Piatnytskova I. The significance of cooperation for people in Southern Ukraine in the end of XIX - in the beginning of XX centuries

The thesis focuses on the complex research of cooperation and its impact on the life of people living in Katerynoslavska, Khersonska, Tavriyska provinces in 1890-1917. The detailed analysis of archive sources and special theoretical literature has allowed to study the legal base of the cooperative tovarystvos (societies), to define socioeconomic conditions of their development, to study the dynamics of different forms of the cooperative movement in the region, to define their social structure. The thesis considers both economic and noneconomic directions of cooperative communities' activity, defines their significance. The study results show that the cooperation movement played a key role in economic, socio-political and cultural life of Southern Ukraine, encouraged the development of market relations, the enhancement of agricultural industry, the improvement of economic conditions for people in the region and their intellectual growth.