ABSTRACT
A major qualification to past theoretical arguments that the Soviet political system could be characterized by the term "pluralist" was that what were referred to as "interest groups" lacked genuine autonomy from state and party organs. Associations and unions of cooperatives represent one of the first successful attempts to create new organizational forms that conform to the definition of interest groups as it is applied in the West. Cooperatives, one of the first visible results of Mikhail Gorbachev’s economic reforms, were mostly small enterprises in such areas as services, construction, and consumer goods production. The decentralization of much policy-making to the localities resulted in local officials taking steps that at times violated the law on cooperatives and other guarantees adopted in Moscow. The political ties of cooperatives have been strongest with proponents of radical change in the existing system, in part due to the essential role of cooperatives in creating a market economy.
