Participation of cooperative organizations in cinefication of Karelia in the 1920s

The article highlights the role of cooperative unions in the cinefication of the region in the 1920s, and examines the place of consumer cooperatives in this process. The relevance of the topic is determined by the lack of studies on this issue. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that the participation of cooperative associations in organizing film shows in the cities and villages of Karelia in the 1920s is considered for the first time. The purpose and objectives of the publication are to consider the work of cooperative organizations in Karelia to “promote” cinema to grassroots consumer societies in the 1920s, to identify the state of the local cooperative cinema network, to outline the main indicators of its development during the first five-year plan, to determine the working conditions of projectionists in rural areas, and to highlight issues of training for the cooperative cinema network. Based on archival documents, the study revealed that in the first half of the 1920s, in order to serve rural areas, the leadership of the People’s Commissariat for Education of Karelia sought to increase the number of film exhibitions through financial assistance from cooperatives. The board of the Karelo-Prionezhsky Union of Consumer Cooperation (Karonegsoyuz) expressed interest in purchasing mobile cinema installations. The concentration of funds allocated for cultural work by grassroots consumer societies contributed to the purchase of new film projectors, which made it possible to hold film shows on the periphery of the Karonegsoyuz. Cooperative unions took part in film services for peasants, fishermen, and loggers. Films about cooperation contributed to the indoctrination of cooperative ideas. Projectionists from the Karonegsoyuz took an active part in cooperative agitation and propaganda. The significance of the film work of the cooperative unions of Karelia lies in the fact that it contributed to raising people’s awareness about various cultural innovations and the mere concept of cinema, a great technical invention of the time, and encouraged their interest in cinema as an art form.