Dacha on Nikolina Gora: The case of A. V. Chayanov

Abstract

The article considers the features of the dacha-consumer cooperative “Workers of Science and Art” (RANIS) on Nikolina Gora. It was created as a village-commune and united the creative intelligentsia of the 1920s and 1930s, often connected by friendly or official relations. RANIS was based on the principles of collectivism: public vegetable gardens and transport, allocation of premises for breeding small livestock, cooperative canteen and collective children’s educational and leisure activities. Performances by artists, musicians, writers and scientists were to unite residents of the village and to develop common cultural ideas. Such events continued the traditions of literature and art of Zvenigorod places visited by A. S. Pushkin, A. I. Herzen, A. P. Chekhov, A. M. Gorky, I. I. Levitan, K. S. Stanislavsky, etc. The article focuses on the activities of A. V. Chayanov as one of three creators and inspirers of the dacha-consumer cooperative, who invited O.Yu. Schmidt, A. I. Kravchenko, B. A. Kril and others to Nikolina Gora. In 1928-1929, Chayanov’s excavations at the Uspensky settlement had both scientific (a new method of excavations) and educational meaning (in addition to practical skills, local adolescents learned the history of the land their dachas were built on). The dacha-consumer cooperative on Nikolina Gora presents a transformation of the estate tradition in the 20th century realities, that is, a collective life in nature harmoniously combined with intellectual and creative activity.