In this first monograph on the Russian cooperative movement before 1914, economic and social change is considered alongside Russian political culture. Looking at such historical actors as Sergei Witte, Piotr Stolypin, and Alexander Chaianov, and by tapping into several newly opened Russian local and state archives on peasant practice in the movement, Kotsonis suggests how cooperatives reflected a pan-European dilemma over whether and to what extent populations could participate in their own transformation.

YANNI KOTSONIS was raised in Athens, educated in Montreal, Copenhagen, London, and New York, and first taught history at the University of Essex (lecturer in Russian and Comparative history, 1993-94). He currently teaches European and Russian history at New York University, (Assistant Professor of History, Modern Europe and Russia, since 1994).