ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the extent to which socialist Yugoslavia could be said to have been a co-operative republic. Studies on co-operation and the co-operative movement usually point to the absence of a common understanding of the concept. According to Gide, since the purpose of co-operation was to satisfy people’s needs, it was superior to capitalism, which he considered would be superseded by a new economic order founded on co-operation. In Yugoslavia, where the state was regarded as an agent of the working class, the character of the co-operative movement as a means of implementing the goals and objectives of state and society had not changed. The co-operatives continued to be looked upon as a means of propagating socialism. One co-operative of quite short duration was founded by workers and civil servants as a continuation of the pre-socialist consumers’ co-operatives, in which the dividend paid corresponded to the amount that a member spent in the co-operative.
