The aim of the research was to examine the influence of cooperative ideologies on the origin of credit societies in Russia. The emergence of a legal framework for consumer and, later, credit cooperation in Russia came in two ways. The first formal credit union was established in 1831 by Russian military officers banished to Siberia after the December 1825 revolt. Other cooperatives were organized in a Western model by enthusiasts from the wealthy strata. Later, the history of cooperation in consumer credit before the revolution in Russia can be divided into three stages: first, 1831-1860 (before the peasant reform); second, 1861-1904 (after the peasant reform); and third, 1905-1917 (adoption of government regulations on cooperation). To solve the objective set, the authors used the documentary method close to the historical method. It is concluded that analysis of the preconditions of the first cooperative organizations in Russia shows that there were some known forms of primitive cooperation or pre-cooperation over the centuries.