The Eurasian Model of Corporations in Russia: The Retrospective Approach

The article explains that guild associations were the first types of corporations in the Middle Ages in Russia and highlights that the workshop acted not only as an economic association, but also as a certain kind of political organization. The paper shows how the workshop built a system of control over the processes of manufacture and sale of goods. In addition, the author explains the public law nature of the workshop organization. The study was based on the acts of the 15th–17th centuries. The question of the existence and workshop organization in Russian cities of the 16th– 17th centuries is debatable in the scientific literature. This article proves that, despite the fact that there were differences between the guild organization of the West and the organization of crafts before Peter›s Russia, however, they were not so deep that it was possible to talk about phenomena completely incomparable and heterogeneous. On the contrary, the historical facts cited, excerpts from normative and historical sources confirm that the corporate form of craft organizations in the West and in Russia had similarities in all essential features. The corporate structure of the craft estate in Russia consisted in the fact that the state imposed certain duties on its organization and at the same time provided a number of privileges. Reception of the guild law of Western Europe during the period of Peter›s Russia fell on rich soil, Russian crafts already had the corporate nature of their organization and activity.

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