The author considers the cultural-enlightening and educational activity of the consumer cooperation organizations. Based on a wide range of sources the author shows that its non-trading activities created numerous opportunities for communication, education, guardianship, cultural and leisure activities, charity. It is noted that the cooperators overcame the subsidiary nature of the work in the sphere of culture, developing the initiative. The diversity of forms, their systematic nature and effects of non-tradable activities allows to consider cooperation as an important and the most popular institution of civil society, which was in the process of formation of the Russian Empire in the beginning of XX century.