Wild Crop Socialism: Consumer Cooperation, Food Security, and Transnational Networks in Cold War Soviet Union
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Anna Sokolova,
University of Ostrava
November 6th, 2024. Wednesday, 15.00-16.30
Room XH114 (Refresh Social Lab), Building XH - Havlíčkovo nábřeží 3120, FA UO
The Soviet Union was known for its large-scale resource extraction, particularly timber and hydrocarbons. These industries supported new technologies, infrastructures, and workforce flows. However, small-scale resource extraction, initiated by the Soviet state through the Consumer Cooperation Union (Tsentrosoyz), impacted natural environments and society differently. This system involved numerous pickers gathering and trading wild crops for cash and imported industrial goods. This system created a network of individual economic agents operating within each region and established links with trading counterparts worldwide. This talk, I will explore how this wild crop economy captured the complex social and economic processes of the late Soviet Union and how this knowledge can help us understand the different paths taken by the former Soviet republics as independent states in the post-Soviet transition.
Anna Sokolova a social and environmental historian of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. She received her PhD from the University of Zürich. Anna is currently a senior researcher at the University of Ostrava.
Organized by the Department of History, Centre for Economic and Social History. Hosted by the Centre for the Philosophy of Historiography.
Download the invitation 
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This event has been produced with the financial support of the European Union under the REFRESH – Research Excellence For REgion Sustainability and High-tech Industries (project numberCZ.10.03.01/00/22_003/0000048) via the Operational Programme Just Transition.
Updated: 23. 10. 2024
