On January 7 (19), 1885, in Orekhovo-Zuev, Vladimir province, a strike of thousands of textile workers broke out at factories belonging to the "Partnership of the Nikolskaya Manufactory of Savva Morozov son and Co." It went down in the history of the Russian labor movement under the name "Morozov strike" and was an event that marked the transition of the country's working class to a mass and organized struggle against capital. The Morozov strike was a natural phenomenon in the history of the proletarian movement. After the abolition of serfdom in Russia, industrial capitalism began to develop rapidly. The cotton industry grew especially intensively. It showed the highest level of concentration of production and labor, the greatest growth of capital and profits. In terms of the pace of such development, the Nikolskaya manufactory was at the forefront, by the mid-80s it was ranked first in the cotton industry in terms of the number of workers and third in terms of the scale of production. It was a large textile mill, consisting of a number of main, auxiliary, branch and dependent enterprises. The main production was concentrated in the factory village of Nikolskoye, which was part of the Orekhovo-Zuyevsky industrial center1 . The Nikolskaya manufactory was characterized by high labor exploitation, which allowed the Morozovs to make huge profits. Thus, in 1874-1884, the profit amounted to over 9 million rubles .2 Experts have already noted that the Morozovs sought to squeeze out huge profits at the expense of the "low-paid, uncomplainingly exploited "working population" of their factories, without resorting to technical re-equipment of enterprises for as long as possible." 3 In the service of the Morozov millions, there was a network of clerical hierarchies up to the local clergy, who were actively used by the factory owners to enslave the workers. Orekhovo-Zuyevo was a kind of patrimony of the Morozovs, who concentrated in their hands almost all the fullness of civil ... Read more