DPRK Ministry of Agriculture, 'Model Charter of an Agricultural Cooperative, 3rd Form'

SECRET Copy Nº 1

[CPSU CC stamp:

01263

10 JAN 56

Subject to return to the

CPSU CC General Department]

to the CPSU CC

to Cde. I. S. SHCHERBAKOV

Attached we are sending you the journal of Soviet Ambassador in the DPRK Cde. V. I. Ivanov from 4 through 15 December 1955, and also the model charters of an agricultural production cooperative (2^nd and 3^rd forms).

ATTACHMENT: The journal of Cde. Ivanov (incoming

Nº 4865s-dv) on 24 pages, to the addressee only; the

charters of an agricultural production cooperative, unclassified, on 37 pages, to the addressee only.

[signature]

(I. KURDYUKOV)

10 January 1956

Nº 48/dv-

[handwritten note:

to the archives

the material was used in a memo

about the situation in Korea.

I. Shcherbakov

1[6] April 1956

[[illegible signature]

[illegible signature,

16 April 1956]

2-BV/nm

1 - to the address

2 - to file

Nº 68-dv

10 January 56

[…]

model charter of AN agricultural cooperative

(third form)

I. Name and location

Article 1. This cooperative is called an agricultural cooperative and it located in the village of __________ of the district of _________

of ___________ province.

2. The goals and main tasks

Article 2. This cooperative is a voluntary association of the working peasants of the village of _______ of the district of _________

of ___________ province and sets as its goal the systematic increase of the harvest of agricultural crops and income by joining land into a cooperative, the collectivization of draft animals, farm implements, and other means of production, their joint use and the rational organization of production on the basis of the unified plan of the cooperative. The material and cultural life of the members of the cooperative are thereby increased and the popular democratic system in the agricultural sectors of our country is further strengthened and will develop. The introduction of new farm implements and machines by agricultural cooperatives, the use of advanced scientific agro-technical methods, the gradual growth of public property, and the constant increase of labor productivity are rapidly eliminating the backwardness of the small individual farm and strengthening the cooperatives.

The path of the cooperation of agriculture is the most correct way for working peasants, the only new way toward a steady increase of the material and cultural standard of living for peasants.

Each member of a cooperative should work honestly, protect

the public property of the cooperative as one's dearest possession,

observe labor discipline and internal order, and honestly fulfill all tasks and responsibilities with respect to the state. He should thus actively make his contribution to the development of the country's economy, strengthen the cooperative and make a prosperous life for all members of the cooperative.

3. The land

Article 3. All the land belonging to members of the cooperative and land that is temporarily used by them with the exception of plots of defined size attached to farmhouses, and are joined in the cooperative and are jointly worked by its members. All boundaries which divided the land of cooperative members are destroyed and the land becomes a single land mass. But, the owner keeps the right of ownership and the right of inheritance as before.

Article 4. The dimensions of the attached plots for the personal use of cooperative members, excluding the land directly under housing, are established for a household depending on the size of the family at 70-150 pkhyon* for flat plots and 100-200 pkhyon for hilly plots. Cooperative members who do not have attached plots are assigned the closest land to their housing from the cooperative's land holdings in the above dimensions.

* a pkhyon is a measure of land equal to 3.3. m² ([Soviet] translator's note)

In addition, fruit and mulberry trees on attached plots are left for the personal use of the cooperative member.

Article 5. Public land joined into a cooperative is not transferred to another person and is not sold. The land needs to be protected from instances of natural disasters and leaving land unworked. An expansion of the cooperative's land area is permitted only by reclaiming virgin and abandoned land and also by acquiring land from the state.

Article 6. The cooperative member is returned his land parcel in the event of [his] departure or expulsion from the cooperative. However, if the return of the land creates an inconvenience to the public working of the cooperative land he is assigned land in another place equal to that given him in the cooperative. Those who have left or have been expelled from the cooperative have to pay the cooperative compensation if the cooperative has already done reclamation work on the land returned to him.

4. The means of production

Article 7. The draft animals, farm implements, fishing equipment, and other implements, and also the farm buildings and production equipment of cooperative members needed for the cooperative farm are transferred to the public ownership of the cooperative. In accurately establishing their value, the cooperative clears off their cost at the end of the agricultural year with compensation in money or in kind.

Article 8. An assessment commission is elected at the general meeting of cooperative members for a correct assessment of the means of production transferred to common use. With the participation of cooperative members who have transferred their means of production to the cooperative the assessment commission draws up a list of these resources and evaluates them, and then submits its decision for the approval of the general meeting. This protocol should indicate the condition of the means of production transferred to the cooperative. The protocol should be signed by the members of the commission and members of the cooperative who have transferred these means of production.

Article 9. Members of the cooperative should provide the cooperative with the necessary seeds, fertilizer, and forage for the livestock in its first organizational year in accordance with the size of the land holding transferred. If a cooperative member cannot make this contribution right away he must contribute it at the end of the economic year.

All the natural fertilizer the cooperative members have should be handed over to the cooperative with the exception of the amount which is needed to cultivate the attached plot. At the end of the year the agricultural cooperative pays an appropriate compensation for the fertilizer handed over to the cooperative.

Article 10. Each member of the cooperative can have household livestock for personal use and domestic poultry in set amounts, the structures needed to raise and breed household livestock and poultry, and small farm implements used for the attached plots. A member of the cooperative can have the following numbers of livestock and domestic poultry for personal use: cow - one, pigs - two, sheep - two, beehives - one (with wild bees, up to three), and several barnyard fowl.

The feeding of the livestock and poultry which are the personal property of cooperative members should be done in time free from work in order not to interfere with work in the cooperative.

5. The work and the governing bodies

Article 11. The agricultural cooperative should fulfill its obligations and targets with respect to the state. It is obligated to draw up its own plan in accordance with the requirements of the state economic plan and operate a communal farm [vesti obshchestvennoe khozyaystvo] on this basis. The board and all the members of the of the cooperative are obligated to perform the following work:

1. Plant all the cooperative's land in time without abandoning a single pkhyon of land, and correctly place the crops; expanded the planted area by opening up new land; pursue work to improve the land; fight for the correct use of the land, increase the fertility of the soil by placing a large quantity of natural fertilizer on the fields; widely introduce and employ new farm implements and advanced agricultural technology, thus constantly increasing the harvest yield on the common cooperative lands.

2. Create communal farms and seek the development of animal husbandry, gradually increasing the number of head; create a forage reserve for the livestock; take every measure to increase the income from livestock, give aid to cooperative members in breeding household livestock for personal use.

3. Organize public fishing in the communal farm, gradually improving and mechanizing the process of fishing; use fishing equipment efficiently; constantly increase the quality and quality of production; discover and develop fishing sources; and broadly develop work to raise fish in reservoirs.

4. Keep draft animals and agricultural equipment in exemplary condition; maintain and increase the percentage of use of public draft animals and agricultural equipment, administrative buildings, and state agricultural machines.

5. Gradually increase the cooperative's monetary income through a planned cultivation of gardens, the growing of tobacco, various industrial crops, and vegetables; constantly increase the income of the farm through a rational organization of silk cultivation and beekeeping, the production of straw articles, hand-made fabrics, and other hand-made articles.

6. Increase the skills of cooperative members in every possible way, train technically-skilled workers in the field of agricultural technology, livestock management, gardening, fishing, and agricultural machines.

7. Actively involve women in the production activity of the cooperative, create conditions for them in which they can develop vigorous activity; and inspire them to an enterprising labor effort; organize children's nurseries everywhere.

8. Systematically increase the level of the political and cultural level of cooperative members; organize the reading of newspapers and magazines and listening to the radio; build buildings for public use, keep the village and housing clean; organize the repair and construction of the housing for members of the cooperative.

Article 12. The management of all the work of the cooperative is based on the principle of the system of democratic self-government. The bodies of the cooperative are the general meeting, the board, and the auditing commission.

The bodies of an agricultural cooperative should continually raise the initiative of cooperative members and actively involve all members of the cooperative in the management of the cooperative.

Article 13. The general meeting of cooperative members is the highest body of the cooperative and decides the following main issues:

1. It elects and recalls the board, the auditing commission, and their chairmen.

2. It approves the appointment and release of a bookkeeper, a team leader, and technical specialist.

3. It decides the question of the acceptance, departure, and expulsion from the cooperative.

4. It establishes and corrects the charter and the internal procedure of the cooperative.

5. It approves the production plan, the capital construction plan, the budget, and the labor norms by individual kinds of work, the method of assessing labor-days, and the amount of payment for additional labor-days.

6. It approves the production assignments by individual work teams and the norms for the expenditure of materials.

7. It approves contracts with machine rental and horse rental stations, and with other organizations.

8. It approves the financial report and the plan for the distribution of profits submitted by the cooperative's board.

9. It establishes the amount of the public accumulation and the sociocultural fund and their expenditure.

10. It determines the bonuses and reprimands with respect to members of the cooperative.

11. It hears and discusses the work of the board and the auditing commission.

Article 14. The general meeting of cooperative members is legitimate when more than half of all cooperative members participate. However, the presence of more than 2/3 of all members of the cooperative is needed when adopting and changing the Charter, electing and recalling the board, the auditing commission and their chairmen, decisions about the question of accepting new members and expulsion from the cooperative, and decisions of the question of establishing funds.

A decision of the general meeting is adopted by a majority of votes in open voting.

Article 15. A general meeting is convened at least once a month. In addition, a meeting is convened at the demand of no less than 1/3 of the members of the cooperative.

The board of the cooperative should notify members of the cooperative about the date and time of the convening of the meeting and the agenda two days before the meeting.

Article 16. A board of the cooperative of between five and nine people is elected for one or two years and one chairman to manage the work of the agricultural cooperative between general meetings. The board of the cooperative is the executive body and is responsible to the general meeting for the operation of the cooperative.

Article 17. The board of the cooperative does the following work under the supervision of the chairman:

1. Organizes, directs, and monitors the operation of the cooperative for precise compliance with the charter and the decisions of the general meeting.

2. Prepares the general meeting, and gives regular reports to it about its work.

3. Elects deputy chairmen of the board of the cooperative, appoints or releases the bookkeeper, team leaders, and other specialists.

Article 18. The board chairman convenes meetings of the board twice a month at which specific measures are developed to comply with the Charter and the decisions of the general meeting.

The chairman and the board bear the following responsibilities to the general meeting:

1. They daily manage, organize, and monitor the operation of the collective and individual work teams, deciding corresponding issues.

2. They represent the cooperative with respect to government bodies or a third party, and are obliged to justify the trust placed in them by the cooperative.

3. They bear responsibility for the income and expenditures of the cooperative in accordance with the Charter and the decisions of the meeting, and manage the cooperative's property.

Article 19. The general meeting elects an auditing commission of from three to five people for a term of one to two years, and its chairman. Neither board members nor members of their families can be elected to the auditing commission.

The auditing commission monitors all the economic activity of the cooperative, and inspects whether records of the in-kind and monetary receipts are being kept correctly and in the established procedure, whether the procedure for the expenditure of property prescribed by the charter and by the decisions of the general meeting is being observed, and whether there is any theft or embezzlement of property or money, how the obligations with respect to the state are being met correctly and on time, how the cooperative is paying its debts and credits are being paid, and whether the accounting for labor-days is being performed correctly.

In addition, the auditing commission should clear up all questions affecting the personal interest of cooperative members in a timely manner.

No less than four times a year the auditing commission should conduct an audit and submit the conclusion to the general meeting each time, which approves it.

Article 20. The board of the cooperative appoints a bookkeeper to conduct accurate recordkeeping of the cooperative's property and equipment. The bookkeeper should keep a record in the established form and is subordinate only to the board of the cooperative and the chairman of the cooperative. The bookkeeper does not have the right to dispose of the property of the cooperative by himself. The chairman of the board and the bookkeeper sign all receipts and payments documents concerning in-kind and monetary resources.

6. The members of an agricultural cooperative, their basic rights and responsibilities

Article 21. All working peasants who have reached the age of 16 who approve and observe the cooperative's Charter and are capable of participating in the common work can be accepted as a member of the cooperative.

The board considers the contents of each application and presents it to the general meeting. The decision is made by the general meeting. Able-bodied members of his family are also accepted in the cooperative in the established manner along with the acceptance of heads of the family.

Article 22. All members of the cooperative have the same rights in all the cooperative's activity regardless of age or gender:

1. The right to participate in the public work of the cooperative.

2. The right to receive payment for work in accordance with the amount and quality of the work.

3. The right of a deciding and advisory vote during the discussion of all issues of the cooperative's activity at general meetings.

4. The right to elect and be elected to governing bodies of the cooperative, to criticize, to make suggestions regarding the improvement of work, and to demand the convening of a general meeting of members of the cooperative and to participate in the meeting which his issue is discussed.

5. The right to leave the cooperative (in the event of a departure from the cooperative the land is returned to him on the basis of Article 6. A departure is permitted after the economic year is entirely done).

Article 23. Members of a cooperative are obligated:

1. To conscientiously observe and carry out the Charter and the decisions of the general meeting, precisely fulfill the instructions of the board, the chairman, and the team leader, the fulfill the labor obligations specified by the charter.

2. To conscientiously observe labor discipline and exert every effort to ensure the high quality of the work and an increase of labor productivity.

3. To observe the sacred principle of the inviolability of public property and to safeguard it.

4. To obey state laws. Whoever damages state or cooperative property compensates for it in full.

Article 24. If a member of a cooperative does not observe the Charter, refuses to perform collective work, or systematically performs work badly, he can be expelled from the cooperative by a decision of the general meeting. The board of the cooperative can temporarily remove him from work before such a decision of the general meeting. If a member of a cooperative appeals the expulsion decision in the district people's committee the issue is finally decided at a meeting of the presidium of the district people's committee in the presence of the chairman of the cooperative and the person who submitted the appeal.

7. The organization of labor, labor discipline,

and recordkeeping

Article 25. Work in the cooperative is an honorable responsibility of each member of the cooperative. A member of the cooperative must work no less than 150 labor-days in a year. A mother who has a child under age 2 is obligated to work no less than 110 labor-days a year. A prolonged illness or other serious reasons are considered special cases. All the work of the cooperative is done directly by members of the cooperative; hired labor is impractical [nevozmozhen] on principle. The hiring of temporary workers is permitted only in exceptional cases when, in spite of the mobilization of all the resources of the members of the cooperative, the work cannot be accomplished in the needed time, and also workers in capital construction, an agronomist, a veterinary specialist, a bookkeeper, and other specialists.  

Article 26. Taking the skills of each member of the cooperative into consideration the board organizes work teams in order to maximally increase labor productivity. Work teams are divided into field, animal husbandry, and fishing based on the nature of the production. The main kind of the organization of labor is the permanent work team. The composition of a permanent work team is for a period of no less than two years.

The board assigns a land plot to a field work team by a special act with a production task for it, the necessary farm implements, draft animals, farm buildings, and production equipment.

Links, which bear full responsibility for the draft animals and the safekeeping of the farm implements, are created in a field work team based on the scale of the work and the degree of its mechanization. Productive livestock, barnyard fowl, and the necessary pasture and feed base are assigned to an animal husbandry work team. At the same time it is given a production plan.

The fishing work teams are assigned ships, fishing equipment, and a fishing location.

The team leader manages all the [fish] catching work according to the instructions of the chairman of the cooperative; the link leader manages the work of the link according to the instructions of the team leader. The board of the cooperative can organize and form temporary or seasonal teams to perform special work of a temporary or seasonal nature.

The team leader bears full responsibility for the work of cooperative members being the most productive since he should distribute the work properly, considering the ability of each team member. The team leader does not have the right to permit a manifestation of nepotism or family relations in the distribution of the work.

Article 27. The cooperative should strictly account for the labor on the basis of the principle of payment by quantity and quality. All the work of the agricultural cooperative is based on the principle of a piecework payment system, and the results of the work are determined by the labor-days. The board of the cooperative establishes the rate of output by skill level and labor-day for individual kinds of work, after which it is approved by the general meeting. The accounting of a labor-day is based on this.

1. The team leader daily makes an accurate assessment and account of the quantity and quality of the work of each team member. After the determination of the quantity of the labor-days and how much each team member worked, he writes the result in their labor books. Accounting for a labor-day in those kinds of work where it is impossible to determine the production norm is done depending on the degree of difficulty of the work, the time spent, and the results of the work.

2. The board of the cooperative receives a report from a team leader once every five days about the number of labor-days worked by cooperative members during this period, informs members of the cooperative the number of labor-days they have worked twice a month, entering the labor-days on a record board, and reports the total number of labor-days worked during the year, and two weeks before the annual report.

3. Recordkeeping in labor-days for those kinds of work where it is impossible to establish a production norm is done by the board and the chairman.

Article 28. A pregnant woman and a nursing mother are released from work for a month before birth and for a month afterwards. During this time they are credited with 70% of the average work done during the last year.

Article 29. The board of the cooperative with the approval of the general meeting adds an additional five to 10% to the total amount of labor-days they have worked to members of a team (including the team leader) which has increased labor productivity as a result of the correct organization of labor and good work, has economized resources, and has overfulfilled the production plan. An exception is negligent members of a work team. On the other hand, five to 10% of the total number of labor-days worked by team members during the year by the work team are deducted from a team (including the team leader) which does not fulfill the production plan as a consequence of poor organization of work or poor quality work.

Article 30. Members of a cooperative bear a personal responsibility for their work and a collective responsibility for the work of the team. The general meeting imposes following reprimands in the event the Charter is not observed or there is a careless or irresponsible attitude toward cooperative property, or the guilty parties do not have a conscientious attitude toward the work or violate labor discipline: it gives a warning, a reprimand, a strict reprimand, a deduction of five labor-days, or a correction of the poor-quality work done without payment for it. If these corrective measures do not produce results the cooperative board raises the issue of expulsion before the general meeting.

Article 31. Any theft of cooperative or state property and a harmful attitude toward state agricultural machines is a betrayal of the common cause of the cooperative and aid to the enemies of the people and should be punished by a court according to the law.

Article 32. The board of the cooperative should organize and develop a patriotic competition between cooperative members, links, and teams more broadly.

8. Property and Distribution

Article 33. When joining the cooperative a contribution of 100 won is made, which is not returned.

Article 34. The cooperative excludes [the following] from the overall amount of income from agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, and other subsidiary industries:

1. The amount of payments of deliveries to the state and, first of all, the agricultural tax in kind.

2. Payment for the use of an irrigation system, machine- and horse-rental stations, irrigation structures; payment for seed loans, expenses for fertilizer, forage, and other production expenses.

3. The seed and forage stocks needed for the next year.

4. The management expenses of the cooperative's board and all the remaining payments.

Article 35. Five to 10% of the remaining part of the net income is deducted for the social accumulation fund and 2-3% for the sociocultural fund. The social accumulation fund is used for obtaining working livestock for the cooperative, farm implements, and for capital construction. The sociocultural fund is spent on training personnel, the upkeep of the nurseries, sociocultural and health measures, on helping members of the cooperative who have temporarily or completely lost the ability to work in the cooperative, and aiding the families of servicemen and families of patriots who have died. Distributions are not made from the social accumulation fund and sociocultural fund to those who have been expelled from the cooperative.

Article 36. The remainder of the total income after deductions in accordance with Articles 34 and 35 are distributed in accordance with the labor-days worked by the members of the cooperative.

Article 37. Having developed an annual budget, the board of the cooperative approves it at a general meeting of members of the cooperative. The budget is administered under the direct responsibility of the chairman. Violations of the articles of the budget and overspending are not permitted. The chairman has to get the approval of the general meeting without fail when changing the budget.

Article 38. During the year members of the cooperative can be given a monetary advance of up to 30% of the monetary income of the cooperative member provided for the year if the economic situation of the cooperative permits this. An advance in kind can be given of up to 70% of the production remaining after a deduction to the state and for the cooperative's production expenses. The cooperative's cash should be kept in a bank.

Article 39. The annual report is developed at the end of the economic year by the board of the cooperative and approved by the general meeting of the cooperative.

Supplement

Article 41. A cooperative's Charter enters into force after registration at the district people's committee and is obligatory for all members of the cooperative.

Translated by Rozanov