Creation of the free. Literary and historical notes of a young technician. Publishing and educational activities

Our Society is the oldest non-governmental organization in the country. It was founded when even economics as a science did not exist. In the second half of the 18th century, when the industrial revolution was already underway in the West, the agrarian issue, the development of agriculture, was in the first place in the Russian Empire. In the wake of this process, the Imperial Free Economic Society was created 250 years ago.

Catherine II, who was deservedly considered one of the most enlightened monarchs in Europe, on September 2, 1763, announced a decree in the Senate: “to establish an agricultural class at the Academy, i.e. agriculture, and on what basis should it be. The very next day, the court librarian Ivan Taubert and academician Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov decided to "establish a special Commission."

Interestingly, although Lomonosov signed this document, he insisted that this institution should work outside the Academy of Sciences - Mikhail Vasilyevich knew too well the bureaucratic red tape that threatened to nullify all the dreams of the empress about a quick solution to the agrarian issue. Lomonosov himself sketched out a project for the Collegium of Zemstvo Housing Construction. The scientist saw a way out of the current situation in agriculture in the application of a “scientific approach”, but for its formation, Mikhail Vasilyevich suggested using not so much the knowledge of foreign academicians as collecting information among the broad masses of the public in Russia.

Lomonosov's wisdom lay in the fact that he proposed the creation of an independent society, working in the interests of the state, but at the same time remaining a platform for the expression of free opinions. At first it seemed that it was impossible to do this, but the empress was convinced that if she did this, it would be easier and more understandable for her to manage the empire, because she would be able to make better decisions and be able to rely on the opinions of other people.

Although Lomonosov himself did not live to see the creation of the Imperial Free Economic Society, it is believed that it was his developments that formed the basis of the future first public organization in the history of Russia.

Creating a VEO in two letters

In 1765, a group of well-known figures in Russia (Count R.I. Vorontsov, Prince G.G. Orlov, Count I.G. Chernyshev, Senator A.V. Olsufiev and others) sent a letter to Empress Catherine II with the following content:

“The Most Gracious, Most Sovereign, Great - Wise Empress and Autocrat of All Russia, Most Gracious Sovereign!
The reign of Your IMPERIAL MAJESTY is the plan for the fatherland, in which our bliss is visibly accomplished. With Your Majesty's tireless work and care for affairs, the integrity and well-being of the Empire that make up, apparently, your patronage acts so much on the Sciences and Arts; and this encourages the subjects of your hearts lovers in teaching themselves and in enlightening others. In view of this, we all subjects will unite by voluntary agreement to establish a meeting between us, in which we intend to work together to improve agriculture and house building. Our zeal and zeal, no matter how great, but when they are not backed up by the patronage of the Monarch, then our work will be without implementation.

“... to use our own motto: “useful”. Catherine II.

In a response, Catherine wrote:

"Gentlemen of the Free Economic Society,
The intention you have undertaken to improve agriculture and house-building is very pleasing to Us, and the labors resulting from it will be direct evidence of your true zeal and love for your Fatherland. Your plan and charter, which you pledged to each other, WE praise and, in agreement with that, we most mercifully test that you called yourself the Free Economic Society. Please be trustworthy that WE accept it in Our special patronage; for the seal you request, we not only allow you to use in all cases, with your labors, Our Imperial coat of arms, but also as a sign of Our excellent goodwill towards you, we allow you to put our own motto inside it, bringing honey to the bee hive with the inscription Useful. In addition to this, we also grant your most merciful society six thousand rubles for hiring a decent house, both for your collection and for the establishment of an Economic Library in it. Your work, with God's help, will be rewarded to you and your descendants by your own benefit, and WE will not leave Our Grace to you, as you strive to multiply.

Ekaterina
October 31 days
1765".

The date of writing the letter of the empress was considered the date of foundation of the VEO, and the emblem proposed to her - a beehive with bees around and the motto "Useful" - the symbol of the Society.

The first fruit of the work

One of the main issues that was resolved in the first year of the Free Economic Society was the question of "Which of our earthly products is more appropriate for the general benefit and distribution of our commerce." By the way, this first conclusion of the VEO is relevant for Russia even after 250 years. Comparing the collected information, VEO experts came to the conclusion that it was wheat. It was not very popular among the people, but was very much appreciated abroad, that is, its export did not threaten the food security of the Russian Empire and was very profitable financially.

VERSATILE
From the very beginning, the Free Economic Society dealt not only with strictly economic problems, but, for example, with health problems. In the very first volume of the works there is an article on this topic: “It is known that many people coming from distant places, both foreigners and local Russians, having been here for some time, are obsessed with a disease that is not dangerous, but boring. It is diarrhea, which, being small at first, is for the most part neglected; but when he takes his strength, it does not soon cease and continues for several weeks in a row. Visitors to Paris also suffer from a similar disease, and it is called there le mal de Paris - the disease of Paris.

In the proceedings of the Society, the first competition with a reward was announced: 25 chervonny coins and a gold medal were promised to the one who “in the coming 1766 will bring wheat grain more than anyone else for holiday overseas”, to the St. Petersburg or Arkhangelsk ports, “and prove that this amount is indeed released to foreign lands on Russian and foreign ships, but not less than 500 to 1000 quarters.

Reward for work

The first sketch of the awards was prepared by the chief librarian of Catherine II, the actual state councilor Ivan Ivanovich Taubert.

The medals were cast at the Mint. The Empress personally got acquainted with the drawing of the project and gave her recommendations. On the front side of the Gold Medal was a portrait of Catherine II. On the reverse of the medal, against the backdrop of a rural landscape with a plowing peasant, in the foreground on the right is Ceres sitting on a sheaf. Above the image is the inscription "FOR WORK REWARD".

It is important to note that the medals of the Free Economic Society could be used as a means of payment and had their own value. During the first 100 years of VEO operation, almost 250 competitions with valuable awards were held. They were awarded for useful proposals for the modernization of rural and industrial equipment, for solving urgent problems of the agrarian complex, for describing and improving crafts, and for much, much more. Also, medals were awarded to the most active members of the VEO "in honor of their excellent work" medals at different prices.

VEO and potatoes

In Russia, there is a special attitude towards potatoes. It is called the "second bread", and it is difficult to think of a higher title in the Russian culinary hierarchy. It is all the more surprising that even 150 years ago, Russian peasants massively poisoned themselves with potatoes, fought against its cultivation and staged the so-called "potato riots", in which up to half a million people took part.

The merit of the fact that the potato still became the second most important product in the diet of Russians belongs to the Free Economic Society. In 1765, the year of its establishment, a special Instruction of the Senate "On the cultivation of earthen apples" was issued. At the same time, Novgorod Governor Yakov Efimovich Sievers was sent from St. Petersburg four quadruplets (more than 100 liters) of "earth apples of a red long kind."

In accordance with a recently issued order, Sievers planted the resulting potatoes on his estate and in the villages. The harvest on different soils turned out to be so good that the very next year, Sievers ordered to plant "earth apples" throughout the province. The results of his observations Yakov Sievers passed on to the Free Economic Society. Novgorod Governor reported:

“Those planted in pits, one foot square, filled with manure and earth, remained small, although others increased to two hundred. Those planted in small pits, in which only one part of the manure was put, grew better and larger, from 100 to 200 in number. earth up to 25 grains.

The potato cultivation program in Russia can be called one of the first successful major actions of the Free Economic Society. By the middle of the 19th century, potatoes had taken root in Siberia and even in Yakutia, at the same time potatoes began to move from garden crops to field crops - and domestic potato growing began to emerge. Dozens of brochures and books about potatoes published by the Imperial VEO were very popular in Russia, they were repeatedly reprinted. The last reprint of the book on the cultivation of potatoes, and with reference to the Free Economic Society, was published in 1938.

National problem of VEO

The story about the beginning of the work of the Free Economic Society would be incomplete if it were not told about the difficulties that the creators of the VEO had to overcome at the dawn of its existence.

The first problem was the national problem. As the botanist and memoirist Andrey Bolotov wrote in his Notes: “The first active and learned members of it were, in addition to Mr. Nartov, all Germans and foreigners who did not know briefly the consciousness of our people and its estates and had incomparably better thoughts about it and about our builders than what you should have." Foreigners "wrote everything at random and not in accordance with either our climate or customs." This critical disagreement with the people, according to Bolotov, led to the fact that the attitude towards the work of the Free Economic Society became frivolous, it "lost respect for itself completely."

Despite the fact that VEO books were relatively inexpensive, they did not have the proper demand, no one was engaged in their promotion, and at that time there were only two bookstores in the country, according to the same Bolotov: in Moscow at the University, and in Petersburg at the Academy. It was not until six years after the founding of the Society that efforts began to be made to market VEO books. The works of the Society were required to be kept by all members of the VEO, and, if possible, they had to be distributed, volumes of the works of the Free Economic Society were sent to the provinces, control over their sale lay with the governors.

On the brink of loss

Also, the problem of the Free Economic Society immediately after its creation was postage, and not only of a monetary nature. At that time, in many cities of the Russian Empire, there were no ordinary post offices, but only state offices, which not everyone could use. It is interesting that in the first version of the address to Catherine II there was a clause on free postage for members of the Free Economic Society, but it was deleted.

LINK TO ARCHIVE
The Free Economic Society is very careful and attentive to the preservation of its history. The entire archive of works since 1765 in digitized form can be found on the VEO website http://veorus.ru/ in the "Library" section

Also, the problem of the Society at first was its "salon". Perceiving membership in the VEO as an opportunity to receive privileges, people who were not always the most useful to the Society joined it. Because of this, the significance of membership in the VEO was devalued, the Society began to be treated as something formally corporate and frivolous, works in 1776-1779 were published irregularly, and the VEO was on the verge of losing itself.

Everything changed when Andrei Nartov, president of the Berg Collegium and the Mint, returned from abroad, and the election of Count, Adjutant General of Catherine II, Fyodor Evstafievich Anhalt, to the presidency of the VEO. Their joint work revived the Society and returned to it the lost positions.

In Russia, the first attempts were made to apply new methods, technologies, scientific achievements for the development of agricultural production. To this end, in October 1765, it was created Free Economic Society- the first in Russia and one of the world's first economic public organizations.

The founders of the Free Economic Society were a group of large landowners, among whom were Count R. Vorontsov, Count G. Orlov, Count I. Chernyshev, Senator A. Olsufiev and others. The organization received its name not by chance. Its creators, putting the word “free” in the title, emphasized that the society does not depend on the government, does not participate in any political movements, but “is guided in its activities only by the good of the Fatherland, supporting the mental and spiritual potential of Russia. The word "economic" indicated the area of ​​life that society sought to improve. Its task was to disseminate scientific knowledge in the field of management, and above all agronomy, as well as to stimulate all kinds of research in this direction.

The "Proceedings" of the Free Economic Society were published. In the XVIII century. 52 volumes were published, and in total, 280 of them were published during the existence of the society. The “Works” became no less popular among the reading public than the works of French enlighteners and literary magazines. They covered the results of scientific research in various areas of the economy, talked about new technology, and gave recommendations on how to manage the economy.

For example, the first volume contains 17 articles: “On sowing forests”, “Ways to seek water in waterless places”, “Method of hardening steel”, “On the release of wheat overseas”, “On the construction of living quarters for ordinary people”, etc. . material from the site

During the reign of Catherine II (second half of the 18th century)

The activities of the Free Economic Society in the second half of the 18th century under the conditions of the serfdom did not lead to significant results. Only in a few estates did the landlords attempt to introduce a multi-field crop rotation and began to use agricultural machinery along with the traditional labor of serfs.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All-Russian Public Organization "Free Economic Society of Russia"(abbreviated - OOO VEO of Russia) is one of the oldest in the world and the first public organization in our country that brings together economists and specialists in the field of management, finance, education, banking and other areas with the aim of developing and strengthening the economy of Russia and its regions, all sectors of the national economy. The VEO of Russia is the spiritual successor and continuer of the traditions of the Imperial Free Economic Society (1765-1918). The Company operates throughout the Russian Federation and includes 65 regional and interregional organizations. In 2015, the VEO of Russia celebrated its 250th anniversary.

History

The Free Economic Society of Russia was founded on October 31 (November 11, NS) 1765 by decree of Empress Catherine II, before the October Revolution it was called the Imperial Free Economic Society (1765-1918), in Soviet times it was called the Scientific and Economic Society (1982- 1987) and the All-Union Economic Society (1987-1991), and in 1992 it regained its historical name - the Free Economic Society of Russia. The main task of the organization since its foundation is the practical use of scientific achievements in the interests of social development. All subsequent public organizations in Russia relied on the experience of the VEO, the forms and methods of work developed by it.

Project M.V. Lomonosov

The first document relating to the history of the Free Economic Society was written by the Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov in 1763. This is “Opinion on the establishment of the State Collegium of (Rural) Zemstvo Housing Construction”, which is today stored in the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences. On three sheets, the concept of an organization consisting of highly educated people is outlined, whose duties will be "reading foreign books and writing correspondence", "reading essays and reasoning" and regularly "reporting new adventures to the board in kind". The organization should be managed by the president and vice president, "very knowledgeable in the natural sciences", and its basis will be "members throughout the state" - correspondent nobles and managers of "state and palace villages". Their reports on the practical experience of farming, “news and statements about the weather and about crops, and crop failures, about droughts”, “about products”, village crafts, canals, roads, soils and forests, as well as “about economy” in general should were to enter the College, generalized by experts, among them M.V. Lomonosov suggested that physicists, mechanics, chemists, geologists, botanists, physicians, etc., be published regularly, at least once a year, in the form of collections of scientific and practical articles.

After the death of M.V. Lomonosov, his ideas were implemented in the Plan and Charter of the Free Economic Society: “This society, based on the voluntary association of members, will be managed by itself, under the chairmanship of the President, every four months by balloting the elected. For the same reason, all disputes about rank and seniority, both between now joining and henceforth accepted members, are completely abandoned, and each, without prejudice to the other, sits where he pleases. Meetings have to be once a week, on a day determined by that time.

Creation of VEO

On October 12, 1765, a group of well-known and influential statesmen in Russia turned to Catherine II with a request to provide personal highest patronage to their voluntary association in order to search, test and popularize progressive ways of managing the economy and developing the state economy. The appeal was signed by 15 persons, among whom were Adjutant General of Catherine II, Count Grigory Orlov, godson of Peter the Great, Senator Adam Olsufiev, Acting Privy Councilor Roman Vorontsov, Chief Prosecutor of the Senate Ivan Chernyshev, future President of the Berg Collegium Andrey Nartov, scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Medical College.

The letter of the founders of the VEO to the Empress said: “... we, all subjects, united by voluntary agreement to establish a meeting between us, in which we intended to work together to improve agriculture and house-building. Our zeal and zeal, no matter how great, but when they are not backed up by the patronage of the Monarch, then our work will be without implementation. For this reason, it is boldly acceptable to ask Your Imperial Majesty, so that they would have the happiness of being under the only patronage of Your Imperial Majesty, and that our Society would be governed in its labors by its own obligations and institutions among themselves, which is why it would be called in all cases the Free Economic Society ... "

The Plan and Charter of the VEO were attached to the letter. Grigory Orlov personally delivered them to the Empress. On November 2, 1765, a response message came from the Winter Palace, in which Catherine II approved this initiative: fatherland. Your plan and charter, by which you have committed yourself to each other, We praise and, in agreement with him, We most mercifully test that you have called yourself the Free Economic Society. Please be trustworthy that We accept it in Our special patronage ... ".

All subsequent Russian emperors, with the exception of Paul I, upon accession to the Russian throne, by a special rescript, invariably confirmed their special patronage of the activities of the VEO, noting its significance for the state.

The date on the letter of Catherine II addressed to the founders of the Free Economic Society - October 31, 1765, is considered the day the VEO was founded.

Activities of the VEO before the abolition of serfdom

The priority of the first hundred years of the existence of the VEO was the development and modernization of agricultural production, as the main sector of the economy in the Russian Empire. The activities of economists during this period had a pronounced practical orientation; in one way or another, all the economic problems of the country were reflected in it.

All members of the organization had to carry out practical experiments on their estates on the cultivation and acclimatization of new varieties of grain crops, forage grasses, vegetables and fruits, test new agricultural implements, put into practice progressive methods of agriculture, animal husbandry, fish farming, etc., describe their experiences and send reports to St. Petersburg, where the Imperial Free Economic Society was located. Articles were considered at meetings of the VEO Council, the best of them were published in the collections "Proceedings of the Free Economic Society".

In 1766, in the Proceedings of the VEO and in the newspapers, an announcement was published about a competition for the best answer from an economic point of view to the question “What is the property of the farmer - in the land that he cultivates, or in movables, and what is his right to can he have both for public benefit? In response, 160 papers were received in Russian, German, French and Latin. The competition aroused great interest in Europe. Among its participants were Leonhard Euler, A.Ya. Polenov, A.P. Sumarokov and others. According to some researchers, one of the works (in the VEO archives it was assigned No. 71) was sent to the competition by young A.N. Radishchev. Labor differs from all others in the unconditional solution of the question of ownership, including land, in favor of the peasants.

VEO contained several experimental farms, apiaries, was engaged in the purchase and distribution of seeds, published special manuals for the cultivation, storage and preparation of commercial crops new for Russia at that time, such as potatoes, sunflowers, sugar beets, tobacco, corn, etc. In 1768 It was in the "Proceedings of the VEO" that the first article on potato cultivation was published, which began an active campaign of the VEO to disseminate the experience of growing this root crop in Russia.

Members of the VEO closely followed technical innovations, often sent their inventions in mechanics and village architecture for consideration to the Society's Council. Even in the first edition of the Charter of the VEO it was stated: "... to follow the foreign economy and write out from those places where agriculture is flourishing, models of the best arable implements and store them with the Society." Drawings and descriptions were published in the Proceedings of the VEO.

In 1803, a permanent museum of agricultural implements and equipment was opened at the Free Economic Society. It featured working models of various agricultural implements or their reduced copies. From 1824 to 1845, the VEO maintained its own mechanical workshop, which made modern agricultural implements for sale at reasonable prices.

Members of the VEO three times (1766-1784, 1790-1815, 1845-1853) conducted campaigns to collect information about life in the regions of the Russian Empire. Questionnaires covered all aspects of economic statistics. Reports and essays were periodically published as separate articles in Proceedings of the VEO. Providing the Society with economic descriptions of "private Russian governorships" was encouraged by monetary awards, as well as gold and silver medals. The first to send his essay about the Kashirsky district of the Moscow province to the VEO was the writer, scientist, founder of Russian agronomy A.T. Bolotov. In 1851, the Minister of State Property P.D. Kiselev officially invited the VEO to collect information about the economy for the needs of the government.

For more than a century (from 1765 to 1895) the Free Economic Society was a scientific and practical center for the dissemination of smallpox vaccination. In the second half of the 18th century, articles, instructions and tasks were published in the Proceedings of the VEO, encouraging the healthy population to voluntarily inoculate smallpox before the onset of epidemics. After the discovery by E. Jenner of a new, safer way to prevent the disease, the VEO began to promote the vaccination of people with cowpox. From 1824 to 1857, according to the highest order of Nicholas I, each province had to annually transfer 1000 rubles to the VEO. for smallpox vaccination activities. Significant donations were made by the members of the Society themselves. With these funds, glasses and lancets for vaccinations were purchased and sent to the regions, textbooks, leaflets about the benefits of smallpox vaccination were printed, and vaccination specialists were trained. In 1846, the first permanent vaccination room in Russia began to work in the house of the Free Economic Society.

In 1849, the Free Economic Society organized the first scientific expedition to study the Chernozem belt, in which P.P. Semenov (Tyan-Shansky) and N.Ya. Danilevsky.

In 1850, at the initiative of the President of the VEO, Prince P.G. The Oldenburg Society for the first time in Russia organized and held an all-Russian agricultural exhibition in St. Petersburg. It featured more than 3,500 exhibits: various varieties of agricultural and industrial crops, domestic and working livestock, livestock products, manufactured goods, machines and models of improved agricultural implements, samples of soil, ores, clay, salt, etc. The prize fund of the exhibition exceeded 13,500 rubles. silver. In addition to cash prizes, 505 gold and silver, 180 bronze medals were awarded. The participants came from all the provinces of the European part of Russia, as well as from Siberia, Finland and the Caucasus. The next such exhibition took place only 10 years later and was again held under the auspices of the Free Economic Society. Since then, large-scale handicraft and industrial exhibitions have become the most popular in Russia.

Economists in 1861-1895

Shortly before the abolition of serfdom in Russia, the activities of the Free Economic Society were divided into several areas. In addition to narrow agricultural tasks, political and economic issues were increasingly discussed at its meetings. VEO became a place of attraction for many progressive scientists and prominent public figures of the second half of the 19th century.

In April 1861, on the initiative of S.S. Lashkarev, a Literacy Committee was created at the Imperial VEO to teach peasants how to count, read, write, and the basics of law. The Committee was supported by Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (wife of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, an active supporter of the abolition of serfdom), who considered educational activities to be the most important in connection with the liberal reforms taking place in the country. In her letter to the VEO, she wrote: “Gradually increasing, and in view of the reforms undertaken by the Government, which undoubtedly should still increase among the people, literacy makes us now pay special attention to the publication of books for public reading, which can serve as useful guidance for rural residents on various branches of their occupation. The Literacy Committee was engaged in the creation of rural schools, the formation of libraries, the provision of teaching aids and adapted literature, the training of teachers, and the publication of books for public reading. In 1895, under pressure from the authorities, the St. Petersburg Literacy Committee, whose number had already reached 3,000 people, was closed. As Moskovskie Vedomosti wrote in 1896, for "the desire of the intelligentsia to seize, if possible, the public school into their own hands and direct it in accordance with their ideals and political goals."

On December 27, 1883, the “Normal Regulations on Lower Agricultural Schools” was adopted in Russia, which was based on a project developed by the Free Economic Society.

In December 1861, the Political and Economic Committee, the only one of its kind in the entire Russian Empire, was created under the Free Economic Society. Largely due to the possibility of discussing theoretical issues related to the development of the economy in the VEO, Russia began to form its own school of economics. The members of the Political and Economic Committee were scientists, economists, high-ranking officials, incl. A.V. Sovetov, V.P. Bezobrazov, E.I. Lamansky, S.A. Greig, N.I. Tarasenko-Otreshkov, I.V. Vernadsky, as well as writers and publicists I.A. Arseniev, V.A. Vladimirsky, N.Ya. Dubensky, D.D. Protopopov and others. The meetings of the Committee took place with varying intensity over the course of 35 years.

In 1865, with the money of the Imperial VEO, N.V. Vereshchagin organized the first peasant cheese-making artel in the Tver province, which laid the foundation for the development of the dairy industry in Russia. By agreement with the Society N.V. Vereshchagin was supposed to create five similar enterprises annually in different regions. From 1866 to 1869 VEO annually allocated 1,300 rubles from its budget for training cheese makers, replacing broken equipment and initial organizational needs.

In 1867-1868. Together with the Russian Geographical Society, the VEO organized and conducted several expeditions to study the grain trade. The reports were published in the three-volume "Proceedings of the expedition equipped by the Imperial Free Economic and Russian Geographical Societies to study the grain trade and productivity in Russia" and enjoyed great popularity over the years.

In 1866, the VEO supported the initiative of D.I. Mendeleev to conduct a series of experiments on the use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture, paying for the rent of plots, the work of "observers", tools, fertilizers and seeds. This made it possible for two years to prove the need for liming acidic soils, to test options for using ground phosphorites and superphosphate, nitrogen and potash fertilizers to increase grain yields, and to test several options for the simultaneous application of mineral and organic fertilizers. As a result, many times more grain was harvested in the experimental fields than in neighboring farms.

In 1871, the Apiculture Commission of the Free Economic Society was headed by A.M. Butlerov, who made a great contribution to the technical and technological re-equipment of domestic beekeeping.

In 1877, the Soil Commission was established under the Free Economic Society, whose members, incl. A.V. Sovetov, D.I. Mendeleev, A.M. Butlerov, V.V. Dokuchaev and A.I. Khodnev, opposed the so-called law of diminishing soil fertility. In 1877-1881, the VEO financed the expeditions of V.V. Dokuchaev on the study of chernozems, as a result of which a method of field description of soils was developed and an understanding of their zonal distribution arose. In 1880, the Soil Museum was opened at the VEO, which existed until the Revolution, where hundreds of soil samples from all regions of Russia were stored. Based on this collection, Dokuchaev and his students created soil maps of various territories.

By 1885, due to the emergence of a large number of professional industry societies, the VEO practically ceased to deal with issues of agricultural production, almost completely switching to educational activities.

During the famine of 1891-1892 and 1893-1894. The Literacy Committee of the VEO organized the collection and delivery of money, grain and humanitarian aid to the provinces affected by the crop failure. These actions provoked a conflict between the Free Economic Society and the Ministry of the Interior, which prohibited any public discussion of the humanitarian catastrophe and the mention of the word "famine" in the press.

Confrontation 1895-1918

By the end of the 19th century, the Imperial VEO turned into a scientific community in opposition to the government, where the most polar points of view were expressed. Open lectures by leading political economists at the House of the Free Economic Society were very popular among Petersburgers, especially among university youth. In the late 1880s, M.I. Tugan-Baranovsky and P.B. Struve, members of the Political and Economic Committee of the VEO.

In 1895, especially sharp statements of some liberal-minded figures of the VEO caused discontent of the government. The work of the VEO was banned for the first time. The authorities demanded to change the charter of the public organization, to transfer the Literacy Committee to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education. And the VEO itself was instructed to focus all attention on the development of agriculture, without touching on general economic and political economic issues. Since 1895, the Free Economic Society was formally subordinated to the Ministry of State Property. In 1900, Nicholas II ordered the creation of a commission to draft a new charter for the VEO. The members of the Society boycotted these decisions and continued to carry out their activities, referring to the Charter approved in 1872. Gendarmes were often on duty at the meetings of economists.

In 1904, members of the Free Economic Society were finally prohibited from holding their meetings. Nevertheless, in 1903-1905. at the VEO, the Peasant Commission headed by N.F. Annensky, created to study the influence of market relations on the life, way of life and ways of managing the common people. The commission revealed a direct relationship between crop failures and the strengthening of revolutionary sentiment among the peasantry. As a result, detailed information was collected on the causes and course of development of the peasant movement in Russia on the eve of the 1905 revolution.

The 1905 Manifesto allowed the VEO to briefly resume its work in full. In 1914, the VEO began organizing assistance to the rural population in war-affected areas. At the meetings of the Society, the economic actions of the authorities in wartime were discussed. There was a lot of criticism. Soon meetings in the House of the Free Economic Society were again banned.

The 150th anniversary of the Free Economic Society was celebrated in November 1915 in Moscow, at the Moscow Society of Agriculture. Summing up the results of the Society's activities that year, VEO President M.M. Kovalevsky wrote: “There is no Russian newspaper that would not respond in one way or another to the 150th anniversary. And to the credit of our press, it must be said that almost all parties, without distinction, were able to appreciate everything he did, not only in the sphere of our agricultural life, not only in the field of public education and national food, the development of handicraft industry, raising the question of cooperatives, but also in preparing peasant emancipation and endowing the peasants with land"

After the February Revolution, A.F. Kerensky.

In 1918, members of the Free Economic Society took over the organization of the funeral of G.V. Plekhanov. At noon on June 9, 1918, the coffin with the body of the father of Russian Marxism was taken out of the VEO House and the funeral procession (up to 10,000 people) headed for the Volkovo cemetery. Under the threat of reprisals from the Bolsheviks, the activities of the Free Economic Society were finally curtailed.

Activity recovery

The revival of the Society began in the 1980s, when the need for reform was already acutely felt in the Soviet Union. The idea to recreate a public trade union of economists was proposed by the leading Soviet scientists - academicians of the USSR Academy of Sciences A.G. Aganbegyan and T.S. Khachaturov, professor at the Faculty of Economics, Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosova G.Kh. Popov, economists A.D. Sheremet, O. Kozlova, V.N. Kirichenko, V.N. Cherkovets and others.

In December 1981, their proposal was supported by the Central Committee of the CPSU. The Organizing Bureau of 25 people was headed by T.S. Khachaturov, a recognized authority in the field of capital investments and economics, editor-in-chief of the journal "Economic Issues". For ideological reasons, the word "free" could not be used in the name and it was decided to call the organization the Scientific and Economic Society (SEO).

The founding congress of the NEO took place on December 9, 1982 in the assembly hall of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov. It was attended by about 500 delegates from Moscow, Leningrad, Novosibirsk, republican centers. The Scientific and Economic Society became the most numerous trade union in the USSR, bringing together leading scientists-economists, economic managers, senior officials of central economic departments (Goskomtrud, Gosplan, Gossnab, SCNT, Ministry of Finance, etc.). The organization included enterprising, authoritative people enjoying great administrative influence. T.S. was elected Chairman of the NEO. Khachaturov.

The most important activity of the NEO was the promotion of economic knowledge. Up to 1,500 events were held annually through the Scientific and Economic Society. In the mid-1980s, even before the start of perestroika, the NEO discussed the elimination of leveling, the transition to a guaranteed minimum wage from the state plus a basic salary that depended on the worker himself. Schemes were developed for the introduction of cost accounting in Soviet enterprises.

The first major event of the revived Society was the all-Union seminar "Problems of Regional Equalization of Living Standards and Development of Non-Production Sectors" (in Riga), where, almost for the first time in the USSR, the very painful problem of increasing inequality between the regions of the country, primarily between the union republics, was openly raised . “This inequality between the republics was already beginning to mature as a potential threat, which then became a problem in determining the fate of the Soviet Union,” recalls G.Kh. Popov. - Of course, it was impossible even to talk about this directly, hence the wording of the reports “on equalizing the standard of living through the development of an industrial non-productive sphere”, but it was precisely about republican inequality. If then they somehow reacted and took appropriate measures to equalize the standard of living in the Union, or would allow local authorities (giving them more power and financial freedom) to regulate the situation with the provision of the population with manufactured goods, social infrastructure, food, then we would not would have received the catastrophes of the 1990s.

Significant for the NEO was the All-Union Conference "Problems of the Scientific Organization of Economic Management", which the Central Board of the NEO together with the Committee on Management Problems of the ESNTO and the Department of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences held in November 1986 in Moscow, in the Hall of Columns of the House of the Unions. More than a thousand delegates from all over the country took part in it. The NEO sections prepared and published in advance in a separate collection seven key reports on the stated topic: “Theoretical foundations for restructuring the economic mechanism” (L.I. Abalkin), “Development of centralized management of the economy” (N.Ya. Petrakov and E.G. Yasin), “Implementation of the principle of distribution according to work” (S.S. Shatalin and G.A. Egiazaryan), “Development of organizational management structures” (B.Z. Milner and V.S. Rapoport), “Development of territorial administration” (L.A. Kozlov and A.S. Emelyanov), “Development of the system of work with management personnel, improvement of the style and methods of work of the administrative apparatus (G.Kh. Popov and E.K. Smirnitsky), “Democratization of economic management” (R.A. Belousov , N.N. Gritsenko, S.I. Shkurko). Abridged versions of the articles were also published in the weekly journal of the Central Committee of the CPSU "Economic newspaper". The results of the discussion demonstrated the absence of a unified interpretation of perestroika and its goals both in the scientific community and among the party and state leadership. The democratization of management and the expansion of the independence of enterprises were perceived either as the introduction of market self-regulation into the command-administrative system as a prerequisite for decentralization and democratization of management, or as a modernization of the system without a radical strengthening of the market principle.

In 1987, the NEO was transformed into the All-Union Economic Society (VEO), and V.S. Pavlov. Since 1988, the most important direction in the activities of the VEO has been building contacts with the foreign economic community. A series of seminars were organized in Brussels, Paris, Madrid on the topics of economic restructuring, investing in the USSR, and so on. For the Western participants, it was an opportunity to get to the actors of the Soviet perestroika. The level of participants from both sides was quite high. From the USSR - Chairman of the Society, Minister of Finance V.S. Pavlov, Minister of Labor V.I. Shcherbakov, Mayor of Moscow G.Kh. Popov, academicians L.I. Abalkin, A.G. Agenbegyan, S.S. Shatalin. Members of the European Parliament and high-ranking officials of the European Commission, ministers, bankers, heads of large companies participated in the seminars from the West.

In 1989, many prominent figures of the All-Union Economic Society participated in the work of the State Commission for Economic Reform, headed by a member of the Central Board of the VEO, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences L.I. Abalkin.

The historical name - Free Economic Society of Russia - the organization returned to itself in 1992.

250th anniversary of the VEO of Russia

On October 31, 2015, the Free Economic Society celebrated its 250th anniversary. In honor of this significant event in Moscow, the anniversary congress of the VEO of Russia was held in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin sent a congratulatory telegram to the delegates and guests of the congress, which, in particular, emphasized: “Founded back in 1765, the Imperial Free Economic Society united under its auspices prominent scientists, statesmen, politicians, writers, entrepreneurs - educated people, enthusiastic who sincerely care for the fate of the Fatherland. During its existence, the VEO has made a significant contribution to the development of economic thought in our country, has done a lot for broad public education, organization of research expeditions, and open discussions on the most important issues on the national agenda. It is important that today the Free Economic Society of Russia preserves the connection between times and traditions, treats with care the richest scientific, ideological and intellectual heritage of its predecessors. Actively participates in the life of the country.

About a thousand delegates and guests of honor took part in the work of the congress. As part of the scientific discussion, the participants discussed the issues of updating the historical and scientific heritage of the Free Economic Society of Russia in relation to the tasks of developing an effective model of the country's socio-economic development.

Economist Day

The professional holiday "Economist's Day" was established by the Government of Russia and is celebrated on November 11 - the day of the founding of the Free Economic Society of Russia (October 31 - old style).

Every year, starting from 2016, on November 11, the Free Economic Society of Russia, together with the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, holds the All-Russian Economic Meeting, the task of which is to consolidate the Russian economic community for a comprehensive discussion and solution of urgent economic problems of the state.

Emblem and coat of arms of the VEO of Russia

Catherine II allowed her own motto to be used in the business correspondence of the organization - "bees that bring honey to the hive, with the inscription: Useful." For two and a half centuries, this image has undergone a number of changes, but has survived to this day and still serves as the emblem of the VEO of Russia.

Building

From 1765 to 1772, the weekly meetings of the Free Economic Society were held mainly in G.G. Orlov Shtengelman House on Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg, where the economic library was also kept. In 1775, the construction of the house of the Free Economic Society (architect J.-B. Vallin-Delamot) was completed at Nevsky Prospekt, 2. The Society worked in it until 1844, then, at the request of Nicholas I, the building was purchased in favor of the military department and after reconstruction 1844-1845 became part of the ensemble of buildings of the General Staff.

Palace Square, 1830s. Artist Sadovnikov V.S. Watercolor. State Hermitage. Far right - House of the Free Economic Society, Nevsky Prospekt, 2.

From 1844 to 1918, the VEO was located in Galchonkova's house at the corner of Obukhovsky Prospekt and the 4th company of the Izmailovsky Regiment. The current address is 33 Moskovsky Ave. Now the building belongs to the St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts. In the wing (Moskovsky Prospekt, 33, building 1), where from 1872 to 1918. housed the Soil Museum of VEO and a chemical laboratory, now there is the House of G.V. Plekhanov (branch of the Russian National Library named after M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin).

The latest history of the VEO of Russia is connected with the House of Economist in Moscow (Tverskaya st., 22a). The reconstruction of the building was completed by the celebration of the anniversary (235 years) of the Free Economic Society in 2000. The Fireplace Hall of the House of Economists on Tverskaya traditionally hosts meetings of members of the VEO of Russia, Abalka Readings and various specialized events. In 2015, in honor of the 250th anniversary of the VEO of Russia, the meeting of the leaders of the Free Economic Society of Russia with the head of the Russian Imperial House of Romanov, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, took place here.

Structure of the VEO of Russia

The VEO of Russia today includes 65 regional and interregional organizations, numbering over 300 thousand people in their ranks.

The activities of the Free Economic Society of Russia are managed by the Congress, the Board, the Presidium and the President.

The supreme governing body of the VEO of Russia is the Congress, which is convened once every 5 years. Between the Congresses, the activities of the Society are managed by the Management Board, which is a permanent collegial management unit, organizes the implementation of the decisions of the VEO of Russia congresses, elects the President, on the proposal of the President - the first vice-presidents and vice-presidents of the VEO of Russia, and also determines the quantitative composition and elects presentation by the President of the members of the Presidium of the VEO of Russia.

Presidents and prominent figures of the VEO of Russia

In 1765, the charter of the Free Economic Society ordered to elect a president every 4 months, five years later, a second ballot for this post was introduced, and later the term of the presidency was extended.

The first president of the Free Economic Society was elected senator, Secretary of State of Catherine II A.V. Olsufiev. After him, the presidency passed to the favorite of the Empress, Count G.G. Orlov, who in the early years took an active part in the activities of the VEO.

In different years, the presidents of the imperial VEO were F.E. Anhalt, P.A. Geiden, A.S. Greig, K.D. Kavelin, E.P. Kovalevsky, M.M. Kovalevsky, N.S. Mordvinov, A.A. Nartov, P.G. Oldenburg, Grand Duke N.N. Romanov senior, A.S. Stroganov, I.I. Taubert and others. Many prominent figures of Russian science and culture took part in the activities of the Free Economic Society.

The latest history of the VEO of Russia is associated with the names of such prominent scientists and public figures of modern Russia as L.I. Abalkin, A.G. Aganbegyan, S.D. Bodrunov, S.Yu. Glazyev, R.S. Grinberg, N.N. Gritsenko, V.I. Grishin, M.G. Delyagin, Ya.N. Dubenetsky, A.A. Dynkin, M.V. Ershov, V.V. Ivanter, S.V. Kalashnikov, S.P. Kapitsa, A.N. Klepach, A.L. Kudrin, A.V. Murychev, A.D. Nekipelov, V.S. Pavlov, G.Kh. Popov, N.Ya. Petrakov, B.N. Porfiriev, E.M. Primakov, Yu.V. Roslyak, S.N. Ryabukhin, D.E. Sorokin, S.V. Stepashin, E.S. Stroev, G.A. Tosunyan, G.N. Tsagolov, M.V. Shmakov, N.P. Shmelev, V.I. Shcherbakov, A.N. Shokhin, V.S. Chernomyrdin, M.A. Eskindarov, Yu.V. Yakutin, E.G. Yasin and others.

Scientific, economic and social activities of the VEO of Russia

The VEO of Russia actively cooperates with government agencies at all levels, evaluates various projects and programs, acts as an expert on a number of topical issues, advises representatives of federal, regional and local authorities on current economic policy, participates in international forums and conferences.

The main activities of the VEO of Russia:

• Program "All-Russian forums, conferences, congresses, exhibitions".
• Program "All-Russian economic projects": the annual All-Russian economic meeting dedicated to the professional holiday "Economist's Day"; All-Russian Higher Public Economic Award "Economist of the Year"; All-Russian economic dictation and other projects.
• Program "Economic Growth of Russia": permanent Abalka Readings.
• Educational and Publishing Program:

- "Scientific works of the Free Economic Society of Russia" (208 volumes published by 2018), which are included in the "List of leading scientific journals and publications";

Journal "Free Economics";

Almanac "Conversations about Economics";,

Digital Library of the VEO of Russia (located on the website www.veorus.ru);

Public lecture hall;

VEO Coordinating Club of Russia;

Media project "Council of Experts" of the VEO of Russia and "Rossiyskaya Gazeta";

Public Library of the VEO of Russia; - Media project House "E" on the Public Television of Russia (OTR).

• Program "International activities and development of cooperation".

International Committee of the VEO of Russia (Chairman - Vice-President of the VEO of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.A. Dynkin).

• Program "Independent evaluation of the quality of economic education".
• Program "Development of the creative potential of youth": All-Russian competition of scientific works of youth "Economic growth of Russia", Festival of economic science, etc.
• Program "Russian competitions"

VEO of Russia today

• 65 regional organizations;
• 300,000 members: practicing economists, scientists and experts, government officials, business community, public figures;
• Over the 30 years of the recent history of the VEO, 11,000,000 copies of information-analytical, scientific and educational publications have been published, which are distributed free of charge;
• The VEO of Russia and its regional organizations annually hold more than 900 various events aimed at promoting the economic and social progress of the country;
• More than 3,000 people from all regions of the country take part in the youth projects of the VEO of Russia every year.

Events

At events in the Free Economic Society of Russia, one can traditionally meet supporters of different political views and adherents of different concepts of the country's economic development. In fact, VEO managed to overcome the split in society that happened during perestroika, today it is the platform where every specialist from any ideological camp can express his point of view and calmly discuss it with colleagues.

According to the charter, once every five years, on its next anniversary, the Free Economic Society holds an all-Russian congress, which brings together representatives of all regional organizations, foreign partners of the VEO in international projects, the elite of Russian science, prominent statesmen and public figures.

This event is traditionally supported by the first persons of the country. On the eve of the congress in 1995, President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin issued an order recommending that the anniversary be celebrated at the state level, and the government of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution in which all federal executive bodies were instructed to provide assistance to the Free Economic Society. In 2015, the celebrations dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the VEO of Russia were held with the support of President V.V. Putin.

As part of the All-Russian Forums, Conferences, Congresses, Exhibitions program, the VEO of Russia and its regional organizations annually hold more than 900 events aimed at promoting the economic and social progress of the country.

Since 1994, within the framework of a separate program, the round table "Economic Growth of Russia" has been constantly working. Until 2011, the leader of this project was the chairman of the scientific and practical council of the VEO of Russia, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences L.I. Abalkin. In memory of him, in 2011, the presidium of the VEO of Russia decided to rename the round table into the Abalka Readings. At present, the Economic Growth of Russia project is headed by the Chairman of the Scientific Council of the VEO of Russia, Vice-President of the VEO of Russia, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences D.E. Sorokin.

One of the most important programs of the VEO of Russia is the Development of the Creative Potential of Youth, within the framework of which, since 1996, the All-Russian Competition of Scientific Works of Youth “Economic Growth of Russia” has been held. More than 3,000 people from all regions of the Russian Federation take part in the competition every year - schoolchildren, students, young scientists and entrepreneurs under the age of 33. The organizing committee of the competition is headed by the president of the VEO of Russia, director of the Institute of New Industrial Development named after V.I. S.Yu. Witte S.D. Bodrunov. Chairman of the jury of the competition - Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation S.Yu. Glaziev. The Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation has been a partner of the project for many years. High school students whose works take first place in the competition are enrolled in this educational institution without entrance examinations. Students who receive the first prize are given an excellent mark in economic disciplines for the entrance exam to the postgraduate studies at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The research papers of the winners and laureates of the competition are published in a special edition of the Scientific Proceedings of the VEO of Russia.

The Russian competition "Manager of the Year" is an important, socially significant event. The competition was first held in 1987. More than 2 thousand people from different regions of Russia take part in the competition every year. This prestigious competition reveals leaders and the best representatives of the management corps and gives a huge impetus to the professional and creative growth of managers in the interests of the development of the Russian economy.

Since 2007, the VEO of Russia, with the support of the State Duma of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, annually organizes the All-Russian Competition "Economics and Management". The competition is designed to identify the best economic departments and educational programs, effective experience in implementing innovations in the field of training specialists that meet international standards and are in demand on the modern labor market.

In 2016, the VEO of Russia established the All-Russian highest public economic award "Economist of the Year". Along with the prestigious Russian professional awards: "Lawyer of the Year" and "Teacher of the Year", "Economist of the Year" is a sign of the highest expert assessment, special gratitude and recognition of the professional services of Russian economists to society and the state.

The all-Russian educational campaign "All-Russian Economic Dictation" was first held on October 12, 2017 at 638 venues in 80 regions of the Russian Federation, bringing together more than 59 thousand participants. The organizer of the dictation is the Free Economic Society of Russia with the assistance of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and other leading universities in Russia, administrations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the dictation is to determine and improve the level of economic literacy of the population, develop the intellectual potential of young people and assess the economic activity and economic literacy of the population of various subjects of the Russian Federation. Since 2017, the All-Russian Economic Dictation of the VEO of Russia has been held annually.

VEO of Russia awards

The Free Economic Society of Russia is the first public organization in the country whose awards are registered by the Heraldic Council under the President of the Russian Federation and put on federal heraldic records. ,

The highest award is the Big Gold Medal of the VEO of Russia (certificate of federal heraldic registration No. 078 dated October 14, 2005, registration number - 158). Awarded once every five years at the anniversary congress of the Free Economic Society for outstanding personal contribution to the development of domestic and world economic thought, the economic potential of Russia, its foreign economic relations, as well as for special services to the Free Economic Society of Russia, which contributed to raising the authority of Russian economic science and activity Companies in the Russian Federation and abroad. The first presentation took place on October 31, 2005. In 2015, V.V. Putin, N.A. Nazarbaev and E.M. Primakov, M.M. Zagorulko.

Silver medal of the VEO of Russia (certificate of federal heraldic registration No. 079 dated October 14, 2005, account number - 160) - is awarded for a significant contribution to the development of economic science, many years of fruitful activity to strengthen the economic potential of Russia and its regions. Individuals and legal entities are awarded. Among the holders of the Silver Medal are outstanding scientists, statesmen and public figures, representatives of the business community.

The commemorative jubilee medal "250 Years of the VEO of Russia" was established on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Free Economic Society. The jubilee medal is awarded to individuals and legal entities for a special contribution to the activities of the Free Economic Society of Russia, for active socially significant activities, and the development of the country's civil society institutions.

The awards of the VEO of Russia are recreated on the model of the medals of the Imperial Free Economic Society. The first gold medal of the VEO was presented to Empress Catherine II and is kept in the Hermitage collection.

Publishing

The implementation of the program "Educational and Publishing Activities" allows the VEO of Russia to be considered one of the most active popularizers of scientific and economic knowledge. Over 30 years of the recent history of the VEO of Russia, 11,000,000 copies of information-analytical, scientific and educational publications have been published. The distribution of magazines, newspapers, bulletins published at the expense of the VEO is carried out only free of charge, in accordance with the principle of enlightenment.

"Scientific Proceedings of the VEO of Russia" is the main printed organ of the Free Economic Society of Russia. This is the oldest periodical in our country.

The decision to publish collections of scientific and practical articles on economics called "Proceedings of the Free Economic Society" was made by the founders of the VEO on December 7, 1765. Between 1765 and 1914, 280 volumes of the "Proceedings of the VEO" were published, some of which included up to four individual books. At its core, this is a chronicle of the domestic economy, with the help of which today you can step by step track the development of many of its industries, learn about how our ancestors lived and what they did, how the country's economy and the interests of its citizens changed.

In 1994, the publication of the Scientific Works of the Free Economic Society was resumed. By the beginning of 2018, more than 200 volumes of this edition were published. Since 2003, by decision of the Presidium of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Scientific Proceedings of the Free Economic Society of Russia have been included in the List of Leading Scientific Journals and Publications issued in the Russian Federation, in which the main scientific results of dissertations for a degree must be published doctor and candidate of sciences.

In Soviet times, in 1986, the Scientific and Economic Society launched an information bulletin, which covered the most important events in its activities. Despite the fact that it did not contain any secret information, the bulletin was issued under the heading "For Official Use".

In 1995, the Free Economic Society began publishing the newspaper "Byloye", which tells about the economic history of Russia. Its editor was S.S. Khizhnyakov, grandson of the last Executive Secretary of the Imperial VEO.

Since 1996, together with the Economic Newspaper Publishing House, the VEO of Russia has been publishing the book series Russian Classical Library. Economics and Spirituality” (more than 20 books), which presents the Russian school of socio-economic thought, including the presidents of the Free Economic Society of Russia.

From 2001 to 2015, the VEO of Russia published the Econom newsletter. In 2016, the VEO of Russia's own information and analytical journal "Free Economics" began to be published (media registration certificate PI No. FS 77-71537).

In 2017, the first volume of the popular science almanac of the Conversations on the Economy series was published, which contains the most interesting and relevant discussions that took place at the VEO of Russia.

VEO of Russia has an impressive library fund. The digitized archive of the works of the Imperial VEO and Scientific Works of the VEO of Russia is freely available on the organization's website.

Literature

1. Beketov A.N. Historical sketch of twenty-five years of activity of the Imperial Free Economic Society from 1865 to 1890. St. Petersburg, 1890.
2. Meeting of the I Branch of the Imperial Free Economic Society on the consideration of the report of V.V. Dokuchaev about measures to raise the extremely low soil science in Russia. SPb., 1880.
3. On the history of the Imperial Free Economic Society (copies of documents 1894-1906). St. Petersburg, 1906;
4. Kovalevsky M.M. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Imperial Free Economic Society//Bulletin of Europe. 1915. No. 12;
5. A brief outline of the activities of the Imperial Free Economic Society for smallpox vaccination / Comp. doctor E.E. Horn. - St. Petersburg: type. V. Demakova, 1896.
6. Kulyabko-Koretsky N.G. A brief historical outline of the activities of I.V.E. Society since its foundation - St. Petersburg, 1897.
7. Light N.B. Free economic society of Russia: the way of creation. - M., 2016.
8. Lomonosov M.V. Full composition of writings. Volume 6. Works on Russian history, socio-economic issues and geography. 1747 - 1765 - M., L., 1952.
9. Mendeleev D.I. On the organization of agricultural experiments. Proceedings of the VEO. SPb., 1866, issue 3
10. Oreshkin V.V. Free Economic Society in Russia. 1765-1917. Historical and economic essay - M., ed. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1963.
11. Special opinion of Admiral Mordvinov. Moscow, Publishing house "Economic newspaper". 2008. p.81
12. Gift album "Free Economic Society of Russia: 250 years in the service of the Fatherland" - M .: VEO of Russia, 2015.
13. Portrait Gallery: Presidents of the Free Economic Society. M.-SPb., 2005.
14. Protopopov D.D. History of the St. Petersburg Literacy Committee. SPb., 1898.
15. Proceedings of the Imperial Free Economic Society of Russia. 1765-1914
16. Proceedings of the expedition equipped by the Imperial Free Economic and Russian Geographical Societies to study the grain trade and productivity in Russia. - St. Petersburg, 1869-72

    The Free Economic Society was created in order to disseminate among the nobility progressive ideas for organizing agricultural work in order to increase productivity and make labor more rational. The society was founded on November 11, 1765 and was under the auspices of Catherine II (it was the first scientific society in Russia), as part of the implementation of the ideas of enlightened absolutism. Members of the society published books, magazines, held exhibitions. The article is devoted to the description of the history of the organization of the Free Economic Society, as well as to the analysis of the main results of its activities.

    What was the purpose of the Free Economic Society

    In the 18th century, the ideas of the Enlightenment began to gain popularity in Russia. The basis of these ideas is the role of science and education in social and state progress. For the first time, the ideas of the Enlightenment came to Russia under Peter 1, as a result, the Academy of Sciences was opened. Later, the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment led to the opening of a university and other educational institutions in Moscow. The peak of popularity of Enlightenment thinkers falls on the reign of Catherine II. The Empress herself was on friendly terms with Voltaire and Diderot, who were considered classics of the French Enlightenment. Communication with Diderot made Catherine think about creating scientific publications in Russia, following the example of the Encyclopedia. Correspondence with Voltaire pushed the empress to create organizations that would carry progressive ideas to the people. The main branch of the Russian economy was agriculture, which is why this area required reforms, using the best practices and progressive ideas of Europe.

    Creation of the Society

    In 1765, dignitaries close to Catherine, Grigory Orlov and Roman Vorontsov, approached the Empress with the idea of ​​creating an organization that would disseminate progressive ideas of agriculture, as well as knowledge of animal husbandry and agronomy among the landowners. According to the initiators, the Russian nobles knew only one way to increase productivity - the expansion of the territory, as well as an increase in peasant duties. Thus a free economic society was born.

    In the modern language of economics, the landlords chose the extensive way of farming, and the newly created Society, and in fact a public organization, will spread the ideas of the intensive method, that is, increasing productivity through rational policy and scientific achievements (fertilizers, and later technology). The Empress supported the idea, and the Free Economic Society was organized. Adam Olsufiev and Ivan Chernyshev also joined the two creators.

    As for the organizational moment, the Society was to be headed by the president, who was elected by the participants, and the monarch approved. Until 1783, Grigory Orlov was president. In the first years of its activity, the society published the journal "Proceedings", on the pages of which articles were published about the latest methods of soil cultivation, information about fertilizers. In addition, members of the free economic society collected statistical information about the climatic features of the regions of Russia. The magazine was published until 1855, and in total more than 30 volumes were printed. However, the most high-profile event in the activities of the Free Society was an essay competition on improving peasant life.

    Peasant Reform Competition

    

    Later, the Free Society announced a competition for the best plan for solving the peasant problem in Russia. The peculiarity was that foreigners could participate in the competition. So several interesting projects were submitted.

    A. Polenov was singled out from Russian works, who proposed to weaken serfdom in Russia as much as possible, transferring large plots of land to the peasants, but in return giving them duties. Polenov's work was never published because it contained a detailed critique of the feudal system in Russia.

    The most radical was Voltaire's project, which proposed to completely free the peasants by transferring land to their ownership. The very fact of participation in this competition of the great philosopher and poet attracted the attention of all Europe to this event.

    The winner in the competition was the project of the Frenchman Bearde de Labey, who proposed to free the peasants, but transferring them to the ownership of small plots of land, which would force them to rent land from the owners - the nobility.

    Despite the great interest in the competition, his ideas remained projects. However, despite this, for the first time, the nobility faced the question of the future of the serfdom system.

    Free Economic Society in the 19th century

    In the middle of the 19th century, the Society expanded significantly and consisted of three sections:

    • Agriculture;
    • Agricultural machinery;
    • Agricultural statistics.

    An interesting fact is that the society bought land near St. Petersburg and created a site for experiments there. This was called the Okhta farm. In 1899, the Society began publishing the journal Soil Science.

    During the reforms of Alexander 2, the Free Society became a place for discussing liberal ideas. That is why at the end of the century it came under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture, effectively ceasing to be a public organization. In fact, the Free Society ceased to exist in 1915, the society was finally dissolved in 1919 during the civil war.

    Has the society achieved its goals?

    Despite the great scientific and statistical work, as well as the popularization of progressive ways of farming, historians are wondering about the effectiveness of the Free Economic Society. Today, most historians believe that the Society did not fulfill its task, because, despite the large number of publications, only a few nobles became interested in the modernization of the village. However, the very fact of the existence of the Society prompted discussions about the future of the village in the Russian Empire. It was the Society that first forced the nobles to think about the serf system and its problems. Thus, the main merits of the Free Economic Society lie in the theoretical sphere; the matter has not reached large-scale practice.

    The society arose on the initiative of leading representatives of the nobility and scientists who were interested in the successful development of agriculture and industry. The society was called free because it was not subject to any government departments. This organization existed for almost a century and a half - until 1919 and resumed its activities in 1982.

    Many popular publications and reference books even today attribute the authorship of the creation of this society to the favorite of Empress Catherine II, Count Grigory Orlov. For example, Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia) says that the Society "was established in St. Petersburg in 1765 by Count Grigory Orlov under the auspices of Catherine II." In fact, not the most talented statesman and the failed spouse of the sovereign empress had nothing to do not only with the authorship of this project, but was not even (contrary to a very popular belief) the first president of the VEO. Count Orlov can only be considered a conductor of this useful idea: he put his very weighty signature under the message to Catherine II, compiled by an initiative group of the nobility, already calling itself the Free Economic Society:

    Most Merciful, Most Sovereign, Great - Wise Empress and Autocrat of All Russia, Most Merciful Sovereign! The reign of Your IMPERIAL MAJESTY is the plan for the fatherland, in which our bliss is visibly accomplished. With Your Majesty's tireless work and care for affairs, the integrity and well-being of the Empire that make up, apparently, your patronage acts so much on the Sciences and Arts; and this encourages the subjects of your hearts lovers in teaching themselves and in enlightening others. In view of this, we all subjects will unite by voluntary agreement to establish a meeting between us, in which we intend to work together to improve agriculture and house building. Our zeal and zeal, no matter how great, but when they are not backed up by the patronage of the Monarch, then our work will be without implementation. Members of the Free Economic Society

    Gentlemen members of the Free Economic Society,

    The intention you have undertaken to improve agriculture and house-building is very pleasing to Us, and the labors resulting from it will be direct evidence of your true zeal and love for your Fatherland. Your plan and charter, which you pledged to each other, WE praise and, in agreement with that, we most mercifully test that you called yourself the Free Economic Society. Please be trustworthy that WE accept it in Our special patronage; for the seal you request, we not only allow you to use in all cases, with your labors, Our Imperial coat of arms, but also as a sign of Our excellent goodwill towards you, we allow you to put our own motto inside it: bees bring honey to the hive with the inscription Useful. In addition to this, we also grant your most merciful society six thousand rubles for hiring a decent house, both for your collection and for the establishment of an Economic Library in it. Your work, with God's help, will be rewarded to you and your descendants by your own benefit, and WE will not leave Our Grace to you, as you strive to multiply.

    In many sources, it is October 31, 1765 that is given as the date of the founding of the VEO. Meanwhile, the Society actually existed even before the approving rescript of the empress, and its true creators were by no means court nobles, but scientists. With the initiative of the scientific approach of the state to the problems of agriculture and farming, M.V. Lomonosov. The tasks, methods of work, the charter of the VEO were developed by him in the "Opinion on the establishment of the state collegium of (rural) zemstvo housing construction" (1763). The program of activities of the board (and then the Society) included the promotion and dissemination of "generally useful information and instructions on farming, housing construction and, in general, on all branches of the economy in the Russian Empire." However, under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, these initiatives did not meet with a proper response. Officials were in no hurry to resolve such issues at the state level. Only after the death of Lomonosov (1765) did

    his like-minded people (in particular, Andrei Andreyevich Nartov, adviser to the Academy of Sciences, son of the famous turner Peter I), came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a public organization that would enjoy the support of the authorities, but was not officially controlled by any specific state body. With the assistance of Count G. Orlov and other courtiers (Vorontsov, Olsufiev, Chernyshov) as well as the imperial librarian I.I. Tauberg, Lomonosov's idea was brought to the attention of the empress. A whole galaxy of members of the Academy of Sciences joined Nartov - Euler, Severgin, Razumovsky, Lepekhin and other educated people of Catherine's time.

    On May 22, 1765, I. Tauberg completed the plan of a patriotic society that he had drawn up on behalf of Catherine II "to encourage agriculture and economy in Russia." Tauberg was exemplified by societies in Scotland founded in 1723, Ireland (1736), England (1753), France (1757) and Germany (1762), as well as the developments of the projects of M.V. Lomonosov and A. Nartov.

    The first Charter of the Society stated: “There is no more convenient way to increase in any state of national welfare than to try to bring the economy to a better state, showing the proper ways in which natural products are used with greater benefit and former shortcomings can be corrected”.

    The purpose of the society was to study the state of Russian agriculture, the conditions of the economic life of the country, and to disseminate information useful for agriculture. The Free Economic Society consisted of three branches:

    1. agricultural;
    2. agricultural technical production and agricultural mechanics;
    3. political economy and agricultural statistics.

    The VEO was headed by an elected president.

    The first (constituent) meeting of VEO members took place in the former Shtegelman House, where Count G. Orlov lived, but the favorite himself, being busy with other things, was not even present at this event. The post of president of the VEO was first offered to Count R.I. Vorontsov, then G.G. Orlov, who refused, because. “Due to many occupations, I could not take on this title.” Adam Vasilyevich Olsufiev was elected the first president of the Society. The President was elected for 2/3 of the year (elected by thirds). G.G. Orlov held this post for a very short time: from January 1 to September 1, 1766.

    During the period of his presidency, Count Orlov only manages to order from the architect Zh.B. Wallen-Delamot building project for VEO at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Palace Square. The project was being implemented during 1768 - 1775. In 1780 the building was rebuilt. In 1844, the Society was transferred to Zabalkansky (now Moskovsky) Avenue, and the old building was transferred to the General Staff. In 1845-1846, the architect I.D. Chernik built a new building on this site, the facade of which was solved in general forms with the building of the General Staff. Today, the complex of buildings of the Free Economic Society on Moskovsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg is an architectural monument of federal significance.

    Over time, the goals and objectives of the VEO have been repeatedly refined and expanded in the direction of the general economic, covering not only agriculture, but also industry. Among the first members of the VEO, as we can see, the names of close associates of Catherine II, large landowners and landowners, prevailed, but later the nobles and courtiers withdrew from active participation in the work of the Society, giving way to the actively emerging scientific and industrial and commercial elite. The expansion of the activities of the VEO required more and more active involvement in its activities of specialists in various fields: natural biologists, historians, ethnographers, travelers, physicians, as well as merchants, industrial and agricultural entrepreneurs.

    From its first meetings, the Society placed research at the center of its activities, thereby laying the foundation for the study of the economic life of the country. One of the early WEO documents noted: “What is not in Russia - everything you need is; it is necessary to use what is offered in nature, knowledge, diligence and observation are necessary ... ".

    In 1766, the VEO held the first competition on a question sent by Catherine II: "What is the property of the farmer - is it in the land that he cultivates, or in movables, and what right can he have to both for the benefit of the whole people?" It was a kind of touchstone, with the help of which Catherine wanted to find out the public mood in the question of the abolition of serfdom that interested her. Of the 160 answers by Russian and foreign authors, the most progressive was the work of the jurist A. Ya. Polenov, who criticized serfdom. The answer aroused dissatisfaction with the competition committee of the VEO and was not published. However, the very posing of the question, and even more so its open discussion, was a truly revolutionary event for that time. Of course, the competition did not have any practical consequences, but the peasant question has since become the subject of open public discussion.

    In the future, various competitions on political economy, applied agricultural and technical problems were held regularly. Only in the first century of the Society's work, 243 tasks were announced, among which one can highlight the competition of 1796 for the compilation of the "People's Encyclopedia" in order to popularize scientific knowledge.

    From the first days of the life of the VEO, practical work also unfolded - the free distribution of seeds, the introduction of a potato crop, hitherto unknown to Russians. In 1766, the Society raised the issue of spare stores and public plowing. Soon, VEO began to manufacture an anti-smallpox vaccine for the population - a purely scientific task that required the involvement of specialists not so much in the economic as in the medical field. Grigory Orlov himself and Empress Catherine were among the first to agree to be vaccinated against smallpox.

    However, economic analytics remained the main activity of the VEO for almost all the years of its existence.

    In 1790, the Society developed and published an extensive program of local research under the title: "Inscription for the everlasting task and rewarding of those writings that economic descriptions of private Russian governorships will inform him." In 1801, the VEO achieved the highest command to “compel governors to answers”, and since 1829 it has been collecting the necessary information from the landowners and the clergy. In 1847, the Society collected and published data on the prices of bread, on forests and the timber industry, two years later it sent a special expedition to collect information about the black earth zone, and in 1853 it published materials on agricultural statistics.

    On the day of its 100th anniversary, the VEO organized a congress of rural owners of Russia, at which the issue was comprehensively discussed: "What should be the measures for the study of Russia in economic terms, and what participation can be taken in this matter, both by the Free Economic Society and other scientists." The following year, together with the Geographical Society, an extensive study of the grain trade and productivity in Russia was undertaken, which resulted in a number of scientific works (Barkovsky, Janson, Bezobrazov and others).

    Since 1870, the VEO began to study the activities of zemstvos and published a special "Zemsky Yearbook", and in 1877 undertook a study of the Russian community, culminating in the publication of a solid collection. In 1889, the Society conducted a study of the arrears of peasants on the example of one of the counties of the Russian hinterland, in 1896-1898 a study was made of agricultural artels of the Kherson province. At the same time, according to the reports of Chuprov, Posnikov, Annensky, the question of the influence of harvests on various aspects of economic life was studied, according to the reports of Tugan-Baranovsky and Struve, the question of the direction of Russia's economic development was debated.

    The financial problems of the country were also in the field of view of the members of the Society. In 1886, the VEO raised the issue of income tax, in 1893 it sharply protested against the salt tax, in 1896 it discussed a draft monetary reform in Russia, and in 1898 it petitioned for a revision of customs tariffs.

    Since the 1920s, the Society has been actively involved in agricultural education. In 1833, Emperor Nicholas I granted him capital, for which rural teachers had been preparing for a long time. For many years, VEO maintained its own agricultural school, beekeeping school, had its own workshop and even a museum. Being engaged in the development of problems of soil science, the Society summarized the well-known works of Dokuchaev in the book "Russian Chernozem".

    The Society paid much attention to the issues of statistics, developing the methodology and ways of organizing the appraisal business. In 1900, a congress of zemstvo statisticians gathered at the special statistical commission of the VEO.

    Since 1849, under the auspices of the VEO, numerous exhibitions have been held: herd cattle, dairy farming, agricultural tools and machines, dried fruits and vegetables, etc. In 1850 and 1860, the Society organized exhibitions of "rural works" on an all-Russian scale. At several international and world exhibitions (Paris, 1878, 1889; Prague, 1879; Chicago, 1893 and others), VEO expositions were awarded the highest awards.

    At various times, among the members of the Society were such outstanding scientists as Beketov, Vernadsky, Lesgaft, Mendeleev, famous travelers - Bellingshausen, Krusenstern, Litke, Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, writers - Derzhavin, Stasov, Tolstoy. In 1909, the VEO had more than 500 members, and there were correspondents in a number of foreign countries. The Society existed at the expense of government subsidies, numerous private donations and membership fees, had a complex of buildings in St. Petersburg, at one time owned part of Petrovsky Island and an experimental farm on the Okhta River.

    All scientific and practical activities of the VEO are reflected in the Proceedings of the Imperial Free Economic Society (281 issues), published from its very foundation until 1915. In addition, under the flag of the VEO, 9 periodicals were published at different times: “Economic News”, “Circle of Economic Information”, “Atlas of the Museum of the Imperial Free Economic Society”, “Forest Journal”, “Economic Notes”, “Russian Beekeeping Leaf” and other.

    The Free Economic Society distributed millions of copies of books and pamphlets throughout Russia free of charge, including more than 126 editions of its Literacy Committee (1865-95). Four volumes of "Proceedings of Expeditions Equipped by the Imperial Free Economic Society and the Russian Geographical Society for the Study of the Grain Trade and Productivity in Russia" were published. About 200,000 books, a unique collection of zemstvo publications (over 40,000 books and brochures) were collected in the Society's library.

    The privileged position of the VEO and the rights given to it were confirmed upon their accession to the throne by each of the successors of Catherine II (with the exception of Paul I). In the last imperial rescript, given on November 21, 1894, attention was drawn to the useful activity of the Society and goodwill was declared for its labors.

    In the post-reform period, the VEO played an advanced social role, being one of the centers of economic thought of the liberal landowners and the bourgeoisie. In the 1860s and 70s, the Society discussed the development of a peasant land community.

    However, from the second half of the 1890s, the period of the rapid flourishing of the Society's activities was replaced by a time of growing decline, which was facilitated by the liberal sentiments of some of its members. In the 1890s, public disputes between “legal Marxists” and populists about the “destiny of capitalism” in Russia took place in the VEO, which caused dissatisfaction with the authorities.

    The government demanded that the Society be turned into a narrow technical and agronomic institution, insisted on changing its charter in the direction of limiting it only to practical issues of agriculture and industry.

    In 1895, the "unreliable" Literacy Committee was rejected from the VEO, in 1898 the Committee for Assistance to the Starving, which operated under the Society, was closed, some publications of the VEO were banned, and the minutes of its meetings were confiscated. In 1900, the authorities banned public meetings of the Society, put its work under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property. During this period, the VEO actually curtailed its work, restoring it in full only after the tsarist Manifesto of 1905. In 1905-1906, it published reviews of the agrarian movement in Russia, in 1907-11 - questionnaires on the attitude of the peasantry to the Stolypin agrarian reform.

    During the First World War, when it was necessary to mobilize the reserves of the state, a Special Commission was created in the Society for the needs of the war. The famous Voentorg in Moscow was created by the VEO at its own expense in order to sell goods cheaper to all officers who participated in hostilities. The VEO also organized assistance to the victims of the war, while simultaneously discussing issues of the state wartime budget and the situation of economic breakdown. During one of these meetings in 1915, the activities of the Society were suddenly interrupted and banned. After the February Revolution of 1917, the VEO became active again, under it even the Petrograd branch of the League of Agrarian Reforms was created (chairman M.I. Tugan-Baranovsky). The League became the ideological center for the preparation of the land reform. However, after the October Revolution, there was no place at all for the Society with “free” principles. The complete cessation of any subsidies and political persecution hastened its collapse, recorded in 1919. It was in 1919 that the most valuable scientific library of the society was closed, 200 thousand volumes of which were actually stolen during the Civil War.

    Only many years later, in 1963, the Society, which had done so much for the good of the Fatherland, was remembered in connection with a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU from the historian A.P. Berdyshev, who proposed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the VEO. But functionaries from the Central Committee of the CPSU and VASKhNIL blocked the initiative, considering it "inappropriate."

    The social traditions of Russian economists really began to revive only in 1982, when the Scientific and Economic Society (SEO) arose, which created its branches in all regions of the then USSR. The initiative to create the NEO belonged to Academician T.S. Khachaturov. In 1987, with the active participation of Pavlov V.S. - President of the VEO, a major statesman and scientist - the NEO was transformed into the All-Union Economic Society. In 1992, the organization of economists was returned to its historical name - the Free Economic Society of Russia. The VEO of Russia is the spiritual successor and continuer of the traditions of the Imperial Free Economic Society, which is legally enshrined. A huge contribution to the development of the Society's activities rightfully belongs to the President of the VEO of Russia, Professor G. Kh. Popov.

    Oreshkin V.V. Free Economic Society in Russia, 1765–1917. M., 1963.