Politika v družstvech - Družstva v politice – Slavíček Jan (2024)

This Czech-language study examines the complicated relationship between cooperatives and politics in the Czech lands from 1918 to 1938. During the interwar period, cooperatives formed a natural and fully established part of economic, social, cultural and other aspects of public life, becoming a widespread phenomenon with millions of members. Using modern historiographical methods, the book analyzes the contemporary social discourse surrounding cooperatives, the programmes and cooperative activities of important Czech, Czechoslovak and German political parties during the First Republic, and the significance of often-politicized cooperative unions. Drawing on almost two hundred selected cooperatives of various types and several dozen cooperative unions, it demonstrates the great diversity of cooperative life, characterized by flexibility and the ability to adapt to the specific needs of cooperative members. Although links between most cooperatives and political parties were commonly accepted, the relationship was generally loose and based more on interdependence than on one-sided dependence. A small number of cooperatives were nevertheless deliberately founded and controlled by political parties for propaganda or even party financing.