 1969–1978, volume 13).
  • "Lenin". Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 3 Volumes. 2: K-Prasha. Editor-in-Chief Boris Vvedensky. 1954. pp. 238–245.
  • Vladimir Lenin. On Cooperation // Complete Works, Volume 45, Pages 370–371
  • "About Cooperation". A Brief Dictionary of Scientific Communism. Moscow: Political Publishing House. Editorial board: Victor Afanasyev and others; Compiled by Kaltakhchyan. 1989. pp. 255–256. ISBN 5-250-00599-3.
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