Abstract: This study is devoted to industrial cooperation in the Bryansk region in the context of the restoration of this region after the Nazi occupation. Based on archival materials presented by the records of cooperative industry officials of the Bryansk region directly and their capital authorities, as well as reporting data from industrial cooperation and the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR from the funds of two federal and one regional archives, an attempt is being made to restore the history of industrial cooperation in the Bryansk region, highlighting features of the functioning of this system in the economy of the USSR using the example of a specific liberated subject of the Russian Federation. The article is based on a descriptive method using technology geographic information systems in the QGIS program. The author states the presence of serious obstacles in the work of Soviet industrial cooperation associated with the low material and technical equipment of industrial cooperative artels, as well as the complexity of the planned tasks assigned to them, but at the same time concludes that there is a certain limit of trust on the part of the state in terms of attitude towards the cooperative industry, which was expressed in the release of industrial cooperation with more serious plans compared to the main competitors of industrial cooperation in the form of local industry. Despite the low labor productivity, cooperators demonstrated high survival rate due to the combination of the active use of state resources, which provided all possible assistance to artels and the trade unions that form them, and the use of their own potential, expressed in the form of the possibility of simplified organization of production and investment long-term lending of intra-cooperative origin.

Keywords: Service sector, Consumer goods, Economic recovery, Post-war reconstruction, Bryanshina, Bryansk region, Cooperative industry, Artels, Soviet industrial cooperation, Socialistic competitions

Abstract: This work is devoted to the crisis quadrennial of 1996-1999 in the history of Russia and the relationship with the changes that have occurred in the Russian banking system. The author identifies two stages in the development of domestic banking: its formation in 1991-1995, which ended with the exit from the August crisis of 1995, which showed that the banking system has not yet adapted to the requirements of market reality. The second stage was the crisis four–year period of 1996-1999, the peak of which was the default and devaluation of the ruble, as a result of which the main activity of banks turned from participating in a speculative game to working with the real sector of the economy and the population. As part of the study of the second period, the author, among other things, considers the issue of anti-crisis measures taken by the Government of the Russian Federation. The author analyzes a large layer of sources and bibliographies, actually building a chronology of the development of the banking sector in Russia in 1996-1999. The novelty of this work consists in the fact that until now there are practically no generalizing historical works about the history of the banking system of Russia in the Russian historiography. The author comes to the following key conclusions: as a result of the 1998 crisis, in which there was a collapse of government securities, which are the basis of both speculative activities of credit institutions and collateral for their resource base, the banking community began to focus mainly on working with the real sector of the economy and the needs of the population. During the period under review, a reform of the banking system was carried out, including the establishment of a set of strict banking standards and reporting that serve to increase the reliability of credit institutions and the possibilities of effective regulation of their activities, and the elimination of the technical backlog of the Central Bank in the automation of control and payment spheres was carried out.

Keywords: Russian economic history, Yeltsin's economic policy, default in russia, russian ecenomic reform, GKO-OFZ, the budget crisis Russia, ruble devaluation, Russian economy crises, development of the banking system, Banking in Russia

Abstract: One of the main issues in the course of industrialization is the provision of dynamically developing industrial production with energy sources. Despite the rapid spread of new types of engines in Russia in the late XIX – early XX centuries, water as an energy source continued to be actively used in industrial production. The research, the results of which are presented in the article, based on the published materials of the first (1900) and second (1908) industrial censuses showed that at the beginning of the twentieth century the share of water engines in the structure of the total power in industry as a whole not only did not decrease, but, on the contrary, increased. Groups of industries and provinces distinguished by the active use of water energy in industry have been identified. Analysis of statistical sources allows us to conclude that industrial enterprises are moving from water wheels to water turbines that exceed them in power. On the basis of industry data, the interrelations between the specific values of the use of water engines in the overall structure of the energy capacity of enterprises and their main production indicators (net profit, cost structure, etc.) are revealed. On the basis of correlation analysis, the hypothesis of a higher level of labor concentration at enterprises and in industries that have retained a significant proportion of water engines in the structure of their energy base has been confirmed.

Keywords: wage, labor concentration, labor productivity, industrial censuses, steam engines, water engines, water resources, energy base, industrialization of Russia, correlation analysis

Abstract: Solving the tasks of restoring Soviet industry during the NEP years was accompanied by the formation of a new system of labor relations and the search for effective forms of labor stimulation, among which wages were the main one. The main objective of the study was to identify and characterize the key principles of remuneration of workers and employees of the metallurgical industry, their changes and impact on wage differentiation in 1922-1928. On the basis of collective agreements and tariff agreements of the Sickle and Hammer plant, which in the period under review was experimental, new forms of remuneration were worked out. As a result, it was this company that had to demonstrate the effectiveness of the state's salary policy. Collective agreements during the NEP years reflected most aspects of labor activity. The duration of collective agreements gradually increased, they began to regulate a greater number of controversial issues in the field of remuneration. Due to high inflation, the terms and forms of salary payments were standardized. During the NEP period, there was an increase in wage differentiation at the Sickle and Hammer plant, both between different groups of workers and within them. However, this trend was partially offset by the actions of trade unions and the government aimed at equalizing earnings. Wages declined in the period 1923-1928, as workers faced tougher and more systematic requirements for defective products and their payment, with an increase in the production plan. Trends in time-based payment are determined mainly by the difference between tariff rates and minimum wages, which grew during the NEP period for all categories of workers. Bonus payments characterized the highest—paid group of factory workers - high-level employees. Their earnings were formed with the help of bonuses, earnings and the tariff rate, which made it consistently high.

Keywords: piecework wages, wage differentiation, labor relations, tariff schedule, collective agreement, metallurgical industry, wages, new economic policy, time wages, bonus payments

Abstract: The article examines the main directions and problems of the development of Russian entrepreneurship in Northeast China in the 1920s. Based on the analysis of the emigrant press and reference literature of the 1920s, documents of Soviet foreign policy, as well as the results of scientific research, the author assesses the activities of entrepreneurs and the difficulties that complicated it. The question describes the activities of the white emigrant industries established before the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War on the territory of the former Russian Empire (1917–1922); the impact of European and North American business on the development of the economy of Manchuria in general and on Russian business in particular; the impact of the multinational composition of the Russian diaspora on the specifics of the development of white immigrant entrepreneurship; the activities of charitable organizations that actively supported emigrants in difficult life situations; the growing needs of the population in connection with the improvement of the quality of work and the growth of production activity. Summing up the research, the author notes the following points that caused difficulties in the sphere of entrepreneurial activity of Russians: unstable financial market; the presence of competition in the face of European merchants; restrictions on the part of local authorities caused by the growth of Chinese nationalism; the Soviet-Chinese conflict over the status of the CER, which not only brought regular income to white immigrants, but also provided many jobs; as well as an increase in the number of Hunghuz gangs due to weak protection of the North-eastern suburbs. Despite all the existing problems, the Russian diaspora in the 1920s made a significant contribution to the economy of the region, engaging in trade, the development of new industries, the creation of the banking system, participation in charity events.

Keywords: light industry, heavy industry, Russian diaspora, Russian emigration, Russian entrepreneurship, Chinese Eastern railway, Harbin, Manchuria, North-East China, sphere of services

Abstract: This article examines the territory of the Northern Crimea, which was part of the Perekopsky district of the Tauride province, in the late XIX – early XX centuries, the time when the province turned into one of the rapidly developing regions of the Russian Empire. The subject of this study is the economic development of the territory of the Northern Crimea, the northern border of which was the Perekop Isthmus, and the northeastern outskirts were washed by the waters of the Gulf of Sivash. At the same time, special attention is paid by the author to the development of the agricultural sector of the economy, first of all, the development of crop production and animal husbandry, as well as individual industries that have become widespread in the specified territory. The scientific novelty of the study is an attempt to give a more complete picture of the economic development of the northernmost Crimean district of the Tauride province, Perekopsky district, since this topic has not been widely studied in Russian historiography. To achieve this goal, the author has attracted a wide array of sources, represented by various statistical data and reference materials. As a result of this work, the author comes to the conclusion that in the late XIX – early XX centuries, the development of the agricultural sector of the economy prevailed on the territory of the Northern Crimea, represented primarily in the form of growing grain crops, which pushed the development of sheep breeding in this region into the background. At the same time, the industry was represented mainly only in the form of enterprises engaged in brick-tile and pottery production, flour milling and salt fishing.

Keywords: brick and tile production, industry, cereal crops, sheep breeding, agriculture, Perekop district, economy, Northern Crimea, the Tauride province, salt industry

Abstract: The author examines the economic aspects of the South African colonial exploration by the Europeans in the representation of accumulated contradictions between business organizations, which ultimately became a cause of the 1899-1902 conflict. Based on the study of Dutch East India Company’s activities in this region, as well as the specifics of the settlement establishment by the British and Boers, attention is paid to the root causes of the disharmonious economic situation of the rivalling parties, taking place before the discovery of gold deposits in the Witwatersrand (1886). The changing regional supremacy of the Cape colony and the other British possessions, as well as Boer States (the Republic of South Africa – Transvaal and the Orange Free State) has been periodized. The factors of the 1899 armed conflict have been structured to reveal the conflicting interests of trading companies which had sought to monopolize the business for extraction of valuable mineral raw materials. The author concludes that the main reason for the South African War was the desire of British trading companies to gain access to rich gold deposits in the Boer-populated Transvaal and form a single English-based state in South Africa. In order to achieve such goal, the British tried their best at delaying peace initiatives of the Boers, putting forward various contradictory demands to them, using the armies of private companies to conduct raids and sabotaging the formation of a federal state in the region. We have discovered the preposterous look of the British pretext for the outbreak of war, based on the protection of the Boer states English-speaking population interests, which had been supposed to initiate an uprising. The South African War became not only a place, where new methods of warfare were applied, and a “black hole” for the UK budgetary expenditures, but also a profitable market for new types of weapons and military equipment, which allowed their manufacturers to make considerable profits.

Keywords: labor camp, Transvaal, Cecil Rhodes, Paul Kruger, East India Company, mining for diamonds, gold production, De Beers, South African War, South Africa

Abstract: The subject of the study is a comparative characteristic of salaries of officials of the mining sector of the Altai Mining District in the 1860s. The study of salaries of officials is carried out in the context of consideration of income inequality issues. The annual salaries of officials of the V-th Department of the Altai Mining Board, Altai factories, mines with a class according to the Table of Ranks, as well as the salaries of lower ranks located outside it, are considered. A comparison of the salaries of officials in the pre-reform and post-reform periods is given. Attention is paid to the minimum and maximum sizes, and the average salaries of officials of both groups are compared: class officials and lower ranks. The novelty of the study is determined by the weak knowledge of the topic of salaries of Siberian officials in the 1860s, especially in the context of the study of income inequality. On the basis of archival sources, many of which have not previously been introduced into scientific circulation, as well as published staff schedules, the salaries of officials with a class according to the Table of Ranks and the so-called lower ranks have been revealed. The data on the minimum and maximum salaries, as well as the average values for both groups of officials are given. A comparative characteristic of the salaries of class officials and lower ranks of the mining industry of the Altai Mining District is given, as well as a comparison with the salaries of officials of European Russia in the studied period.

Keywords: wages, mining, income inequality, statistics, Siberia, Altai Okrug, officials, source, Table of Ranks, salary

Abstract: The article considers the main approaches that exist in domestic and foreign historiography to the periodization of the customs war that unfolded between Russia and Germany at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. The author draws attention to the difficulty of determining its chronological framework. Unlike an international armed conflict, a customs war is not characterized by the separation of the stages of declaration and end of war; the beginning of a customs war is often due to the defensive actions of the "victim of the attack"; it is difficult to identify the tariff and non-tariff measures being taken as "military operations". The author believes that the beginning of a customs war should be discussed only when restrictive measures are selective and applied to a single country or group of countries. On the basis of archival documents, the author made an attempt to cast doubt on the prevailing position that the trade agreement of 1894 put an end to the customs war between the Russian and German empires. The trade agreement of 1894 marked a truce in the customs war, periodically violated by one side or the other. The point of view is substantiated that the end of the protracted economic conflict is connected with the beginning of the First World War and the subsequent break in Russian-German trade relations. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that the author proposes his own approach to the periodization of the customs war between two empires.

Keywords: non-tariff measures, trade agreement, duty, conventional tariff, customs tariff, Russian Empire, Germany Empire, customs war, periodization, tariff rate

Abstract: Based on the analysis of mass sources – archival documents of the First General Population Census of the Russian Empire in 1897 and information published by the Tobolsk Provincial Statistical Committee for 1903 and 1909, the number, typical diversity, and population of settlements formed in the exclusion zone of the Perm-Tyumen and West Siberian railways on the territory of the Tobolsk province is determined. A set of statistical methods was used to analyze the sources. A comprehensive interdisciplinary approach allows not only to identify the historical and genetic features of individual documents, but also to give a certain assessment of their representativeness and information potential for specific historical research. Intensive construction of railways has led to the emergence of new types of settlements: stations, independent settlements at stations and on the railway line, barracks and semi-barracks, booths, barracks, guard houses, etc. In 1897, at least 128 railway settlements were functioning on the territory of the province, which was about 2.5% of the total number of all settlements in the studied region. More than two thousand people lived in them permanently and temporarily; on average, there were 18 people per settlement. The major settlements were the Tyumen and Kurgan stations. It is concluded that the primary materials of the 1897 census have the most complete information. In connection with the further construction of the Trans-Siberian railway at the beginning of the XX century, there is an increase in the population of stations and pier settlements, their merger, the emergence of new types of railway settlements.

Keywords: settlement, Population Census, dvornost settlements, population of settlements, the scale settlement network, the size of settlements, typical structure, railway, Tobolsk province, Network of railway settlements

Abstract: This article is devoted to the two topics: priorities of the Russian Federation's socio-economic development through the plans of the Russian government from 1992 to 1997 and realization of the radical Yeltsin's economic reform. During this period, the Russian Government approved three country's development programs – 1993, 1995 and 1997. The study showed that the first three medium-term development programs continued the vector set by Boris Yeltsin at the 5th Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR. The last studied program of 1997, adopted by the Chernomyrdin government, stated the actual completion of Yeltsin-Gaidar's radical economic reform (privatization, liberalization and the end of the stabilization). By 1997, the economy was developing mainly under the influence of market rules, which suggests that the steps described in the government programs of the 90s led the country to the end of the transformational period and, as a consequence, the implementation of Gaidar's reforms.

Keywords: Creation of market eceonomy, Yeltsin, The collapse of USSR, Russian modernization, Russian economy development, transition to the market, transformational period, government programs, Gaidar's reforms, Yeltsin's radical reform

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to characterize the development of traditional forms of Yakut farming – cattle breeding and horse breeding in the Kolyma region of Yakutia against the background of socio-political transformations in the first third of the twentieth century. It is noted that the geographical isolation of the region from the rest of Yakutia has led to its autonomous development and conservation of the local economic model of life activity focused primarily on transport animal husbandry, including horse breeding. It is revealed that in the twentieth century, priorities began to shift towards the development of cattle breeding and the transition from horse breeding as the main type of economic activity. The use of historical-comparative, historical-system and statistical methods became the methodological basis of the publication, which allowed analyzing socio-economic processes in the north-east of Yakutia. An important result of the study was the assumption that it was the movement of the rural population fleeing from the war from the central regions of Yakutia, where cattle breeding had long prevailed over horse breeding, to the quieter and previously inhabited north-eastern regions, that became the main reason for changes in the economic structure of the Kolyma district in the 1920s. As a result, the number of farms and the number of cattle has increased significantly, affecting the way of life and the structure of the local economy by expanding the area of northern cattle breeding in the Arctic region. Thus, the first third of the twentieth century in the Kolyma district became a time of impulsive transformations of the traditional way of life of the local population caused by the political and socio-economic crisis that followed the 1917 revolution.

Keywords: migration, circumpolar census, horse breeding, Arctic cattle breeding, traditional economy, indigenous peoples, Kolyma region, Yakutia, Arctic, Civil War

Abstract: The question of the evolution of industrial motivation is a relatively new area of modern research in economic history. Active research on this topic in Russia began in the 1990s, relying mostly on the sources that characterize social aspects of industrial development of the Russian Empire and Soviet Russia of the 1920s – 1930s. The evolution of industrial motivation at the Soviet enterprises did not receive due attention. This article examines one of the key factors of industrial motivation –differentiation of wages based on the archival and published materials of the large oil and gas company “Tatneft”. The subject of this research is the dynamics of wages among various categories of Tatneft employees over the period from 1950s to 1980s. Research methodology leans on the principles of systematicity and historicism, as well as historical-comparative method and statistical analysis. The novelty lies acquisition of new knowledge on one of the crucial factors of incentivization and motivation of employees, as well as in introduction of new archival sources into the scientific discourse. The author concludes on the tendency towards equalize "net" salaries of different categories of employees of the company; however, the analysis of the dynamics of total wages of Tatneft employees taking into account bonuses, indicates a noticeable discrepancy.

Keywords: soviet industry, USSR, labor incentives, wages, economic history, oil industry, labor motivation, Tatneft, statistical sources, social history

Abstract: The subject of this article is the tobacco cultivation in Tauride Province in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The author provides information on the amount of land allocated for tobacco cultivation, types of tobacco, tobacco plants and their owners, manufactured tobacco products, as well as retail of tobacco products. An overview is given to the factors that affected the demand for tobacco products in this historical period and uneven level of tobacco production. The article leans on the vast array of sources, including archival materials from the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea and the Russian State Historical Archive, statistical data, as well as reference material. The scientific novelty consists in the attempt to give a broader picture of tobacco production in the territory of Tauride Province, as this topic did not receive due attention within the Russian historiography. The conclusion is made that the second half of the XIX century marks a breakthrough in the development of tobacco cultivation in Tauride Province, associated with the legislative acts on taxation, as well as construction of new transport routes. This turned tobacco cultivation into one of the leading segments of agriculture in Yalta, Simferopol and Feodosia Uyezds, which have the most favorable natural and climatic conditions for the development of this industry. However, significant decline in the number of tobacco farmers was observed by the beginning of the XX century, as well as the acres of land allocated for tobacco cultivation. This was caused by unfavorable conditions for retail of tobacco products, decrease in yield capacity, quality of tobacco, as well as excess of supply over demand for tobacco products.

Keywords: Asia Minor tobacco, Mesaksudi tobacco factory, Stamboli tobacco factory, smokables, smoking tobacco, tobacco industry, tobacco cultivation, economy, Tauric province, American tobacco

Abstract: The object of this research is the trade relations between Russia and the German states after the Congress of Vienna, established in the conditions of the large-scale customs reforms. Such changes were substantiated by the provisions of the Final Act and the need for renewal of trade systems in accordance with the relevant requirements. The article examines the stages of trade relations prior to the creation of the German Customs Union, which led to fundamental changes in trade situation in the German space. The author also analyzes trade in the initial years of existence of the German Customs Union for assessing its effectiveness and role in foreign trade relations between the German states and Russia. The main conclusion consists in confirmation of the thesis on sustainable trade relations with Prussia as the key trade partner of Russia in the German space. This conclusion was made due to the absence of evidence in the available sources and historiography on trade relations with other German states, except scarce information on the trade with Hanseatic League. After the establishment of the German Customs Union, Prussia is still in the picture of the Russian foreign trade statistics, which testifies to its crucial role in the new union and international disregard of the German Customs Union in the initial years of its existence. The article may be valuable for the audience studying the economic history of Russia and the German states in the first half of the XIX century.

Keywords: protectionism, free trade, Prussian history, Customs` history, Customs` reforms, German Zollunion, Economic history, German history, Foreign trade, custom rate

Abstract: The object of this research is the Baskunchak industry. The subject of this research is organization of salt extraction on Lake Baskunchak in the late XIX century. The chronological framework covers the period from the second half of the XIX century, i.e. from the beginning of regular state-ran salt extraction in the Baskunchak deposit until the abolishment of excise tax on salt, transfer of salt extraction to private Industrialists. The article provides detailed description of the methods of salt extraction on the lake, social composition of personnel engaged in the industry, transportation of salt on trucks and railways, statistical data on salt prices, salaries, and rent of salt plots by salt producers on Lake Baskunchak is given. The novelty of the research consist in comprehensive examination of the previously researched direction – development of salt industry on Lake Baskunchak in the late XIX century. As one of major salt deposits of Russia, Lake Baskunchak is of special value for the salt trade. In the second half of the XIX century Baskunchak was the large supplier of salt in Russia. The acquires materials can be used in educational process of the universities of Astrakhan Region in teaching general and specialized courses on the History of Russia.

Keywords: workers' pay, rent, Vladimirskaya pier, Astrakhan province, salt mining, salt miners, organization, Baskunchak, pood, price

Abstract: This article presents an overview of economic situation and trade relations in Germany during the 1815 – 1820s, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The customs question was especially urgent due to the disparity of territories, and was being resolved in several German states simultaneously. The author examines the Prussian plan of customs union that was implemented in future, as well as the alternative regional projects. For detailed assessment of the indicated projects, analysis is conducted on the flow of import and export of various products on the German territories. This article is founded on the German sources, including maps of German territories and summary statistical tables, which did not previously received wide coverage within the Russian historiography. The topic of establishment of the German Customs Union was in the sidelines for a long time; therefore, this research is relevant for broad audience within the framework of studying the economic history and the history of Germany. The author determines that the period of formation of the German Customs Union was not subjected to comprehensive analysis; the alternative plans of customs unions were not sufficiently covered by the national and foreign historians, despite the extensive source base. The main conclusion consists in description of the actual alternatives to the Prussian plan of customs union, which have not been implemented due to political discrepancies between the members of the South and Middle German unions. Translation of the Customs Union Agreement into the Russian language has not been previously conducted; its provisions would be the subject of the author’s further research.

Keywords: Tax fees, Customs reforms, Prussian history, German history, customs history, foreign trade, economic history, German Zollverein, German Confederation, German states XIX

Abstract: The subject of this research is the questions of motivating the workers of Tula Cartridge Plant during the civil war. Based on methodology of economic and social microhistory, the author analyzes the practice of using methods of war communism and monetary measures to encourage worker of Tula Cartridge Plant in accomplishment of strenuous government contracts. The research results can be valuable in training management professionals in the context of comprehension of the phenomenon of national economy through the prism of social practices, particular administrative experience in crisis conditions. Writing company’s history necessitates the inclusion of methodology of economic and social microhistory into the research process. Scientific analysis of life of the company as a holistic socioeconomic phenomenon allows determining corporate practices that are essential for understanding the functionality of national economy in a specific historical period. The conclusion is made that objectively, the differentiated plant production significantly adjusted to mobilization regime of war communism using special mechanisms. Among them is the unlimited efficiency wage, non-tariff ways of incentivizing skilled workers, and determination of the urgent work areas with accord wages. At the same time, the war communism method of mobilization of industrial production implemented specific measures of financial incentives for workers. It included the guaranteed minimum of means for each employee, bargain-collective forms of bonuses, and simultaneously, directive allocation of major operations and byworks with due remuneration. The contradictory combination of all these methods of financial incentives ensured a specific effectiveness criterion reflected in the material items of military consumption.

Keywords: labour productivity, bonus payment, material incentives for labor, red army ration, wage, civil war, war communism, Tula weapons factory, Tula cartridge plant, extraordinary Commissar

Abstract: In the late 1920s - 1930s, according to official figures, the Soviet Union significantly increased its volume of timber industry production. However, the statistics did not include the private harvesting and procurement of wood by the population, that is, for household consumption, which until about the mid-1930s and its almost complete cutback, reached impressive quantities. Historiography formed an incomplete picture of timber management in the Soviet Union during the modernization period, and part of the official indexes are still today used by researchers to prove a significant increase in the volume of timber production in the country during the late 1920s - 1930s. This has made currently very relevant the task of studying changes in the structure of forest management and of determining the country's place in the global timber industry using estimates of the total volume of forestry resources and the value of the gross output of the wood industry. The author reveals that in the first decades of the 20th century the most actively developed areas of forestry were logging and mechanical processing of wood, while the proportion of deep wood processing in the value structure of forest management has changed little and remained at a low level. The author identifies the principal systemic problems in the forest industry of the Soviet Union in the late 1920s - 1930s, which became the causes of imbalances in its structure. Additionally, the author conducted a comparative analysis of the indexes of the Soviet state and of other countries and regions - leaders in the global wood industry. The study's conclusions include the highlighting of the persistence of imbalances in the timber industry in the late 1920s - 1930s and the lagging of the Soviet Union from other countries - industry leaders in the most important areas of timber production.

Keywords: systemic problems, forest management structure, timber processing complex, modernization, Soviet Union, economic history, global timber industry, wood procurement, machining, deep processing

Abstract: The research subject of this article is the salt industry in the Astrakhan Governorate during the second half of the 19th century. The article's research object is the role of the Baskunchak railway in the development of the salt industry in the Astrakhan Governorate during the second half of the 19th century. The chronological framework of this study encompasses the period from the second half of the 19th century, when precisely at this time the government policy changed to the state reorganization of the entire railway system in Russia in the reign of Alexander II, and later in the reign of Alexander III, on the discussed here example, construction and operation of the Baskunchak railway. The author provides a detailed comprehensive analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of transporting salt along the Baskunchak railway compared with transportation by oxen, which leads to the affirmation that after its opening this railway became the most important economic artery in Russia. This work uses the problem-chronological method, the historical-descriptive method, the historical-comparative and historical-systemic methods. The novelty of this study lies in its detailed elaboration of a previously unstudied direction, such as the influence of the new railway on the development of the salt industry in the Astrakhan Governorate during the second half of the 19th century.The role of the Baskunchak railway in the growth of the salt industry in the Astrakhan Governorate during the second half of the 19th century is indisputable. The railway connecting Lake Baskunchak with Port Vladimir has opened the most reliable and convenient form of transport. The materials used in this work are relevant for use in university education processes in the Astrakhan region for teaching general and specialized courses in Russian history and other related disciplines.

Keywords: economy, salt, wagons, Railway, construction, baskunchak, ministry of finance, lake, price, shipping

Abstract: The article addresses the subject of the monetary-credit policy of the Russian state in the second half of the 18th - the first half of the 19th centuries. The research object of this study is the state's promissory note rate of exchange. A promissory note rate is essentially an exchange rate and it reflects the purchasing power of the currency in one country in relation to the monetary currency in another. On the basis of primary data deriving from the Russian press, the author collected the data of promissory note quotes suitable for the subsequent statistical analysis, and identified the periods of the exchange rate's instability, the nature of its dynamics and the factors that influenced it. As the main research method of this work, the author applied the historical-genetic and statistical research methods and the inductive approach to the examination. The topic of the Russian note exchange rate dynamics in the first third of the 19th century has been little studied in historiography. The article demonstrates that the volatility of note rates, on the one hand, was lower than could be expected at this turbulent time, and on the other hand, the coefficient of variation was low. But at the same time, the note rate noticeably deviates from parity, which, given its nature of being based on the domestic rate of the metallic equivalency value of money, indicates a significant speculative component in its dynamics.

Keywords: international trade, monetary policy, exchange rate, finance, St. Petersburg exchange, Russia, rate of exchange, bill, Foreign exchange market, exchange of currency

Abstract: In the years of the first five-year plans, the phenomenon of wage delays in the country's industry was quite massive and systematic in nature, which caused discontent among workers and created conflicts at work, including those that then turned into strikes (at the beginning of the first five-year plan) accompanied by the disuse of equipment. The article examines the scope of the event of the untimely payment of earned sums, identifies its causes, the workers' reaction, and also analyzes the effectiveness of the actions implemented by local and central economic bodies, financial organizations, trade unions, court institutions and prosecutors in eliminating these violations that reduced the effectiveness of the mobilization policy of the Soviet leadership during the years of industrialization. The source base of this study is made up of mainly archival documents stored in the collections of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SARF), which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Many of these documents are classified as "Secret", "Top Secret ", "Not to be disclosed. " The study demonstrates that the violation of the terms of earnings payment to industrial workers in the years of the first five-year periods was the result of a number of unfavorable factors: lack of banknotes in local branches of the State Bank, shortcomings of the Soviet credit system, overuse of wage funds and their, in general, “free” treatment, failure to fulfill production programs, failures in the system of mutual settlements between suppliers and customers, the accumulation of a large number of unsold products in warehouses, etc. The measures taken could not completely eliminate this problem, but in the second half of the 1930s, the frequency of occurrences, terms and amounts of arrears gradually decreased.

Keywords: State Bank of the USSR, strikes, labor conflicts, trade unions, wages, labor incentives, five-year plans, forced industrialization, standard of living, Council of People's Commissars

Abstract: In the Soviet Union during the late 1920s - early 1940s, significant transformations of the lumber industry took place, which makes it a current research topic for historical analysis in line with economic history. How did the industry develop in this pivotal era? Did the investments and the technical and economic conditions of this complex correspond to its real production capabilities? With the aim of understanding these issues, the author undertakes for the first time in historiography an analysis of the technical and economic indicators of the wood industry at the final stage of implementing the first five-year plan and the transition to the second five-year plan (1932-1934), which was accompanied by an adjustment in the state economic policy. The analysis is based on sources from the series of statistical collections the “Socialist Construction”. In addition to identifying the general dynamics in the development of the lumber industry complex and its individual sectors, indicators are calculated for one enterprise and one worker based on technical and economic parameters. The author carries out a comparative analysis of the results obtained in the lumber industry and in the Soviet industry in general. Data on the technical and economic conditions of the lumber industry complex are compared with the results of its production activities. The analysis revealed a number of significant problems and imbalances in the development of the industry: the better equipment of the paper industry, the direction of the main investments in the sphere of woodworking, and the lagging in the sphere of harvesting forest resources. The author draws conclusions regarding the industry's decline in 1932-1933 and the disparity of its technical, economic and production potentials. It consisted in solving the problems of economic development by party-state and economic bodies, primarily by increasing the number of labor resources. Investment of financial resources in the construction of enterprises and the acquisition of equipment in 1932-1934 did not provide the planned increase in labor efficiency of workers.

Keywords: power of engines, business assets, forest industry, the first five-years periods, industrialization, Soviet Union, economic history, gross output, number of workers, production efficiency

Abstract: In this article, the author considers the attempts to financially integrate Finland into the sphere of influence of the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th - early 20th centuries, on the example of the monetary circulation in that region. The monetary issue was one of the main issues for both the Finnish society and the Russian government, which sought to reduce the autonomy already formed in the region. The preparation of the monetary reform was initiated several times over several decades, but it had never been realized. The author examines through the materials from the National Archives of Finland the process of interaction between the Russian government and the local governing bodies, in which each of the parties had their own interests in the issue of money circulation in Finland. The results of this interaction and the Russian government's degree of influence were studied using a statistical analysis of the exchange rate of the Russian Ruble and the Finnish Mark during the First World War. On the basis of the conducted research, the author concludes that the Finnish autonomization was enough to prevent with all its force the introduction of monetary reform. But, nevertheless, Finland at that time did not become independent to the extent that it could confidently distance itself from Russia, which was pursuing an intermittent and step-by-step, yet completely unidirectional course towards the financial integration of Finland into its sphere of influence.

Keywords: financial integration, autonomy, currency, monetary reform, Finland, the Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire, Economic History, exchange rate, statistical analysis

Abstract: The subject of this study is the impact of modernization processes on the development of entrepreneurship in the field of trade and industry in Belarus in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. The author reveals the main factors that led to the transformation of economic life in Belarusian provinces and characterizes how the Russian Empire government’s lawmaking affected the organization of private entrepreneurship and taxation. Additionally, the author reveals the particularities behind the legal regulation of land ownership and land-use by persons belonging to national minorities in Belarus. The article provides an analysis of the changes in transport infrastructure, the population structure of the Belarusian provinces and how they influenced the particularities of regional enterprise distribution. The author identifies the role of shared capital and monopoly associations in trade and industrial enterprise development in Belarus in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Consequently, the author comes to the conclusion that the influence of modernization processes on the territory of Belarus had caused changes in the forms and conditions of entrepreneurship realization, as well as in the structure and composition of entrepreneurs. This influence had also fostered the emergence of new production facilities and market institutions that supplemented the existing ones, rather than replace them. All this led to an increase in production output, the entrance into new markets and, as a result, an increase in trade turnover.

Keywords: joint-stock companies, trading houses, taxation, modernization, Belarus, history of entrepreneurship, transport infrastructure, industry, trade, credit

Abstract: The subject of this study is the monetary-loan policy of the Russian government in the second half of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. The object of this research is the assignation ruble. The author examines in detail the question of the termination of the free exchange of the assignation ruble for silver and copper coins. Particular attention is focused on the sources from the archive "Special Office of the Credit Branch of the Ministry of Finance". By all appearances, the article's author was the first to study some of the archive documents. In these sources, interesting data was uncovered concerning the correspondence of the Assignation Bank and promissory offices with the Ministry of Finance, which made it possible to draw conclusions regarding the date of the cessation of the assignation exchange. The study's main research method is the historical-genetic method of research and the inductive approach to problem examination. The identified data suggests the existence of the assignation exchange for coins at least before the start of the Napoleonic wars, and in the course of further research, the author hopes to clarify the date of the cessation of this exchange.

Keywords: Assignation Bank, inflation, silver money, Russia, paper money, russian ruble, Aassignation, issue, state credit, Cancrin

Abstract: In this article, the author examines from a regional perspective the credit operations of the State Bank of the Russian Empire in ten time sections of 5-year intervals during the period from 1868 to 1913. Lending was the bank's main function as a conventional commercial bank, as well as a developing central bank (credit regulation, operating as the bank of banks, and also lender of the last resort). The State Bank was the largest integrator of the banking market. The elements of the emerging two-tier financial system can be traced long before this bank assumed in 1897 the role of being the regulator of money circulation in Russia. The State Bank was the largest commercial bank in the country, but in terms of the number of loans issued it was always ceded to the system of joint-stock commercial banks. A significant number of State Bank loans were issued to the grain-producing areas of European Russia. The offices and branches of the State Bank were the reference points through which its resources, directly or through joint-stock commercial banks, were distributed throughout the country. The St. Petersburg and Moscow offices played an important role in this system. The cycles in the lending dynamics of the State Bank and joint-stock commercial banks did not coincide: the State Bank often increased lending when commercial banks reduced. This may indicate that the State Bank always had elements of being the lender of last resort in its operation.

Keywords: interest rates, lender of last resort, banking, integration of financial markets, historical information sciences, quantitative studies in history, lending, branch networks, State Bank of the Russian Empire, GIS

Abstract: The article presents the author's key results from studying the history of muskat breeding in the Chita region at the stage of its formation as the most important sector of the local commercial economy. Accordingly, the author examines the issues of zoning, surveying the territory of hunting grounds for the release of muskrat breeding material, expenses for acclimatization measures, hunting periods, labor organization of muskrat hunters, the quantitative composition of full-time and seasonal hunters, their equipment, and the quality of harvested fur. In carrying out the orders of the central management of hunting to increase the productivity of the hunting grounds and the final output of raw fur materials, the regional hunting structures sought to maximally populate with muskrats the reservoirs in the region and their further exploitation. However, this policy did not always reflect an understanding of the real situation in the districts, and poorly considered the factor of natural and climatic conditions. This is why in the 1930s - 1950s, muskat breeding in the hunting industry did not reach its main goal - the sector did not become autonomous, but rather developed in the context of the common frontiers of collective farms and industrial farms.

Keywords: labor organization, historical reacclimatization, fur, fur raw materials, muskrat breeding, procurement office, industrial farm, hunting industry, hunting periods, commercial exploitation

Abstract: The relevance of this study is derived from the fact that the commercial activity of the above-named river company in the eastern outskirts of the Russian state is poorly reflected in modern historical literature, which therefore does not fully depict the process of Russian society's industrialization. This article's subject is the transportation of cargo and passengers along the rivers of Western Siberia and the analysis of their quantitative and qualitative characteristics, which makes it possible to identify the main features of the organization behind the most profitable direction of the enterprises of river companies. The study's aim is to identify the structure and transport mechanism of the “Partnership of the West Siberian Shipping Company and Trade” on the rivers of the Ob-Irtysh basin. The research methods used by the author in this article are the statistical and problem-chronological methods, as well as the principles of scientific objectivity and historicism. The study's results are the following: the author's examination illustrates the development process of cargo transportation of Western Siberia's largest shipping company with the features of a capitalist enterprise, which can be used to study the formative process of capitalist elements in Siberia. The author's conclusions are: the dynamics of increasing or decreasing profits from transportation of the entrepreneurial company in the Ob-Irtysh basin highlights the signs of a capitalist organization in the “Partnership of West Siberian Shipping Company and Trade”: the main source of profits was freight transportation, the creation of a transportation structure for each route, the abandonment of low-income river routes, and the allocation of various types of vessels. For a successful economic development it was necessary to change not only the rules of transportation, but also the mechanism of the relations with partners and clients. The development process of river transportation demonstrates that a capitalist company is not only an economic enterprise but also a participant in the relationship between clients, customers, the state, partners and competitors.

Keywords: routes, shipping company, Business Company, contractual transportation, passengers, cargo, river transportation, water basin, industrial society, cargo transportation

Abstract: The subject of this study is the revelation of the historical prerequisites of the origin and development of entrepreneurship in Moscow. The article examines the factors that had influenced the emergence of trading places in Moscow. The author places particular attention on the undeservedly forgotten trade center in Moscow that was Trubnaya Ploshchad. The object of this study is the social and everyday aspects and the interactions with the authorities that affected the formation of trade in Moscow. The author examines in detail the evolution of trade on Trubnaya Ploshchad from Lubyanov Torg in the 17th century to the Central Market in the 21th century. The aim of this study is to identify the main historical prerequisites for the emergence of the Trubnaya Ploshchad and its major trends in trade development. The methodological basis of this research lies on general scientific methods: logical, induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, system; as well as on special historical methods of research: historical description, comparative-historical, problem-chronological, periodization, statistical, and others. The study's main conclusions are the author's assertion that Trubnaya Ploshchad is a historically established commercial and cultural center of Moscow. It had various retail outlets, the restaurant "Hermitage" was opened there, and the Central Market, opened in 1921, tied these places together. The author's special contribution to the research of this topic is his successful identification of sources previously unknown to a wide range of researchers. The novelty of this study consists in the author for the first time in historiography carrying out a comprehensive analysis of the named topic, which has been insufficiently examined in Moscow studies, that has made it possible to eliminate inaccuracies in the history of Moscow and Moscow entrepreneurship. The results of this study can be used to reveal the continuity between modern trade and its historical retrospective.

Keywords: bast, floral, avian, central, market, trade, entrepreneurship, bargain, Tube, area

Abstract: This study is dedicated to a source study analysis of the materials from the journal of the Russian Ministry of Finance: "the Vestnik of Finance, Industry and Trade". This journal is one of the main sources on a wide range of topics concerning the economic history of Russia in the period between 1883 - 1917. The materials published in "the Vestnik..." are characterized by a high level of analytics, due to its authors being prominent Russian economists of their time. The aim of this study is to examine the dynamics of the complex economic processes that took place in the revolutionary year of 1917 as reflected in the pages of the named journal. This article applies the methods of quantitative analysis to journal publications. In structuring the subject matter of the articles and messages, the journal's headings from the quarterly "Systematic Lists" are used, as well as the bibliographic database developed at the Novosibirsk State University. The author's quantitative analysis of the evolution of the topics raised in the journal demonstrates the value of "the Vestnik ..." as one of the most interesting sources in the study of the economic processes that took place in 1917. This article shows that the calculation of the distribution of the subject matter in analytical publications (articles and messages, without ads, announcements and statistical material) in general and by quarters provides the most reliable estimates of the structure and dynamics of the coverage of economic processes in the examined journal.

Keywords: economic processes, year of 1917, mass media, authors of articles, source analysis, quantitative methods, headings, thematic categories, dynamics, Vestnik of Finance

Abstract: The research subject of this article is the participation of two categories of rulers with the titles of Hou and Bo in the ritual gift exchange and collection of tribute in the state of the Shang-Yin. The author compares the data of synchronous sources (inscriptions on oracle bones) regarding taxes on the part of the hou and bo, and evaluates their quantitative ratio. Particular attention is focused on the group of inscriptions concerning the "taking" of bo (取伯), which are usually interpreted by Chinese researchers as pertaining to the levying of tribute from conquered leaders of peripheral polities. Unlike the majority of researchers, the author uses only those inscriptions that specifically refer to a certain hou or bo (where the title is indicated), which thus avoids inaccuracies in the analysis of data, since the interpretation of many oracle inscriptions is ambiguous. The article's main conclusions are that the inscriptions pertaining to the "taking of bo" recount the capture of Bo, and not to the collection of tribute, and therefore we have no reason to assert that the degree of economic exploitation of the bo was higher. A sufficiently large number of inscriptions on offerings from the hou permit us to affirm only that there existed more intensive links (not only economic, but also political and ritual) between the hou and the king, but not that there was an economic exploitation as such since the exchange of resources was two-sided.

Keywords: Chinese excavated texts, Shang dynasty, Yin dynasty, Chinese feudalism, Ancient China, tribute, oracle bone inscriptions, Chinese history, early state, bronze age China

Abstract: The subject of this study is the efforts of industrial enterprises in using various methods for intensifying the work of their labor collectives, which acquires a qualitatively different nature with the beginning of the Kosygin economic reform in 1965. During this period a lot of attention was focused on improving the personnel policy directly in production. On the basis of archival materials from the Sergo Ordzhonikidze Moscow Machine Tool Building Plant, the article examines the measures undertaken on improving the personnel potential in one of the leading plants of the Soviet machine tool building industry in the 1960–1970s. The author analyzes the concrete forms of educating the production personnel, as well as the material incentives for stimulating labor, used at this enterprise. Additionally, the author also analyzes the reasons for the gradual decrease in attempts to perfect the professional training and retraining of labor workers at the end of the 1970s – beginning of the 1980s. The specific-historical approach found its reflection in the problem analysis of the personnel policy model, developed at the Sergo Ordzhonikidze Moscow Machine Tool Building Plant. The scientific novelty of this research consists of its concretization of the system of working with labor personnel at industrial sites during the period of the Kosygin economic reform on the example of the famous machine tool building plant in Moscow. The study of specific historical materials allows to evaluate the real possibilities of plant administrations to introduce progressive options for stimulating industrial workers in increasing production results. Of particular scholarly interest is the interrelation dynamics between the specific plant and the industry management structures from the point of view of the latter’s assessment of the practical experience and specific developments on the spot of perfecting the whole system of training and retraining labor personnel in the machine tool building industry.

Keywords: machine tool building, personnel, material incentives, labor productivity, industry training, plant administration, skilled workers, social funds, economic reform, social history

Abstract: The subject of this research is the process of understanding the problem of labor efficiency in the Soviet industry in the 1920s as developed in the pages of specialized economic journals of that time. The issue of the New Economic Policy's crisis is considered in the article through the prism of the current analytical work of the leading economist of that period with regard to the main issues of industrial production – the growth of labor production and the role in this of wages and labor discipline. In addition, the author examines not only the analytical work of the economists-Trudoviks itself, but also the social-historical context that determined its horizon and depth. The article applies the methodology of the historiographical analysis with relation to the contradictory unification of the two sides of the object of this research: the development of social practices and its introspective reflection on the conceptual level. The main conclusions of the conducted research are the following theses. The works of A. M. Ginzburg, V. G. Groman, B. A. Gukhman, A. I. Rabinovich, S. G. Strumilin, A. B. Khalatov and others reflect the nodal questions concerning the issue of labor efficiency in the industry of that period. These are questions regarding the stimulating role of wages, he intensification of labor, the prospects of production rationalization, the establishment of labor discipline and others. The leading economists-Trudoviks of that time were clearly aware of the structural limits for the radical growth of labor productivity: technical, institutional and historical. Of course, with such an outlook the prospects of labor efficiency were becoming more grounded, which could not arrange the higher political leadership under the conditions of the folding of the New Economic Policy. From then on it was necessary to follow a clear strategic line founded on unconditional political loyalty, but these requirements could not be met by many of the authors writing for journal periodicals in the 1920s.

Keywords: New Economic Policy, labour productivity, production rationalization, wage scale, labor discipline, economists-Trudoviks, wartime rationing, scientific labor management, wages, journal periodicals

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the publications in the journal «the Herald of Europe» regarding the financial policy of Russia undertaken by the ministry of N. K. Bunge. The aim of this study is to reveal the perception of the liberal publication on the activity of the ministry of finances during the period of the second half of the 1880s. The author analyzes separate articles on this specific topic, as well as publications from the permanent sections "From the social chronicle" and "Internal review". In the indicated period this journal occupied one of the leading positons in the social movement in Russia, including in its liberal wing. In writing this article the author used the following scientific methods: historical-comparative, descriptive, historicism. The methodological basis of this article is the publications of V. A. Kitaev, A. A. Alafaev, V. L. Stepanov. The author comes to the conclusion that the liberals were far from idealizing the activity of the above-mentioned politician, criticizing the events concerning the drinking issue and the stabilization of the national currency, and protectionist measures. However, the publicists of «the Herald of Europe» were very impressed by Bunge's desire to strengthen the state's participation in the country’s social and economic sphere. Carrying out the idea of the authorities' responsibility in the field of finances and economy, «the Herald of Europe» departed from classical liberalism towards its social invariant. The study's novelty lies in that it conducts for the first time an analysis of relations of one of the leaders of liberalism in Russia in the second half of the 19th century to the liberally-minded politician N. K. Bunge. The examination of this issue, undoubtedly, will enrich our understanding of the nature of the relationship between the authorities and society during the last quarter of the 19th century and the nature of liberalism in Russia. The article is aimed for the community of scholars on the history of public though in Russia.

Keywords: power, Bunge, finances, history, history of Russia, budget deficit, Arseniev, Stasyulevich, opposition, liberalism

Abstract: The subject of this research is the monastic economy. The article examines on a micro level, on the example of one monastery in the Moscow region – the Voznesenskaya Davidova Poustinia, the development of the monastic economy during more than four centuries. The research object of this article is the description of the key aspects of the economic activity of the named monastery, more precisely: agriculture, cattle breeding, as well as those spheres that were dictated by the new economic conditions, for example, obtaining income from capital, such as through investments in Russian banks and renting out houses belonging to the monastery, and others. This study is based on archival material, found by the author in two archives, which concern the economic activity of the monastery: in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and in the Central State Archives of Moscow. Through the method of historical reconstruction, the article examines the economic activity of the monks and priors of the Voznesenskaya Davidova Poustinia from 1515 to 1917, that is, for more than four centuries. Today there are scientific studies on the activity of Russian monasteries that describe the economy in general. In this article, however, the author turns to the micro level and on the example of one monastery in the Moscow region, the Voznesenskaya Davidova Poustinia, analyzed the development of the monastic economy, specifically, its formation. The main conclusions of this study are: having investigated the example of one monastery in the Moscow region (the Voznesenskaya Davidova Poustinia) the history of the formation of the monastic economy, and having traced the economic, trade and financial activity of the monastery from the 16th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the author shows that beginning with state grants the monastery became a rich, self-sufficient religious structure, where they competently combined monastic toil with the work of hired workers and where existed the right balance between various forms of economy and economic possibilities of the Russian Empire (placing capital in Russian banks, renting out their property, etc.). These forms of monastic income are considered by the author to be directly tied to the entrepreneurial activity of the Russian Orthodox churches.

Keywords: Voznesenskaya Davidova Poustinia, Orthodoxy, peasants, brick factory, mill, monks, bank, Russia, economy, monastery

Abstract: The relevance of this research lies in the fact that modern historical literature practically does not discuss the topic of the formation and replenishing of the river fleet of business companies, which is reflected in the unilateral approach of analyzing the activity of capitalists’ associations. The subject of this research is the steam fleet and its qualitative characteristics, which were the foundation for the "Comradeship of the West-Siberian Steamship and Trade" to have the leading position in carrying out river transportation from 1898 to 1917. The article's aim is to highlight the specifics of the process of "acquiring" steamships by the river association with the consideration of the technical and qualitative characteristics. The study focuses on the characteristics of the steam fleet, the dynamics of its numbers, reflecting the general trends in the development of steam transport in Russia. The research is based on the chronological approach and the analytical method, as well as the principles of scientific objectivity and historicism. The study's results can be used in the field of studying the economic history of the outskirt territories of the Russian state. The novelty of this study is that it introduces for the first time to scientific the use unpublished sources on the history of the largest shipping company, Ob-Irtysh Water Basin. The particular contribution of the author to the development of the named topic is the indication of the question of the formation of the river boat part of the "Comradeship pf the West-Siberian Steamship and Trade" in view of their technical characteristics. During the research process, the author discovered that the shareholders in the course of their activities focused not on the acquisition of the newest types of steamboats, but on the repair and reconstruction of old ships, which was cheaper.

Keywords: steamer, river fleet, Ob-Irtysh Water Basin, steam boiler, chassis, steam engine, capacity, power, river, shareholder

Abstract: The subject of this article is the mobilization experience of Tula's military industry in the years preceding the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The article traces how under the conditions of an exacerbated worker deficit, following the repression of 1937, the military factories in the city of Tula solved the key question of the time – the preparation for the upcoming war with Fascist Germany. In particular, the author analyzes in detail the experience of conducting such important pre-wartime campaigns as the urgent technological upgrade of production, the reevaluation towards the increase of the production norms, the introduction of criminal responsibility for violating labor discipline, and the solution to the problems of labor deficit through the means of moving multi-machinists and combining professions. Based on the methodology of social history, as well as the provisions of the theory of modernization, the author for the first time examines the work of the Tula military factories during the cited period, in a complex manner and in a single topic field. The article's author comes to the conclusion that despite the serious social-economic difficulties, in the years of the third five-year plan in the Tula military factories as a whole worked capable collectives, which were able to modernize the military production and to execute intensive government assignments. In the first place, a significant part of the labor collectives at military factories in Tula were composed of experienced highly qualified workers. Secondly, the administration of these enterprises during the years of the first five-year plans accumulated not only a unique experience of remolding "raw" masses into qualified labor force, but also the experience of non-standard solution to technical problems. And thirdly, it is impossible not to consider the mobilizational charge of the growing military threat that stood against the growth of deviating behavior at the guild level. The research results can be used in preparing specialists in the field of management in the context of understanding the phenomenon of national economy through the lens of social practices, specifically, management experience under critical conditions.

Keywords: Tula Mechanical Engineer Factory, Tula Cartridge Factory, Tula Weapons Factory, labor discipline, third five-year plan, Stakhanovite Movement, Tokarev Self-loading Rifle, rationing, multi-machinist movement, military industry

Abstract: The subject of this research is the detection of the historical regularity in the origin and development of the cooperative movement in Russia during the second half of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. The author investigates the secondary aspects and factors that in one way or another influenced the appearance and development of cooperative bread-making in the structures of the cooperative organizations in Russia during the studied period. The research object can be considered to be, above all, the legal and social aspects, the interaction between authorities, cooperative organizations, their direction, members, as well as the statistics of bread-making. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the financial and social mechanisms of the internal cooperative interaction, and the competitive struggle of cooperative bread-making with private entrepreneurs. A comparative analysis is presented between bread-making in various forms and types of cooperations. The aim of this study is to reveal the main historical preconditions in the origin and the main development tendencies of cooperative bread-making. The study’s methodological base consists of general scientific principles and also main historical research methods. Within the framework of the former the use of the systematic and dialectical approaches is particularly important. Along with the indicated methods, the author also uses the problematic, chronological, analytical, historical-statistical and comparative methods applied to the cooperative movement in post-reform Russia. The main conclusions of the conducted research are the author’s assertions that cooperative bread-making in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century clearly yielded to that of the private producers. It was a peculiar response to the consumer cooperation of industrial workers, philistines, clerks, pensioners and the poor strata of the population on their social position and desire under all circumstances to have cheap and quality bread in their regular diet. Cooperative bread-making did not have a particular influence on the economic and technological aspects of the bread-making industry’s development in Russia. The author’s particular contribution to the study of this topic is based on the fact that for the first time in historiography a complete historical analysis of the named topic is given for the indicated period. The work’s novelty consists in the formulation by the author of a new methodological approach to the examined topic: from elucidating the first attempts at organizing cooperative bread-making in the 1860s to the elaboration of a regular system for bread-making in the cooperative organization at the beginning of the 20th century.  

Keywords: bakery, bread-making, private bread-making, union of bread-makers, consumer societies, bread baking, working consumers, consumer cooperation, production, cooperative bread-making

Abstract: The process of opening the State Bank of Russia and private Russian banks branches in the Grand Duchy of Finland in the early 20th century represented one of the most important steps to financial integration of an almost autonomous region into the Russian Empire. This process experienced some troubles and problems related to the Finnish opposition and complicated domestic situation in Russia. It had not shown any results because of the start of the First World War. However, to some extent, it managed to unlock its potential. This research has become possible with the help of office archives of Governor-General and stats-secretariat of the Grand Duchy of Finland. Their thorough examination allowed the uncovering of factors, main steps and results of Russian Bank operations in Finland. In addition to the fact that this article is the first to introduce some of the sources, it can also give an indepth understanding of complex relations between the Russian government and the Grand Duchy. The study of an attempt to financially rather than forcefully integrate periphery, that was moving further and further away in cultural and economic terms, is extremely important for contextualizing and redefining the already existing ideas of core actions towards newly annexed territories in the pre-revolutionary time.

Keywords: Russian-Finnish relations, economic history, State Secretary, State Bank of Russian Empire, integration, finance, Grand Duchy of Finland, branches of the State Bank, the private Russian banks, national outlying districts of the Empire

Abstract: This article is focused on the study of the young population’s participation in the economic life of Soviet Belarus in 1921–1939, as well as on the analysis of the role of the republican Komsomol organisation in mobilising young people to actively integrate into the socialist system of economy. The author examines in detail the documents of the central and local Komsomol authorities of Belarus that shed light on this subject. For this study the author systematised the information stored in the relevant funds of the National Archive of the Republic of Belarus. The author presents his conclusions pertaining to the particularities of the young workers’ participation in the processes taking place in the Republic’s economy and in the country in general during the pre-War period, and of their attitudes towards campaigns undertaken by the republican Komsomol in this sphere. The methodological base of the conducted research is the principles of historicism and objectivity, a systematic examination of facts and phenomena, and a comparative analysis. The article underlines that the republican Komsomol had played a significant role in organising the young population for its participation in the economic reforms within the BSSR and the USSR. However, the question of mobilising new young workers by the authorities of the Belarus Komsomol was not formulated immediately, but only starting from the middle of the 1920s. But towards the beginning of the 1930s the Republic’s scope of the Komsomol and of the young working population increased due to the socialist competition. The young population actively participated in developing the industry, agriculture, and transportation of the Soviet Belarus, worked on building industrial facilities in the BSSR and in pan-Union constructions. Additionally, the author also notes the limitations of the Belarus Komsomol’s work in this direction during the pre-War period.

Keywords: komsomol, politika, ekonomika, vosstanovlenie narodnogo khozyaistva, transport, udarnichestvo, sotsialistichekoe sorevnovanie

Abstract: This article examines the formation process of entrepreneurial structures in Western Siberian butter production – a region where this food industry sector started developing only in the 1890s, but then rapidly expanded at the beginning of the XXth century, so as to compare in volume to the butter production in the Vologda region, and even to surpass it. The author shows the significant role played by the butter-making cooperatives in the Siberian butter production, and the aims of the conventions of butter manufacturers and butter exporters in Siberian butter sales and exports. The research is based on the methods of comparative and typological analysis, primary statistical processing, and the visualization of tabular data. However, the author does not yet attempt a detail look into the activity of the conventions of the Union of Siberian butter-making cooperatives. Particular attention is given to the Union’s displacement of foreign firms – exporters of Siberian butter, the formation of larger butter-making cooperatives – producers of butter, and their negotiations of interests on a contractual basis. The institutionalization of this process began during the years of Stolypin’s reforms. The author demonstrates how the development of large cooperative production, the creation of the Union of Siberian butter-making cooperatives, the activity of the conventions of butter exporters and producers of the dairy industry, all contributed to the balancing of interests of thousands of cooperatives, butter-making factories, to the raised level of production quality, and to the increased coordination role of this cooperative organization, especially in the sphere of distribution of the Siberian butter-makers products to the main markets of consumption.

Keywords: Western Siberia, butter production, cooperatives, Union butter-making cooperatives, Convention of butter exporters, A. N. Balakshin, cooperative butter-making association, Av. A. Kalantar, cooperative stores, V. O. Sokulsky.

Abstract: The article analyzes the results in the development of landownership and farming of one of the oldest Nyzhegorodsky monasteries, from its economic description of 1701–1702 recorded by stolnik P. B. Velyaminov during the Russia-wide census of monastic properties. This census was instigated after the transfer of monastic property governance to the established Monastic Department (Monastyrski Prikaz). The use of such sources requires close attention to the historical context of their creation: the description itself, of course, does not yet imply the secularization of church-monastery possessions and properties, but it did later become the premise and the instrument of this process. This research shows that the description fully covers the Nyzhegorodsky part of the Amvrosiev Dudin Monastery estates, without any deliberate falsification. Thus it has been possible to trace the changes of the settlement patterns on these monastic properties in the period between the “dozor” (emergency description) of Vasily Borisov and Tretyak Obraztsov (1587/1588 г.), the cadastral books of the 1620s and the anagraph from the beginning of the 18th century. The author describes the main branches of the monastery’s farming activity on the eve of the first secularization attempt by Peter I. Particular attention is devoted to the rent relations within the village of the monastery, to the role of the peasant community as a crucial component in the votchina system of management, and to the mechanism of upholding the taxability of the monastery’s peasants. The author views the census lists of the Dudin Monastery not only as a source documenting an evolution stage of a particular estate economy, but also as a significant contribution to the 1701–1702 “information section”, which allows to make an accurate data comparison with a number of other ecclesiastical corporations. The applied aspect of this comprehensive regional analysis has allowed to confirm the study results on the quantitative dynamics of the dependent population in monastery estates on the territory of the Nyzhegorodskyi province, and supports the comparisons with the development tendencies of other monastic domains in the period between the cadastral books of the 1620s and the description of the beginning of the 18th century.

Keywords: church-monastery corporation, monastery, community, peasants, farming, estate, landownership, history, Amvrosiev Dudin monastery, Nyzhegorodskyi district.

Abstract: This article analyzes the evolution of exchange rate in securities by the largest oil firm in pre-revolutionary Russia—the Nobel Brothers Petroleum Production Company—at the beginning of the 20th century. The company had huge significance for the petroleum branch; its history represents its independent interest and is indicative of the petroleum sector on the whole. The purpose of the article is to investigate the influence of fundamental economic factors and political events (such as the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 and the First Russian Revolution of 1905–1907) on stock market behavior (through the example of petroleum values). It gives brief characterization of the activities of the company in the context of processes that occurred at the beginning of the 20th century in the petroleum branch. Through the use of data on the dynamics of stock prices, profits of the business, and dynamics of the index of industrial production, regression models are constructed that have different explanatory power. Statistical analysis confirmed the connection of the dynamics of the company’s shares prices with exogenous factors (especially profit).

Keywords: history, Nobel Brothers Company, statistical methods, balances, regression analysis, dynamics of stock shares, securities prices, economic factors, St. Petersburg Stock Exchange, petroleum industry, Nobel Brothers Company.

Abstract: The article describes the main measures that were used for stimulation of the labour of textile workers in the first decade of the Soviet regime. The methodology of the study is based on a versatile approach, developed by researchers at the International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam); it has been repeatedly and successfully applied in Western and Russian studies. In accordance with this approach, the classification of the worker labour intensives includes three categories: 1) the remuneration (salary, bonuses, benefits and various forms of social security, etc.), 2) coercion (monetary, administrative, including criminal liability), 3) motivation (related to employee awareness of the importance and usefulness of the work, patriotism, pride results etc.). In this paper, we review a second category of incentives that relies on coercion and involves the use of various forms of punishment (or the threat of punishment) to maintain the proper level of discipline and productivity. The study is based mainly on documents from the central and regional archives, which allowed us to combine the principles of micro-and macroexamination. The objects of the microanalysis were individual large textile factories. The real work practices that reflect the mechanisms for motivating textile workers were studied on the basis of the comprehensive documentation of the archives of the industrial factories. The study of processes at micro level (case studies) was conducted taking into the account the nature of the processes taking place in the Soviet industry as a whole.

Keywords: history, economic history, Soviet Russia, War Communism, NEP, stimulation of labor, the textile industry, enforcement, labor discipline, codisciplinary courts, the system of penalties.

Abstract: the Volzhskiy water transport basin is a paramount transport and economic system which affected the development of several branches of industry and agriculture, as well as the placement of industrial and social sites. Freight transport across Volga and its many confluents (Kama, Sura, Oka, etc.) have essentially formed an “industrial orbit” consisting of vast territories and massive human reserves, presenting perfect conditions for production of goods and development of foreign trade, as well as reinforcing and stimulating communication. The functioning of Volzhskiy water transport basin during the second half of XIXth and the beginning of XXth century has affected the economical development of the European part of Russia.

Keywords: history, Volzhskiy water transport basin, Volga shipping, water transport, freight transport, transport-stimulating territories, composition of traffic, wharfs, freight transport and economic connections, railways.

Abstract: the article is based on the monographic researches and covers the topic of tax reform in Russia during the reign of Alexander II. The author gives characteristics of the personality of the Finance Minister Reitern M. Kh. and evaluates his activities in the tax sphere. The author considers the changes in the system of indirect taxation, in the areas of production and sale of alcoholic beverages in particular. The article analyzes the changes in direct taxation in the trade and crafts and their results. Special attention is given to the taxation of peasants, including redemption payments (as a consequence of liberation from bondage and the additional tax burden for them). The author shows the examples of township chiefs’ excessive use of their official position, and how they often appropriate taxes to themselves while widely using the arsenal of measures proved to them by the law to compel peasants to timely payment of fees.

Keywords: history, reform, taxation, Alexander II, Reutern M.Kh., tax, lease, taxes, payments, estreats.

Abstract: the article is devoted to the history of passenger and cargo shipping on Oka river in the XIX – beginning of the XX centuries. Author gives information about main Oka ship owners, shipping associations and companies, working on the Oka, Moscowriver, Klyazma, briefly describes shipbuilding organizations, merchants owning ships, who played significant role in the development of Oka shipping.

Keywords: history, river navigation, Oka, Moscow-river, Klyazma, ships, ship owners, merchants, business, shipbuilding.

Abstract: the article views the employment relationship in the Soviet industry at the eve of the Great Patriotic War, that is in the situation, when the military mobilization problems had to be solved. The article analyzes the building of controlling system, based on repressions (including subjective aspects associated with the personality of I.V. Stalin and his confidants), notes that the power management model supplemented with appeals to duty and Soviet patriotism, played the role in military preparations of the USSR, and during the war turned into a powerful factor in resistance to aggressions.

Keywords: history, Russian history, social and economical history, employment relationships in industry, military industry, mobilization in industry, employment history, state labor reserves, socialist competition, labor and technological discipline

Abstract: The article is devoted to the history of Morozov’s Bogorodsk-Glukhovsk manufactory, which is near Bogorodsk (Noginsk). Seventy years of business activity of this largest cotton factory in Russia won an international recognition as the Moscow Manchester manfactory allows us to trace the circumstances of forming of the largest center of cotton production around Moscow and, broadly speaking, the peculiarities of the industrial modernization of Central Russia.

Keywords: History, Morozovs, cotton production, entrepreneurship, Glukhovo, Bogorodsk, Manchester, manufacture, Old Believers, modernization.

Abstract: the article is devoted to the history of relations of agricultural intelligentzia and the state during the years of Stolypin’s agrarian reform.

Keywords: History, Stolypin, intelligentzia, agrarian reform, peasants, state, district council, agronomists, nobility.