The Kirov Plant, Kirov Factory or Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) ( rus, Кировский завод, Kirovskiy zavod) is a major

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

and

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...

manufacturing plant A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an Industry (manufacturing), industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with Outline of industrial machinery, machinery, where workers manufacturing, manuf ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. It was established in 1789, then moved to its present site in 1801 as a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

for cannonballs. The Kirov Plant is sometimes confused with another Leningrad heavy weapons manufacturer, ''

Factory No. 185 (S.M. Kirov) OKMO (''Opytniy Konstruktorsko-Mekhanicheskiy Otdel'', 'Experimental Design Mechanical Department') was the tank design team in the Soviet Union during the early 1930s. Located in Leningrad, it produced the design of the T-26 infantry tank, of whic ...

''. Recently the main production of the company is

Kirovets The Kirov Plant, Kirov Factory or Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) ( rus, Кировский завод, Kirovskiy zavod) is a major Russian mechanical engineering and agricultural machinery manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was establ ...

heavy

tractors A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

History

In 1868

Nikolay Putilov Nikolay Ivanovich Putilov (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Пути́лов; 1820, in Novgorod Governorate – 18 (30) April 1880, in St. Petersburg), was a Russian engineer, industrialist and founder of the Putilov Company (now the ...

(1820-1880) purchased the bankrupt plant; at the Putilov Works the Putilov Company (a joint-stock holding company from 1873) initially produced

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

for railways. The establishment boomed during the Russian industrialization of the 1890s, with the work-force quadrupling in a decade, reaching 12,400 in 1900. The factory traditionally produced goods for the Russian government, with railway products accounting for more than half of its total output. Starting in 1900 it also produced

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

, eventually becoming a major supplier of it to the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

alongside the state arsenals. By 1917 it grew into a giant enterprise that was by far the largest in the city of St. Petersburg. In December 1904, during the antecedent to the

1905 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

, four workers at the plant, then called 'Putilov Ironworks', were fired because of their participation in strikes during

Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...

. However, the plant manager asserted that they were fired for unrelated reasons. Virtually the entire workforce of the Putilov Ironworks went on strike when the plant manager refused to accede to their requests that the workers be rehired. Sympathy strikes in other parts of the city raised the number of strikers up to 150,000 workers in 382 factories. By 21 January O.S._8_January.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/> O.S._8_January">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._8_January1905,_the_city_had_no_electricity_and_no_newspapers_whatsoever_and_all_public_areas_were_declared_closed. In_February_1917_The_Putilov_Strike_of_1917.html" ;"title="Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 8 January">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 8 January1905, the city had no electricity and no newspapers whatsoever and all public areas were declared closed. In February 1917 The Putilov Strike of 1917"> strikes at the factory contributed to setting in motion the chain of events which led to the February Revolution. After the October Revolution of November 1917 the establishment was renamed ''Red Putilovite Plant'' (''zavod Krasny Putilovets'') and became famous for its manufacture of the first Soviet tractors, Fordzon-Putilovets, based on the

Fordson tractor Fordson was a brand name of tractors and trucks. It was used on a range of mass-produced general-purpose tractors manufactured by Henry Ford & Son Inc from 1917 to 1920, by Ford Motor Company (U.S.) and Ford Motor Company Ltd (U.K.) from 1920 to ...

. The Putilov Plant had a reputation for its revolutionary traditions. In the wake of the assassination in December 1934 of

Sergey Kirov Sergei Mironovich Kirov (né Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary whose assassination led to the first Great Purge. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and membe ...

, the

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Communist Party head, the plant was renamed ''Kirov Factory No. 100''. Since 1962 the factory produces the

tractor. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the plant manufactured the

KV-1 The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks are a series of Soviet heavy tanks named after the Soviet defence commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov who operated with the Red Army during World War II. The KV tanks were known for their heavy armour pro ...

tank. The Kirov Plant de-listed from the

Moscow Exchange The Moscow Exchange (MOEX; rus, Московская биржа, r=Moskovskaya birzha, p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈbʲirʐə, a=) is the largest exchange in Russia, operating trading markets in equities, bonds, derivatives, the foreign exchange market, ...

in 2011.

References

Peter Gatrell Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

(1994), ''Government, Industry, and Rearmament in Russia, 1900-1914: The Last Argument of Tsarism'', Cambridge University Press, . * Workers Unrest and the Bolshevik Response in 1919 written by Vladimir Brovkin in Slavic Review, Volume 49, Issue 3, (Autumn 1990) page 358-361

External links

* *
St Petersburg Tractor Plant
Subsidiary that builds tractors and agricultural machinery.

@ globalsecurity.org (plant's military production) {{coord, 59.878655, N, 30.258429, E, type:landmark, display=title Agricultural machinery manufacturers of Russia Tractor manufacturers of Russia Defence companies of the Soviet Union Agriculture companies of the Soviet Union Buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg 1905 Russian Revolution 1789 establishments in the Russian Empire Manufacturing companies based in Saint Petersburg Companies formerly listed on the Moscow Exchange Ministry of Heavy and Transport Machine-Building (Soviet Union)

History

See also

References

External links