The richest people in pre-revolutionary Russia - who they were, what they did and what became of them

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It is noteworthy, but by the beginning of the 20th century, fixed capital in Russia was concentrated not among families of aristocratic origin, but among entrepreneurs. The richest people of tsarist Russia owned banks, factories, factories, were engaged in oil production, trade. The Bolsheviks, who declared all their family empires a national treasure, sought to get rid of the production workers themselves, because their fate is mostly tragic.

Nikolay Vtorov - the richest industrial worker in Russia

He was called the Russian Morgan or the Siberian American; before the revolution, his profit was more than 650 million dollars, if translated to the modern course. In fairness, it is worth noting that the business was founded by his father, Alexander Vtorov, and in his 20s. He began to often go to the fair and draw up his own business project, based on the logistics, made up of already presented goods. This is how the Vtorovsky Passage store appeared.

Things were going well and over time the network grew so much that the elder Vtorov took the family from Irkutsk and transported it to Moscow. Nicholas at that time was already in his fourth decade, because he was a leading person in his father's affairs, doing just this from childhood. After the death of his father, the affairs are completely transferred to Nikolai, his initial capital is 8 million rubles, which he inherited. But the main thing that he inherited from his father is the experience and ability to trade, business acumen and the ability to take reasonable risks.

He becomes the organizer of the "Association for Export and Domestic Trade", he himself is engaged in the supply of tea and manufactory. Has the ability to issue loans for factories, the construction of ships and railways. He was one of the first who knew how to profit from the real estate market. His energy and entrepreneurial spirit yielded results. Very soon he moved from tea to factories, becoming the person on whose decisions and success depended the fate of a thousand people - his workers.

In the Moscow region, he built a plant for the production of steel, on its basis the city of Elektrostal grew, in the first world this and other Vtorov plants worked for the defense of the country, even produced grenades.

His house has become a cult place even for Russian literature, it was his castle that was described in Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" - a ball is held there.

The death of the richest man in the Russian Empire was mysterious. According to one version, he was found shot to death in his office, according to another - in his own house. However, the culprit was never found. It is suspected that his illegitimate son, who was haunted by his father's wealth, was involved in this. However, knowing about the events in the country, one cannot exclude the fact that Vetrov interfered with the nationalization of his property. Although there is a version that he faked his own death and fled the country before the Bolsheviks got to him, because a man of his mind could not help but imagine such an outcome.

Emmanuel Nobel - oil monopoly

The nephew of the founder of the most famous award in the world had slightly less capital than Vtorov. Considering that the Nobels are Swiss businessmen, they moved to Russia in the 19th century, and Emmanuel Sr. (the grandfather of the one in question) was already the founder of the plant in St. Petersburg, the businessman had a very impressive start. But its main value, of course, was the Nobel genes, and hence the possibilities.

In the summer of 1918, Lenin signed a decree according to which the entire oil industry of the country was nationalized. The Nobel clan suffered the greatest damage, whose share was not just the largest, it was a question of a monopoly.

Emmanuel is practically unknown even in Russia, unlike his uncle Alfred, whose name is famous all over the world and this is the fault of the Bolsheviks, who thought it was not enough to take away everything material created by him. His name has also been erased from history. Although for the most part, without Emmanuel there would be no prize bearing their name, but more on this below.

It so happened that after the death of his father, Emmanuel also lost his brother, as a result he was left alone at the head of a huge industrial empire and family. The main worries of managing affairs and settling family problems fell on his shoulders. Some time later, his foreign uncle Alfred also perishes. His executor, he appoints the eldest after him Nobel - Emmanuel, however, he did not leave money for him (and Emmanuel himself was, to put it mildly, not a poor man), but he ordered to fulfill his will, which at that time seemed wildest. The fund for the payment of prizes for outstanding inventions should have been created by Emmanuel, having sold Alfred's property.

All would be fine, but this led to a panic in the market and a collapse of stocks. In addition, other nephews and relatives did not approve of the late uncle's ideas at all and tried to challenge the will. But it was Emmanuel who did not allow this to be done, setting up his relatives to comply with the will of the deceased relative. He bought the shares himself, taking a loan for this, promised his relatives interest on the capital. The Nobel Foundation was created. That is, in fact, despite the fact that the idea originally belonged to Alfred, it was created by the hands of Emmanuel.

The workers at the Nobel factories worked in much more favorable conditions than their colleagues working for other oil owners. They had residential settlements with apartments, schools, kindergartens, and their own hospital. By the beginning of the revolution, Nobel owned almost half of Russian crude oil, processed 40% of the country's oil market, had the largest merchant fleet in his hands, and had 50 thousand workers.

When the Bolsheviks went on the offensive, the Nobel family, disguised as peasants, fled to Stavropol, and from there moved to Stockholm. We can say that Emmanuel himself and his family members witnessed the destruction of the empire created by their family. However, he himself lived abroad, ran the foundation, and died in 1932 from a heart attack.

Semyon Abamelek-Lazarev - archaeologist and mine owner

Back in the 19th century, his family owned one of the largest mining enterprises in Russia. He himself is called the prince of Armenian blood and received the enterprise by inheritance, but he himself only increased the family wealth. He was known not only for his wealth, but also for his charity. He is called one of the first Russian philanthropists, in addition, he was fond of archeology and sponsored various scientific research in this area. He closes the top three richest people in the Russian Empire.

His entrepreneurial activity echoed his favorite business, he often went on expeditions to Syria, is the author of scientific works on history and mining. And this despite the fact that he was educated at the University of History and Philology, then he himself becomes a trustee of the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages.

He died in 1916 of heart failure. At that time, he was not at all many years old - 58, but he was spared from observing the nationalization of his brainchild by the Bolsheviks.

Savva Morozov - lost his head and money from love

A merchant, textile worker, he was also known for his charity and good attitude towards his workers. Thanks to his financial support, the Moscow Art Theater arose and held out in difficult times, in addition, he, long before the start of the revolution, financially supported the activities of the Bolsheviks, which, however, did not save him from falling into the historical millstones of the mysterious deaths of the Russian rich of that period.

Not only did he belong to the family that founded the textile business, he also received an excellent education - after graduating from the Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, trained at Cambridge, he was a modern and progressive person who sought to use his position and opportunities to improve the lives of his workers. He was among the first to use electricity, brought equipment from abroad, and often traveled to learn from experience.

He was brought into contact with the Bolsheviks by a woman - an actress who worked at the Moscow Art Theater, he adored her and fulfilled her whims. She then dragged him into the revolutionary group, which consisted of Leonid Krasin. He arranged for him at one of his enterprises, sponsored the release of the revolutionary newspaper Iskra, which, at the same time, did not hesitate to write about Morozov's workers, indiscriminately accusing him that working conditions were unbearable and wages were scanty.

Krasin incited the manufacturers to revolt, the beloved woman went to Maxim Gorky, he was accompanied by lies and attempts to extort large sums of money from him. This is probably why he refused to continue to sponsor the Bolsheviks, which was a fatal decision.

Savva was killed in Cannes, where Krasin came to him demanding money - the hotel employees talked about this, but left with nothing. A few days later, Morozov was found dead. The killer has not been identified, and the official version of what happened is suicide. However, there are legends that the police found a note near the body “Debt - payment. Krasin.

Boris Kamenka - banker and talented financier

He was born into a Jewish family of wealthy businessmen, he received his education at home, since he had such an opportunity. He began his career at the Azov-Don Bank as a simple employee, but very soon he was appointed its manager. The reason for this was not only his "right" connections, but also the financial talent inherent in him genetically. Then he became chairman of the board and shareholder of the same bank.

Under him, the management of the bank was transferred to St. Petersburg, and the bank reached its heyday. Kamenka himself was a shareholder of many enterprises. He was one of the five richest people in Russia, he was actively involved in charity work.

Peter Wrangel offered him the post of Minister of Finance in the Crimea, but Kamenka refused, and after Wrangel's army was defeated, he emigrated to Paris. There he worked as an expert on Russian finance and survived the October Revolution quite painlessly, reaching old age.

Alexander Polovtsev is not a gigolo, but a competent strategist

In fact, Polovtsev was a nobleman, and his father was an official. Yes, his family cannot be called very rich, but they lived no worse than others. Alexander studied at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence, at that time it was a prestigious educational institution in which the best officials were trained. No more than 100 people were accepted a year, all of noble origin, and graduates later occupied major posts. Polovtsev graduated from college with a gold medal.

Further, his life moved forward exclusively through the career ladder, he rose to the rank of senator. Since childhood, he wanted to become rich and saw this as his own goal, and he definitely could not be denied in dedication. Descendants associate Polovtsev's financial well-being with his marriage, but their acquaintance with his wife happened almost 10 years after graduation. His wife was the illegitimate daughter of his brother Nicholas I. Despite the fact that there are controversies regarding her origin, the fact remains that Nadezhda Mikhailovna was an enviable bride with a multimillion dowry. Moreover, she is not ugly, and she was only 18 years old!

The future spouses met through a mutual friend and, despite the fact that Polovtsev's success is associated with his marriage, it is worth noting that even without a rich wife, his career went uphill, with his diligence and state mind. But under the new scenario, the Polovtsevs became very popular in St. Petersburg, communicated with high-ranking officials.

His highest position was that of the Secretary of State. They spoke of him as an excellent administrator who knew how not to tire himself with work, but to delegate it to others. He worked in this position for 10 years. Considering that Alexander III was the monarch at that time, one mind was not enough for this, it was necessary to meet expectations and a little more.

Despite the fact that he did not take place as an industrialist, he did not lose the fortune of his wife, if he spent, then wisely and multiplied. He was honest, he sent a lot of money to charity and the development of science.

Pavel Ryabushinsky

He was born into the family of a manufacturer and the daughter of a banker and was originally far from a poor child. He studied at the Academy of Commercial Sciences, quite successfully married the daughter of a manufacturer.

After the death of his father, despite the fact that he had 7 more brothers, he, as the eldest of them, runs the family affairs and the factory. Later, the brothers found the Ryabushinsky Brothers bank. In general, the brothers jointly managed to increase their father's capital. Pavel, on the other hand, built a car manufacturing plant in Russia.

He met the October Revolution in the Crimea, where he treated lung disease. In 1919 he moved to Paris, and after 5 years he died of tuberculosis.

Most of the “Forbes list” of Tsarist Russia, although they were born in rich and prosperous families and did not start their way at all from scratch, but the name of millions of start-up capital, operating enterprises and factories, the main thing that they received from their parents is invaluable experience and desire work that, coupled with education, have given such outstanding results. They were not indifferent to the fate of the country and, as far as possible, used their resources to improve the lives of ordinary people, improving the quality of life of people working for them, spending on charity.

The manufacturers and production workers are men with a master's hand and a broad outlook; they have left an outstanding mark in industrial history, even though the Bolsheviks who came to power, along with the nationalization of their empires, tried to erase their names from the memory of the people. However, their developments, the experience already incorporated into production, became the industrial basis of the country.

Under the Soviet Union, people got rich in very different ways, shadow financiers and currency millionaires. How they appeared in the USSR and what threatened them?