5. _Zemstvos._ May be roughly translated "county councils." Under
the Tsar semi-political, semi-social bodies with very little
administrative power, developed and controlled largely by
intellectual Liberals among the land-owning classes. Their most
important function was education and social service among the
peasants. During the war the _Zemstvos_ gradually took over the
entire feeding and clothing of the Russian Army, as well as the
buying from foreign countries, and work among the soldiers generally
corresponding to the work of the American Y. M. C. A. at the Front.
After the March Revolution the _Zemstvos_ were democratized, with a
view to making them the organs of local government in the rural
districts. But like the _City Dumas,_ they could not compete with the
_Soviets._
6. _Cooperatives._ These were the workers' and peasants' Consumers'
Cooperative societies, which had several million members all over
Russia before the Revolution. Founded by Liberals and "moderate"
Socialists, the Cooperative movement was not supported by the
revolutionary Socialist groups, because it was a substitute for the
complete transference of means of production and distribution into
the hands of the workers. After the March Revolution the
_Cooperatives_ spread rapidly, and were dominated by Populist
Socialists, Mensheviki and Socialist Revolutionaries, and acted as a
conservative political force until the Bolshevik Revolution.
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