Artel

This article is about the term for various cooperative associations. For the Bohemian glass company, see Karen Feldman.

Artel (Russian: арте́ль) is a general term for various cooperative associations in Russia and Ukraine, historical and modern.

Historically, artels were semi-formal associations for various enterprises: fishing, mining, commerce, of loaders, loggers, thieves, beggars, etc. Often artels worked far from home and lived as a commune. Payment for job done was distributed according to verbal agreements, quite often in equal shares. Often artels were seasonal.

Gradually formalized types of artels emerged, with internal hierarchy and legal agreements.

In modern Russia there is no legally defined business term "artel" as a type of association; however, some companies use the word "artel" in their name, especially in areas traditionally handled by artels, such as gold mining and fishing.

See also

• Artel of Artists