Krivonozhenko, A. F., Krizhanovsky, A. A. SMALL LOANS AND NON-AGRICULTURAL EARNINGS OF PEASANTS IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY KARELIA. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2026;48(4):69–76. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2026.1321


Russian history

SMALL LOANS AND NON-AGRICULTURAL EARNINGS OF PEASANTS IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY KARELIA

Krivonozhenko
A. F. 		Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Krizhanovsky
A. A. 		Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Keywords:
small loan
peasantry
Karelia
Olonets Province
post-reform period
earnings
crafts		 Summary: The article examines the role of credit cooperatives in supporting non-agricultural earnings of peasants in Karelia during the early twentieth century. The central hypothesis posits that these cooperative institutions, established as part of the small credit reform in 1904–1906, became a crucial instrument for financing cottage industries and seasonal off-farm labor, thereby contributing to the increasing complexity of peasants’ internal economic structures. The study draws on 272 loan issuance statements from 29 credit cooperatives in the Petrozavodsk, Povenets, Olonets, and Pudozh districts covering the period between 1911 and 1917. An interdisciplinary methodology was employed: statistical data extracted from the sources were structured using Python and visualized within the open-source Google Colab environment. The analysis revealed that loans for artisanal tools, materials, and supplies for seasonal migration, while constituting a relatively small share of total cooperative lending, rose sharply during World War I due to increased demand for hired labor. Four regional hubs of active credit provision for non-agricultural pursuits were identified. The findings underscore the significance of credit cooperation in the modernization of peasant households. The resulting dataset provides promising prospects for expanding the research to other districts of the province and for developing methodologies to assess the actual impact of rural microcredit on peasant welfare levels.



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