CORPORATE ORDER AND SOCIETY IN THE COMPANY TOWNS OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA IN THE LATE NINTEENTH THROUGH EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

V. A. Kulikov

V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University

Some 150 years ago one of the most ambitious European industrial projects was accomplished on the Donbass steppe. It transformed this peripheral region into the main fuel and metallurgical base of the Russian Empire. Its success was dependent on the labor of residents of company towns that were outposts of industrialization in the southern part of the empire. The author examines the characteristic features of company towns in southern Russia in the late imperial period in a comparative historical context. He highlights the causes of the emergence and decline of such settlements. He argues that one of the characteristic features of the company towns was the dependence of the residents on town-forming enterprises. The enterprises applied diverse means to foster this dependence, such as monopsony in the labor market, company stores as single suppliers of goods, political hegemony, and corporate paternalism. The comparative historical perspective makes it possible to conclude that although most of the company towns ultimately declined, this was not inherent in the system; some proved to be developing and sustainable settlements.

Keywords: company towns, monotowns, industrialization, corporate paternalism, the Russian Empire, late ninteenth century, early twentieth century.

Full text of the article (in Russian): PDF FULL PAPER HTML FULL PAPER