Liberation through Cooperation: The Politics of Food in Early 20th-Century Russia

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel examines the interrelationship between food redistribution practices and the acquisition and divestment of political power during the time of wars and revolutions in early 20th-century Russia. During this time of crisis, various state and social authorities used the supply of food as a tool for achieving political goals. Both the successes and failures of food redistribution could have momentous effects. The four papers present case studies examining how the use of cooperation and other institutional technologies attempted to improve both production and consumption, exploring government policies and the actual ways in which these policies played out on the ground.

Sub Unit

• History: 1900-1945

Chair

• Julie Hessler, U of Oregon

Papers

• Liberating Dairymen from the Middleman (Foreign and Domestic): The Union of Siberian Creamery Cooperatives and Global Commodity Frontiers - David William Darrow, U of Dayton

• Liberating the Muzhik from the Kulak-Shopkeeper: The Cooperative Movement, Peasants, and Food Supply in Russia during World War I - Colleen M Moore, James Madison U

• From Cooperation to Domination: Food and the Formation of Revolutionary Authorities in Shlissel’burg District, 1914-1921 - Dmitrii Ivanov, Independent Scholar

• Foreign Policy Implications of Hunger Relief: Karelia between Finland and Soviet Russia, 1918-1922 - Tamara Polyakova, U of Wisconsin-Madison / U of Eastern Finland (Finland)

Discussant

• Aaron Benyamin Retish, Wayne State U