Money for the peasantry: agricultural credit in Russian Far East under the NEP

The article apparently for the first time in the Russian historiographical tradition examines peasantry lending practices in the Russian Far East. The article is focused on the implementation of cooperative policy of the Soviet state in the Far East, formation of agricultural credit system, the mechanisms of crediting the peasant economy and the attitude of peasantry to the Soviet lending system. The author concludes that the longer formation of the agricultural cooperation in the Far East is determined not only by the protracted Civil War and intervention, but by the political objectives of the Soviet state as well. Regional system of agricultural credit being developed according to the general Soviet algorithm could not become an effective instrument for the accumulation of public funds and their investment in production. Credit cooperatives remained lower echelons of state-cooperative system and mainly performed a mediating role in the promotion of banking facilities in the village.