Dynamics of development of small and medium business (historical aspect)

The article deals with the small and medium entrepreneurship of the early 20 th century. Studying the case of the Southern Urals, the author reveals the dynamics of cooperating of small producers, reviews the relationship between “lower" and “upper" strata of the cooperative movement. The paper shows economic, vocational educational, gender, ethnical features of the small and medium business. It is concluded that in the early 20 th century the cooperative production movement, involving the population masses, was developing slowly and had the regional peculiarities.