Polish engineers in the mining industry of the Donets basin at the end 19th – early 20th centuries

Abstract

Introduction. In the post-reform era, entrepreneurial activity of enterprising individuals, which included many representatives of the technical intelligentsia, was actively developing in the Ukrainian ethnic lands of the Russian Empire. The Аім of the study is to reconstruct the activities of representatives of the Polish technical intelligentsia in the coal industry of the Donetsk Basin in the modern period and to highlight the peculiarities of their business practices. Research methods used: historical-genetic, statistical, diachronic. Scientific novelty: The article identifies the place and role of engineers of Polish origin in the development of the mining industry of the Donetsk Basin in the post-reform era, their participation in the creation of coal mining enterprises in the region. Main material and results. In the Donetsk coal basin in the second half of the 19th century, large mining companies and sole proprietorships were opened one after another, which required more and more qualified specialists – engineers and technicians. Among such individuals were many Polish engineers, were subjects of the Russian Empire, who while settling in the mines and shafts of Donbass, eventually demonstrated extraordinary managerial abilities. According to our calculations, from the 1880s to 1917, approximately up to twenty five representatives of the Polish technical intelligentsia – mining engineers, process engineers and railway engineers – worked in the mining industry of the Donetsk Basin. At the same time, there are many known cases when, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, they not only performed purely engineering functions, but also created powerful coal enterprises, became co-owners or even heads of significant coal mining companies. Among such individuals, one should mention K. Mscykhovsky, J. Krzywycki and K. Tolvynsky. Polish engineers also held important positions in the organizations of mine owners of the Donetsk basin. In particular, the secretary of the Council of Congresses of Miners of Southern Russia was the ethnic Polish, engineer М. Yashevsky. At the same time, engineers of Polish origin (Й. Knotte, Л. Pidhayecki, К. Trzetrzewinski) held leading positions in the Prodvugolya syndicate. Ultimately, it can be argued that representatives of the technical intelligentsia of Polish origin made their contribution to the industrial development of the Donetsk Basin, establishing strong traditions of entrepreneurship in Southern Ukraine in the modern period.