ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACTIVITY OF PRINCES FROM SANGUSHKO FAMILY IN XIX – AT THE BEGINNING OF XX CENTURY IN VOLYN

Abstract

The article deals with the entrepreneurial activity of Sangushki in Volyn, first of all, their contribution to the industrial development of the region, the application of advanced technologies in their estates, and the peculiarities of the management of the family’s representatives and their enterprises. The branch affiliation of the factories of their Slavutsky ordination and methods of increasing the efficiency of work on them is considered. The place of enterprises of the Sangushki family in the structure of industry of Volyn province, the contribution of the princes in stimulating expansion of the network of financial and credit institutions in the region is described. The place of Sangushki at the time of the financial-industrial circles of the Ukrainian provinces of the Russian Empire in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries was highlighted. The activity of the Sangushko princes is considered in order to reorganize the landowner's latifundias for their transformation into modern agrarian enterprises. The influence of political events in Ukrainian provinces on the economic development of enterprises owned by representatives of this kin is highlighted. The main sources of income of Slavuta ordination in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are described. The author made a wide coverage of economic development in the vicinity of the princes Sangushko during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was noted that the main sources of income at the beginning of the nineteenth century were agricultural products (grain, fruits, vegetables, cattle, and forest), then, due to the use of modern technologies, mechanization of production using steam engines, processing of own products, obtained here at the end of the XIX century, Sangushkos managed to create an economically strong company with diversified sources of profit, since a significant part of the products was processed by local factories (paper, candle, soap, sugar, cloth, beer pitch, lumber, porcelain, refined) and distilleries, mills. The main resource base for the success of the princes as entrepreneurs served large land masses that they owned. Significant role in the achievement of economic success of Sangushkos played the application of modern technologies and methods of production, withdrawal from the traditional system of using serf labor, attracting foreign specialists. Sangushkos also created enterprises that produced the products needed to service their enterprises and the local population, among such iron ore, vinegar and paint plants. In addition, in order to stimulate the development of trade and business in the native land, Sangushkos established a system of credit pay offices, which provided loans to local residents, with preferential treatment for those who traded and serviced the needs of the population (for shoemakers, bakers, barkeepers). In addition, Sangushkos were involved in the creation of the Slavuta Commercial Bank, which served the needs of not only local residents, but even foreigners. Sangushkos also managed to open businesses that did not directly engage in the production of goods and served the needs of the population, among such the author mentioned medical institutions. For the sale of products Sangushkos actively participated in local fairs, signed contracts for the supply of products to the markets of cities of the central provinces of the Russian Empire and abroad. The author reviews the historiography devoted to the issues of entrepreneurship development in the 19th century on the territory of the Right-Bank Ukraine and in particular among representatives of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility, including representatives of the Sangushkos family. Also, the researcher used in the study the archival materials and the results of local lore explorations devoted to studying the history of the Sangushko family in Volyn. The Polish revolts of 1830-1831 and 1863-1864, economic crises in the Russian empire at the end and the beginning of the 20th century, as well as fires, which caused significant damage to the city and the buildings of enterprises, influenced negatively the economic development of the enterprises of the Sangushkos. In general, a direct active participation in the economic life of the princes of Sangsushko turned their estates and town of Slavuta into one of the main industrial centers of Volyn at the beginning of the 20th century.