Struggle Against Private Entrepreneurship in Enterprises of Craft and Consumer Cooperatives of Bashkortostan (1946–1950)
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-4-368-385
Abstract
This study examines the activities of the senior inspectorate of the Main Administration for Craft and Consumer Cooperatives (Glavkoop) under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, aimed at identifying and eliminating private entrepreneurship within cooperative enterprises in Bashkortostan from 1946 to 1950. The research is based on previously unpublished documents from the Russian State Archive of Economics. The findings reveal that the operation of cooperative enterprises, devoid of developed market relations and private initiative, was fraught with numerous challenges. It is noted that residents of the republic frequently turned to private entrepreneurs due to the high production costs and low quality of goods produced by craft cooperatives. Furthermore, it was discovered that cooperative organizations often resorted to hiring private accountants and construction brigades. Additionally, private agents were engaged in the procurement of goods from major cities across the Soviet Union for the consumer cooperative system. The study demonstrates that private entrepreneurs played a significant role in the transportation of goods and the export of harvested products from remote areas of the republic. The conclusion drawn is that the struggle against private entrepreneurial activity in Bashkortostan's cooperatives led to the cessation of official contractual relationships with private entrepreneurs and a slight reduction in the shadow economy sector.
About the Author
A. V. Antoshkin
Institute of History and Archeology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Anatoly V. Antoshkin – PhD in History, Doctoral degree seeker
Yekaterinburg
References
1. Akmanov, I. G. (ed.). (2006). History of Bashkortostan from ancient times to the present day, 2. Ufa: Kitap. 600 p. ISBN 5-295-03483-6. (In Russ.).
2. Aksarin, V. V. (2020). Directorate for Trade and Consumer Cooperation in 1946—1950: Interaction of Central and Local Authorities (Tyumen region). Nauchnyi dialog, 3: 284—297. https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2020-3-284-297. (In Russ.).
3. Allagulova, E. M. (2000). Social structure and mobility of the population of Bashkortostan in the 1930s and 1950s. Ufa: Oriental University. 120 p. (In Russ.).
4. Chudnov, I. A., Osipov, V. A. (2013). Cooperation minus private initiative equals socialism. Bulletin of the Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law, 3: 175—184. (In Russ.).
5. Fedin, S. A. (2011). Private entrepreneurship and the fight against it in 1945—1953 (based on the materials of the Lower Volga region). Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanitarian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2: 46—49. (In Russ.).
6. Fine, L. E. (1994). Domestic cooperation: historical experience. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University. 276 p. (In Russ.).
7. Ivankov, V. P. (ed.). (1966). Essays on the history of the Bashkir ASSR, 2. Ufa: Bashkir Book Publishing House. 643 p. (In Russ.).
8. Kistanov, Ya. A. (1951). Consumer cooperation of the USSR: a historical essay. Moscow: Centrosoyuz Publishing House. 420 p. (In Russ.).
9. Klinova, M. A., Trofimov, A. V. (2018). The phenomenon of corruption in the post-war Soviet Union: theoretical approaches and research practices. Bulletin of SUSU. The series “Social sciences and humanities”, 18 (4): 32—36. DOI: 10.14529/ssh180404. (In Russ.).
10. Nazarov, P. G. (1994). History of Russian commercial cooperation, 1932—1952, VIII. Chelyabinsk: Chelyabinsk State Technical University. Univ. 71 p. (In Russ.).
11. Novozhilov, A. A., Fedchenko, M. N. (2018). Organizational structure of the Kurgan region fishing cooperative (1946—1960). Russian Humanitarian Journal, 7 (6): 490—500. (In Russ.).
12. Pass, A. A. (2019). The organizational structure of cooperative “business” in the USSR (1950s). Bulletin of Tomsk State University, 438: 151—162. DOI: 10.17223/15617793/438/20. (In Russ.).
13. Suleymanov, R. N. (ed.). (2005). The history of Bashkortostan. 1917—1990: in 2 volumes, 2. Ufa: Gilem. 313 p. ISBN 5-7501-0505-9. (In Russ.).
14. Tverdyukova, E. D. (2010). State regulation of private entrepreneurial activity in the USSR (from the mid — 1940s to the mid — 1950s). Scientific and Technical Bulletin of St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University. Humanities and social sciences, 1 (105): 198—205. (In Russ.).
15. Vakhitov, K. I. (1980). Consumer cooperation of the USSR. Moscow: Ekonomika Publ. 144 p. (In Russ.).
16. Yakovlev, P. I. (1957). Fishing cooperation of the USSR for 40 years. Moscow: All—Union Cooperative Publishing House. 51 p. (In Russ.).
17. Yangurazov, A. M. (1952). Fishing cooperation of the Bashkir ASSR. Ufa: Bashkosizdat Publ. 131 p. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Antoshkin A.V. Struggle Against Private Entrepreneurship in Enterprises of Craft and Consumer Cooperatives of Bashkortostan (1946–1950). Nauchnyi dialog. 2025;14(4):368-385. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-4-368-385
Views:
544
Email this article 