of different kinds of machine associations and other 
forms of cooperation in agricultural production for the 
purpose of the adoption of a new technical basis is of 
wide extent, especially in connection with the govern- 
ment support rendered such agricultural collectives. 
The membership of these agricultural cooperatives 
was: 
1924 .... enn 2,869,000 
1925 ooo renee 8,589,000 
1026 7 818.000 
Especially characteristic of the development of co- 
operation in agricultural production is the consider- 
able growth of the simplest forms of producers’ asso- 
ciations, which increased their membership during the 
same years from 172,000 to 882,000, i.e., more than 
five-fold. This growth involved the creation of machine, 
milk, cattle-raising, horse-breeding and seed-raising 
associations, and constituted the first preparatory 
step in the process of collectivization, which has spread 
so widely during these last years. 
It is necessary to lay special stress on the enormous 
role played in the growth of collective agricultural 
production by that financial and credit aid which the 
Soviet state has rendered to all forms of cooperation 
and to the collective farms. The tax payments of the 
collective farms and cooperative societies have been 
considerably reduced. Often they have been entirely 
exempted from the payment of a certain portion of 
the taxes. In addition, the collective farms receive 
and have received considerable financial support in the 
form of cash credits and also of special credits for 
the purchase of machinery. By decisions of the Soviet 
Government, the bulk of the expenses involved in land 
organization within the collective farms was assumed 
18