Main trends of the factory industry development in Kazan Province in the post-reform period

It was common for Soviet historians to place emphasis on the total developmental lag of Russia’s industry compared with European countries, on the so-called “remnants of feudalism’’. In the post-Soviet period evaluation softened to the “catch-up” type of development. In our view, the time has come to talk about independent development of national industry determined by objective factors. The conceptual basis of this approach is shown in the work of L.V. Milov. In regional historiography of the Soviet period a number of papers on certain industries, formation and position of capitalist society classes appeared. The revival of market relations in the country in the 1990s caused interest in the history of entrepreneurship, environmental aspects of industrial development. As a phenomenon, the industry of Kazan Province of the period under consideration has not been studied comprehensively. Comparative analysis of the statistical data showed that the factory industry of Kazan Province in the post-reform period developed intensively. The expected big inflow of peasants into the industry did not happen. The share of the industrial proletariat in relation to the population of the province during the period remained tiny (less than 0.5 %). Growth of production repeatedly exceeded the growth of labor resources employed in the industry. The growth was achieved by productivity increase, organizational, structural and technological changes. More than 75 % of the companies functioning in the province by the beginning of the 1890s were founded in the postreform period. The lion’s share of the factory load was obtained at the expense of large enterprises, mainly new (steam mills, Alafu-zov factory, Kestovnikov plant). Concentration of production increased. At the same time small and medium enterprises continued to operate, carving out their own niche in the market. Moreover, labor productivity at some of them was higher than at similar large enterprises (for example, in the manufacture of candles and soap). A sharp increase in productivity is considered to be one of the main features of the industrial revolution. With scientific and technological progress new industries were created (for example, oil refining) and some types of enterprises (sebaceous, potash, cable) disappeared. At the same time, the main share of production still accounted for the enterprises that processed agricultural raw materials. The share of branches of heavy industry, for example, engineering, remained low.

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