History of Russian Entrepreneurship in Signs of Commemoration: Formulating the Issue

Abstract

The history of domestic business has been in focus of researches in recent decades. The problem of preserving the historical memory of Russian entrepreneurs in the socio-cultural environment of cities and villages of our country is becoming more and more important for both scientists and politicians. The authors introduce the idea of commemorative complex which is treated as a set of memory places associated with the activity of a certain representative of the commercial and industrial capital. This set is labeled one way or another. In spite of the fact that a considerable number of monuments, museums, sculptures is coming into being, memorial plaques keep a leading role among different ways of commemoration. Memorial plaques connected with the history of Russian entrepreneurship the authors divide into four groups: personal memorial plaques, memorial plaques dedicated to the business of charity, memorial plaques dedicated to the business functions, summarizing memorial plaques. The distinguished features of these types are analyzed. Memorial plaques help to recall the forgotten names of historical persons who did their best for the development and prosperity of their city and region. These signs of memory, as a rule, are an interesting source for studying the daily life of a certain city at a certain stage of its history. The article also presents the practical tasks arising from the study of memorial signs, dedicated to the prerevolutionary entrepreneurs and philanthropists. The role of modern business community in the process of the recovery of Russian entrepreneurs' names into the political and social discourse is analyzed.