mating the various existing independent co-operative societies into the Central Union, which for a long time has been the general national organization of the co-operative movement. The Peoples' Bank was nationalized. The old bureaucratic reactionaries objected strenuously to these measures and large numbers of them resigned their posts in protest. But in vain; in spite of their sabotage and opposition the whole co-operative movement eventually was unified under one national head.
Along with this broadening, unification, and centralization of the co-operative movement went important functional changes. In the matter of the manufacture, collection, and distribution of non-monopoly articles (a minor factor in the prevailing economy) the co-operatives preserved their independence and went along much as before; but in the vital matter of monopoly articles, especially with regard to the collection and distribution of foodstuffs they were subjected to a rigid state control. The national body, the Central Union, was brought into direct relationship with the Supreme Economic Council, the Food, Labor, Educational, Agricultural, and other Government departments. It had representatives upon the local and national boards of these departments and worked in close co-operation with them. In fact the co-operative movement operated to a great extent under the supervision of the Government. Also, in many cases, to avoid duplication of effort, the co-operatives were actually amalgamated into the Government’s productive and distributive machinery. The co-operative movement elected its own officials and in many other ways exhibited a nominal independence; but in reality it had become virtually a department of the state.
Recently, however, a new turn has taken place in the evolution of the co-operative movement. The tendency now is rather to reverse the policy of centralization and strict government control by detaching the co-operatives from the state and giving them wide independence and more elaborate functions than ever. The immediate cause of this change of policy was the establishment of free trade in Russia. To help solve the general economic crisis the Government has raised its iron-clad monopoly on industry and is seeking by allpractical means to encourage production by individual
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