Research work “The origins of the formation and socio-economic essence of the Penza merchants.” Young Research

MAIN TRENDS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF PENZA PROVINCE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th – BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURIES

Fedoseev Roman Vasilievich
National Research Mordovian State University named after. N.P. Ogareva
candidate historical sciences, doctoral student of the Department of Economic History and Information Technologies of the Middle Volga (Saransk) branch of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Russian Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation" Associate Professor of the Department of State Legal Disciplines Mordovian Institute of Humanities, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law

THE MAIN TRENDS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE PENZA PROVINCE IN THE SECOND HALF OF XIX – EARLY XX CENTURIES

Fedoseev Roman Vasilievich
Ogarev National Research Mordovian State University
Ph.D., doctoral student of economic history, and information technology Middle-Volga The Russian Law Academy of the Russian Federation Ministry of Justice associate professor of the department of state and legal disciplines Mordovian Humanitarian Institute, associate Professor of the Theory and History of State and Law

Bibliographic link to the article:
Fedoseev R.V. Main trends in the economic development of the Penza province in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries // Humanitarian scientific research. 2015. No. 7. Part 1 [Electronic resource]..03.2019).

Population of the Penza province in the second half of the 19th century. mainly engaged in soil cultivation, while obtaining fairly good grain yields. This is confirmed by the fact that at the end of the 1860s. 7,200,000 pounds of winter bread, 6,000,000 pounds of oats, 1,000,000 pounds of buckwheat, 7,100,000 pounds of spring bread, 1,750,000 buckets of alcohol were exported from the province annually. However, the insufficient development of communications and their poor condition were the main obstacles to the export of all grain produced, which in turn hampered the development of commercial agriculture.

It is also necessary to say that due to climatic conditions and soil properties in the Penza province, mainly low-value varieties of grain were produced, so the cultivation of spring fields almost did not cover the cost of production. In addition, the province was surrounded on all sides by fertile areas and could not compete with them, since they were closer to the places of sale and had established relationships. That is why in the Penza province, which produced grain in abundance, it was always cheaper than in all neighboring (except for years of crop failure) provinces.

All this led to the fact that in the late 60s. XIX century population of the Penza province, famous fertile soils, had very low income compared to its neighbors, the lands of the province were valued two times lower than those in Tambov and much cheaper than those in Simbirsk. This also had a negative impact on the farms of the nobles, many of whom were forced to give up farming and move into the ranks of officials. And with the further development of communication routes in neighboring grain-producing provinces, the situation could worsen even more.

A rapid breakthrough of Penza goods onto the all-Russian market occurred at the end of the 19th century. and was associated with the construction of railways. So, on October 11, 1874, traffic opened on the Syzran-Vyazemskaya railway, on December 16, 1895 - on the Penza - Ruzaevka section of the Moscow-Kazan railway, in 1896 - on the Penza - Serdobsk section of the Ryazan-Ural railway, this contributed to the restoration and development of economic and trade relations of the province.

Thanks to the constructed railways, the cost of transporting bread to places of sale became cheaper, which made it possible to increase grain prices without losing competitiveness. The noble farmers of the Penza province benefited not only from a general reduction in the cost of transportation, but also from the government's tariff policy, which gave the old Russian landowner center privileges in paying for grain cargo and protected it from the competition of cheap Siberian bread.

After the abolition of serfdom, Russia embarked on the path of capitalist development. This was expressed in the growth of large industry and the adaptation of old industries to new conditions. Despite the remnants of serfdom, which retard the growth of capitalism, the number of factories and factories in European Russia from 1866 to 1890. increased more than twice (from 2.5 to 6 thousand), and the number of workers more than 1.5 times (from 674 to 1180 thousand).

However, in the Penza province during the first twenty-five years after the reform there was not an increase, but a decrease in both the number of factories and factories (from 126 to 70) and the number of workers (from 10,315 to 5,876 people). In the second half of the 19th century. no large factories or factories were created. Dynamically developing enterprises in the woodworking, malting, sawmill, flour-grinding, and distillery industries did not require a large number of workers. A turning point in the development of industry came only in the 1890s, when the all-Russian industrial boom also spread to the Penza province. A feature of the industrial development of the province in the second half of the 19th century. began the gradual adaptation of old, traditional industries to new economic conditions and the formation of new industries on a capitalist basis.

The new period in the agrarian history of Russia most significantly affected the nobility. In the conditions of the rapid development of capitalism in post-reform Russia, and in connection with the implementation of the peasant reform and the liberation of the peasants, the nobility lost most their land ownership, many representatives of the noble class went bankrupt and their farms fell into disrepair. Along with this, there was a redistribution of industrial enterprises, which in turn also passed from them in large numbers into the hands of other social strata.

So, if in 1856 industrial entrepreneurship in the Penza province was of a noble character: out of 105 factories and factories, 95 (95.5%) belonged to nobles and only 10 (4.5%) belonged to merchants. Already in 1902, out of 167 factories and factories, only 46 (27.5%) enterprises were owned by nobles, merchants owned 98 (58.6%), and peasants owned 23 (13.7%).

The industry that emerged during the period of serfdom, based on the labor of serfs, during the 60s - 80s. XIX century was in a state of deep crisis and adaptation to new capitalist relations. The match industry, sawmill, malting and some other branches of production that emerged in the 80s could not cover the reduction in either the number of factories and plants, or the number of workers in the old industry. Only in the 90s. a general increase in industrial production began in the province. By 1893, the number of factories and factories increased again to 117, the number of workers to 6,989, which, however, did not exceed the level of 1865 either in the number of enterprises or in the number of workers.

During the period under review, the main industries of the province were in a state of decline, such as the ironworks of the Krasnoslobodsky and Insarsky districts, which at one time were based on forced labor.

Such a branch of industry of the pre-reform period as sugar production did not develop either. Sugar factories, which were mainly owned by the nobility, could not compete with the advanced sugar industry in other regions of Russia and by the end of the 80s. XIX century were liquidated. The cloth industry of the province also declined sharply. Of the 32 factories operating in 1860, by 1883 only 12 remained, and 7 of them were not working.

At the same time, new capitalist production was successfully developing - iron foundries and mechanical plants, which produced various castings (staircases, monuments, machine parts), repair and assembly of steam engines, agricultural machines and implements (mainly plows), equipment for oil mills, sawmills , distilleries. In 1893, 3 iron foundries employed 160 people, producing up to 20,884 pounds of cast iron worth 40 thousand rubles. .

The development of distillation was especially characteristic of the province. It was the main branch of industrial production, determining the size of such branches of local industry as: glass, flour-grinding, starch-making, mechanical. Almost all distilleries in the province belonged to nobles. After the liquidation of the landowners' monopoly in distilling, the industry was in decline; of the 77 distilleries that existed before the reform, by 1863 only 59 remained; by 1888, the number of operating factories compared to 1863 had already decreased to 49, including 6 in cities and 43 in counties. However, the transition to more profitable production caused a rapid growth of distillation in the province, which continued until 1914, when the number of distilleries reached 98.

A significant role in the development of the factory industry of the province was played by glass factories located in Gorodishchensky and Nizhnelomovsky districts, as well as a crystal plant in the village of Nikolskaya Pestrovka. After 1861, the plant, based on serf forced labor, with low production technology, found itself in a difficult situation. Only in the 70s. The plant was equipped according to new technical requirements, which led to a doubling of the number of products produced. In 1893, 3 glass factories continued to operate in the province with 530 workers, who produced products worth 212 thousand rubles. .

A large industry (on a provincial scale), which arose in post-reform period, there was sawmilling. The construction of railways and the growth of large, especially coal, industries in the country sharply increased the demand, and therefore the prices, for timber. If in 1888 there were 2 factories in the province with 56 workers, then in 1899 there were 15 with 347 workers. This industry also actively developed in the households of nobles.

The match industry, which grew out of small handicraft establishments, grew rapidly. If in 1866 2 factories with 14 workers were registered in the Penza province, then in 1889 there were 17 factories with 769 workers. In 1866, factories produced matches worth 2,000 rubles. In 1889, already by 400,000 rubles. .

The food industry also developed rapidly. The flour-grinding industry acquired the greatest scope. In 1893, 27 flour mills produced 1,457.8 thousand pounds of flour worth 807 thousand rubles, employing 226 workers. In the province there were also 2 malt factories, 2 cheese and butter factories, 2 vodka factories, 2 mead breweries, 2 tobacco factories and 1 starch factory, producing products worth 331 thousand rubles. .

The disruption of old and the development of new industries caused significant changes in its placement on the territory of the Penza province. For example, the bulk of industry - a third of the factories and more than half of the workers - is concentrated in Gorodishchensky district. Much of the cloth, glass, sawmill and distillery industries were located here. Almost the entire match industry of the province was concentrated in Nizhnelomovsky district, where 85% of the workers in this industry were employed in 7 factories.

By 1905, almost all privately owned land was the personal property of 4,726 owners, 62.3% of it belonged to nobles, 11% to merchants. There were 1,250 noble estates, 215 merchant estates. The largest group, accounting for almost half of all owners, were peasants. But their share accounted for less than 10% of privately owned land - 118.1 thousand dessiatines. The rest of the land is 51.3 thousand dessiatines. was owned by other classes, mainly by small urban property owners.

And although during the second half of the 19th century V. as a result of mobilization processes in the environment of private land ownership of the Penza province, the nobility lost almost half of their holdings (their land ownership from 1862 to 1905 decreased by 39.5%, which in absolute terms is 441,213 dessiatines from 1,228,297 dessiatines to 787,084 des.) this class continued to remain the main owner of land in the province. With the exception of Krasnoslobodsky and Narovchatsky, large noble landownership prevailed in all districts. Its main concentration was in four districts: Gorodishchensky, Chembarsky, Penza and Mokshansky.

The miserable situation of peasant farms and the insufficient development of industry caused a huge agrarian overpopulation of the countryside. In search of work, an increasing number of peasants went to agricultural work, as well as to work in the construction of railways, oil fields, in the cities and industrial centers of Russia. All this provided cheap labor for the development of noble households.

IN During the post-reform period, the economy of the province saw a gradual change from the remnants of serfdom to more modern capitalist ones. After 1861, the industry of the province developed not only as a noble industry, but also as a merchant industry, and partly as a peasant one.

The liquidation of serfdom was accompanied by the transfer of most of the noble industry into the hands of other segments of the population and its redistribution within the class itself. In agriculture, part of the noble farmers switched to capitalist methods of farming, using hired workers, on the other hand, many small and medium-sized nobles, on the contrary, continued to run their farms using the old “old-fashioned” methods, in some places reducing or completely stopping production on their estates.

Thus, in the Penza province, along with capitalist methods of farming among the nobility, remnants of serfdom were preserved in large quantities. The dominance of semi-serfdom was main reason delaying its economic development.

But, despite the decline in industrial production in the 60s - 80s of the 19th century, the problems of road construction and the crisis of noble and peasant households already at the end of the 19th century. The gradual economic recovery of the province becomes noticeable. The number of enterprises is increasing, and agricultural production is gradually increasing.

Thus, the development of capitalism was extremely uneven. Along with highly developed industrial areas, there were backward agrarian regions with poorly developed large-scale industry and a predominance of small-scale production . Industrial capitalism developed most rapidly where there were little or no remnants of the old serf relations, and vice versa. This was one of the main reasons for the delay in industrial development of the agricultural center of Russia, and as part of this center - the Penza province.

Various aspects of the history of the Sursky region are of interest to young researchers whose “roots” are connected with the Penza region. In the newsletter of the Penza State local history museum- “Museum Bulletin” No. 1 (66) of this year published the article “Women’s entrepreneurship in the Penza province in the 18th - 19th centuries” by a 3rd year student at the Faculty of History of St. Petersburg state university Elena Vladimirovna Voskresenskaya, whom we invite our subscribers to meet.

Women's entrepreneurship in the Penza province inXVIII - XIXcenturies

Penza, built in the 17th century as a defensive fortress, by the following centuries turned into a developed economic center in central Russia and was actively involved in the trade relations of the country's cities. Industry and trade developed in the region, involving ever wider social strata of society in this sphere. Thus, an important subject of entrepreneurship in the Penza region was the phenomenon of women’s entrepreneurship, widespread in Russia since the 17th century.

In the era under review, Russian women, unlike the representatives of the fairer sex of the majority European countries, had equal rights with men to own property and engage in commercial activities. This right is legally secured by the statute on direct taxes of the Russian Code of Laws. Women were allowed to freely receive merchant and trade certificates. A woman's inheritance rights also contributed to her participation in entrepreneurial activity, since it was often the death of a spouse or father that encouraged women to do so.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, women made up half of the population of the Penza province. They took part in social life cities: in organized balls, gubernatorial receptions, performances, exhibitions and other events cultural life city, following the latest fashion trends in the capital. Prince I.M. Dolgorukov described it this way in his memoirs: sorority Penza: “The company of the ladies was quite pleasant, some were sharp, kind and very clever. The girls all knew how to dance, dress up, and showed off with taste.”

Entrepreneurial activities in the region were carried out by women of different classes - from noble noblewomen to bourgeois women.

Penza noblewomen sometimes owned and managed not one, but several large enterprises, most often in light industry. Under women's leadership, the cloth industry developed widely: most of the large cloth factories, which annually produced large quantities of cloth, were owned by noble women of Penza in the 18th and 19th centuries. Particularly noteworthy is the activity of the secret adviser Alexandra Yakovlevna Lubyanskaya, whose factory in Golitsyn, Narovchatsky district, according to the report of the Penza Provincial Gazette in 1836, produced 145,000 arshins of processed material.

Glass and beet production confidently developed under female leadership. In 1795, the wife of Penza prosecutor A.M. Beketova built a glass factory in the village of Bogolyubovka, Gorodishchensky district, which produced up to 14,000 units of tableware (damasks, half-damasks, bottles).

In the 19th century, an example of noble entrepreneurship was the diversified, highly profitable Zemetchinsky estate, whose owner O.P. Dolgorukova, using new technologies, managed to achieve the largest indicators in the production of sugar beets. The estate also operated a bone grinding and glue plant, two large mills, a mechanical workshop, a meteorological station, its own railway line, a hospital and a school for the children of workers.

The Nikolsky glass factory, famous throughout Russia, was owned by the widow A.N. until 1884. Bakhmetyev, Countess Anna Petrovna, née Tolstoy (1804-1884).

However, in addition to noblewomen, the bulk of the Penza entrepreneurial class were merchant women and bourgeois women. Women of the merchant class were engaged in entrepreneurship on an equal basis with men. This is told to us by statistical data on the number of merchants in the Penza province and the size of merchant capital, published in the newspaper “Penza Provincial Gazette” for 1838 and 1854. Most of the women merchants in our region belonged to the 2nd and 3rd guilds.

The most common industries in female half Penza merchants and philistines were: light, food, flour-grinding and foundry production. Women of these social classes owned breweries, tanneries, iron smelters, and sawmills.

In the 19th century, most of these not very large enterprises operated for a short time. Among them we can highlight: the brewery of the bourgeois Maria Nikolaevna Tatarinova (mentioned from 1813 to 1826), the vodka factory of the merchant Lyubov Sergeevna Marsheva (1870-1875), the tannery of the bourgeois Daria Sukhanova (mentioned from 1816), the tannery of the 3rd merchant's wife guild of Fedosya Denisyevna Kadomtseva (mentioned since 1845), since 1856 we find mention of the tannery of merchant Alexandra Grigorievna Kalashnikova and Saratov merchant of the 1st guild Pelageya Gutkova.

In the Penza province there were also iron smelting factories owned by women. In 1835, an iron smelting plant was founded by bourgeois Alexandra Nikolaevna Otrakovskaya, but in 1848 it was leased by a foreigner. The plant produced threshing machines, equipment for factories, factories, and utensils.

Women of Penza were engaged not only in industrial production. They also engaged in trade, mainly in the second half of the 19th century. So, during this period, merchant Anfisa Ilyinichna Lycheva opened a crockery store, haberdashery goods were sold in N.N.’s stores. Maslova, A.S. Bartemeva.

Women also owned hotels and inns. For example, in the late 1870s, bourgeois Olga Mikheeva Bobyleva opened a hotel in her house, Vera Vasilievna Lisova set up furnished rooms and an inn, not far from which A.I.’s “Commercial Rooms” were also located. Belyaeva.

Some women also took part in the development of banking in Penza. Maria Egorovna Bazderova, the sister of the merchant of the 1st guild and owner of the banking office Fyodor Egorovich Shvetsov, after the death of her brother, continued stock exchange transactions with securities. Bazderova herself was a merchant who traded in colonial goods.

Thus, in the XVIII-XIX centuries. women of the Penza region contributed to the development and establishment of entrepreneurship and the economy of the province.

List of sources and literature used

Sources:

1. Address - calendar and memorial book of the Penza province. Penza, 1884.

2. Dolgorukov I.A. The story of my birth, origin and whole life. St. Petersburg, 2004, T.1

3. Memorial book of the Penza province. Penza region of the 17th century. - 1917: Documents and materials. Saratov, 1980.

4. Penza Provincial Gazette (No. 1 of January 7, 1838. No. of February 25, 1838, No. 4 of February 1, 1854.

CHAPTER 1. ORIGINS OF FORMATION OF THE PENZA MERCHANTS.

The beginning and origins of the Penza merchants are due to the construction in 1663 of the Penza fortress, which, as an outpost of the southeastern borders of the Moscow state, was located at the intersection of important trade routes, connecting different regions of the country.

Socially, the urban environment of that time was a combination of military settlements and suburbs. The posad was located northeast of the fortress, immediately outside its walls. In the first years of its existence, the posad consisted of 38 courtyards, in which 73 people lived. The townsfolk population, not endowed with land and hayfields, was forced to engage in crafts or small trade. It was formed at the expense of exiles for theft and money matters.

Since ancient times, merchants and artisans were united into one townsman class. Along with others who made up the posad estate, merchants paid various monetary taxes (taxes), therefore all such class was called taxable. Unlike the nobles, merchants did not “collect” and did not store the stones of their family trees for history, which is why it is so difficult to create a single chain of merchant genealogy .

The founders of the Penza merchant dynasties were: Vasily Afanasyevich Kuznetsov - a translator from Moscow, equestrian Cossack Lyubim Mikhailovich Ponomarev, Krasnoslobodsky translator Timofey Ivanovich Kalashnikov, Nizhny Lomov translators Elistrat Kuzmin and Fedor Ankudinov with their sons Ivan and Andrey and others.

Merchants in the Penza region for a long time there were few. This is evidenced by the “Brief Statement on the Penza Merchants” compiled in 1764 by the government commission - the earliest document among the known detailed sources about economic activities Penza residents in the past. By the time of his appearance, the Posad people of Penza consisted of 492 merchants and 86 guilds (registration was carried out in male souls, most likely, according to Posad tax lists). There are 27 persons engaged in trade in the statement. Of these, 9 regularly carried out their operations “within Russia”; one merchant even constantly traveled to the “ports” (apparently, to St. Petersburg and Astrakhan).

The scope of activity of the rest was limited mainly to Penza and its surroundings. More than 20 people from the Penza merchant class at that time worked in “state-owned factories”, more than 150 were in state-owned services “at the wine and salt sales”, many of them far from hometown. This very responsible and burdensome duty of the townspeople kept many people away from their own affairs for a long time. This largely explains the relatively small number of traders noted in the list.

In 1721, the townsfolk population was divided into 2 guilds: the first included large moneylenders, merchants, doctors and pharmacists, and various craftsmen; the second - small traders and artisans. This marked the beginning of the separation of merchants from the posad class into a relatively independent corporation. However, this corporation was not integral: depending on the amount of property and the amount of capital, merchants were divided into first-class and third-class.

Urban residents included those who owned real estate in the city. Each such owner was entered into the city philistine book, which consisted of six parts.

The first part included the names of true, indigenous citizens, without distinction of origin, rank, or occupation, who owned real estate.

The second part includes those who have signed up for one of the three guilds. Anyone who declared capital was allowed to register, regardless of origin and rank.

The third part includes guild workers: masters and apprentices, students of various crafts.

The fourth part includes out-of-town and foreign guests who arrived in the city for crafts, trade, or some kind of work.

The fifth part includes eminent citizens who served in city positions by election; capitalists with a declared capital of 50 thousand or more, engaged in wholesale trade.

The sixth part includes the townspeople, that is, old-timers who were engaged in crafts, handicrafts and other works.

Thus, the old, relatively closed system was destroyed, which distinguished among the inhabitants of the settlement a commercial and industrial elite - “guests” and members of the “living room and cloth hundreds” - and new classes were introduced, formed taking into account their real financial situation purely for fiscal purposes. Since 1723, for registration in the “trading class” of peasants and commoners, a qualification of 500 rubles was established. By decree of February 13, 1747, peasants of the palace, bishops, monasteries and landowners, engaged in trade and crafts and having from 300 to 500 rubles of capital, could become merchants, but from January 1762, entry into the “merchant class” of these categories of peasants was prohibited without the specified vacation and dismissal letters from the authorities and landowners.

In their final form, the principles of class division of the urban population were defined by the manifesto of March 17, 1775 and existed without radical changes until 1917. As this legislative act stated, “all those philistines who do not have a capital of more than 500 rubles should no longer be called merchants, but rename them philistines; merchants who had capital over 500 rubles and became bankrupt should also be included in the philistines; Some of the burghers will sell themselves in small trades and multiply their capital to over 500 rubles, and those will be included in the merchant class.” Thus, when allocating new social groups a property qualification is used - rich townspeople had to be assigned to the merchant class, less wealthy – to the philistinism and artisans.

Highlighting the elite within the city society - the merchants, the Manifesto of 1775 divided it into 3 guilds, membership of which was determined by the amount of “declared capital according to conscience”.

The first guild was the smallest. To enter this guild, it was necessary to declare a capital of 10 thousand rubles and above, and pay a tax of 1% on the declared capital. Merchants of the first guild were allowed to conduct foreign trade and have industrial production. There were few extremely rich merchants who were part of the first guild in our region. Archival documents from the 70sXVIIIV. brought to us the names of the merchants of the first guild: Philip Petrovich Alferov (1760-1823), Ivan Yakovlevich Dyachkov (1745-1812), Ilya Timofeevich Babynin (1756-1830), Grigory Dmitrievich Ivanisov (1762-1812), Ivan Ivanovich Ochkin (1743- 1821) and others. (Annex 1)

Merchants of the first guild were given the right to come to the imperial court, wear a sword or saber and a provincial uniform. Merchants, as well as those who graduated from commercial schools with a candidate's degree, could be awarded the title of commerce advisors and manufacturing advisors. Throughout the history of the Penza merchants, this title was held by Ivan Fedorovich Pamfilov (1849-1908) - a hereditary honorary citizen, Nizhnelomov merchant and mayor, a graduate of the Moscow Commercial School; Ivan Alekseevich Kononov is a Penza merchant of the second guild, the owner of drinking establishments in Lunino and Bolotnikov, Mokshansky district, the owner of a brewery and a hereditary honorary citizen. Merchants who were members of the first guild for 12 years and were never declared insolvent or bankrupt could appoint their children to the public service and boarders in educational establishments Russia.

INXIX- XXcenturies the first merchant guild consistently included large Penza entrepreneurs: Vasily Mikhailovich Bryushkov (1802-1849) - owner of drinking houses; Ivan Efimovich Groshev (1843-1898) – owner of shops selling colonial and gastronomic goods; Arkady Yakovlevich Zhuravlev (1810-1883) – owner of trading companies in Borisoglebsk, Rostov-on-Don, London; Nikolai Stepanovich Kazeev (1849-1908) - owner of cloth factories; Ivan Andreevich Karpov (1852-1910) – a large timber merchant and trader; Ivan Minovich Lobanov (1840-1897) – owner of an iron foundry; Fedor Ivanovich Finogeev (1808-1874) and others. (Appendix 2.3)

The second merchant guild included merchants who declared capital from 1 to 10 thousand rubles. They were given the right to free trade, but were not allowed to have industrial enterprises or trade on ships.

The most numerous was the third guild, membership in which was allowed upon declaration of capital from 500 to 1000 rubles. Merchants of the third guild were allowed petty trade, maintaining drinking establishments and baths. The third guild included the merchant families of the Ankudinovs, Finogeevs, Bochkarevs, Tagantsevs, Serebryakovs, Pokholkovs, Kalashnikovs, Kuznetsovs and others.

Merchants of all three guilds were exempt from the poll tax (instead of which they paid a trade tax), natural conscription, and the first and second from corporal punishment. Belonging to the first two guilds increased the socio-economic status of merchants - they had the right to domestic and wholesale retail trade, the establishment of plants and factories, and were exempt from government services.

The guild never had a closed caste character, and when capital changed in one direction or another, merchants could move freely from one guild to another. A characteristic feature of the merchant class was that membership in the class was not only not hereditary, but not even lifelong. It was formalized annually by paying the so-called guild fee, which amounted to about 1% of the declared capital. The deterioration of the economic situation and the impossibility of paying guild fees forced entrepreneurs to leave the merchant class and join the philistinism. And this entailed conscription, capitation wages and corporal punishment. Thus, in 1821, the merchant of the third guild, Ivan Andreevich Abarkov, was included in the bourgeois society; in 1836, the dynastic merchant of the third guild Ivan Andreevich Babynin (1789-1838), together with his sons Alexander, Alexei and Ivan, moved to the petty bourgeois class; Andrei Leontyevich Potekhin, a cattle trader, and his brother Ilya were included in the Penza philistinism in 1848, and their father Leonty Petrovich - in 1832.

Another distinctive feature The Russian merchant class was that this class was characterized by complete openness to the admission of new members, the admission procedure was simplified to the limit - the only necessary prerequisite was the payment of a tax (“guild fee”). The sources of replenishment of the merchant class were representatives of the urban settlement (in the capitals - also “newcomers”, “out-of-town” merchants), and mainly - peasant businessmen.

Nutrient medium The Penza merchants were rich government-owned and freed peasants, single-yard peasants. But most often the merchant class was replenished by philistines, who, as a rule, began with modest petty or peddling trade. The capital for the purchase of a guild certificate sometimes accumulated for years. The burghers are the tax-paying urban population, consisting of small homeowners, traders, and artisans. The petty bourgeois title was inherited. Many townsfolk joined the guild merchants: Andrei Petrovich Babynin (1736-1818), Ivan Semenovich Gvozdev (1780-1836). Moksha tradesman Osip Fedorovich Barsukov (1729-1809), having engaged in the grain trade, was almost two centuries ahead of the main family trait of his descendants, becoming the founder of a merchant dynasty famous in Russia. His son Alexander Osipovich Barsukov (1800-1863) was elected merchant elder of Penza and honorary foreman of Alexandria orphanage. Grandson Pavel Aleksandrovich (1830-1889) created a family store on Moskovskaya Street, impressive in terms of turnover and product range. (Appendix 4) Brothers Andrei, Mikhail and Fedor Mikhailovich Efremov in 1840 were assigned to the Penza merchants “from the state-owned peasants of the village. Ternivka,” that is, peasants who lived on state-owned lands and performed duties in favor of the state.

Among the Penza merchants at the beginningXIXcentury, several foreigners appeared. French subject Maria Chopin received Russian citizenship and a merchant certificate of the third guild; Prussian Reinhold Samoilovich Oliger. The founder of the powerful commercial and industrial dynasty of the Kulakhmetyevs, Khantemir Bakhteevich (1793-1854), came to Penza from Kuznetsk in 1843 and organized the trade in candles and soap.

The dynamics of the merchant class within the Penza administrative-territorial structure are presented in the table :

Years

1724

1763

1795

1809

1877

1885

1895

Number

merchants

384

502

589

593

2635

2941

3015

As we can see, the number of merchants increased almost 8 times from 1724 to 1895.

CHAPTER 2. MERCHANTS OF PENZA PROVINCE IN THE POST-REFORM PERIOD.

The abolition of serfdom and subsequent reforms served as a strong impetus for the development of domestic entrepreneurship. In 1863, a new “Regulation on duties for the right of trade and crafts” was approved, which declared complete freedom to engage in entrepreneurial activity Class affiliation now began to depend solely on the scale of entrepreneurship - all owners of large enterprises who paid the appropriate tax automatically became merchants, small businessmen remained in the same class.

According to the laws adopted in 1863, the first guild included owners of first-class trading establishments (wholesale trade), industrial establishments of 1-3 categories, or shipping enterprises, for the maintenance of which more than 500 rubles of basic and trade tax were paid; in the second category - respectively, the owners of trading establishments of the second category (large retail trade), industrial establishments - 4-5 categories or steamship establishments, for which from 50 to 500 rubles of tax were paid. The third guild “in order to strengthen the merchant class” was cancelled.

Each certificate gave the right to maintain an unlimited number of commercial and industrial enterprises, but with the obligatory purchase of a special ticket for each enterprise (for shops, benches, barns, factories).

The dynamics of issuing merchant certificates after the adoption of the new “Regulations...” is characterized by the following data :

Guilds

1870

1872

1875

1878

1880

1882

1887

1888

1890

1

2

603

677

642

703

864

813

924

877

940

Guilds

1893

1895

1897

1907

1908

1909

1911

1912

1914

1

2

914

907

1023

160

190

163

141

127

116

Analyzing the table, we see that from 1893 a sharp drop in the number of merchants of the second guild began. This is due to the adoption of the “City Regulations” in 1892, which destroyed the mandatory connection between entrepreneurial activity and registration in the merchant guild.

The rights of the merchant class were also granted to family members of the person who took the certificate. The wife was included in the husband's guild certificate, but the husband could not be included in the certificate issued in the name of the wife. Their sons, unmarried daughters, and grandchildren can be included in the certificate of the father and mother. In the event of the death of the head of the family, brothers and nephews were included in the certificate.

The law declared that the first guild merchants “constitute a special class of honorable people in the state.” Merchants who stayed in the first guild for 10 years, and in the second guild for 20 years, or upon receiving an order, had the right to receive the highest urban class title of hereditary honorary citizen. This title was awarded to: Penza merchant of the second guild and member of the city duma Dmitry Ivanovich Meshcheryakov (1832-1906), who traded in leather goods; Nikolai Timofeevich Evstifeev (1848-1913) - a major grain merchant, public and cultural figure, mayor of Penza for five terms, memberIIIState Duma; Stepan Lavrentievich Tyurin (1845-?) – timber merchant, church benefactor, holder of the Order of Anna of the third degree and others.

On the edgeXIX- XXcenturies The merchants of Penza and district towns were represented by the owners of trading establishments of various profiles - shops, shops, food warehouses, household items, sawmills, wholesale and retail, as well as “drinking establishments, taverns, restaurants, hotels, factories, factories and land, valuable papers." Famous merchants Kuznetsov, Barsukov, Budylin owned a number of stores in Penza selling food and household items, and the Alekseevs, Solnyshkins, Finogeevs, Shamaevs, and Prytkovs owned bookstores and shops.

One of the factors for the revival of trade was the construction of a railway in the Penza province in the second halfXIX- beginningXXcenturies According to the 1897 census, the number of merchants in the province numbered 2,200 people. They were also involved in industrial production. Thus, P.V. Sergeev owned a paper factory in Penza, the merchant S.P. Kamendrovsky and his descendants owned a match factory in Verkhny Lomov.

In post-reform times, entrepreneurs appeared who were not assigned to merchant class societies, although they had all the formal grounds for this. Firstly, hundreds of representatives of commercial and industrial families, as a result of the business activities of their founders, received the prestigious titles of hereditary honorary citizens, which meant belonging to the highest urban class, was inherited and gave the right to the general civil title “Your Nobility”. Many managed to reach the very top of hierarchical society and achieve the title of nobility. These are the Gubonins, Konshins, Perlovs, Sapozhnikovs and many others. The second group consisted of those entrepreneurs who took their first steps and did not have time to break with their class societies. They received the status of a “temporarily assigned merchant” or purchased semi-annual certificates. The third group of industrialists and traders from among the peasants demonstratively advertised their peasant origins. As V. Ryabushinsky noted, in Moscow “they said about some that they were very proud of their peasantry, and on principle did not leave it” and wrote: a peasant of such and such a village or village, such and such, temporarily a merchant of the first Moscow guild.”

CONCLUSION.

As a result of the research, I traced the evolution of the Penza merchants and came to the following conclusions.

The merchant class was formed primarily from among wealthy, freed peasants, single-yard peasants, and burghers.

The merchants act in two categories: some were exclusively engaged in trading activities (Finogeevs, Budylins, Falins), while others were focused on industrial production (Evstifeevs, Markanovs, Karpovs, Pankovs, Sergeevs). The abolition of serfdom and subsequent reforms served as a strong impetus for the development of entrepreneurship and growth in the number of merchants. According to archival data, the number of merchants increased from 1,398 people in 1865 to 4,154 people in 1888. This was facilitated by the adoption of the “Regulations on duties for the right of trade and crafts” in 1863, according to which everyone could join the merchant class by acquiring guild certificates subject to payment of a special amount.

With the introduction of the “City Regulations of 1870” In the social composition of city dumas, elected positions of members of the city government and city heads, the merchants occupied leading positions (in the Penza province - 65-70%, in the country - 44.7%).

The fishing tax reform of 1898 separated the acquisition of estate merchant rights from the purchase of fishing certificates, and guild membership became a matter of conscious choice. According to archival materials, we can observe a decrease in the number of issuance of trade certificates. If in 1887 there were 16,411 issued, then in 1895 - 14,471. The number of merchants is also decreasing: if in 1888 there were 4,154 people, then in 1897 - 1,898 people. Thus, the reforms carried out dealt a blow according to the class system, although the “attribute of the feudal system” was not completely eliminated until 1917.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST.

1. Materials State Archive Penza region (GAPO).

1.1. GAPO. – F.5. Office of the Penza Governor. – Op.1. – D.491, 5222, 6382, 6688.

1.2. GAPO. – F.9. Penza provincial statistical committee. – Op.1. – D.144, 182.

1.3. GAPO – F.109. Penza city government. – Op.1. – D.22, 93a, 144, 153, 181, 491.

2. Periodicals.

2.1. Morozov S. History of the Penza estates: merchants // Penza news. – 1996. – November 5.

2.2. Muromsky V. The Barsukov Dynasty: from silk trade to atomic physics // Our Penza. – 1999. – August 20.

2.3. Tyustin A. Karpov//Penza News. – 1993. - No. 82-83.

3. Literature.

3.1. Aksenov A.I. Genealogy of the Moscow merchantsXVIIIV. – M., 1988.

3.2. Bokhanov A.N. Business elite of Russia. 1914. – M., 1994.

3.3. Bokhanov A.N. Russian merchants at the endXIX– beginningXXcentury//History of the USSR. – 1985. - No. 4.

3.4. Elpatievsky A.V. Legislative sources on the history of documenting class affiliation in Tsarist Russia (

In the 1860-1870s.In Russia, a system of reforms was carried out, the main of which is the peasant reform, since it abolished serfdom.1861created political and legal conditions for the development of capitalism in Russia. Only in agriculture were entrepreneurial initiatives limited to the community, which lamentedS. Yu. Witte :

“Woe to that country which... implanted various kinds of collective ownership.”

The sphere of entrepreneurship included officials, military personnel, and engineers who carried out more competent management of their affairs. Technological engineers, honorary hereditary citizensEduard Ivanovich And Friedrich Ivanovich Gerke in in 1865 in the south-eastern Zasurye of Penza, a refinery sugar factory was founded, wherein 1872was produced50,000 poundsSahara "head» . The factory was busy90 workers And 2 masters. In 1875the plant was bought by a hereditary honorary citizenAlexey Petrovich Sergeev . In 1879A fire occurred at the enterprise, which occupied a four-story stone building, as a result of which sugar prices in Penza increased and hundreds of workers lost their jobs. The plant was built in 6 months andin November 1879Both cars were restarted.Annual outputof the revived plant exceeded340,000 rub.

Penza pharmacistKonstantin Egorovich Bartmer (1848-1900) opened the production of artificial mineral waters, fruit and berry essences, which in 1890 at the exhibitionSocieties Agriculture southeastern Russia marked big silver medal.

In 1914insurance company agent "St. Petersburg" , engineerKarl Karlovich Tsege built on Peski the first in the Penza province steam sand lime brick plant (acted until 1928). In 1916the plant was taken overKarl Ivanovich Orave .

The court councilor was engaged in businessIvan Vasilievich Sivokhin (1832-30.10.1915), managersince 1864printing house Penza Chamber of State Property. In 1880he purchased a printing press, which he placed in his own home on Nikolskaya street, Ain 1914converted it to stone two-storey house N. E. Popova on Moskovskaya street. The printing house of I.V. Sivokhin printed document forms, brochures, posters, and menus for Penza restaurants.

In 1865 Penza official, collegiate assessor Semyon Petrovich Popov opened vodka distillery. In 1868 the captain followed his example Olga Andreevna Rakovskaya. In 1870 The ranks of vodka entrepreneurs were joined by the wife of the staff captain Elizaveta Andreevna Andryushkova. In 1872 two at once provincial secretaries - Vladimir Anatolyevich Muravyov And Nikolai Alekseevich Uskov- vodka factories are opened in Penza. Each of them started their own business using connections with higher-class officials, state patronage, or inherited capital. V. A. Muravyov created the vodka distillery partly with the money of his father, a Moksha merchant Anatoly Ivanovich Muravyov. K. K. Tsege also used the capital of his father, an insurance agent Karl Bogdanovich Tsege. The transition of some officials to entrepreneurship allowed them to maintain contact with the authorities and maintain contact in order to receive a profitable order.

The importance of small business was well understood in the government. So the Chairman of the Council of Ministers V. N. Kokovtse in said:

“The time has come to admit that even in small, often very modest-sized enterprises, seemingly pursuing only personal benefits, a great, powerful Russia is created, and the figures of the commercial and industrial world, leading Russia to wealth and glory, deserve that Russian society knew their names."

Small business was represented by artisans united in workshops. According to the established rules co second half of the 19th century , a craftsman who did not have the title of master and was not registered in the workshop, not

had the right to open a craft establishment, employ workers and have a sign. With the construction of railways through the Penza province, active intervention of cheap industrial goods into the Sursky region began. This led to a sharp reduction in craft establishments:in 1865 there were them2 800 , in 1887 - 5 300 . 1911turned out to be on the level1865In the official document1901 noted:

“The local artisans are not able to compete with industrial centers, and the needs of the townspeople for shoes, cheap clothes, furniture, etc. are satisfied mainly with products delivered from the capitals, Warsaw and other centers.”

Thus, the contradiction between entrepreneurs of different levels - artisans as carriers of the ideology of small business and guild merchants who filled the Penza market with factory-produced goods - intensified in the post-reform period.

Penza artisans have always been famous for the high quality of their products. WriterM. N. Zagoskin wrote knowledgeably about the famous Penza crews:

"Crews homework strong, impressive, durable and passing along a direct hereditary line from father to son; were even superior to those on which Muscovites went for a walk to Maryina Roshcha.”

In the 1860s.in Penza they were engaged in carriage production11 masters, A by 1887 their number has increased before 23 . The best crew company has been openedin the 1860son Lekarskaya street local artisansDmitry Vasilievich Strygin (1822-1894). The experienced carriage workers he hired made two- and three-seater carts with a covered body on springs. Strygin carts were used primarily for urban transportation, which in the 1860s it was busy 137 people, in 1888 - 420 , A at the beginning of the 20th century - 500 . Continued his father's businessAlexander Dmitrievich Strygin , elected craftsman head of Penza and who also owned a steam typo-lithography and a bookbinding establishment.In 1912Dmitry Alexandrovich Kazantsev opened a carriage house where they worked 32 people. V. A. Gilyarovsky in the book "My wanderings" gives a description of the Penza crew called "convenience" , that was

“like a driver’s carriage without springs, with a longitudinal beam separating the legs of one passenger from another” .

Penza artisans also tried themselves in the arts: jewelry and painting. Contemporaries noted that

“There is even a workshop for plaster figures in Penza. They are prepared by a poor Italian who has settled here. You can always find cleanly sculpted statues and figurines, busts of Schiller, Goethe, Mozart.”

Penza pretzel makers, gingerbread makers, and bread bakers have achieved great art. In the newspapers one could read the following review of their skill:

“White bread that goes on sale has all the good qualities: white, fluffy, light and clean.”

79-81

Balashovand others who have gained fame and recognition in the business world of the Penza province.

After the abolition of serfdom, the entrepreneurial potential of village residents increased:in 1863 discharge canceled "trading peasants" . Ivan Ivanovich Semakin started in Bannikov's house on Moskovskaya street Penza cap and cap trade,Alexander Grigorievich Akaemov in Umnov's house on Moskovskaya street- shoe shop,Alexander Alexandrovich Lazutkin in Paramonov's house on Moskovskaya street- trade in gold and silver,Vasily Mikhailovich Kuznetsov in Myasnikov's house on Predtechenskaya street Penza - hardware store,Yakov Emelyanovich Zhuravlev in the Burbach house on Moskovskaya street- ready-made shoe store,Vladimir Petrovich Myakishev sold fish, mushrooms and citrus fruits in the fish row of the Penza bazaar,Egor Dmitrievich Osin traded in the meat building of the Penza bazaar, andVasily Ivanovich Zhuravlev sold meat for about Red Bridge . Vladimir Alekseevich Nalekhanov in 1897 brought into With. Nizhny Shkaft of Gorodishche district wood pulp factory with 12 workplaces; in Bessonovka, Penza district Vasily Akimovich Bakhmetev And Egor Andreevich Burmikhin built 2 starch factories for 13 and 12 jobs, respectively.

Another starch plant with 12 jobs was set up in BessonovkaFedor Petrovich Kareev in 1887. ; his brother, Vasily Petrovi h, built in 1896starch and syrup plant with 22 jobs.Andrey Parfenovich Volgin founded in the village Kamenka Nizhnelomovsky district flour mill and grist mill with 16 workplaces.Andrey Yakovlevich Zaburdaev in 1898opened in the village of Sytinka, Mokshansky district potash plant with 5 jobs,Ivan Gavrilovich Sheikin in the Pushkarskaya settlement of Verkhny Lomovin 1894 founded a match factory with 90 jobs,Vasily Fedorovich Shiroko Vowned a match factory with 58 jobs in Troitsk, Krasnoslobodsky district, Fyodor Ivanovich Zolkin in 1890 . opened a hemp-scrapping enterprise with 100 jobs in the village Zmievka Nizhnelomovsky district; Nikita Yakovlevich Kulagin in 1884 founded in Nizhny Shkaft cardboard plant with 10 jobs.

At the beginning of the 20th century.Peasants from the village received certificates for the right to trade books and paintings. Suitcase of Gorodishche district Dmitry Kuzmich Mishonkov And Ivan Efimovich Potyavin; in the village Seliksa Gorodishchensky district - Mikhail Sergeevich Danchin; in the village Orlovka, Narovchatsky district - Konstantin Andreevich Kalinin; in the village Belyn, Nizhnelomovsky district - Sergey Petrovich Yurov; in the village Sheremetyevo, Chembar district - Nikolai Vasilievich Privalov; in the village Kerenka, Mokshansky district - Mikhail Alekseevich Kuznetsov And Mikhail Timofeevich Gorshkov; in the village Olshanka, Kerensky district - Ivan Efimovich Shishkin and others.

Elizaveta Ivanovna
Eliseeva (1881-1935) -
tradeswoman

The above facts give an idea of ​​the commercial entrepreneurship of the peasants who moved to the city. Merchants emerged from the trading peasants Ivan Efimovich Groshev, Vasily Ivanovich Alipov, Ivan Nikolaevich Ashanin, Ivan Yakovlevich Epifanov, , Dmitry Semenovich Lobanov and many others. Peasants participated with their capital in the creation of trading houses - "Trading house - grocery store S. I. Shestoperov in Penza" , "Commercial partnership" , "Trading house I. M. Petrushkov and sons" etc.

Capitalist transformations second half of the 19th century The merchants were also affected. In 1863 the third guild was liquidated, the first guild included merchants engaged in wholesale trade, the second - retail trade and factory entrepreneurship. In 1878 issued 21 certificates of the 1st guild And 729 - 2nd, in 1881 1st Guild - 15 , 2nd guild - 875 , in 1890 1st Guild - 8 , 2nd guild - 940 . The first guild in the post-reform period included Grigory Egorovich Varentsov, who traded in colonial and gastronomic goods, Nikolay Stepa-

Timofey Grigorievich
Eliseev (1880-1933) -
Penza trading
tradesman

newbie And Alexander Stepanovich Kazeevs, Alexander Vasilievich Aseev, Alexander Ivanovich Rabotkin, Petr Vasilievich Sergeev, Ivan Andreevich Karpov- manufacturers, Ivan Stepanovich Antushin, Petr Fedorovich And Fedor Dmitrievich Kuznetsov, Alexander Fedorovich, Alexey Fedorovich, Ivan Fedorovich Finogeevs. Any entrepreneurial activity without acquiring a certificate was prohibited.

In 1869 the number of merchants in the Penza province was 2,825 people (1 321 men and 1 504 women), in 1877 - 2 635 , in 1885 - 2 941 , A in 1895 - 3 015 . After acceptance fishing tax law in 1898 the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity was no longer directly related to guild certificates. The acquisition of fishing certificates opened up the opportunity for all classes to engage in entrepreneurship. Some entrepreneurs remained in the merchant class for reasons of prestige. Merchants retained the passport privilege, which the townspeople and peasants did not have; Belonging to the merchant class allowed Jews to live beyond the Pale of Settlement.

82-84

B. M. Kustodiev
Merchant. 1918

With the abolition of serfdom and the establishment of capitalist entrepreneurship, a redistribution of the means of production, movable and immovable property occurred between entrepreneurs of different classes. In 1856 industrial entrepreneurship in the Penza province was of a landowner nature: out of 105 factories and factories 95 (95,5% ) belonged landowners but only 10 (9,5% ) - merchants. In 1902 out of 167 owned factories and factories nobles was 46 (27,5% ) enterprises, merchants owned 98 (58,6% ), peasants - 23 (13,7% ).

The fate of the landowners' estates depended on the enterprise of their owners. Some landowners managed to introduce advanced agrotechnical crops into their farms, acquire modern agricultural machinery, maintain, expand or lay the foundations of the industrial sector of the estate. Another part of the landowners was unable to adapt to the requirements of a market economy: estates were sold, mortgaged, and rented out in full or in parts. Yes, merchant Stepan Antonovich Kazeev in 1861 bought from a landowner Nikiforova cloth factory in Bolshaya Luka, Kerensky district, V

1868- Selivanov’s cloth factory in Bogolyubovka. In August 1866 Sergey Dmitrievich Zolotarev published an advertisement for the lease of a soldier's cloth factory in the village. Zolotarevka. Merchant P. O. Kataev in 1889 rented a cloth factory of the Counts Shuvalovs in Nizhny Shkaft, Gorodishchensky district, built in 1800 In 1875 Singel merchant Petr Pavlovich Petrov bought from a lieutenant engineer Mikhail Alexandrovich Litvinov cloth factory in Neskuchny, Gorodishchensky district.

Among the Penza nobles who became involved in entrepreneurship at this time was a cavalry guard Fyodor Ilyich Ladyzhensky(1851 - ?) - owner of a well-known in the country Zavivalovki Chembarsky district a, one of the few villages where various agricultural and industrial sectors based on advanced agricultural technology developed harmoniously. The entire land area 5,234 acres(of them 4,789 acres of arable land) was in the same boundary. In Zavivalovka, a three-field and partially twelve-field system was installed (fertilized fallow, winter, grass stand for three years for cutting, the fourth year - pasture, then grain by layer, root crops, yar, fallow, winter, yar). Of the special crops, only sugar beets were cultivated. In Zavivalovka, cloth sheep breeding was well established; in the sheepfolds there were 3 000 heads of the electoral type, the farm had 250 Yorkshire pigs. Cheeses (Dutch, Tilsit, Backstein) were prepared at their own cheese factory, which were in great demand among Penza and Tambov gourmets. Zavivalovka was famous for its stud farm, founded in the middle of the 19th century, steam mill.

He organized a stable diversified economy on his estate Nikolskoye (Otorma) (now Zemetchinsky district) Petr Alekseevich Atry-ganev, who owned 4,000 tithes. Otorma is a large and rich village, with a population over 3,000 people; A weekly market was held in the village. P. A. Atry-ganev established a ten-field land use system, built a horse factory, a cheese factory and a distillery, as well as a small copper and iron smelting plant, which provided for the needs of its own economy. Every year Pyotr Alekseevich sold a large amount of alcohol, 1,000 pounds cheese, the flour mill with productivity brought great profits up to 1,500 pounds per day.

The diversified farm of Lieutenant General, a member of the Council of the Ministry of Agriculture, enjoyed all-Russian fame Ivan Andreevich Arapov(1844-1913) in the village. Voskresenskaya Lashma, Narovchatsky district. His wife Alexandra Petrovna, without any hint of vanity or flattery, wrote about her husband:

“He was a man with a broad outlook and American enterprise, but he grew up on grateful Russian soil.”

In fact, the business entrepreneurship of I. A. Arapov surprised many landowners, even those who managed to adapt well to the new conditions of business

farms. His estate in Voskresenskaya Lashma was an organic combination of agricultural and industrial production, which was fully consistent with the general capitalist development of Russia. The estate had a stud farm with English racehorses (10 dams), two distilleries with an annual capacity of about 13,500,000 degrees anhydrous alcohol, sawmill and cheese factory; large areas were devoted to orchards; the pig farm generated significant income; modern agrotechnical methods of land use (four-field crop rotation, etc.) and the use of technology ensured high yields of grain and industrial crops. In addition, proper forestry was carried out, pine and larch were planted. In 1885 I. A. Arapov’s property was assessed at 1,698,000 rubles. Taking advantage of his extensive connections and influential position at court, I. A. Arapov managed to build a railway through Voskresenskaya Lashma, turning his estate into one of the centers of noble capitalist entrepreneurship in the Middle Volga region.

In 1893 Alexandra Petrovna told her stepbrotherGrigory Alexandrovich Pushkin (to the poet's son):

“My husband now... is again heading to Lashma, where, at the same time as the station, he is building himself a large bazaar and erecting elevators, or rather barns... He also intends to set up warehouses for kerosene, salt and iron, so that the peasants who brought grain do not leave empty.” .

The following year she wrote to her brother about new economic affairs.

85-87

Lieutenant General
T. A. Arapov

lah Ivan Andreevich:

“My husband is now in Lashma, where he spends most of his time, overwhelmed with work. A whole town has grown up near the Arapovo station... These days, a rectification plant, illuminated by electricity, is being launched, tanks for alcohol and kerosene are installed, which is bought wholesale from Nobel and sold by the office throughout the entire area. Then the husband started a big business of supplying flour to the Ministry of Finance, which would give big earnings our mill."

In 1900 Ivan Andreevich established "Agricultural partnership of I. A. Arapov with his sons" , of which he himself was a member, Alexandra Petrovna(his wife), sons - captain Petr Ivanovich, lieutenant Andrey Ivanovich and the chamber cadet's wife Elizaveta Ivanovna Stolypina(daughter of Ivan Andreevich). The partnership had a distillery, a malt house, two water mills, a rectification plant, barns, houses, and a fleet of tank cars located in Lashma. The partnership's fixed capital was assessed at 600,000 rubles and was divided for 100 shares (shares) 6,000 rubles each.

In the village Bolshie Verkhi, Nizhnelomovsky district, there was an estate Vasily Lvovich Naryshkin(1841 - ?) - creator Archaeological Museum objects of artistic technique of the Middle Ages and Modern times under the General

Staff Captain
P. A. Arapov

quality encouraging artists. On the square 9,100 tithes Field farming was carried out effectively, elite seeds were grown for sale in well-groomed fields, horse breeding and fine-fleece sheep breeding were developed on the estate. In 1905 V.L. Naryshkin's estate was destroyed.

Bolshiye Burtasy (Znamenskoye) Kerensky district woven into biography Princes Gagarins, Matyushkins, Vielgorskikh. From the end of the 19th century until 1917 there was a large estate of Lieutenant General Fedor Eduardovich Keller(1850-1904) and Maria Alexandrovna, born princess Shakhovskaya(1861-1944). The estate occupied an area of 21,600 tithes, of which 1 800 were allocated for forest (pine planting). The estate included 5 farms, in which seven-field field cultivation with root crops and grass sowing was carried out. The distillery produced up to 250,000 buckets of alcohol per year, there was a cheese factory, a steam mill and two water mills.

Estate of Nikolai Nikolaevich Ermolaev in the village Elan of Penza district occupied an area of 6,800 acres of land, it included three farms. IN

Lieutenant I. A. Arapov

the farm cultivated a three-field crop rotation, advanced livestock farming was established: Simmental and Dutch cattle, a stud farm for trotting horses, and a bee farm for 70 hives. Processed at the flour mill up to 6,000 poods of grain. Supported by Ministry of Agriculture A pottery factory was built in Elani, where peasants learned pottery making.

In the village Olenevka of the Penza district successfully ran his farm, divided into two farms, chamberlain Andrey Nikiforovich Selivanov. A three-field crop rotation alternated with a four-field one (grass sowing with the cultivation of root crops), the farm raised cattle of improved breeds, Ramboulier Negretti sheep, trotting horses, and there was a large poultry farm. The distillery produced annually up to 3,000,000 degrees anhydrous alcohol.

In the 18th century village of Arkhangelskoye (Golitsino) Nizhnelomovsky district belonged to Major General, comrade-in-arms of A.V. Suvorov Yakov Danilovich Merlin(1753-1819). By the time of the abolition of serfdom, Golitsino with a large cloth factory, which employed over 800 serfs, who produced up to 16,000 arshins of cloth, was in the possession of his daughter Anna

88-90

Yakovlevna(1782-1863) and her husband Privy Councilor Fyodor Petrovich Lubyanovsky (1777-1869). On the eve of the reform, the Lubyanovskys improved the technological process by installing European spinning weaving machines at the factory. This led to an increase in production for 30,000 arshins cloth, or for 39,300 rub. in monetary terms. After the death of their parents, the factory went to their sons - Lieutenant General Peter Fedorovich(1809-1874) and colonel Nikolai Fedorovich(1817-1889), who built an iron foundry in his father’s nest. Here they made equipment for cloth factories, distilleries, sugar factories, and oil mills. In the 1880s the estate was sold for 5,000,000 rub. to the chamberlain, State Councilor to the prince Viktor Vasilievich Volkonsky(1823-1884). He gave Golitsino as a dowry to his daughter Nadezhda Viktorovna, who married the Count Sergei Mikhailovich Tolstoy. Golitsino owes him the status of one of the centers of industrial entrepreneurship in the Penza region. In 1889, S. M. Tolstoy founded a glass factory which at the beginning of the 20th century released about 700,000 bottles by order of the state. The output of the cheese factory was 500-800 pounds per year, on brick - about 500,000 pcs. bricks, at the distillery 8,000,000 bottles of forty-proof alcohol, on tar - 1,000 pounds of pure tar from birch bark. The high profitability of such a complex economy made it possible to create a paradise for

Tolstykh: a two-story palace was crowned by a high hill, surrounded by a man-made arboretum of exotic plants. The entrepreneurial glory of the Golitsin nobles has faded in 1917.

An example of noble entrepreneurship was Zemetchinsky estate of the Shuvalov-Dolgorukovs. 40,000 tithes the local lands were owned by the chamberlain's wife Peter Pavlovich Shuvalov - Sofia Lvovna, nee Naryshkina (1829-1894). In 1849 she built a sugar factory in Zemetchino, which operated on a fire system, i.e. the beets were boiled and the juice evaporated using open fire. Early 1860s Sofya Lvovna leased out the plant Count Ivan Alekseevich Apraksin- the master of horse of the highest court. In 1871 took over the plant Olga Petrovna Shuvalova(1848-1927), who received it as a dowry upon her marriage to Prince Alexander Sergeevich Dolgorukov(1841-1912). The prince owned about a dozen sugar factories in Russia. To grow sugar beets, O.P. Dolgorukova purchased the latest equipment from Europe.

The plant manager was a famous industrial engineer Nikolai Vasilievich Monakhov. During this period, sugar beet yields increased up to 190 centners per tithe(sugar beet crops amounted to 120 tithes), output granulated sugar - up to 114,158 pounds, refined sugar - 73,218 pu-

Colonel
N. F. Lubyanovsky -
cloth factory owner
in the village Golitsino
Nizhnelomosky district

91-93

Dov, and by the beginning of the 20th century- And up to 250,000 pounds. In 1914 worked at the factory 162 permanent and 544 temporary workers.

The Zemetchinsky estate was famous for its well-established system of field cultivation, forestry and livestock breeding. The bone grinding and glue plant produced up to 200 pounds bone mucm and 22,000 pounds glue, was ground in two large mills on the Vysha River up to 300,000 pounds grains The estate operated a mechanical workshop that repaired factory equipment and agricultural machinery, as well as a meteorological station. With the help of lock systems, the low-water Mashnya River was turned into a navigable river for the internal transportation of goods. For the delivery of raw materials and removal of finished products O. P. Dolgorukova in 1893 built with her own funds railway line from Zemetchino to Vernadovka, length 24 versts, A in 1901 - 120-verst branch Zemetchino - Kustarevka.

The high profitability of the diversified estate allowed Olga Petrovna to spend part of the profits on landscaping and improving the living conditions of the workers. There was a hospital at the plant, for the maintenance of which up to 2,600 rub. Here workers were provided with free treatment and food. Since 1891 A graduate of Novorossiysk University worked as a doctor at this hospital Nikolai Ivanovich Tolachinov(30.09.1866 - 18.11.1909). He died in Zemetchin, and his name was immortalized in the name of the local hospital. In 1895 O.P. Dolgorukova opened a school for the children of workers.

Penza "noble nests" glorified Penza and the entire province far beyond the borders of Russia. These were genuine centers of education, charity, patronage and creativity.

Zubrilovka, for example, according to the testimony of a famous publicist and writer F. F. Vigel , was

“... one of the few places in Russia similar to the palaces and castles with which Poland is dotted.”

Golitsynskaya Zubrilovka, like estate of Prince Kurakin(s. Nadezhdino), was a small Russian Versailles. At the foot of a luxurious picturesque hill there was a large pond, behind which the village stretched. On the hill itself there is a three-story stone manor house in the classicist style. Zubrilovka is the purest example of strict classics. A sparkling Hopper was winding around the estate. Approaching the estate along the main alley of the vast park, the soul of the visitor was seized by a thrill of true inspiration, so well thought out was the unity of nature and architecture. The alley led to a vast clearing, in the very center of which a hundred-year-old oak tree raised its powerful branches to the sky. The clearing was surrounded by carved maples, elegant ash trees, and young oaks. It was from this famous clearing that the estate of the princes Golitsins actually began - a palace house with a flagpole, next to it was a strict church, an elegant bell tower.

After the death of the aide-de-camp of Empress Catherine II, Prince Sergei Fedorovich Golitsin in 1801 the estate passed to the prince's son,

Fedor Sergeevich. New owner wanted to make the estate equal Pavlovsk Palace near St. Petersburg. And I almost achieved what I wanted. The estate indeed appeared in all its splendor to the admiring Russian public. The estate was famous for its excellent art gallery (the prince especially appreciated portraiture), as well as stunning collections of Japanese Chinese, Saxon and Russian porcelain, bronze and marble sculptures. The pride of the Golitsins was their famous library. Unfortunately, during the times of peasant unrest in 1905 Zubrilovka was looted and burned. Riot "senseless and merciless" , destroyed one of the traditions of Penza life.

Penza noble nests, according to A. B. Mariengofa (“My age, my youth, my friends and girlfriends” ), more at the beginning of the 20th century were known throughout Russia as centers of bibliophilia, and Penza was the recognized capital of bookbinding art. There was even Penza Russian society lovers of fine binding, which organized regular charity exhibitions, lotteries, all kinds of hearings and lectures, the proceeds from which went to the maintenance of rural and city libraries, to the purchase of books for schools to help students from low-income families and for orphans.

The abolition of serfdom made significant changes to industrial entrepreneurship in the Penza region. In Russia as a whole, industrial capitalism developed very dynamically: the number of workers in the European part of the country increased from 674,000 people in 1865 to 1,398,000 in 1903 In the Penza province, on the contrary, the number of major industrial enterprises has decreased from 126 (1865) up to 70 (1889), and the number of workers is from 10 315 to 5 876. A turning point in the development of entrepreneurship occurred only in the 1890s when the all-Russian industrial boom swept the Penza province. Features of the industrial development of the province in the second half of the 19th century is the gradual adaptation of old, traditional industries to new economic conditions and the formation of new industries on a capitalist basis. The general picture of this process is illustrated table eleven.

Table eleven shows that in the second half of the 19th century. Through the efforts of entrepreneurs in the province, new industries were created - matchmaking, sawmilling, malting, pyrotechnics, etc., and traditional ones, which were semi-handicraft in nature, were improved and received the status of factory enterprises. The distillery industry developed most dynamically, the volume of production of which increased more than 3 times, flour milling ( 5 times), sawmill ( 18 times), total cost of industrial production in 1899 amounted to 1,702,100 rubles, in 1913 - 5,108,100 rubles, i.e. index 1913 exceeded 1899 level three times.

TABLE 11
Industry of the Penza province by industry

In the second half of the 19th century. Penza entrepreneurs did not create large factories and factories, therefore the average number of workers per one enterprise amounted to 73 workers, in 1913 - 68 . Dynamically developing enterprises in the woodworking, malting, sawmill, packaging, flour-grinding, pyrotechnic, and distillery industries did not require a large number of workers. This caused a drop in the share of enterprises with the number of workers over 500 people from 53.7% to 30%. Of the registered in 1911 11 230 enterprises by 6,000 it worked 5-6 people each.

Industrial background of the Penza region in the XVIII - first half of the XIX century. merchant ironworks and iron foundries were created. The gradual depletion of local raw materials and timber, and technical backwardness caused the decline of the industry. Late 1860s closed Sivinsky plant, from mid-1880s the last one left of this group Avgori Iron Foundry worked with great interruptions. Dying metallurgical plants with primitive technology were replaced by new ones. More in 1844 a small foundry was established in Penza, and in 1850 a turning and metalworking workshop is attached to it. In 1858 merchant Dmitry Ivanovich Davydov built a new foundry, thereby laying the foundation for an iron smelter. In May 1858 Moksha merchant Nikolai Romanovich Sokolov submitted a petition addressed to Emperor Alexander II for construction in Penza near Moscow outpost iron foundry. On the daughter of entrepreneur A lexandra Nikolaevna merchant married Ivan Minovich Lobanov, who therefore became the owner of the enterprise. The plant was equipped with 1 cupola and 5 machines. In 1868 technician and factory owner, merchant of the 3rd guild Basil (William) Ivanovich Kruger(1832-1913) founded an iron foundry in Penza with two cupola furnaces and six forges. At the beginning of the 20th century became its owner Alexander Vasilievich Krakk. In 1898 Serdob tradesman Dmitry Vasilievich Vorontsov arranged on

Prince A.D. Obolensky -
in 1884-1917 owner
Nikolo-Pestrovsky
crystal factory

Saranskaya street in Penza, a mechanical and iron foundry, which produced hand grenades during the war years. Simultaneously with A.V. Vorontsov Petr Ivanovich Katin founded an iron foundry in Penza on Troitskaya street, which worked up to 32 people. In 1910 Alexander Gerasimovich Fomin built on Bolshaya Kochetovka(Penza) iron foundry. Metallurgical plant Honon Abelevich Pines And B. A. Leikina, based in 1908 on Kozlovskaya street, produced monthly up to 5,000 pounds babbitts and other alloys. These factories provided oil mills, sawmills, and distilleries with equipment and repairs, and produced agricultural machines, ladders, gratings, and balconies. At all metallurgical plants that produced up to 90,000 pounds various castings, was occupied annually up to 500 people. The cloth industry, which grew out of noble manufactories, also played a significant role in the Penza province. By the time of the abolition of serfdom in the region there were 32 cloth factories, of which two were founded in 1856 as a merchant 1st guild Petr Grigorievich Beloyartsev and hereditary honorary citizen Ivan Vasilievich Bryushkov. Worked in all factories 11,450 people, who produced 1,700,000 arshins coarse (soldier's) cloth. The share of the Penza province in the total production of 13 Russian provinces - the leaders of the domestic cloth industry - was

20,5% . The replacement of forced labor of serfs with civilian workers and the technical modernization of production by new merchant owners led to an increase in labor productivity. In 1860 each worker produced on average 155 arshin, in 1883 - 733 arshin. In subsequent years, the technical re-equipment of factories slowed down, and this led to a decline in labor productivity: in 1910 output per worker fell by 14% compared since 1885 By this year there remained in the province 6 manor factories, of which one belonged Prince Vorontsov, Count Shuvalov Mikhail Andreevich, which in 1889 rented it out to a merchant S. O. Kataev. By the time of nationalization, four factories remained: three were owned by merchants Kazeevs, one belonged to merchants Petrov. The factories were equipped 9,954 spindles And 175 looms. In Russia in 1912 existed 303 cloth factories, on which a total of 445,000 spindles And 23,626 looms.

During the post-reform period, the glass industry also actively developed, which was started by a Penza nobleman-entrepreneur I. A. Bakhmetev, who created in 1764 a whole manufacturing complex in the village Nikolskoye (Pestrovka) Gorodishche district. Volumes of glass production

values ​​were dictated by the level of development of the distillery industry. With the death of the trustee of the Moscow educational district, chamberlain Alexey Nikolaevich Bakhmetev(06/05/1798 - 04/02/1861) this wonderful entrepreneurial family of Penza nobles ceased. Alexey Nikolaevich studied glass production technology in Leipzig, where he worked as a craftsman at glass factories. In 1859 operated in Russia 180 glass factories, in 1873 - 140 glass And 23 crystal x produced per year for RUB 4,000,000 b. The Nikolsky plant passed to the prince in his will Alexander Dmitrievich Obolensky(08/24/1847 - 11/26/1917), but until 1884 it was in the possession of the widow of A. N. Bakhmetev, nee Countess Anna Petrovna Tolstoy(02/08/1804 - 02/02/1884). This was a time of decline for the entire Bakhmetev business complex: the distillery and sugar factories were closed, and the production of valuable crystal products ceased. Only in the 1870s The first steps were taken to overcome the crisis: glass melting furnaces were switched to heating with generator gas. In 1884 ownership of the plant was finally transferred to A. D. Obolensky, at which in the early 1890s there was an increase in production. In 1899 with three ovens working, dishes were made for 350,000 rub., in 1913. - n a 772,000.IN

1900 at the World's Fair in Paris Nikolsky crystal received gold medal. At All-Russian exhibitions, products from the A.D. Obolensky plant were repeatedly noted for the right to depict the state emblem of Russia on them.

In the second half of the 19th century. glass factories create: in 1870 in the village Embroidered Gorodishche district merchant Andrey Fedorovich Karpov (250 workers), in 1877 in the village Nizhny Shkaft of the same district His Serene Highness Prince Vorontsov Count Shuvalov Mikhail Andreevich (119 workers), in 1889 in the village. Golitsino, Nizhnelomovsky district Count Sergei Mikhailovich Tolstoy (over 300 workers). The plant of A.F. Karpov was liquidated in the late 1880s. Two glass factories owned by the Gorodishche merchant of the 2nd guild Sergei Ivanovich Cheremshantsev(1855-1913). Aleksandrovsky Glass Factory, founded in 1900, was located in the Upper Shkaft and was named after the son of an entrepreneur Alexander Sergeevich Cheremshantsev(1881 - ?). Vyshileysky plant was founded in 1871 and is equipped with a 60 hp steam engine. With. In 1912 was employed in this industry 350 people, annual production volume reached 300,000 rubles(with the exception of the plant of A.D. Obolensky). At the time of nationalization, the Penza province was operating

100-102

five glass factories, four - in Gorodishchensky and one - in Nizhnelomovsky district.

Penza region is located in the forest-steppe zone. By the beginning of the 20th century the forest occupied 597,000 tithes, or 1/6 of the total space of the province. First five sawmills with 56 workers appeared in the Penza province in the 1880s, by 1913 their number has increased up to 31. The industry was busy 775 civilian workers, which exceeded 1880s level 25 times. Production volume from 20,000 rubles in 1888 increased up to 2,200,000 rubles in 1913 The first sawmills in the Penza province in the 1880s belonged to entrepreneurs who came from different classes. The largest noble entrepreneurs included Prince Vladimir Alekseevich Shakhovsky(master of horse, member of the State Council), Prince Alexander Dmitrievich Obolensky(master of the horse, senator), Ivan Andreevich Arapov(Lieutenant General), Vladimir Alexandrovich Butlerov(ensign), Nikolai Nikolaevich Stolypin(kammer-cadet), Alexander Alexandrovich Arapov(chamber of chamberlain, actual state councilor). Merchants also invested their capital in the development of the sawmill industry in the Penza province. In terms of the number and production capacity of sawmills, no one could compare with the merchant Andrey Fedorovich Karpov and his sons. The first plant with annual turnover at 130,000 rubles Andrey Fedorovich built in 1892 in Penza; in 1898- in the village Mais of Gorodishchensky district, in 1900 in the village Serman of the same district. In 1908 Ivan Andreevich, Alexey Andreevich And Nikolai Andreevich Karpov created in Gorodishchensky district immediately four sawmills, which, however, gave a small profit - 155,000 rubles. Factories with number of workers over 30 people merchants had Ivan Nikolaevich Ashanin, Lipa Markovich Levitan, Nakhman Leizer Leibovich Rabinovich, Stepan Lavrentievich Tyurin, Nikolai Egorovich Ilyin. Wealthy Gorodishche entrepreneur S ergei Ivanovich Cheremshantsev in the early 1900s. founded two sawmills. By 1917 operated in the Penza province 45 sawmills: 24 - single frame, 16 - double frame, 5 - three-frame, total 71 frame. 4,200 workers served the timber industry complex of the province, on average there were 60 people. The annual production volume was 6,600,000 rubles. The main market was the Donetsk basin, where lumber, timber for mines, and snow sheets were supplied.

In the second half of the 19th century In the Penza province, a new industrial branch arose - the match industry, the birthplace of which was Nizhny Lomov. Peasant s. Zasechnoe Stepan Petrovich Kamendrovsky created in 1858 semi-handicraft production of sulfur matches (production of phosphorus matches in artisanal conditions was prohibited since 1848). In 1868 he enrolled in the second merchant guild, and a match factory was created on the basis of the artisanal establishment. In 1877 the entrepreneur modernized the equipment,

__________________________________________

Invitation card book. A. D. Obolensky
to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Nikolo-Pestrovsky
crystal factory

which allowed him in the mid 1880s switch to the production of phosphorus matches. In 1866 registered in Penza province 2 match factories with 14 workers(S.P. Kamendrovsky in Nizhny Lomov and tradesman Andrei Pavlovich Peremyshlin in V. Lomov), in 1889 - 17 factories with 769 workers. By 1913 only left 10 factories, which were occupied 2,829 workers. In 1866 factories produced matches for 2,000 rubles., in 1889 - for 400,000 rubles., in 1913 - for 1,871,000 rub. In a peasant's factory E. S. Loshkareva in the village Rozhdestvensko-Tezikovo in 1907 worked 962 people; at the beginning of the 20th century on the built in 1870 peasant woman Anna Timofeevna Kazaurova factory in the village of Makarovka, Nizhnelomovsky district, worked 359 people, on another, based in 1895 in the village of Afanasyevka, - 200 people. In 1899 S. P. Kamendrovsky founded a match factory, which was put into operation in 1901 In 1913 59% all the workers in the match factories of the province were busy at two Kamendrovsky factories. B educated in 1910 syndicate "Russian Match Trade Society (ROST)" The Kamendrovskys did not enter due to a low production quota and independently lowered the price of matches from 8 rub. 30 kopecks up to 7 rub. 80 kop. per box. This led to the strengthening of the Kamendrovskys' monopoly on the provincial market and a decrease in production volumes at other factories or even their closure. Thus, by 1917 only both were functioning Kamendrovsky factories, factory of the Rostov merchant of the 1st guild K. K. Faydysh in Penza, factory of Vladimir Abramovich Ryasentsev in Gorodishche, factory of E. S. Loshkarev in Tezikov. Before the revolution, the Penza province produced 483,000 boxes of matches, 1,700 people were employed in production. Penza's share in the total production of matches in Russia was 10,7% (despite the fact that there was only 8,4% factories), the number of workers involved in the industry reached 11,6% from the all-Russian Thus, during the heyday of capitalist entrepreneurship, the Penza province was one of the main centers of match production in Russia.

So, by the time of the October Revolution capitalist entrepreneurship established itself in the Penza province, having won significant positions from the landowners; New industries took a dominant position in the region's economy.

It has always been difficult to do business in Russia, but success stories still happen. Sometimes former serfs turned into tycoons thanks to their tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit. "The Secret" tells the story of five entrepreneurs from time to time Russian Empire who managed to build a large business.

Alexander Chichkin

The merchant of the first guild, Alexander Chichkin, changed the dairy market of his time. Before he opened the “Milk” store on Bolshaya Dmitrovka, the product was sold exclusively on the streets and markets. Over the course of several years, he managed to build a network. In 1914, he had 91 stores, two dairies and a curd and sour cream branch, and 40 butter stations. The plant processed 100–150 tons of milk per day. At the company "A.V. Chichkin" employed 3,000 people.

The entrepreneur paid a lot of attention to marketing: all the stores were lined with snow-white tiles, the clerks were dressed in snow-white uniforms, and there were never-before-seen cash registers in the hall, which guaranteed fair treatment of customers. Every evening, fresh milk in cans was ceremoniously brought into the stores, and yesterday's product was publicly poured into the sewer on the street in the morning.

By 1917, the enterprise's fixed capital amounted to more than 10 million rubles. After the revolution, Chichikov's entire business was nationalized. He was unable to avoid exile: he had to spend two years in Northern Kazakhstan until Molotov and Mikoyan rescued him from there. Then Chichkin became an ordinary Soviet pensioner, but still participated in the development of plans and projects for the development of the dairy industry in the USSR.

Stepan Abrikosov

The founder of the family, Stepan Abrikosov, was a serf; his family supplied sweets to the master’s table - marshmallows and apricot jam (hence the family name). In 1804, 64-year-old Stepan received his freedom and soon opened an artel family production in Moscow. They bought sweets here for parties and weddings, and soon they managed to open a fruit and confectionery shop. The Apricots' fame grew.

In 1820, after Stepan’s death, production passed to his sons Ivan and Vasily. But they were unable to maintain the pace set by their father. After 20 years, they lost production due to debt. It seemed that he was famous family business ceased to exist, but by that time Stepan’s grandson, Alexey, had grown up. He was a capable young man, with a particular interest in accounting. He decided to revive the family business and organized home production: the Abrikosovs again made jam, made sweets and baked gingerbread. To reduce the cost of production, he began purchasing fruit in Crimea, and later he was the first to establish year-round supplies of fruit to Moscow. His goal was to make production truly large-scale. As a result, after 30 years, by 1872? Alexey had 40 confectionery workshops, employing 120 workers. A total of 512 tons of sweets were produced per year.

Alexei's sons continued the business. They formed a partnership and built a factory. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Abrikosovs’ business became one of the leaders in the country’s confectionery market. Its annual turnover was 2.5 million rubles.

After the revolution, the family's enterprises were nationalized. In 1922, the factory was named after the Bolshevik Pyotr Babaev, but for several more years the name of the Abrikosovs remained on the labels to attract attention. Some family members managed to flee abroad, but others were unable to avoid arrest.

Peter Smirnov

Pyotr Smirnov came from a family of serfs who brewed and sold wine on holidays. Having received their freedom, Peter’s father and uncle decided to make the wine business their main business. Peter worked in this field since childhood: first he became a clerk for his father, and then founded a small winery.

The business of Peter Smirnov developed quickly: the number of cellars, factories, warehouses, stores increased, and brand recognition grew. The secret of success lay in the impeccable reputation of the entrepreneur and his good connections in the trading field. He worked with relatives who did not dare to let him down or deceive him, and used only high-quality raw materials: spring water, alcohol from grain grains (not from beets), good fruits and berries.

Peter looked for the latter himself: he traveled to regional farms, obtaining unknown varieties. Smirnov's company produced wine, liqueurs, liqueurs, vodka and liqueurs - more than 400 items in total. The technical equipment of its factories was constantly updated, the enterprise quickly became the largest in the world and received international recognition. Smirnov became a supplier to the imperial court and received the right to place the coat of arms of the Russian Empire on labels (now the quality of his products was guaranteed by the state). He also supplied alcohol to the court of the King of Sweden and opened branches in London, Paris and New York.

At the end of the 19th century, Smirnov’s income fell sharply: the state decided to take control of the alcohol market and introduced a “wine monopoly”. He was still a very rich man, his fortune was estimated at almost 9 million rubles, but difficulties in business undermined his health, and he died in 1898. Peter's son, Vladimir, fled the country after the revolution and created the Smirnoff brand. In Russia, the brand was revived only after the collapse of the USSR.

Grigory Eliseev

Grigory Eliseev was born into a wealthy family. His great-grandfather also sold expensive foreign goods in Russia: wines, tropical fruits, oysters and truffles. To deliver them, the company had its own merchant fleet at its disposal: four sailing ships and a steamer. At the age of 32, he inherited a trading empire with a fixed capital of 3 million rubles. He established the Eliseev Brothers Trading Partnership and began managing the business at his own discretion. In the first year of operation, the enterprise’s turnover amounted to 64 million rubles.

One day, Eliseev came up with a daring idea: to organize an exhibition of vintage wines in Paris. It is difficult to surprise the French with wine, but the young entrepreneur succeeded. He was even awarded the Legion of Honor. The furor strengthened Eliseev’s position in the market.

Two years later, the entrepreneur bought a house on Tverskaya and entrusted the best specialists turn it into an architectural marvel. The work was completed by 1901, then the “Eliseev Store and Cellars of Russian and Foreign Wines” was inaugurated. Gastronomic luxury was sold here: wines, fruits, sweets, colonial groceries, crystal. Everything was fresh, clean, High Quality. It was the country's first general food store.

The most famous product of Bure was the gift watches that the emperor gave to diplomats, officials and cultural figures. It is known that during the reign Alexandra III 3,477 gift watches were awarded in the amount of 277,472 rubles, the vast majority of them were from the Bure company.

In addition, the company produced prize products for officers Russian army, as well as simple watches: they could be bought in a store at an affordable price. The brand has become very recognizable. In the works of Chekhov alone, the expression “the clock of the storm” appears more than 20 times. To maintain recognition at the same level, Pavel Bure and his descendants invested a lot of effort in participating in exhibitions, where their products won medals many times. By the beginning of the 20th century, the company occupied 20% of the Russian watch market.

Business did not cease to exist with the revolution. He was saved by the fact that the production was located in Switzerland. The Bure company still exists today.

Cover photo: Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Public domain, Wikimedia Commons, Library of Congress