Conference: Rural Cooperatives in “Semi-Peripheral” Europe (1850–1950)

RHN 139/2024 | Event

Organisers: Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO), and Cooperative Association of the Czech Republic

16–18 October 2024, Družstevní asociace České republiky, Těšnov 5, 110 00 Praha 1, Prague, Czech Republic

 

Conference
Rural Cooperatives in “Semi-Peripheral” Europe (1850–1950)

 

According to contemporary estimates, approximately one-third of Eastern Europeans were members of cooperatives around the mid-1920s. The rise of cooperatives (cooperative associations) since the middle of the 19th century resulted from the fact that they helped the “common people“ during the economic transformation of the 19th and early 20th centuries to solve their everyday problems, e.g. by providing cheap loans and high-quality goods or by supporting them in the processing and marketing of agricultural goods. Their democratic nature and preserving the independence of individual economies (household or company) with the simultaneous creation of large-scale business structures increased their attractiveness. They formed the basis for their economic competitiveness. In agrarianist and Christian-social models of society which were conceptualized between the 1890s and the 1930s, the cooperatives became one of the most important institutions of rural modernization and in several cases the main approach in the search for a “third way” between capitalism and socialism in the rural society.

The workshop is being financially supported by the Johann Gottfried Herder-Forschungsrat and by the Deutsch-Tschechischer Zukunftsfonds / Česko-německý fond budoucnosti

The workshop is organized by The Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO), and the Cooperative Association of the Czech Republic

 

Programmme:

Wednesday, 16th October 2024
14:00–14:30 Registration
14:30–14:45 Welcome, Opening Speeches

I. Introduction
14:45–15:30 Uwe Müller / Torsten Lorenz / Jan Slavíček:
Rural Cooperatives in “Semi-Peripheral” Europe in a Comparative Perspective
15:30–16:00 Discussion

II. Rural Cooperatives in Central Europe
16:15–16:45 Uwe Müller: Rural Cooperatives in Germany
16:45–17:15 Johann Brazda / Tode Todev: Rural Cooperatives in Austria
17:15–17:45 Eduard Kubů / Jan Slavíček: Rural Cooperatives in the Bohemian Lands
17:45–18:30 Discussion

Thursday, 17th October 2024
8:30–9:00 Registration

III. Rural Cooperatives in East Central Europe
9:00–9:30 Zsombor Bódy: Rural Cooperatives in Hungary
9:30–10:00 Dmytro Erdeli / Jan Slavíček: Rural Cooperatives in Slovakia
10:00–10:30 Aleksandra Bilewicz / Torsten Lorenz: Rural Cooperatives in Poland
10:30–11:15 Discussion

IV. Rural Cooperatives in South Eastern Europe
11:30–12:00 Cornel Micu: Rural Cooperatives in Romania
12:00–12:30 Catherine Brégianni: Rural Cooperatives in Greece
12:30–13:00 Discussion

V. Rural Cooperatives in Eastern Europe
14:30–15:00 Stephan Merl: Rural Cooperatives in Russia and the Soviet Union
15:00–15:30 Dmytro Erdeli: Rural Cooperatives in Ukraine
15:30–16:00 Liisi Veski: Rural Cooperatives in Estonia
16:00–16:45 Discussion

Friday, 18th October 2024
9:00–9:30 Registration

VI. Rural Cooperatives in Southern / South Eastern Europe
9:30–10:00 Žarko Lazarević: Rural Cooperatives in (former) Yugoslavia
10:00–10:30 Miguel Cabo Villaverde / Lourenzo Fernandez Prieto: Rural Cooperatives in Spain
10:30–11:00 Dulce Freire / Joana Dias Pereira: Rural Cooperatives in Portugal
11:00–11:45 Discussion

VIII. Outlook and Final Remarks
12:00–12:45 Nigel Swain: Rural Cooperatives in Communist Central and Eastern Europe
12:45–13:30 Final Discussion, conclusions, and next steps

 

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