Antonov, Aggey Efimovich ( 1868 , Tomsk province , Altai district , Biysk district , Stara Barda village, Russian Empire - 1948, Novosibirsk region , USSR ) - entrepreneur, chief ideologist of cooperation in Old Barda (Krasnogorsk village) and one of the largest Altai cooperators, creator of the first hydroelectric power station in Siberia.
| Hagay Efimovich Antonov | |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1868 |
| Place of Birth | Old Barda |
| Date of death | 1948 |
| Place of death | Novosibirsk region |
| Citizenship |  Russian empire |
| Occupation | cooperator , entrepreneur |
Content
Biography
Born in the village of Staraya Barda , Tomsk Province in 1868, received a good education, knew German and was well versed in literature. In 1883, at the age of 15, he left home with a traveling circus. Subsequently, he took up circus business, opening his own vagrant circus [1] .
In 1900, at the age of 32, having earned capital, he returned to his small homeland, got married and engaged in trade.
Having got acquainted with the ideas of cooperation, he began to persuade local peasants to organize a cooperative economy, gathered people at home and read books on cooperation to them, gradually organizing the core of the cooperative from the most enterprising local peasants.
In 1907, it was possible to organize the first cooperative for the production of butter from 30 local peasants. The cooperative’s rapid growth was due to the fact that the organization paid its members twice as much price for the oil they handed over as private collectors. In 1908, the cooperative included already 200 local peasant households. Depriving the raw materials of the Bardinsky creameries, the cooperative put them on the brink of bankruptcy, after which they are bought by an artel.
In 1910, cooperation expanded, a savings and loan cooperative "Savings" was opened. According to Aggei Antonov’s plan, cooperators could store and receive earned money with interest, which the savings artel could invest in projects. The price of one share was 265 rubles. The enterprise went far beyond the boundaries of the Old Barda , reaching investors from neighboring villages.
In 1912, the co-operative society “Savings” invested 1,500 rubles in the construction of an experimental stockyard, hired a livestock breeder Christopher Grümberg in Latvia , and Karl Berzin was hired to produce oil.
In the same year, the first hydroelectric power station in Siberia was built, which, with the help of a 95-horsepower “Francis” turbine, set in motion a dynamo-machine, which provided electricity to both the village and the flour mill. Electricity brought the artel an income of 2100 rubles per year. A cinema appeared in the village, the cooperative bought the paintings "Elephant Hunting", "Max Skiing", "Different Methods of Milking Cows" and other films popular in those years. At the cinema, a chronicle department was organized, which bought a movie camera for cooperative money to document events and memorable moments in the village.
In 1913, a project was completed to build a plant for processing hemp seed into vegetable oil. The Artel took up crop production, growing its own potatoes, oats and tobacco.
In 1917, Antonov organized the “Citizens” consumer cooperative, which would later merge with the same organizations in the Bie-Katun Union.
In 1920, the Soviet government closed its cooperative union and nationalized all enterprises.
According to the historian Startsev, the productivity of enterprises began to decline, and the Biysk Cheka arrested Antonov himself on charges of cooperation with the “White Guards” and “Kolchak”:
"The poor and parasites, who joined the CPSU (b), took senior positions, including the leaders of cooperatives."
However, at that moment, Aggei Efimovich managed to escape the arrest, but he was again arrested in 1924 and in 1928 (on false charges for anti-Soviet activities and embezzlement), imprisoned in the Solovetsky camp . After his release in the 1930s, he left for his daughter in the Novosibirsk region , where he worked as an accountant in one of the Soviet collective farms.
He died in 1948 at the age of 80.
Memory
The distinction named after Aggei Antonov - is awarded by the Altai Territory Administration to the winners in the nomination “Best Credit Consumer Cooperative” in the framework of the annual regional contest “Best Entrepreneur of the Year” [2] .
Stele in memory of the activity of Aggei Antonov - an 8-meter stele was opened in honor of the creator of the first hydroelectric power station in Siberia, which was built on the local Chapshe River in October 2009 to mark the 85th anniversary of the Krasnogorsk district in the center of the village of Krasnogorskoye (formerly the village of Old Barda ) [ 2] .
Exposition “Haggai Antonov. Name and business ”- operates in the regional museum of local lore [2] .
Notes
- ↑ Circus, co-operator and butter-maker . Date of treatment February 24, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Antonov Aggei Efimovich - History of Russian Entrepreneurship . historybiz.ru. Date of treatment February 24, 2017.