Original scientific paper
Development of the Family Holdings in Croatia and the Co-operative Movement
Josip Defilippis
Abstract
Trough his analysis of the development of the family holdings the
author presents the fundamental cause for the emerging of the
co-operative movement (the co-operative movement is
a prerequisite for reproduction and development of the family agricultural holdings, as the most common system of organized
agriculture and the main bearer of the agricultural production) as
well as the history behind the idea of the co-operative movement
in Croatia. Firstly,he defines the three fundamental factors that
determine the characteristics of the agricultural family holding: a
family or a household (primary social community or a core socio-reproductive unit), estate (land which is the material basis for the family existence) and holding in its fundamental nature(an economical subject from the legal and economical aspect). Following
a short preview of the changes those three factors undergo due to
the mutation of the socio-economic milieu and their impact on the
agricultural holding in the mentioned milieu, i.e. on the basic mode
of production, the author examines separately the formation of the
agricultural family holding and the farmer's (entrepreneurial)
estate with the emergence of the trade, merchant-monetary economy (following the downfall of the feudalism and the development of the capitalism). The main change was represented
by the »entrance« of capital in the agricultural field facilitating
the application of the new technical and technological knowledge
and means, the work force is replaced and the significance of the
land is altered: the holdings possessing capital are growing stronger
and are given the opportunity to increase their assets through production. It is crucial for the socialist societies that the state
(entirely or predominantly) controls two main factors -the land
and the capital -and the labour-force must adjust to the conditions
imposed on it by these two factors. Family holdings in Croatia have
changed as well, in accordance to the economical and social circumstances in this area. The author tracks these changes through
historical periods, sketching the processes during these changes as
well as the basic characteristics of the family holdings in Croatia.
In other word, if the development of the co-operatives was caused
by the fundamental requirements of reproduction and the development of agricultural (peasants') family holdings, the co-operatives should have been adjusted to the socialist agricultural
concept in the beginning of the development of socialism: the
co-operatives should have been the bearer of the gradual socialization of the producing capacities of the small agricultural
producers, which implies the socialization of their work and their
land. During that period the reproduction of the family holdings
was drastically limited and the fragmented ownership structure
petrified. The change towards the socialization of the production
enabled the development of the new socio-economic odel,
the so called mixed holding, which has in time, with the assistance
of the co-operative sector, expanded and become the dominant
model of life-style in
rural areas.
Keywords
agricultural family holding; reproduction; co-operative societies; development
Hrčak ID:
32012
URI
Publication date:
4.2.2009.
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