Cultural and educational activity of Siberian urban and labour consumers cooperation in 1926-1929
Consumers cooperation as a social and economic organization fulfils not only economic, but also cultural functions. In the middle 1920s Siberian urban and labour consumers cooperation took a package of measures of training and retraining of the cooperative staff, spreading of cooperative ideas and literature among broad masses of population. All these measures must have been financed at the expense of cooperations resources that included budget allowances and profits tax of cooperative societies trade and economic activity. However, the changeover to industrialization had a direct impact on functioning of all consumers cooperation. As early as in 1926 state crediting had been considerably reduced, the conditions of receiving both commodity and monetary credits were toughened. The price-cutting and economy effort campaign, realized in 1926- 1927, led to the decrease of urban and labour cooperative societies profits which affected cutting down the deduction norms for cultural and educational activities. The deficit of financing had rather been made up by the establishment of more close relationship between cooperation and trade unions in 1920s and use of the material resources of the latter (working clubs, places of honour, etc.) for carrying out cultural and educational activity. Siberian consumers cooperation created a system of cooperative education, which allowed weakening critical staff shortage to a great extent. Agitation and propaganda activity was directed at the dissemination of cooperative ideas among broad masses, rise of level of shareholders cooperative knowledge and informing the population of this cooperative societys functioning. Press activity of Siberian urban and labour consumers cooperation contributed to the broad coverage of its successes and shortcomings and mobilization of cooperative population at the social and political problems solving. Critical materials pointed out the activity defects for the administration of urban and labour cooperatives and contributed to its elimination. The consumers cooperation in the last half of 1920s endowed the spread of books, installation of cinema and radio in the country. Consequently, in the last half of 1920s cultural and educational work became an important part of the diverse activity of Siberian urban and labour consumers cooperation. It consisted of organization of cooperative education system, dissemination of cooperative ideas, increase in book sales from year to year, liquidation of cooperative and general ignorance, useful spending of spare time.