Tobacco Factories (entry)

Categories / Economy/Industry
TOBACCO FACTORIES. The first tobacco factory was founded in St. Petersburg by Theophil Boucher, native of Lubeck, in 1767. The contract stipulated that the factory should produce up to 6,000 tons of tobacco per year. Boucher also had to provide training for at least 30 Russian apprentices. There were three tobacco factories operating in the capital in the late 18th century, their number grew to six in 1812, and to 48 in 1861; the factories employed 2,300 workers and had the annual turnover of 4.4 million roubles. All tobacco factories used imported raw materials and were mainly small handicraft enterprises, with manual labour prevailing. Miller's Factory was one of the largest tobacco factories, with 700 employees and 300 outworkers. Zhukov's Factory was famous countrywide for its products. Tobacco factories underwent a crisis in 1860 brought about by changes in tax policy and partly by changes in demand. Their products were mainly consumed by lower social strata preferring cheap tobacco brands, especially cigarettes. Significant financing was required for manufacture of cigarettes as the amount of operations increased from 10 to 23. Small tobacco factories closed down giving way to larger enterprises. Baron G. de Walbell's Factory was opened in 1852, reorganised into Laferm Partnership in 1870. It was located at 36-40 Sredny Avenue, Vasilievsky Island. Franz Heinrich Factory was opened in 1856 and reorganised into A. N. Bogdanov and Co. Partnership in 1884. There were 36 tobacco factories operating in 1868, with 1,726 workers; their turnover exceeded 1 million roubles annually. Although the number of factories decreased to 13 in 1893, they employed 8,000 workers and had the annual turnover of up to 7.8 million roubles. Tobacco factories deployed a total of three mechanical engines and three steam boilers; cigarette-making machines were the only innovation, first used at A. N. Shaposhnikov's Factory in the 1880s. There were only seven tobacco factories remaining in St. Petersburg by 1917; A. N. Bogdanov and Co. was the largest of them, employing 2,700 workers. All the factories were nationalised in 1918, some of them closed down, the other factories received numbers instead of names. Some factories were renamed after prominent Bolsheviks in 1922-23. Thus, the former Laferm Factory was renamed into Uritsky Factory and the former A. N. Shaposhnikov's Factory was renamed after L. D. Trotsky in 1923 and K. Zetkin in 1929. These were the only two tobacco manufacturers operating by the early 1930s. Uritsky Factory became famous for its Belomorkanal cigarettes, Zetkin Factory - for Prima, cigarettes popular countrywide. Both factories became joint-stock companies in the early 1990s. Uritsky Factory was completely owned by JTI, a Japanese-Swiss company that reorganised the factory into Petro Open Joint-Stock Company in 1992 and relocated the production facility to Petergofskoe Highway in 2001. Zetkin Factory was reorganised into a closed joint-stock company in 1991, and renamed into Nevo-Tabak in 1992. It is located at 25 Klinsky Avenue.

Reference: Любименко В. Н. Табачная промышленность в России. Пг., 1916; Джервис М. В. Русская табачная фабрика в XVIII и XIX веках. Л., 1933; Сартор В. Торговый дом "Шпис" и табачная фабрика "Лаферм" в 1852-1914 гг. // Петербургские чтения-96. СПб., 1996. С. 301-305.

V. G. Avdeev. Boucher Theophil
Shaposhnikov Alexander Nikolaevich
Trotsky (real name Bronstein) Lev Davidovich
Walbell G. de, Baron
Zetkin Klara
Klinsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 25
Любименко В. Н. Табачная промышленность в России. Пг., 1916
Джервис М. В. Русская табачная фабрика в XVIII и XIX веках. Л., 1933
Сартор В. Торговый дом "Шпис" и табачная фабрика "Лаферм" в 1852 - 1914 гг.: (исслед. по истории предпринимательства и пром-ти С.-Петебурга) // Петербургские чтения-96. СПб., 1996