Publisher's Synopsis
The peasant commune was the subject of huge debate and argument inside Russia, from the mid-nineteenth century until its disappearance under collectivization about 1930. In recent decades scholars in both east and west have renewed their investigations into this controversial phenonenon and this volume of essays distils much of the latest research, both Soviet and non-Soviet, on the communal life of the Russian village.;It also broaches a much less well-known and investigated subject, the "artel", the popular consumer or labouring co-operative of the lower strata of Russian society.
