Supply and Marketing Cooperatives: Nationalization of Agricultural and Industrial Product Transactions

The supply and marketing cooperative was initially advocated by the state and established by farmers’ shares as a self-service cooperative economic organization. However, with the implementation of the planned economy, especially given the unified purchase and sale policy, its duties, cooperative content, and nature all changed, and it began to become a circulation institution for agricultural and industrial products under state rule. The state controlled the sale of industrial products in rural areas and the purchase of agricultural products and materials needed by the state through supply and marketing cooperatives, completed the functions of unified purchase and sale, and accumulated resources needed for national industrialization. At the same time, farmers obtained basic living materials needed for daily life through supply and marketing cooperatives. This article combines a case study to describe how supply and marketing cooperatives were formed in rural society, as well as their internal structure, mutual relations, basic functions, etc. On this basis, it describes and analyses their work content and scope and explores their cooperation with production cooperatives. The final section discusses the reasons for and process of disintegration at the grassroots level based on the actual situation.