Forced Labour in the Industry of the Middle Volga Region in the First Half of the XIX Century
Authors: Arsentyev Viktor M. 
Published: April 2021

Introduction. Industrial development of Russia in the first half of the XIX century characterized by the existence of various forms and methods of labour organization in the industrial production system. The owners of large enterprises used different practices of attracting labour force, which gave rise to socio-economic and legal heterogeneity of workers. The article considers the importance of compulsory forms of labour organization, which played a significant role in Russian industry until the early 1860s. Materials and Methods. When solving the set research tasks, materials from the funds of federal and regional archives, published sources, as well as scientific literature were used. To analyze the nature and direction of the processes taking place in the industry of serf Russia, the modernization theory was used. The need to process a significant array of quantitative data required the use of a statistical method. Results. Based on the study of archival and published sources, as well as the available scientific literature on the topic, the main categories of workers employed in the industry of the Middle Volga region within the boundaries of the Kazan, Penza and Simbirsk provinces were identified, their quantitative analysis was carried out, and some parameters were considered that show the specifics of their social-economic and legal situation. The study showed that the army of forced labor in the industrial sphere of the region in question was represented mainly by possessive workers, as well as serfs, who were reoriented to industrial labor by their owners. During the implementation of the research program, the conclusion was drawn: despite the growth in the use of hired labour in domestic industry in the first half of the 19th century, the Middle Volga region remained one of the regions where the practice of using forced labour in industrial enterprises not only persisted, but also intensified. Discussion and Conclusion. As the study shows, the dynamics of the change in the ratio of forced and civilian labour was multidirectional. In particular, in the industry of the Kazan province, the prevalence of civilian workers was noted, the proportion of which steadily increased throughout the period under study. On the contrary, with regard to the Penza and Simbirsk provinces, there was an increase in the use of forced labor, which was associated with the intensification of industrial entrepreneurship of the nobles. In the sectoral plan, the most active use of serf labor in industry was recorded in the cloth and distillery industries. It should be noted that in the second quarter of the XIX century the practice of using monetary forms of payment by industrial nobles for the labour of their own serfs. In the Kazan province, forced labour was represented mainly by the possessory workers of the Kazan cloth factory. By the early 1850s they were removed from the system of “possession law” and passed into the free estates. The presence of possessional workers was also recorded at metallurgical plants in the Penza province, which continued to remain on the “possession rights” until the early 1860s. In general, we can conclude that a specific feature of Russian industry in the pre-reform period was the extreme limitation of the “legal” free labor market, which led to the preservation of a large role for compulsory forms of labor organization.