Clubs (entry)

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Categories / Social Life/Social Organizations and Unions
CLUBS (in the 18th - beginning of the 20th century, also called Meetings), until the beginning of the 20th century they were voluntary corporate or class public institutions for leisure and socializing. They existed thanks to membership fees, revenue from lotteries, card games, etc.; balls, masquerades, concerts and other activities were held. Members of the clubs were exclusively men. The first Petersburg club was the English Club (founded in 1770). Best well-known later clubs are the Shuster Club (Burger Club), Club for United Society (American, later Noble Assembly), Commercial Club, Scientific Club, Military Club, Musical Club and others. In 1785 the first Dance Club appeared. Since the middle of the 19th century the number of clubs increased greatly, some clubs were distinguished by their luxury (like the fashionable Yacht Club, founded in 1846 amongst others). Since the 1860s under the name of a club many secret societies functioned (according to one version, at the beginning of the 1860s the Chess Club at 15 Nevsky Prospect housed the meetings of the secret society Zemlya i Volya (Land and Freedom). At the end of the 19th century each regiment of Petersburg garrison had its own officer meeting. At the beginning of the 20th century professional clubs (Club of Clothing Manufacture, the Automobile Club) proliferated. Following October 1917 the term Clubs referred to cultural and educational institutions, created by Soviet authorities to organize the leisure time of working people and propagate the ideology (see Palaces and Houses of Education). Sporting societies were also called clubs (see Sports Clubs). Since the end of the 1980s there has been a marked revival of corporate clubs (the English Club in St. Petersburg and others). In the 1990s a great number of clubs were created under a casual flag (Club for Amateur Beer Drinkers, Football and Other Sport Fans Club, etc).

References: Канн П. Я. Прогулки по Петербургу: Вдоль Мойки, Фонтанки, Садовой. СПб., 1994. p. 220-221, 234, 236 etc.; Прогулки по Невскому проспекту в первой половине XIX века: Сб. / Сост. А. М. Конечный. СПб., 2002. p. 65-67, 274.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 15
Прогулки по Невскому проспекту в порвой половине XIX века: Сб. / Сост. А. М. Конечный. СПб., 2002
Канн П. Я.. Прогулки по Петербургу: Вдоль Мойки, Фонтанки, Садовой. СПб., 1994 English Club
Noble Assembly
Zemlya i Volya (Land and Liberty) of 1860s
Palaces and Houses of Culture (entry)
Athletic Clubs