“For the State Interest and the Benefit of the Whole People”: The Issue of Privatization of Ural Plants in the First Half of the 18th Century
摘要
The article examines the issues of privatization of state-owned Ural plants within government policy in the context of the development of metallurgy, beginning with the construction of the first metallurgical plants and continuing through the flourishing of the state-owned metallurgical complex in the Urals by the mid-18th century. It demonstrates that over 50 years, state-owned metallurgy in the Urals evolved from two small plants to a powerful mining complex and laid the foundations for the emergence of the Urals from Siberia as a distinct economic region. At the same time, management and sales organization challenges, as well as differences in economic views among the ruling elite, led to the regular raising of the question of partial or full privatization of state-owned Ural plants.