Громадські об’єднання в заводських та шахтарських поселеннях Донбасу (1870-1917)

Abstract

The article is about legal, civic associations established by the residents of company towns of the Donbas in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Broadly accepted definitions of company towns highlight such characteristics as the spatial isolation of the settlement, residential segregation, the dominance of a single industry, and the social and cultural infrastructure developed by the company. Scholars most often emphasize the dependence of the residents on the business as the main feature of the company town. The firm in most company towns operated not only as an employer but also as a landlord and provider of services and goods for the workers. Consequently, working and non-working spaces and activities equally became the concern of its administration. Researchers have pointed out the unprecedented power of the company over their employees, and they tend to view even welfare programs and urban planning through the prism of constructing a loyal, that is, fully controlled society. The article demonstrates that civic association existed in the company towns despite the conservative (and sometimes reactionary) attitude of town-forming enterprises and the government. Most of such associations were initiated and supported by the enterprises, which allows them to control the former. However, some company towns managed to establish civic organizations aimed to limit corporate power. They used conflicts between more powerful stakeholders, such as the enterprises, the government, local political elites, to endorse their agenda. Their success was moderate. Nevertheless, even the presence of such organizations already indicates the limited power of town-forming enterprises and gives evidence for civic society in the largest company towns of the Donbas. Company towns in the Donbas were not lands of absolute freedom since the relatively modest presence of the central government was compensated by the corporate power. At the same time, such settlements could not be characterized as places of total suppression. Even in the most controlled company towns, the power of the town-forming enterprises was not absolute. Despite having political and economic control in such settlements, town-forming enterprises had to compromise with workers, representatives of regional authorities and local communities.