National Research University Higher School of Economics

Forbes magazine has been publishing its famous "richest lists" since 1918 - but it would be interesting to look at such a list from 1818 or even 1618.

There is no doubt: Russians would occupy a prominent place in it. Conquest of Siberia, victory in Northern War, beef Stroganoff, tea with honey and the Tretyakov Gallery - at the expense of Russian oligarchs of the distant past.

1. Stroganov, Anika Fedorovich

Place and time: Northern Urals, 16th century

How he got rich: salt production and supply

...Somehow, at the end of the 15th century, the Novgorod merchant Fyodor Stroganov settled on Vychegda near Veliky Ustyug, and his son Anika opened a saltworks there in 1515. In those days, salt, or rather brine, was pumped from wells like oil and evaporated in huge frying pans - menial work, but necessary. By 1558, Anika had succeeded so much that Ivan the Terrible gave him huge lands on the Kama River, where Russia’s first industrial giant, Solikamsk, was already thriving. Anika became richer than the tsar himself, and when his possessions were plundered by the Tatars, he decided not to stand on ceremony: he summoned the fiercest thugs and the most dashing ataman from the Volga, armed him and sent him to Siberia to sort things out. The ataman’s name was Ermak, and when the news of his campaign reached the tsar, who did not want a new war at all, it was no longer possible to stop the conquest of Siberia. Even after Anika, the Stroganovs remained the richest people in Russia, sort of aristocrats from industry, owners of industries, guest houses, trade routes... In the 18th century they received the nobility. The Stroganov barons' hobby was finding talent among their serfs: one of these “finds” was Andrei Voronikhin, who studied in St. Petersburg and built the Kazan Cathedral there. Sergei Stroganov opened an art school in 1825, where even peasant children were accepted - and who now does not know “Stroganovka”? In the 17th century, the Stroganovs created their own icon painting style, and in the 18th century, an architectural style, in which only 6 churches were built, but they cannot be confused with anything. And even “beefstraganoff” is called that for a reason: one of the Stroganovs served this dish to guests in his Odessa salon.

1. - All of Siberia.


2. - Architectural ensembles of Usolye and Ilyinsky (Perm region) - the “capitals” of the Stroganov Empire.


3. - Churches in the “Stroganov Baroque” style in Solvychegodsk, Ustyuzhna, Nizhny Novgorod, Trinity-Sergius Lavra.


4. - Icons of the “Stroganov school” in many churches and museums.


5. - Stroganov Palace and Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospekt.


6. - Moscow State Art and Industry Academy named after. S.G. Stroganov.


7. - Beef Stroganoff is one of the most popular dishes of Russian cuisine.

2. Demidovs, Nikita Demidovich and Akinfiy Nikitich

Ill. Demidov Nikita Demidovich

Place and time: Tula and the Middle Urals, XVIII century

How they got rich: ferrous metallurgy

At the end of the 17th century, Peter I often visited Tula - after all, he was going to fight with invincible Sweden, and weapons were made in Tula. There he became friends with the gunsmith Nikita Demidych Antufiev, appointed him chief of metals and sent him to the Urals, where Nikita founded the Nevyansk plant in 1701. Sweden then produced almost half of the metal in Europe - and Russia began to produce even more by the 1720s. Dozens of factories grew up in the Urals, the largest and most modern in the world at that time, other merchants and the state came there, and Nikita received the nobility and the surname Demidov. His son Akinfiy succeeded even more, and throughout the 18th century Russia remained the world leader in iron production and, accordingly, had the strongest army. Serfs worked in the Ural factories, machines were powered by water wheels, and metal was exported along rivers. Some of the Demidovs joined the classical aristocracy: for example, Grigory Demidov established the first botanical garden in Russia in Solikamsk, and Nikolai Demidov also became the Italian Count of San Donato.

What Russia has left as a legacy:

1. - Victory in the Northern War, St. Petersburg and the Baltic Sea.


2. - Gornozavodskoy Ural is the main industrial region of the USSR and Russia.


3. - Rudny Altai is the main supplier of silver in the Russian Empire, the “ancestor” of the coal Kuzbass.


4. - Nevyansk is the “capital” of the Demidov Empire. For the first time in the world, the Nevyansk Inclined Tower used reinforcement, a lightning rod and a truss roof.


5. - Nizhny Tagil has been an industrial giant for all three hundred years of its history, where the Cherepanov brothers built the first Russian steam locomotive.


6. - St. Nicholas-Zaretskaya Church in Tula is the family necropolis of the Demidovs.


7. - The Botanical Garden in Solikamsk is the first in Russia, created according to the consultations of Carl Linnaeus.

3. Perlov, Vasily Alekseevich

How he got rich: tea import

Why do they say “tea” in Russian, and “ti” in English? The British entered China from the south, and the Russians from the north, and so the pronunciation of the same hieroglyph differed at different ends of the Celestial Empire. In addition to the Great Silk Road, there was also the Great Tea Road, which since the 17th century ran through Siberia, after the border Kyakhta, coinciding with the Siberian Highway. And it is no coincidence that Kyakhta was once called the “city of millionaires” - the tea trade was very profitable, and despite the high cost, tea was loved in Russia even before Peter I. Many merchants got rich from the tea trade - such as the Gribushins in Kungur. But the Moscow merchants Perlovs took the tea business to a completely different level: the founder of the dynasty, tradesman Ivan Mikhailovich, joined the merchant guild in 1797, his son Alexey opened the first tea shop in 1807, and finally in the 1860s Vasily Perlov founded the Tea Trade Association, growing into a real empire. He had dozens of stores throughout the country, he built the famous Tea House on Myasnitskaya, but most importantly, he established imports by sea and caught on in time railways, he made tea accessible to all segments of the population, including peasants.

What Russia has left as a legacy:

1. - Tea culture, which has become an integral part of Russian everyday life.


2. - As a result - Russian samovar and Russian porcelain.


3. - The Tea House on Myasnitskaya is one of the most beautiful buildings in Moscow.

4. Putilov, Nikolai Ivanovich

Place and time: St. Petersburg, XIX century

How he got rich: metallurgy and heavy engineering

Just as without the Hermitage and Isaac, St. Petersburg cannot be imagined without the Putilov (Kirov) plant. The largest plant in the Russian Empire. It all started with the fact that during the Crimean War, the talented engineer Nikolai Putilov was introduced to Nicholas I and received from him an almost impossible order: to build a fleet of screw steamships at the St. Petersburg shipyards for the next navigation. Russia did not have such ships at that time, and the only possible “teacher” - Britain - smashed Russia to smithereens in Crimea. But Putilov performed a miracle worse than the Soviet atomic bomb: when the ice melted in the Baltic, Russia already had 64 gunboats and 14 corvettes. After the war, the engineer went into business, modernized several factories in Finland and St. Petersburg, and in 1868 founded his own factory on the outskirts of the capital. He brought Russian metallurgy to a different level, reducing imports of steel, alloys, rails and heavy machinery significantly. His factory built machine tools, ships, guns, locomotives, and carriages. His last project was the new St. Petersburg port on Gutuevsky Island, which he did not live to see completed.

What Russia has left as a legacy:

1. - Kirov Plant and Northern Shipyard in St. Petersburg.


2. - Petersburg Sea port in its current form.

5. Tretyakov, Pavel Mikhailovich

Place and time: Moscow, XIX century

How he got rich: textile industry

Everyone knows this story from school curriculum: a wealthy Moscow merchant with an unhappy family history collected Russian art, which was of little interest to anyone in those days, and he amassed such a collection that he built his own gallery. Well, the Tretyakov Gallery is perhaps the most famous Russian museum now. In the Moscow province of the 19th century, a special breed of rich people developed: all as a selection - from old merchants, or even rich peasants; half are Old Believers; all owned textile factories; many were philanthropists, and no less famous here are Savva Mamontov with his creative evenings in Abramtsevo, the Morozov dynasty, another collector of paintings (though not Russian) Sergei Shchukin and others... Most likely, the fact is that they came to high society straight from people.

What Russia has left as a legacy:

1. - Tretyakov Gallery.


2. - Numerous ancient factories in Moscow and the Moscow region.

6. Nobels, Ludwig Emmanuilovich, Robert Emmanuilovich and Alfred Emmanuilovich

Ill. Nobel Ludwig Emmanuilovich

Place and time: Baku, XIX century

How they got rich: explosives production, oil production

The Nobels are not entirely “Russian” characters: this family came to St. Petersburg from Sweden. But they changed Russia, and through it the whole world: after all, oil became the Nobels’ main business. People knew about oil for a long time, they extracted it in wells, but they didn’t really know what to do with this nasty thing and burned it in ovens like firewood. The flywheel of the oil era began to gain momentum in the 19th century - in America, in Austrian Galicia and in the Russian Caucasus: for example, in 1823, the world's first oil refinery was built in Mozdok, and in 1847, the world's first well was drilled near Baku. The Nobels, who became rich in the production of weapons and explosives, came to Baku in 1873 - then Baku industries lagged behind Austrian and American ones due to their inaccessibility. In order to compete with the Americans on equal terms, the Nobels had to optimize the process as much as possible, and in Baku in 1877-78, one after another, the attributes of modernity began to appear for the first time in the world: the tanker “Zaroaster” (1877), an oil pipeline and oil storage facility (1878), the motor ship “Vandal” "(1902). The Nobel oil refineries produced so much kerosene that it became a consumer product. A gift from heaven for the Nobels was the invention of the German diesel engine, the mass production of which they established in St. Petersburg. "Branobel" ("Nobel Brothers Petroleum Production Partnership") was not much different from oil companies modernity and brought the world into a new - oil - era. Alfred Nobel was tormented by his conscience for the invention of dynamite in 1868, and he bequeathed his grandiose fortune as a fund for the “Peace Prize,” which is awarded in Stockholm every year to this day.

What is left as a legacy for Russia and the world:

1. - The oil era with all its pros, cons and features


2. - Pipelines, oil storage tanks, tankers.


3. - Motor ships and diesel-electric ships.


4. - Industrial (not consumer) thermal power engineering.


5. - Dynamite (invention of Alfred Nobel, 1868)


6. - Nobel Prize- She owes 12% of her capital to Branobel

7. Vtorovs, Alexander Fedorovich and Nikolai Alexandrovich

Ill. Vtorov Nikolay Alexandrovich

Place and time: Siberia, turn of the 19th-20th centuries

How they got rich: services sector

...In 1862, the Kostroma man Vtorov came to merchant Irkutsk, and almost immediately suddenly acquired good capital: some say he married successfully, others say he robbed someone or beat someone at cards. With this money, he opened a store and began supplying manufactured goods from the Nizhny Novgorod Fair to Irkutsk. There was no sign that this would become the largest fortune in the world. Tsarist Russia- about 660 million dollars at the current exchange rate by the beginning of the 1910s. But Vtorov created such an attribute of modernity as a chain supermarket: under the general brand “Vtorov’s Passage”, huge, equipped last word equipment stores with a single device, assortment and prices. The next step is the creation of a network of “Europe” hotels, again made to a single standard. After thinking a little more, Vtorov decided to promote the business in the outback - and now the project for a store with an inn for villages is ready. From trade, Vtorov moved to industry, founding a plant in the Moscow region with the futuristic name “Electrostal” and buying up metallurgical and chemical plants almost in bulk. And his son Nikolai, who founded the first business center in Russia (Business Dvor), most likely would have increased his father’s capital... but a revolution happened. The richest man in Russia was shot dead by an unknown assailant in his office, and his funeral was personally blessed by Lenin as “the last meeting of the bourgeoisie.”

What Russia has left as a legacy:

1. - Supermarkets, business centers and chain establishments.


2. - Dozens of “Vtorov’s passages”, which in many cities are the most beautiful buildings.


3. - Business yard on Kitai-Gorod.

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SAMARA STATE ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY

Syzran branch

Extramural studies

Specialty Finance and Credit

Test No. 1 Option 19

In the discipline History of Entrepreneurship

On the topic Merchants in the second half of the 18th century

Sedova Olesya Nikolaevna

Course 1 group 107.

Syzran

During the 18th century era

Merchants and the economy in the second half of the 18th century

Stavropol merchants

Siberian merchants

Irkutsk merchants

Conclusion

Bibliography

History of the emergence of merchants

Trade intermediaries appear during the period of decomposition of primitive communal relations, but a necessary element social structure merchants become only in a class society, developing with the growth of the social division of labor and exchange and in the process of development breaking up into various property groupings: at one pole there are rich merchants, representing trading capital, at the other - small traders.

In Ancient Rus', two terms were used - “merchant” (a city dweller engaged in trade) and “guest” (a merchant trading with other cities and countries). The term "merchant" appears in the 13th century. The first mention of merchants in Kievan Rus dates back to the 10th century. In the 12th century, the first merchant corporations arose in the largest economic centers. The process of growth of the merchant class was interrupted by the Mongol-Tatar invasion and resumed in North-Eastern Rus' at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries. The development of cities and the numerical growth of the merchant class led to the identification of the richest and most influential groups of merchant guests in Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, Vologda, etc. At this time, as before, the accumulation of merchant capital occurred mainly in the external sphere trade.

So what is the merchant class and who are the merchants?

The merchant class is a special social stratum engaged in trade under the rule of private property. The merchant purchases goods not for his own consumption, but for subsequent sale for the purpose of making a profit, i.e. acts as an intermediary between producer and consumer (or between producers of different types of goods). The merchant class is an organized force. They manage almost all trade processes in the city, jointly seek benefits and privileges from the municipality, and by all appearances try to show that they are the main ones in the city. They pay basic taxes, they run the economy, they can even field a small militia if necessary. In the end, the main cash flows are in their hands, and the state is increasingly dependent on them. In the future, they will assimilate the nobility, turning it into the bourgeoisie, but for now this process is only at the very beginning.

They have an image. It is extremely important for them to have good name and reliable connections, their entire existence rests on this. They are of little interest in their ancestors; the reliability of their investments is more important to them. It is important for them to maintain their brand - at least externally. It is very important to them how they look when they go out to church - how they are dressed, how many servants, relatives and supporters they have. Based on these outputs, conclusions will be drawn about their well-being, and these conclusions should be positive.

They attend all major services and try to occupy the most honorable places in the cathedral. The main donations to the cathedral come from them, which can be verified by the inscriptions on the donated items.

Like all people, they are susceptible to accidents and illnesses, and, as a rule, are treated anywhere, depending on income level and personal preference.

They sign contracts and conclude transactions - on paper, in front of a notary, with all the required seals. They respect paper and take it very seriously, unlike other classes of society. Concluding an agreement is a long and beautiful process.

They are the bourgeoisie, and bourgeois culture is emerging in their midst. They are very sensitive to such things as furniture, interior, costume and food. Among them, it is gradually becoming fashionable to hang still lifes in the living room. They don’t wipe their hands on the tablecloth or throw bones on the floor. They do not keep hunting dogs or falcons, and generally do not respect entertainment. Their time is valuable.

Persons of merchant rank were addressed as “Your rank.”

During the 18th century era

Briefly the state of trade in Russia in the 18th century N.M. Karamzin described it as follows: “Trade at that time was in a flourishing state. They brought us silver bullion, cloth, rolled gold, copper, mirrors, knives, needles, wallets, wines from Europe; silk fabrics, brocades, carpets, pearls from Asia , precious stones; furs, leather, wax were exported from us to German soil; furs and walrus tusks were exported to Lithuania and Turkey; saddles, bridles, linens, cloth, clothing, skins were exported to Tataria in exchange for Asian horses. Weapons and iron were not produced from Russia. Polish and Lithuanian merchants traveled to Moscow; Danish, Swedish and German merchants traded in Novgorod; Asian and Turkish merchants on Mologa, where the Serf town formerly existed, and where there was then one church. This fair was still famous for its noble exchange. Foreigners were obliged to show his goods in Moscow to the Grand Duke: he chose for himself.

The way of life and way of life of the merchants was largely determined since the 18th century by legislative acts that established a number of external differences and typical features of a number of representatives of the merchant class.

The prologue in this direction was the “City Regulations” of 1785, which gave rise to the concept of a “merchant society”, headed by elders and defining its rights and obligations.

This document most clearly showed such a side of everyday life as the method of movement of merchants in the city. Thus, merchants of the 1st guild were allowed to travel around the city in a carriage as a couple. Merchants of the 2nd guild were allowed the same, but only in a carriage. These two classes were free from corporal punishment. Merchants of the 3rd guild were forbidden to travel around the city in a carriage and harness more than one horse in summer and winter.

Many of the merchants wanted to receive the rights of honorary citizens who, according to their position, were exempt from capitation, from conscription, from corporal punishment, could participate in elections on real estate in the city, and be elected to city public positions no lower than those to which the first merchants were elected 2 guilds, have the right to be called “honorary citizens”, not to be recorded in revision tales, but in their own special books. You could receive honorary citizenship by having the title of commerce or manufacturing advisor, or by receiving one of the Russian orders from October 30, 1826, or by remaining blamelessly and serving in your guild after certain periods (for the first guild - 10 years , and for the 2nd - 20 years).

Also, the children of merchants could become honorary citizens, receiving a civil rank “without order.”

The merchants' children entering adult life, taking part in the parents' trade and helping them. This can be clearly seen in the life of the Kursk self-taught astronomer F.A. Semenov: “When young F.A. began to strengthen his strength and grow up, his father often sent him, under the supervision of clerks, to trade affairs to their own: in the spring and summer for buying livestock for various fairs, and in the winter for buying fish on the Don and Taganrog. In the fall, on the orders of his father, F.A. worked with the workers at the slaughterhouse and sold meat in the meat aisle.”

One of the special features of the merchants of the mid-18th century was a certain conservatism and passivity in some endeavors. This is how the chairman of the Kursk provincial statistical committee, Prince N. N. Golitsyn, expressed himself about this feature in particular on the issue of transferring the Root Fair to Kursk: “One of the significant obstacles to its successful resolution was the desire of non-resident merchants to remain under the same conditions of fair life, the same customs and orders - a desire so consistent with the routine practices of our merchants, and with their fear of every reform and innovation.” This trait was characteristic of merchants due to the possibility of any wrong decision, from which they could lose their entire fortune or soon go bankrupt.

The relations of the Kursk merchants with other classes cannot be assessed unambiguously. To characterize them, let us turn to the speech of the first all-class mayor of Kursk, P. A. Ustimovich, delivered by him on May 18, 1874 at the opening of a monument to the astronomer F. A. Semenov at the Nikitsky cemetery.

It seems very interesting: “And so, Semenov, as you heard, having overcome all the obstacles, all the difficulties, created by the prejudices and ignorance of his family and his class, left the Kursk philistinism; but he did not leave this environment to enter the merchant class, as is usually the case, and what the townspeople strive for so much. It was not this environment, so common and related to the philistinism, that attracted him, not to that society, which, in essence, differs only in name and in greater prosperity from the smaller brethren or mob, which merchants consider philistines.” A number of conclusions can be drawn from these words. Firstly, the bourgeoisie sought to become a merchant and left their class for this purpose. Accordingly, the 3rd guild was filled first. Secondly, the merchants and philistines were related to each other and constituted a “common environment,” that is, they belonged to the category of “urban inhabitants.”

Thirdly, the merchants differed from the burghers “only in name and in greater prosperity,” which confirms the thesis about “ general environment" Therefore, for the merchants, the petty bourgeoisie acted as a “lesser brethren.” And vice versa, for the townspeople, merchants were like “elder brothers.” Fourthly, the merchants considered the townspeople to be “rabble”.

The question arises: how could yesterday’s tradesman, and now a merchant of the 3rd guild, treat the former class this way? The norms of Christian morality did not allow this. The conclusion suggests itself: only wealthy merchants, i.e., the 1st and 2nd guilds, could treat the townspeople this way. In order to understand where the mayor of Ustimovich got such a critical attitude towards the merchants, let’s give another quote from that speech of his; “... when the concept of “citizen” was applied only to that lucky rich man who, having served as a merchant for a certain number of years in the first guild, receives only for that very thing, and for nothing else, the title of honorary citizen” This was said in comparison with hereditary honorary citizen F.A. Semenov. Being a nobleman and holding the post of all-powerful city mayor in 1871-1874, P. A. Ustimovich was not always able to lead and “stir up” the conservative city merchants for reforms. Hence the sharp attacks against this class and its essence. There is also a well-known problem of the relationship between the nobility and the merchants, which many disliked for a number of reasons and considered representatives of especially the first two guilds to be “upstarts.”

Thus, the “highest” merchants themselves differed in their lifestyle from their “colleagues” in the class.

The everyday side of life of the merchants was similar to other classes. Various festivities took place cheerfully among the merchant population, resulting in mass festivities. In addition to traditional holidays, the days of weddings of reigning persons and members of the imperial family were celebrated. On the wedding day of the future Emperor Alexander II, “from the poor hut of a commoner to the luxurious chambers of a rich man, there was not a corner in which, sitting down at the table and leaving the table, they did not drink to the Sovereign Emperor and Empress and to the hope of Russia, the Sovereign Heir,” It was rare that a house was not then decorated with a “dandy monogram with the inscription: “April 16, 1841.”

From the materials stored in the regional archive, in the I.V. Gladkov fund, one can see that on holidays, merchants sent each other and acquaintances their congratulations, invitations to dinners, and weddings. There were frequent invitations to the funeral services of their relatives, and then to their memorials at home.

The houses in which the merchants lived were different. Representatives of the first two guilds, as a rule, had stone, most often two-story mansions, often located on the main city streets. At the same time, they also owned houses that were not so large, which could be located in other parts of the city. The predominant buildings were wooden on a stone foundation. The townsfolk, officials and other residents had the same ones.

Upon death, persons of merchant rank, like everyone else, had funeral services in their parish churches and were buried, as a rule, in the city cemetery closest to their home. Some built family crypts for themselves and their relatives. Monuments to merchants, as a rule, were distinguished by their majesty (if the necessary funds were available), and were most often made of marble and granite.

Merchants and the economy in the second half of the 18th century.

In the Russian economy of the second half of the 18th century. The process of disintegration of the feudal-serf economic system begins. The economy has come face to face with developing market relations. The serf system remains dominant, but by the end of the 18th century. A capitalist system is emerging in the economy. The landowner economy was actively drawn into market relations. This was largely due to the desire of the nobles to get more money from their estates to pay for their increasing non-productive expenses. In the second half of the 18th century. Such an important feature of the feudal system as the routine of agricultural machinery began to be undermined. There was a sharp change in traditional farming methods and a transition to commercial farming. Agriculture was increasingly drawn into the market.

Peasant agriculture ceases to be closed (natural). The exploitation of peasants on the estates intensified, since only in this way could merchants increase the production of agricultural products and sell them on the market. In the Black Earth Region, landowners constantly increased the amount of labor rent (corvee labor), sometimes bringing it up to 6 days a week. In the infertile non-black earth provinces, peasants were increasingly transferred to cash rent, thereby forcing them to participate more actively in market relations. The process of “otkhodniki” of peasants spread to factories and factories, weakening non-economic coercion. Under these conditions, a stratification of property among the peasants arose. Also, unlike Western Europe, the Russian peasant, due to weather conditions, was engaged in agriculture not from February to November, but from April-May to August-September, and indeed weather(especially in non-black earth provinces) left much to be desired.

The main focus where new capitalist relations were formed was industry. In the second half of the 18th century. the number of manufactories grew. By the end of the century there were about two thousand. There were three types of manufactories in the country: state-owned, patrimonial and merchant (peasant). In the second half of the 18th century. internal and international trade. If in the first half of the 18th century. trade in its nature, size, and forms had much in common with trade of the 17th century, then in the second half of the 18th century, especially in its last third, features of the emerging capitalist era appeared.

These include, for example, the emergence of store trade. However, the development of commodity-money relations in agriculture Russia progressed slowly, the economy developed extensively.

The transition to a hired form of labor was unprofitable for landowners, since personally dependent peasants were cheap and had no rights. labor force. The main sector of the Russian economy was still agriculture.

Unlike landowner farms, kulak farms widely used hired labor. By the end of the 18th century. The kulaks grew twice as much marketable grain as the landowners, although they owned the same amount of land. And yet, in the second half of the 18th century, the decomposition of the feudal-serf system began. It lies in the destruction of the noble monopoly on land, and therefore on the ownership of peasants. Until the mid-18th century, land could only belong to nobles. In 1768, Catherine II signed a decree prohibiting the use of the labor of assigned and possessional peasants, and that serfs could only belong to the nobility. The problem of labor in merchant manufactories arises. According to the second decree of Catherine II, anyone can create a manufactory, but only a nobleman can provide it with workers. Therefore, merchants are forced to take a different path: to hire civilians.

There was a need for a hired labor market. And capitalist-type manufactories begin to appear. Where did the mercenaries come from? Changes are emerging in socio-economic terms. In the second half of the 18th century, the forms of rent changed. Until the 17th century, rent in kind, from the 17th century, labor rent, and then cash rent predominated. Why? Peter was the first to change the lifestyle of the nobles and they moved to the cities, and there they needed money. They need more than just food. Therefore, peasants are beginning to be transferred to cash rent. From the second half of the 18th century, peasant crafts developed strongly. It is clear that they do not arise everywhere. Where crafts did not arise, peasants had to go to work. Such peasants began to be called otkhodniks. Otkhodnik is a peasant who goes to work with the permission of the landowner. He leaves his family, goes to the city and gets hired for 3-5 years. Earns rent, comes, pays and leaves again. Thus, the "otkhodnichestvo" movement contributes to the emergence of a capitalist element - the labor market.

At the same time, their own farms are abandoned. In lands where there was no otkhodnichestvo, the situation was different, but the result was the same. Corvee labor begins to prevail there, and sometimes the peasant is transferred to a mesyachia, when the peasant works for the landowner for several months. It turns out that even if it’s money rent, even if it’s a month’s rent, the peasant abandons his farm.

Thus, he ends up providing for the landowner. Those. he turns into a slave. With monetary rent and monthly rent, peasants are drawn into commodity-money relations. They create a huge amount of crops that the landowner can sell. In other words, they are drawn into the market and move away from subsistence farming.

Thus, although the enslavement of the peasants continued and even intensified, more and more peasants were drawn into market relations (most often the reason for this was the growing oppression on the part of the landowners), that is, the preconditions were created for the decomposition of the feudal-serf system. In the 18th century, with the expansion of the state’s borders and the opening of new trade routes, the capabilities of the Gorokhovets merchants sharply decreased; they began to become poor, leave, or turn into factory owners, artisans, and even peasants. Built to last in the 18th century, it is now a setting in which today's peasants and unemployed proletarians of Gorokhovets live. Since 1919, when Grabar visited Gorokhovets, the communists have not slept, and today on the right bank of the Klyazma there are no longer two dozen white-stone churches, but, by eye, a dozen. Between them, the cottages of the “old Russians” shine white in the sun: the Kanunnikovs’ house, the Sudoplatovs’ house, the Shorins’ house - 5 mansions from the end of the 17th century have been preserved. Deeper than others - right down to the basement - you can get acquainted with Ershov's house, which has a good local history museum.

Let us also consider cities in which merchants predominated.

Stavropol merchants

The first mention of Stavropol merchants occurs already in 1737. On the plan of the fortress, houses were allocated for the resettlement of merchants. Thanks to the persistent requests of V.N. Tatishchev, those wishing to trade here received duty-free trading rights. This privilege had its effect. Already 3 years after the decree on the construction of Stavropol was issued, in 1740, a merchant settlement arose in the city, consisting of 20 merchant houses. In 1744, the city's civilian population was only 300 people, of which 127 were merchants. There was a whole merchant settlement. Stavropol merchants in the 18th century traded in scarves and fabrics, as well as food supplies - fish, lard, watermelons.

With the development of the city, the merchant class, which is a mirror of relations in society, became stronger and richer. The State Archives of the Samara Region contains a book called “List of merchants, townspeople and idle population of the city of Stavropol for 1834.” Judging by this document, 18 families of merchants of the third guild lived in the city at that time, and together with their wives and children, this class included 50 people. Here you can find the names of G. Kuznetsov, K. Skalkin, A. Butorov, G. Shvedov, V. Panteleev, G. Suslikov and others. In 1850, there were already 50 merchants of the third guild living in the city (together with family members there were 300 of them)

The merchant N.A. was distinguished by the greatest scale in Stavropol and the district. Klimushin. He had 58 trading establishments - 2 in Stavropol, 1 - in Melekess, the rest - in large volost villages. The profile of his trade is groceries and textiles, including furs and stationery. The merchant had 16 clerks, the turnover amounted to 420 thousand rubles with a profit of 21 thousand rubles (as stated in the tax office). He owned 8 houses in Stavropol.

S.G. Tretyakov traded in fabrics, A.T. Piskunov - ready-made dress, S.M. Golovkin - forest products, V.S. Sidorov - meat and sausage, I.M. Cherkasov - live fish. Iron and hardware goods could be bought from N. Poplavsky, and leather goods - from D.A. Banykina.

Many Stavropol merchants made capital from the grain trade. Buying bread at one price, they stored it all winter, and in the spring they exported it to Rybinsk and Moscow. In 1900, 1 million pounds of grain were exported from Stavropol. The richest grain merchant was Ivan Aleksandrovich Dudkin. He founded the family trading house “Dudkin I.A. with my sons." The family owned several houses and barns. V.N. Klimushin, the heir of Nikolai Alexandrovich Klimushin, also owned 5 barns with a capacity of 290 thousand pounds.

In addition to shops and stores, Stavropol merchants opened enterprises. In the city in 1897 there were 25 factories (2 tanneries, 3 sheepskin factories, 1 soap factory, 19 brick factories). But these were not factories, but institutions. About 100 craft establishments made clothes and shoes, baked bread. 6 chimney sweeps, 3 jewelers and even 1 icon painter worked in the city.

The shops and stores (there were 93 of them) had a trade turnover of 850 thousand rubles. If we consider that 1 pound of bread cost 2-3 kopecks, and meat 15-20 kopecks per pound, then Stavropol merchants had a considerable income, but at the same time, fees from trading establishments replenished the city budget by only 8%.

As for the county, the picture was different. In 1879, there were 36 factories and industrial establishments in the county. “Memorable Book of the Samara Province for 1891” gives us an idea of ​​the profile of industrial establishments in the district and their owners. For example, V.A. Litkens had a potash establishment in the village of Arkhangelskoye, S.Ya. Lipatov - a matting establishment in Staraya Maina, S.V. Taratin - steam mill in Melekess, A.Ya. Shabashkin - a woolen establishment in the village of Terentyevskoye, Kh. Aleev - in the village of Mullovka, with a turnover of 355 thousand rubles.

In 1915, there were 40 factories and factories in the Stavropol district, the volume of production amounted to 6.7 million rubles.

The rural trading class has peasant roots. In 1864, 110 merchants lived in the Stavropol district, this figure also includes members of their families. After 15 years, there were 399 shops, 204 drinking establishments, and 19 taverns in the district. They were supported not by guild merchants, but by peasants who bought trade certificates and tickets from small traders. The largest number of peasant entrepreneurs was in the Khryashchevskaya and Cheremshanskaya volosts. Here, according to the Stavropolsky report on the fishing presence tax for 1897, 55 and 50 people traded, respectively. Moreover, there were quite large establishments here where clerks were hired.

Siberian merchants

In the first half of the 18th century, Siberia did not have enterprises for the production of hats. Vologda and Yaroslavl merchants imported here mainly low-grade bright and semi-bright hats, the total import of which did not exceed 1200-1300 items per year. In high demand, cloth hats trimmed with merlushka sold for 8 kopecks. piece, and low-grade Yaroslavl hats cost 15-20 kopecks in Tyumen at that time. Tara merchants purchased hats made of coarse cow wool at the Irbit fair and then exchanged them at Yamysh Lake for “Erkets” goods: boors, zendenis, chaldaras, knockouts and furs. For troops stationed in Siberian cities, hats were imported from Russia by the treasury. But at the end of the 30s of the 18th century, local merchants began to be increasingly involved in providing military commands and Cossacks with items of clothing. In the 40s of the 18th century, the demand for hats increased noticeably, and, naturally, their prices began to rise. If the hat is made of large wool cattle cost 8 - 10 kopecks, then in the 40s it was sold in Siberian cities for 15-16 kopecks and higher prices.

I am convinced that the majority of Siberians who are trying to somehow fit into the hectic turns of the market whirlwind are already able to draw the correct conclusions from the above. Let's say, to answer the question of how Siberian entrepreneurs should have behaved in this situation. The growing demand for hats could not help but attract their attention. But here's what's interesting. Tara was never first industrial city Tobolsk province. It has always been and remains a small Siberian city. Moreover, the author of this publication once had the opportunity to explain to Omsk scientists that he understands the concept of a “rural type” city, which Tara was at most stages of its four-century history. Before active human intervention in the natural development of nature, conditions here were quite favorable for raising cattle, since natural river floods created beautiful pastures and hayfields. This is what allowed the further development of manufacturing industries related to the use of animal raw materials. But Tara never became a truly industrial city. However, the first manufacturer of not home-made, but factory-made hats in Western Siberia was the Tara merchant Vasily Medovshchikov.

Are any details known about the activities of the merchant Medovshchikov? Very few.

In 1753, Vasily Dementievich Medovshchikov applied for the privilege to open his own hat factory.

The famous Siberian scholar Dmitry Ignatievich Kopylov managed to find documents in the funds of the Russian Archive of Ancient Acts that confirm the conclusions about the primacy of the Tara merchant in this matter.

Vasily Medovshchikov was allowed to buy up to 50 souls of serfs with land. This was a hundred years before the abolition of serfdom, when one of the main obstacles in the development of merchant enterprises was the lack of hired labor, and much was determined by the benefits granted to individual entrepreneurs by the crown authority. The manufacturer's house was exempt from standing, and the industrial establishment itself was exempt from paying duties on the sale of finished products. It took the merchant two years to complete the entire range of preparatory work, and in 1755 the “factory” produced its first products. These products, woolen and simple woolen hats, were used both for free sale and for supplies to the treasury. In 1759, Medovshchikov produced 210 poyarkov hats and 1,500 simple hats. Poyar hats were sold for 24 kopecks, and simple ones for 16 kopecks apiece. All products, without remainder, were sold in the same year, 1759. In subsequent years, production volume increased significantly. In 1764, the company produced 1,710 hats for 290 rubles 40 kopecks, in 1766 - 2,350 hats for 352 rubles 50 kopecks. Three years later, the amount of production had doubled. Medovshchikov's establishment worked mainly on local raw materials. The surrounding peasants supplied him with wool. Glue, sandalwood, vitriol, ink nuts, and dye were bought at the Irbit fair. A fire prevented the development of the factory in Tara. Academician Johann Peter Falk, who visited Tara three years after the fire, found this enterprise in a dilapidated state. However, its owner made attempts to restore production, and in the 70s of the 18th century the factory still existed. Although it was no longer possible to achieve the previous production volumes. Very little is known about the last years of the existence of the Tara hat manufactory (despite the fact that in old sources the establishment is called a “factory”, it was a possession establishment or a centralized manufactory). The heirs of Vasily Medovshchikov were unable to remain at the level of the guild merchants “due to the decline of capital” and moved from merchants to burghers. In the “Topographic Description of the Tobolsk Viceroyalty”, the district surveyor Vasily Filimonov no longer mentioned the millinery establishment among the Tara factories of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Most likely, in the mid-80s of the 18th century it was already liquidated.

When studying the “Book of Town Citizens of the City of Tara for 1792 - 1794.” We have not found a single resident who bore the surname Medovshchikov.

Moreover, the Medovshchikovs’ surname is not mentioned in the extract “made by the Tara City Duma at the request of the Tara City Magistrate” about the artisans of Tara, made on October 12, 1781. But the hat factory of the merchant Medovshchikov was a reputable industrial establishment for Tara in the 18th century. Its initial capital, according to the historian A. Lappo-Danilevsky, was 2,000 rubles. At that time there were no enterprises in Tara that could compare with the hat factory in terms of the number of employees. According to the third audit, there were 19 purchased peasants at the manufactory (10 men and 9 women), the fourth audit recorded 35 peasants of both sexes.8 But, in addition to purchased peasants, hired people from Tara state peasants and townspeople worked at the enterprise.

Simple production was nevertheless divided into a number of independent, complementary operations, each of which was carried out by special workers: wool beaters, washers, graters, printers and dyers. Following the example of the Tara merchant, in 1755 the Chelyabinsk merchants Bityukovs received the right to set up a hat “factory” at the Manufactory Collegium, and Kolomna merchants Savva Negodyaev and Mark Sapozhnikov opened hat production in the Krasnoslobodsky district.

In total, in Russia at the beginning of the 60s of the 18th century there were 10 hat factories. Despite their fragility, hat factories contributed to the emergence of a new specialty in small-scale production in Siberia. In Tara in 1792, 2 guild and 3 townsman artisans, who had recently left the class of state peasants, were engaged in making hats. In the late 80s and early 90s of the 18th century, hat makers Evdokim Ivlev and brothers Peter and Fedor Sokolov were famous in Tara. It can be assumed that they acquired their first technical skills while working at the Medovshchikovs’ manufactory.

Irkutsk merchants

Irkutsk owes a lot to the merchants. Its role in the cultural and scientific development of the city and region can hardly be overestimated. Let us not idealize the Irkutsk merchants - fabulous wealth was acquired not only in righteous ways. Here is how V.P. Sukachev, who lived in the city of Glova for a long time, wrote, who himself belonged to this class: “Dominating both the Duma and the magistrate, the rich and strong Irkutsk merchants at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries ruled all public and city affairs, and ruled solely in his own interests.” But, having a lot of money, Siberian merchants could afford to allocate considerable sums to improve life in their hometown. Most of the churches for which Irkutsk was famous: gymnasiums, schools, hospitals, shelters, libraries, shops, the most beautiful buildings were built and maintained by merchants. Their personal libraries surprised the capital's bibliophiles. So the phrase “Irkutsk is a merchant city” has a very specific meaning. The city was inhabited mainly by merchants, and it was also ruled mainly by representatives of the middle class. The First City Duma was headed by the Irkutsk merchant Mikhail Vasilyevich Sibiryakov (1744-1814). For more than forty years, the people of Irkutsk elected him to the positions of civil elder, verbal judge , burgomaster, president of the provincial magistrate and mayor. For special services in public service, he was awarded the title of “Irkutsk eminent citizen.” M.V. Sibiryakov owned river and sea vessels that sailed along the Angara, Yenisei and Baikal. His fishing trips on Lake Baikal extended from the Posolsky Monastery to modern Slyudyanka. He maintained the Telmin cloth factory, then a linen factory in Irkutsk. Sibiryakov enjoyed a monopoly on the supply of vital goods: bread, salt, meat, government lead from the Nerchinsk district to the Voskresensk-Kolyvan mining plants of Altai. Subsequently, many representatives of the Irkutsk merchants combined commercial activities with social ones. In 1817-1825 the son of Mikhail Vasilyevich Sibiryakov, Xenophon (1772-1825), headed the City Duma. According to chroniclers, he was distinguished by his intelligence and strong-willed character. Xenophon Mikhailovich had river and sea ​​vessels, supplied government lead from Nerchinsk to Altai, salt, wine, provisions and other goods in Transbaikalia. He traded in the Irkutsk merchant's gostiny yard, in Kyakhta, at Siberian and Russian fairs. In the family of Ksenofont Mikhailovich there lived courtyard people and among them a Karakalpak bought at the Irbit fair, named Alexander Ksenofontovich Sibiryakov (1794-1868). A contemporary recalled about Xenophon: “He could not restrain his impressions, he was instantly carried away and, in impetuous self-forgetfulness, carried out justice and reprisals with his chibouk or his fist. He would sit on a droshky and tell the coachman where to go, the coachman would arrive, but the owner was not in the carriage: noticing some kind of disorder while passing, Sibiryakov instantly jumps off the droshky, runs into a house or shop and beats the culprit. With such a person they kept themselves quiet..."

Conclusion

In general, merchant relations in Russia in the 18th century were very complex. On the one hand, there was a process of development of feudalism in depth and breadth, which led to the enslavement of peasants and an increase in the rights of the landowner to the personality of the direct producer. On the other hand, in Russia there was a rapid growth of commodity-money relations, the transformation of crafts into small-scale commodity production was planned, manufactories arose, the importance of wage labor increased, and exchange between regions and with foreign countries. The development of feudalism could not stop the development of commodity-money relations, but the latter did not yet threaten the foundations of feudal land ownership and the principle of non-economic coercion.

Bibliography

Great Soviet Encyclopedia, ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. Moscow: "Soviet Encyclopedia", vol. 14, 1973, 623 p.

History of Europe, vol. 3 - From the Middle Ages to modern times. Moscow: "Science", 1993, 654 p.

Russian history. Textbook for universities. M.N. Zuev. Ed. PRIOR. M., 1998.

Karamzin N.M. Legends of centuries. Moscow: Pravda, 1988, 766 p.

Klyuchevsky V. Quick Guide on Russian history. Moscow: "Terra"; "Bookstore-RTR", 1996, 173 p.

Timoshena T.M. Economic history Russia. Tutorial. - M.: JSC “Legal House “Justitsinform”, 2002. - 416 p.

Hosking J. Russia and the Russians. In two books. - M.: Publishing house AST, 2003.

Encyclopedia for children Parts 1 and 2 (History of Russia and its closest neighbors). - Comp. S.T. Ismailova. - M.: Avanta+, 1995. - 670 p.

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The merchant class is one of the classes of the Russian state of the 18th-20th centuries and was the third class after the nobility and clergy. In 1785, the “Charter of Grant to the Cities” defined the rights and class privileges of the merchants. In accordance with this document, the merchants were exempted from the poll tax, as well as corporal punishment. And some merchant names also come from recruiting. They also had the right to freely move from one volost to another in accordance with the “passport privilege”. Honorary citizenship was also adopted to encourage merchants.
To determine the class status of a merchant, his property qualification was taken. Since the end of the 18th century, there were 3 guilds, each of them was determined by the amount of capital. Every year the merchant paid an annual guild fee amounting to 1% of the total capital. Thereby random person could not become a representative of a certain class.
At the beginning of the 18th century. trade privileges of the merchants began to take shape. In particular, “trading peasants” began to appear. Very often, several peasant families chipped in and paid the guild fee to the 3rd guild, thereby, in particular, exempting their sons from recruitment.
The most important thing in studying the lives of people is the study of their way of life, but historians have taken up this in earnest not so long ago. And in this area, the merchants provided an unlimited amount of material for recognizing Russian culture.

Responsibilities and features.

House.

Food.