INTELLIGENTSIA IN A PROVINCIAL CITY: THE ACTIVITIES OF THE IVANOVO-VOZNESENSK BRANCH OF THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN TECHNICAL SOCIETY IN THE LATE XIX - EARLY XX CENTURY
The engineering and technical intelligentsia was an important segment of the pre-revolutionary Russian intelligentsia. It was quite small in comparison with teachers and doctors, at the same time the level of wages of engineers in industrial enterprises was much higher than that of the two listed detachments of intellectuals. Of course, the process engineer depended on the owner of the industrial institution. However, the income and overall business success of the entrepreneur also largely depended on the skill of the process engineer, because the quality of fabrics determined their success in the market. The purpose of the article is to analyze the social activities of the provincial technical intelligentsia. The objectives of the study are to determine how wide the circle of organized technical intelligentsia was; to analyze the main forms of activity of the intelligentsia in the organization under consideration - Ivanovo-Voznesensk branch of the Imperial Russian Technical society (IVB IRTS); to analyze the degree of effectiveness of this work. Judging by the data at our disposal, the vast majority of factory employees with higher education were in the IVB IRTS. They fulfilled their need for professional development through the exchange of experience in technical conversations, which were held in the department regularly. Reports of engineers were devoted to novelties of technology, technological innovation in decoration fabrics, etc. Among other areas of activity of engineering and technical intelligentsia in the local branch of IRTS was the organization of a chemical analytical laboratory, the device of technical library and technical courses for workers.