Alexander Chayanov The Theory of Peasant Co-operatives

296 Pages·2006·19.53 MB·English

Alexander Chayanov

The Theory of

Peasant Co-operatives

Introduction by Viktor Danilov
The Theory of Peasant Co-operatives is the first
translation of Chayanov's study of the
transformation of the peasant economy within a
market economy and his prescription for the
development of Russian agriculture. Predicting
remarkably accurately the negative aspects of
Stalin's collectivization program, the book
offers a realistic alternative. Chayanov argues
that the success of the co-operative system is
dependent on combined development linking
diverse forms of farming organization.
Although written in the 1920s, the theoretical
concepts and practical insights Chayanov offers
are directly relevant to the current restructuring
of Soviet agriculture, as well as to debates about
smallholders in the Third World and the
so-called 'informal economies' of industrial
societies. The book is likely to become a basic
resource for students of sociology, development
studies, and Soviet studies.

The Theory of Peasant Co-operatives

The Theory of Peasant

Co-operatives

ALEXANDER CHAYANOV
Translated by

David Wedgwood Benn

Introduction by

Viktor Danilov

Ohio State University Press

Columbus
Published in the United States by the Ohio State University Press.
Published in Great Britain by I.B.Tauris as part of the Second
World series.
First published in Russian as Osnovnye idei iformy organizatsii
sel'skokhozyaistvennoi kooperatsii (The basic ideas and organizational
forms of agricultural co-operation), Moscow 1927. This was the
second edition, revised and supplemented, of a book first published
in 1919.
NOTE: Some of the tables in Alexander Chayanov's original
Russian text contain arithmetic inaccuracies. Since it has
not been possible to check Chayanov's figures from the 1920s,
the tables have been left as the author prepared them. In the
English edition of the book certain cuts have been made and
some tables and diagrams have been omitted.
Copyright to English translation © 1991 I.B.Tauris
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chaianov, A. V. (Aleksandr Vasil'evich), 1888-1939^
[Osnovnye idei i formy organizatsii sel'skokhoziaistvennoi
kooperatsii. English]
The theory of peasant co-operatives / Alexander Chayanov ;
translated by David Wedgwood Benn : introduction by Viktor Danilov.
p. cm. _
Translation of: Osnovnye idei^i formy organizatsii
sel'skokhoziaistvennoi kooperatsii.
ISBN 0-8142-0566-6
1. Agriculture, Cooperative—Soviet Union. 2. Soviet Union—
Economic policy—1917-1928. I. Title.
HD1491.S65C4313 1991
334'.683'0947—dc20 91-21290
CIP
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for
Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Printed in Great Britain.
Contents

Foreword to the Second World Series by Teodor Shanin vii
Introduction by Viktor Danilov xi
Author's Comment xxxvii
1 The Processes and the Concept of Vertical Concentration
in the Rural Economy: Peasant Co-operation as an
Alternative 1
2 The Theory of Differential Optima and Co-operatives in
the Peasant Economy 24
3 Credit in the Peasant Economy 53
4 Co-operative Credit Societies 72
5 The Peasant Family's Money Economy and its
Organization on Co-operative Principles 91
6 The Basic Principles of the Co-operative Organization
of Commodity Circulation 115
7 The Organization of Co-operative Marketing and
Reprocessing Enterprises 131
8 Machinery Users' Associations 147
9 Dairy Farming Reprocessing and Cattle-rearing
Co-operatives 162
10 Peasant Co-operation for the Purpose of Cattle-rearing 183
vi Contents
11 Co-operative Insurance 187

12 Associations Concerned with Land 196

13 Collective Farms or 'Total Agricultural Co-operation' 207

14 The Basic Principles of Organization of Agricultural

Co-operatives 224