Society of Plant and Factory Owners of St. Petersburg

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SOCIETY OF PLANT AND FACTORY OWNERS of St. Petersburg (26 former Troitskaya Street, present Rubinsteina Street), a representative organisation of metropolitan bourgeoisie. Originating from Petersburg Society for the Improvement and Development of Factory-And-Works Industry founded in 1897, this organisation was established in 1906 “to protect the interests of industry”. By 1917 the Society numbered about 450 enterprises and firms united in seventeen departments according to the industries (mechanical, textile, polygraphic, etc). The Society was governed by a Council (Soviet) with a Presidium at its head (in 1906-12 S.M. Glesmer was Chairman of the Council, in 1912-17 - E.L. Nobel). Primarily engaged in the struggle against the labour movement, the Society took action to unify working conditions, strove for the introduction of equal wages and working day length at the enterprises of the same branch. To resist strike actions the employers were recommended to use a system of fines, dismissals and blacklists, and resort to lockouts when strike actions were reaching their peaks. In 1912 the worked out system of concrete actions was fixed in a special convention, obligatory for all members of the Society. Representatives of the Society, usually the Chairman of the Council and some of its members (B.B. Gerberts, N.I. Danilevsky and others), drew up legislation regulating interaction between workers and employers. Another important line of the Society’s activities was the protection of Petersburg entrepreneurs’ economic interests in official spheres. Representatives of the Society attended extra meetings and commissions, appointed, as a rule, by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and discussed problems vitally important for Russian economy, like measures for developing metallurgy and mechanical engineering, fuel and metal supply of enterprises (its shortage became drastic in the period of the industrial upturn of 1909-13); state orders given over to the privately owned ventures; the reconsideration of contracts with the commercial partners of Russia, etc. In 1912 the Society’s representatives undertook business travel (the so-called trade expedition) to the Near East, launched by the government to explore the region as a potential market for Russian goods. The Society was a part of the Congresses of Industry and Commerce Representatives – the largest entrepreneurial organisation in Russia. Leaders of Petersburg Society (E.L. Nobel, in particular) took an active part in the functioning of the Council of Congress (Soviet Siezdov). In 1917 the Society initiated the creation of the All-Russian Union of Plant and Factory Owners. After the October Revolution of 1917, it ceased to exist.

References: Тихомиров Ю. В. Руководство С.-Петербургского общества заводчиков и фабрикантов в 1893-1912 гг.: С. П. Глезмер, М. Н. Триполитов, Я. П. Беляев // Из глубины времен: Альм. СПб., 1996. Вып. 6. С. 135-145; Ульянова С. Б. Профсоюз капиталистов: Петерб. о-во заводчиков и фабрикантов в 1906-1914 гг. СПб., 1997.

V. S. Solomko. Danilevsky Nikolay Ivanovich
Gerberts Baltazar Baltazarovich
Glesmer Stanislav Petrovich
Nobel Emmanuel Ludwigovich
Rubinsteina St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 26
Тихомиров Ю. В. Руководство С.-Петербургского общества заводчиков и фабрикантов в 1893-1912 гг.: С. П. Глезмер, М. Н. Триполитов, Я. П. Беляев // Из глубины времен: Альм. СПб., 1996
Ульянова С. Б. "Профсоюз" капиталистов: Петерб. о-во заводчиков и фабрикантов в 1906-1914 гг. СПб., 1997 Ministry for Industry and Commerce
1906