Abstract: The article presents an analysis of the socio-economic, socio-political and historical-judicial conditions surrounding the establishment and development of global constitutionalism as a social concept during its main chronological stages: at the stage of forming the social concept of a global constitutionalism, determining its pillar features and formulation of global democratic values; at the stage of creating international and supranational political-judicial institutions acting as unified managerial centers of regulation and control; at the modern stage of developing the social concept of global constitutionalism including a forced exportation of constitutional democratic values on a planetary scale. The article uses a series of methods for its scientific inquiry: epistemological, ontological, formal-logical, dialectical, statistical, comparative-legal, abstract-idealistic, and concrete-historical. This article is focused on the study of the socio-historical conditions behind the emergence and development of global constitutionalism as a social concept. The author sees global constitutionalism as a social concept mediated by specific socio-historical circumstances in occurrence and development (socio-economic, socio-political and historical-legal), which in their interrelation and interdependence formed the main requirements towards the named social concept, as well determined the direction of its development.

Keywords: concept, global constitutionalism, social, typology, neoliberalism, neoconservatism, neomarxism, power, ideology, national government

Abstract: The research subject of this article is the historiography of Russian Freemasonry. The authors conduct a reconstruction of the main works on the history of Russian Freemasonry in the 19th–20th centuries. The main approaches of Russian historians evaluating the activity of Freemasonry organizations are also critically analyzed. The works of the following authors were examined: N. N. Karamzin, N. N. Longinov, A. N. Pypin, P. I. Melnikov, T. O. Sokolovsky, S. P. Melgunov, G. V. Vernadsky, V. O. Klyuchevsky, V. I. Semevsky and others. The article’s methodology consists of a historiographical analysis of the various perspectives held by the Russian historians studying the development of Freemasonry in Russia. Meanwhile the article’s scientific novelty lies in its historiographical reconstruction of three main approaches to the study of the history of Russian Freemasonry: liberal-democratic, national-conservative and publicistic works. The article demonstrates the fundamental differences in the perspectives of scholars studying the topic of Freemasonry. The authors substantiate the historiographical hypothesis that it was the apologetic approach to the study of Freemasonry of liberally-oriented scholars and the negative approach towards Freemasonry put forward by the national-conservative approach that served as one of the reasons why research on the subject of Freemasonry was closed in the Soviet historical studies. The authors come to the conclusion that the analyzed approaches contained elements of scientific analysis, but stand out in the political sympathies of their authors. The conservative-nationalistic approach was a single-sided defense of monarchy. Meanwhile the representatives of the liberal-apologetic approach reduced the essence of Russian Freemasonry mainly to literary-educational and charitable activities, excluding the mystical component of the hidden political ambitions and secret intentions of the famous Russian Masons.

Keywords: liberal direction, Russian historical sciences, enlightening ideology, publicistic direction, publicistic approach, masonic theme, illuminats, conspiracy theory, social movement, freemasonry

Abstract: The article’s research is focused on the history of the formation of the sharia and the particularities in the development of Islamic law in the 7th‒10th centuries. At the heart of this study lies the heuristic component of the formative process and becoming of the law, as well as the role of the intellectual elite in the development of the legal doctrine of the sharia. Behind the origination of the sharia’s legal system stood predominantly judges and legislators, and not political powers, the sanction of which never became a mandatory facet. The article traces the principles of cognitive and practical activities of the Islamic intellectuals in the sphere of law at the very early stages of the sharia’s formation up to the period of the establishment of doctrinal schools. The history of the sharia’s formation is very rarely the focus of individual scientific studies by historians-Westerners, which prevents the creation of a synthesis of the methodological works that exist in Eastern and Medieval studies. The formulation of such a synthesis would give a wide-ranging, possibly adapted within the framework of the established Western European historical tradition, understanding of the foundations of Islamic law and to focus research attention on the subject currently relevant to Medievalists. The article’s novelty lies in its method of research, described above. The author comes to the conclusion that Islamic law originated from an epistemological search of such a method that would lay the foundation for lawmaking. The Islamic legislators' found method created the base for the interrelation between law and religion in the Islamic intellectual space.

Keywords: history, Islamic law, sharia, qadi, faqih, Quran, sunnah, hadith, madhhab, intellectual elite

Abstract: The article examines the first attempts at critically interpreting the episode in “The Tale of Past Years” for 1054 regarding the testament (ryad) of the Kievan prince Yaroslav I the Wise in Russian historical science during the middle of the 19th century, as presented in the works of S. M. Solovyev (“The History of the Relations Between the Russian Princes of the House of Rurik,” 1847) and M. P. Pogodin (“Studies, Comments and Lectures on Russian History,” t. 4, 1850), and also reviews the transformation of the critical interpretations in the following works of the named scholars. On the basis of a comparative-textological analysis, the author brings to light the main and particular tendencies in interpreting the testimony of Yaroslav I in the works of S. M. Solovyev and M. P. Pogodin. The article’s scientific novelty lies in revisiting the historiographical stereotype established in Russian historiography of the 20th century that ascribed the first critical interpretation of the chronicle tale on the testament of Yaroslav I for 1054 to the studies of A. A. Shahmatov, published at the beginning of the 20th century, concerning the history of the Ancient Russian chronicle writing.

Keywords: M. P. Pogodin, A. A. Shahmatov, I. A. Shlyakov, K. D. Kavelin, “Tale of Past Years”, criticism, interpretation, S. M. Solovyev, testament, Yaroslav I

Abstract: The article is focused on Old Ritualist booklore – one of the key topics in the historiography of Old Ritualism (the works of N. Y. Bubnov, N. S. Guryanov, I. V. Pozdeev, N. N. Pokrovsky and others). But despite these authors’ stated complex approaches, the study of the Old Ritualists’ book monuments and the destinies of the carriers of this tradition was often examined separately. Through “social archaeography” (an approach developed by O. N. Bakhtin and E. E. Dutchak), the named topic is brought to a new research level and the study of booklore in the context of the social sphere of its existence became a reality and not just a declaration. The author used works in old printed Cyrillic. The basis of this study consists of published catalogues, as well as field diaries from the expeditions in 1970–2010s to Verhkamye and South Vyatka. The derived information was subjected to quantitative and also descriptive methods of analysis. As a result, the author was able to trace the destinies of Old Ritualistic scribes, the history of particular book monuments, as well as whole bodies of writings, and to clearly demonstrate the process of the gradual displacement of old-typed book forms with newer editions. The last, according to the author, is related not so much to the fall of traditional booklore, as much as to the adaptation of local Old Ritualist communities to modern realities.

Keywords: archaeography, reading, Old Ritualists, Old Ritualist booklore, Old Cyrillic publication, expedition, Verhokamye, South Vyatka, field studies, tradition

Abstract: The subject of this research is the main element of secondary documental information derived from archives – archival inventories and related archive descriptions, as well as other forms of documentation used for archival processing (clerical documentation, routine inventory, enumeration, listing, etc.). Until recently these records were regarded exclusively as ancillary information. However, archival inventory and archive description are significant historical sources that aid the study of the history and development of Russian historiography, including specific historical themes, and introduce new bodies of original archival documentation into scientific use and present other scientific uses as well. The article applies general scientific methods of study (logical, empirical and theoretical) to this material, and also methods of historical examination, including the comparative-historical method. The study’s main conclusion consists of substantiating the possibilities and need for a systematic source study of archival inventories and archive descriptions, tracing their evolution, drawing up their typologies on the basis of studied archive forms, completeness of content and accuracy, and the applied methods of creating inventories of original archive documentation used at various stages of archival processing (starting from the 16th century).

Keywords: archive heuristics, methods of historical research, Russian history, historical source, primary documental information, secondary documental information, archival studies, archive description, archival inventory, source study

Abstract: This article presents a source study examination of three investigation cases concerning workers at the Barnaul Melange Combine – one of the biggest enterprises of the second Five-year plan. Particular attention is given to the investigation case of the first director of the combine M. E. Goldberg and his subordinates – deputy director K. Butov and engineer-technologist K. Reznikov, accused of creating at the combine in the beginning of 1937 a counterrevolutionary cell of Siberian center-rightist, linked, according to the investigation, to N. I. Buhanin, A. I. Pykov and M. P. Tomsky. The article’s research methodology uses the microhistory approach, network analysis, analysis of semantic text structure, archival heuristics, and the general historical method (historical-comparative). On the basis of the testimony of the accused, the author conducts an analysis in the altering of the original charged article of violation. Due to the discovery of inconsistencies in the cases regarding dates of arrest, interrogation, testimonies, as well as evidence of violation of the criminal-procedural codex of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the author comes to the conclusion that the investigation cases were fabricated. In addition to the noted examples, the article presents other investigation cases concerning combine workers that were opened at the very beginning of its operation in 1934.

Keywords: Bernaul Melange Combine, Altai, investigation case, source study, Great Purge, M. E. Goldberg, enemies, counterrevolutionary activity, interrogation, repressions

Abstract: The article focuses on the specialists from Germany that came to work in Soviet coal industry enterprises and who later became participants in one of the most well-known show trials in the Urals – the Kizel show trial of 1937. On the basis of original sources, the author reconstructs the organization and operation of the show trial from the arrest to sentencing. The author also reconstructs the scenarios and methods of influence during the course of the investigations, methods of “preparing” the accused for their appearance before the court, as well as the consequent fate of the German nationals after their repatriation. The author based his research on general scientific and specific-historical methods, among which the analysis of historical sources takes a predominant place. The scientific novelty of the article consists of, in the first place, the introduction of new unpublished sources of the archival-investigation cases from the Perm State Archive of Modern History and Politechnic Archive of Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Secondly, the article’s scientific novelty lies in its contribution of elucidating through the example of the Kizel show trial the mechanisms of preparing and conducting regional show trials. As a result of this examination the author comes to the conclusion that the show trials not only aimed to show society the existence of factual enemies, but also gave an opportunity to the initiators and organizers of such trials to quickly rise up the career ladder.

Keywords: mass operations, national operations, show trials, Stalinism, Great Purge, “German” operation, Prikamye, political repressions, Ural, repatriation

Abstract: On the basis of previously unused in scientific studies archival documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine and the National Archive of the Republic of Karelia, the article undertakes an attempt to reconstruct the specific events in the life of the rural teacher Ilya Nikolaevich Frolov, who found himself involved in the movement of revolutionary populism during the 1870s in Ukraine. Upon examining and analyzing the existing material, the author pays particular attention to the clarification of the facts concerning the actual participation of I. N. Frolov in the events linked to the “Chyhyryn affair”, and also to the examination of the history of I. N. Frolov’s stay in administrative exile. The article is written within the framework of the personal history approach that allows to reconstruct the biography of an individual of “secondary importance in history” within the framework of a particular historical context. On the basis of the original sources the author analyzes the methods of inquiry that were used by the members of the Third Section against suspects of political crimes. On the example of the life of I. N. Frolov the author demonstrates the tragic fate of a whole generation of Russian democratically-inclined intellectuals who wished to return their civic duty to the people, but were ultimately thrown on the sideline of active public life by the repressive imperial apparatus.

Keywords: administrative exile, gendarme inquiry, peasant unrest, Third Section, N. V. Mezentsov, I. N. Frolov, “Chyhyryny affair”, “walking to the people”, populism, revolutionary movement

Abstract: The article is focused on the question of the cultural transformation and development of Gornyi Altai during the first years of Soviet rule. The subject of inquiry is the government’s direction in cultural constructions and policies in the cultural-educational sphere of Gornyi Altai in the 1920s-1930s. The research object is the process of cultural development in Gornyi Altai. Particular attention is dedicated to the examination of archival material, which reflects the many problems faced in the cultural sphere and which were not talked about by Soviet scholars. The aim of this work is to study the tendencies in Gornyi Altai’s cultural development during the first 20 years of Soviet rule. In achieving this the author pays special attention to the cultural policies of the government as a whole, and of the Siberian and local administrations in particular. The main research method used is the systematic one. The study is also based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, entirety and interrelation between the whole and the particular. The article’s main conclusion: if at the beginning of the 1920s the number of cultural institutions was insignificant, when work in the cultural sphere was not common due to the disastrous consequences of the civil war and the war against banditism, then in the consequent decades more effort was directed at cultural development and increasing the network of cultural institutions. The author succeeded in identifying that the significant attention dedicated to cultural institutions from party authorities is explained primarily by their serious ideological and mobilizing importance. However, despite this, the majority of cultural institutions depended on local budgets which were very scarce. The author’s original contribution to the study of this topic lies in his analysis of various data. In the course of research the author established that in implementing cultural-educational objectives in Gornyi Altai, like in the rest of the country, an active establishment of a network of cultural institutions was undertaken during the studied period: people’s houses, clubs, libraries, reading rooms, museums. Considering the geographical and social specifics of Gornyi Altai, this region also created its own unique cultural and educational institutions, which did not exist elsewhere. The novelty of the conducted study lies in the fact that it undertook for the first time a complex analysis of a little-studied research topic in the history of the establishment and development of cultural institutions in Gornyi Altai, examening the development of cultural institutions in this region in the context of the occurring social and economic processes.

Keywords: Altai people, illiteracy, Altai people, cultural-educational policy, cultural transformation, cultural institutions, tendencies in cultural constructions, ideological education, liquidation of illiteracy, cultural revolution

Abstract: The article presents an overview of the development process of the program “Children of Russia” in the context of the formation of a new direction of the Russian Federation’s policy in the sphere of childhood, beginning from 1990 and ending at the first stage of the program’s realization in 1995. The study of the state’s policy in the sphere of childhood in the 1990s is becoming particularly relevant today, because the origins of the gaps currently existing – such as the ambiguity in understanding this phenomenon – lie in the initial period of the formation of the Russian Federation, since the reconstructive processes simultaneously led to progressive and positive results, regarding society in general, and to negative results, to a greater extent affecting children. The article, divided into three idea headings, identifies the conditions of adopting the program “Children of Russia” and its component subprograms, examines the content of these programs, their development, and analyzes the results of implementing the program “Children of Russia” in general and the subprograms in particular as of 1995. The methodological base of this study is founded on the principles of historicism, consistency and objectivity, which allow to comprehensively analyze the scientific-reliable facts and the relevant body of sources. The author applies the historical, comparative-historical, logical and dialectical methods. The scientific novelty presented in the article is determined by the fact that the elaboration process of the named program and the results of its implementation from the historical point of view are little-studied. In writing this article the author was able to address a wide body of sources, previously not used in scientific studies, the majority of which are archival documents from the legislative and executive powers, preserved in the State archive of the Russian Federation. In addition, the author also used data from periodicals and memoirs of participants of the described events, published by them. The conducted research has allowed to reconstruct the process of formulating the program “Children of Russia”. The results of this study can be used in preparing courses on Russian history, special courses on the history of state and law, history of policy development in the sphere of childhood, in writing textbooks and educational tutorials.

Keywords: childhood, child policy, state policy, policy of Russian Federation, child rights, history of policy, state program, social history, program “Children of Russia”, domestic policy

Abstract: The article analyzes the reasons for the changes in the agricultural policy of the Bolsheviks towards Belarus at the turn of the 1920s–1930s. The author examines the direction and content of the transformational processes in the social sphere and in the economic behavior of the Belarusian peasantry. Furthermore, the development tendencies of the individual peasant household are identified. The author looks at the particularities of the marker behavior of the Belarusian peasantry as a factor in the closure of the New Economic Policy. The article presents an analysis of the dynamics of collectivization in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, forms, aims and results of Dekulakization. The author also explains the demographic losses resulting from the famine that hit Belarusian villages in 1929–1933. On the basis of a comparative study the author analyzes the dynamics and content of the socio-political transformations of Belarus at the turn of the 1920s–1930s, its specifics in comparison to other republics of the USSR. The historical-genetic method has allowed to trace the origins of the socio-economic contradictions in the Belarusian villages at the turn of the 1920s–1930s and their consequences. On the basis of a structural-functional analysis the author identifies the direction of the transformative processes in the Belarusian villages during the inter-war period. The author consequently comes to the conclusion that the individual development of peasant households during the second half on the 1920s came against significant difficulties, demonstrated above all in the decrease of the marketability of agricultural production. If individual peasant households revealed the tendency of an increased consumption, then through the kolkhoz system the part of bread production that was essential to the survival of peasant families was pumped out. This led to a mass famine in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and became one of the essential reasons for the slower growth in the population number during the first half of the 1930s. In 1933 (for the first time since the end of the First World War and the civil war) there was a decrease in the population number in the BSSR. In its survival strategy the Belarusian peasantry demonstrated a solidarity that was not dictated by party affiliation or social hierarchy. The development of education and an increase in the number of people from villages going to universities in the 1920s contributed to an increase in pro-peasant Belarusian sentiments, which among other factors determined a series of political processes in Belarus at the turn of the 1920s–1930s.

Keywords: transformational processes, Belarusian village, modernization, market type behavior, social psychology, food security, collectivization, agrarian policy, Soviet modernization, demographical processes

Abstract: The subject of this research is the position of the leading teaching group in Russia regarding alcoholism as a social illness at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. The current relevance of this topic is linked to its insufficient consideration in historiography. This article examines the social and scientific approaches of Russian teachers and school doctors to the development of a body of anti-alcoholism measures by way of identifying the reasons for the wide spreading of drinking and alcoholism, the elaboration of a system of social actions in the fight against them and the implementation of these developments in practice. The author enunciates the main approach to studying the “question of alcohol,” which was linked to the society’s processes of socio-economic development. The source base for this work consist of material from all-Russian pedagogical congresses at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. The foundation of this study is based on the principles of historicism, scientific objectivity and determinism. The author uses the methods of analysis, synthesis, comparative-historical and chronological. The novelty of this research consists in the resulting new information regarding the social essence, the specific-historical determinism and causes of widespread drinking and alcoholism, and the suggestions made by the teaching community for fighting this issue and their anti-alcoholism measures. For the first time in historiography the position of the most active representatives of the pedagogical community regarding this issue are presented. The author comes to the conclusion that members of the leading teaching group actively participated in the anti-alcoholism movement in Russia.

Keywords: alcoholism, social aspects, social activity, inebriety, anti-alcoholism measures, social illness, propaganda, sobriety, congress, teaching

Abstract: The article is focused on the study of the cultural and historical roots of the Yakut national wrestling Khapsagay in the traditional culture of the Sakha people. On the basis of an analysis of the traditional ethnic group of Yakut, it is shown that the named combat sport does indeed have ethno-cultural and ethno-pedagogical origins. However, the examination of historical sources and material from ethnographical expeditions in the 17th–18th centuries reveals that there are no specific mentions of the wrestling khapsagay in these texts. The authors come to the conclusion that the Yakut wrestling khapsagay is part of the cultural rite body complex for traditional Yakut festivities, and does not stand as a separate cultural element. The foundation of this investigation is based on the study of ethnographical writings of ethnographers of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, as well as field studies of ethnographers in the 17th – first half of the 20th century. Having analyzed the historical material, the authors come to the conclusion that khapsagay served merely as an element of traditional pastimes of the Yakut people, not having a particular role in the ritual activities. The given facts leave unanswered the question regarding the true origins of khapsagay wrestling. According to the authors, it is necessary to continue the study of the cultural-historical roots of the named national combat form.

Keywords: national wrestling, Yakutia, ethnography, traditions, Yhyakh, north, ethnic group, national culture, ethnopedagogy, khapsagay

Abstract: The article examines the musical culture of the Stalingrad region during the period of the Great Patriotic War as a provincial version of the Soviet musical and cultural system. The unique traits of this model include a sequential change in the types of military regions within the range from noncombatant to front-line types. Among the most notable processes – evacuation-reevacuation transfer of musical institutions, the organization of concerts, musical and theatrical, educational, compositional and musicological activities, amateur music playing, informational and production-technical components – which are all examples of social charitable initiatives. The methodological complex for studying this topic includes the systemic and comparative approaches, theoretical modeling on the basis of the material from central and local archives and periodical press. For the first time in historiography the author undertakes to analyze the structure of the musical and cultural model of the Stalingrad region, to distinguish and describe its main features. Among the predominant factors determining the dynamics of the model’s functioning in 1941–1945 the author identifies foreign political and administrative elements. It is revealed that in the frontline type of model amateur artistic activities become crucial, while having the most destructive effect on the material aspect of the development of musical culture.

Keywords: Stalingrad model, comparative approach, system approach, Soviet culture, musical culture, regional culture, musical and cultural system, Stalingrad region, battle of Stalingrad, Great Patriotic War

Abstract: The article investigates the mentoring experience of the famous populist and expert of Russian people’s religious life Aleksandr Stepanovich Prugavin on the example of an analysis of his correspondence with Elizaveta Vladimirovna Molostvova. The authors present and examine the letters discovered by them in the private collection of A. S. Prugavin in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RSALA). The letters reflect A. S. Prugavin’s aim to learn and use the characteristic for Old Ritualists phenomenon of mentorship as a new ideal relationship between a mentor and his student. Particular attention is paid to the scrutiny of the letters’ texts and the interrelations between A. S. Prugavin and E. V. Molostvova are clarified. The authors come to the conclusion that A. S. Prugavin, who during the course of his whole life undertook numerous attempts at understanding the multiformity of religious movements in the Russian Empire, assumed that the one effective idea that could be adopted by the Russian intelligensia from the Old Ritualist is the practice of mentorship. The correspondence between A. S. Prugavin and the young researcher of sectarianism E. V. Molostvova allows to reconstruct his own similar experience.

Keywords: Old Ritualism, practice of mentorship, traditional society, religious unions, E. V. Molostvova, sectarianism, religious educational practice, mentorship in Old Ritualism, populism, A. S. Prugavin

Abstract: The article is focused on an examination of the activity of the metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomensk Macarius (Bulgakov) as a historian of Old Ritualism and a missionary. Particular attention is allocated to an analysis of the historical works of the metropolitan Macarius dedicated to Old Ritualism and his missionary activity among the schismatics and sectarians. The article studies the principal provisions of his works on the history of the Russian church that explain the causes and conditions under which appeared Old Ritualism and sectarianism, and demonstrates the main contributions of the metropolitan Macarius in the field of Old Ritualism studies. The author examines the historical-methodological concept of his studies, as well as demonstrates the significance of his works for historical science in the research of Old Ritualism and sectarianism. The article also analyzes the anti-schism, anti-sectarianism missionary activity of metropolitan Macarius as archbishop during his years of governance over the Tambov, Kharkov and Lituania dioceses. The author elaborates the statistical data and dynamic of the changes in numbers of Old Ritualists and sectarians in each of the three diocese on the basis of the statistical material from the governorates that were part of them, and presents the results of the missionary activity of the metropolitan Macarius.

Keywords: Old Ritualism, Orthodox Church, sects, sectarianism, sectarians, missionary, missionary activity, Tambov diocese, Kharkov governorate, Vilnius governorate, Kovno governorate, schism, schismatics, history of Old Ritualistt schism, Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov)

Abstract: The subject of this study is the image of central power in the Muscovite state. The research object is the views of the Rostov archbishop Vassian on the tsar’s image and the essence of his power as described in his “Epistle on the Ugra” in 1480. The author examines in detail the historical context of the named text’s creation, the possible reasons that motivated archbishop Vassian to address his prince, and the ideological content of his work. Particular attention is given to Vassian’s thoughts on the legitimacy of the Horde’s rule, closely intertwined with his thoughts on the nature and designation of regal power, and the true meaning of the title “tsar”. The article’s research is conducted through the use of methods of comparative analysis, political-textological analysis of sources and historical-political reconstruction. In addition, the work uses general scientific methods – analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison and others. The work’s novelty lies in its evaluation of the “Epistle in the Ugra” as a spiritual-political text. The author comes to the conclusion that Vassian from Rostov tried to influence through his works the solution of the specific political issue at hand, and for the first time in Russian political thought elaborated a detailed argumentation of the rights of Muscovite Grand Princes to the regal title and simultaneously proved the lack of such a right among the Horde rulers, using the Holy scriptures as his main argumentation source. The presented by him image of a “Christ-loving tsar”, which consequently became the subject of lively activity among Russian scribes, firmly established itself in the ideology of the Russian state.

Keywords: Standing on the Ugra, Horde, Holy scriptures, Russian scribes, spiritual-political publicism, “Epistle on the Ugra”, Vassian Rulo, Christ-loving tsar, Muscovite state, tsar

Abstract: The subject of this research is the detection of the historical regularity in the origin and development of the cooperative movement in Russia during the second half of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. The author investigates the secondary aspects and factors that in one way or another influenced the appearance and development of cooperative bread-making in the structures of the cooperative organizations in Russia during the studied period. The research object can be considered to be, above all, the legal and social aspects, the interaction between authorities, cooperative organizations, their direction, members, as well as the statistics of bread-making. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the financial and social mechanisms of the internal cooperative interaction, and the competitive struggle of cooperative bread-making with private entrepreneurs. A comparative analysis is presented between bread-making in various forms and types of cooperations. The aim of this study is to reveal the main historical preconditions in the origin and the main development tendencies of cooperative bread-making. The study’s methodological base consists of general scientific principles and also main historical research methods. Within the framework of the former the use of the systematic and dialectical approaches is particularly important. Along with the indicated methods, the author also uses the problematic, chronological, analytical, historical-statistical and comparative methods applied to the cooperative movement in post-reform Russia. The main conclusions of the conducted research are the author’s assertions that cooperative bread-making in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century clearly yielded to that of the private producers. It was a peculiar response to the consumer cooperation of industrial workers, philistines, clerks, pensioners and the poor strata of the population on their social position and desire under all circumstances to have cheap and quality bread in their regular diet. Cooperative bread-making did not have a particular influence on the economic and technological aspects of the bread-making industry’s development in Russia. The author’s particular contribution to the study of this topic is based on the fact that for the first time in historiography a complete historical analysis of the named topic is given for the indicated period. The work’s novelty consists in the formulation by the author of a new methodological approach to the examined topic: from elucidating the first attempts at organizing cooperative bread-making in the 1860s to the elaboration of a regular system for bread-making in the cooperative organization at the beginning of the 20th century.  

Keywords: bakery, bread-making, private bread-making, union of bread-makers, consumer societies, bread baking, working consumers, consumer cooperation, production, cooperative bread-making