artel

[ ahr-tel ]

noun

1. (in Russia or the Soviet Union) a peasants' or workers' cooperative; an association of workers or peasants for collective effort.

artel

/ ɑːˈtɛl /

noun

1. (in the former Soviet Union) a cooperative union or organization, esp of producers, such as peasants
2. (in prerevolutionary Russia) a quasi-cooperative association of people engaged in the same activity

Word History and Origins

Origin of artel¹

1880–85; < Russian artél ', perhaps ultimately < a derivative of Turkic ort- middle (compare Turkish ortak partner, ortaklιk association), though identity of suffixed element(s) unclear

Word History and Origins

Origin of artel¹

from Russian artel', from Italian artieri artisans, from arte work, from Latin ars art ¹

Example Sentences

Each artel would become a kolkhoz, or collective farm, where workers owned their means of production, and eventually a sovkhoz, the state farm, with centralized ownership and quotas.

From The New Yorker

The "artel" requires it, and, in case of disobedience, woe to the offender!

From Project Gutenberg

This original form of artel still survives among the fishermen of Archangel.

From Project Gutenberg

When ten or twenty peasants come from some locality to a big town, to work as weavers, carpenters, masons, boat-builders, and so on, they always constitute an artel.

From Project Gutenberg

And, similarly, the younger members of the artel liked well enough to listen to his tales, but declined to take him seriously, and, in some cases, regarded him with ill-concealed, or openly expressed, distrust.

From Project Gutenberg