ABSTRACT
Cooperation is not only an important form of socialist self-management, but is also an effective means of developing the national economy. The June 1987 Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee took note of the special role cooperation should play in the democratization of the economy. This means that methodological aspects of the essence and prospects of the development of cooperation must be subjected to more rigorous analysis. The basis of the scornful attitude toward cooperation should be sought in scholastic views of the character and essence of socialist socialization. The expansion of the cooperative movement in the socialist countries promotes the realization of the socioeconomic functions of cooperation, which requires the unconditional observance of its statutory norms and principles. Cooperation encompasses the bulk of the labor activity of collectives of cooperativized peasants, workers, and individual citizens, including the intelligentsia.
