Free Economic Society

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FREE ECONOMIC SOCIETY, the Imperial Free Economic Society for the Encouragement of Farming and Housebuilding in Russia, the oldest Russian scientific society. It was founded in 1765 by large landowners striving for higher agricultural efficiency; Empress Catherine II encouraged the undertaking. The society collected information on corn trade, timber industry, bee farming, cattle breeding, cotton growing, soil conditions, etc. It published over 280 volumes of Proceedings between 1766 and 1915, appendices thereto, and periodicals such as Lesnoy Zhurnal, Zemsky Ezhegodnik, and Pchelovodny Listok, as well as the findings of the first statistical and geographical studies in Russia. It also arranged agricultural fairs, public lectures, etc. The society consisted of three departments from 1859: agriculture, agricultural techniques and mechanics, and agricultural statistics and political economy, the departments were subsequently renamed. It had Okhtinskaya Farm as a test field and owned a part of Petrovsky Island in 1801-36. The society's library numbered over 200,000 volumes in the late 19th century and now forms a part of the Russian National Library. The society included a Literacy Committee, Museum of National Industry, and Museum of Models and Machines, as well as mineral, soil, botanical, and zoological collections, A. T. Bolotov, G. R. Derzhavin, N. S. Mordvinov, K. D. Kavelin, D. I. Mendeleev, A. M. Butlerov, A. N. Beketov, V. V. Dokuchaev, P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, Y. E. Yanson, M. M. Kovalevsky, et al. participating in its activities at various times. Opposed to the government, representatives of the liberal democratic trend of the Russian economic thought grouped around the society from 1860s, which resulted in sanctions against the society in 1890s with a number of committees closed, public meetings were discontinued in 1900, and the society activities placed under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Properties. The building held the meetings of the Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies in autumn of 1905. The society was closed in 1915, its council continued to operate though. It resumed its activities after the February Revolution of 1917 but was finally dissolved in 1919. The society was first situated on Palace Square where the Main Staff are now located, moving to 33 Zabalkansky Avenue (today, Moskovsky Avenue) in 1844, the building constructed in 1806-10 and reconstructed by an unknown architect in 1836. The building now accommodates a part of the University of Culture and Arts, the wing was occupied by Plekhanov's House from 1928.

References: Кулябко-Корецкий Н. Г. Краткий исторический очерк деятельности Имп. Вольного экономического общества со времени его основания. СПб., 1897; Ковалевский М. К стопятидесятилетнему юбилею Вольного экономического общества // Вестн. Европы. 1915. Дек. С. 389-399; Орешкин В. В. Вольное экономическое общество в России, 1765-1917: Ист.-экон. очерк. М., 1963; Яковкина Н. И. Вольное экономическое общество в Санкт-Петербурге // Петербургские чтения-96. СПб., 1996. С. 90-92; Библиографический справочник Трудов ВЭО, 1765-2000: В 4 т. М., 2000.

O. N. Ansberg. Beketov Andrey Nikolaevich
Bolotov Andrey Timofeevich
Butlerov Alexander Mikhailovich
Catherine II, Empress
Derzhavin Gavriil Romanovich
Dokuchaev Vasily Vasilievich
Kavelin Konstantin Dmitrievich
Kovalevsky Maxim Maximovich
Mendeleev Dmitry Ivanovich
Mordvinov Nikolay Semenovich, Count
Semenov-Tyan-Shansky Veniamin Petrovich
Yanson Yuly Eduardovich
Dvortsovaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 33
Ковалевский М. М. К 150-летнему юбилею Императорского Вольного экономического общества // Вестн. Европы, 1915
Орешкин В. В. Вольное экономическое общество в России, 1765-1917: Ист.-экон. очерк. М., 1963
Кулябко-Корецкий Н. Г. Краткий исторический очерк деятельности Имп. Вольного экономического общества со времени его основания. СПб., 1897
Библиографический справочник Трудов ВЭО, 1765 - 2000: В 4 т. М.
Яковкина Н. И. Вольное экономическое общество в Санкт-Петербурге // Петербургские чтения-96. СПб., 1996 General Staff Building
February Revolution of 1917
House of Plekhanov, department of Russian Science Library
Literacy Committee
1765