Putilov works In 1868
Nikolay Putilov (1820–1880) purchased the bankrupt plant. At the
Putilov works, the
Putilov Company (a joint-stock holding company from 1873) initially produced
rolling stock for railways. The establishment boomed during the Russian
industrialization of the 1890s, with the workforce 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, eventually becoming a major supplier of it to the
Imperial Russian Army 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, four workers at the plant, then called 'Putilov Ironworks', were fired because of their membership in "Assembly of the Russian Factory and Mill Workers of the City of St. Petersburg" headed by Father
Georgy Gapon. 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] 1905, the city had no electricity and no newspapers whatsoever and all public areas were declared closed. This was the beginning of the series of events which culminated on Sunday, in
St Petersburg,
Russia, when demonstrators, led by Father Georgy Gapon, were fired upon by soldiers of the
Imperial Guard as they marched towards the
Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar
Nicholas II (
Bloody Sunday). The massacre on Bloody Sunday is considered to be the start of the active phase of the
Revolution of 1905. , 1913. Front side. CGA SPb Ships were
built at the Putilov works in the early 20th century. The
submarine tender Volkhov (later renamed
Kommuna), built 1911–1915 at Putilov for the
Imperial Russian Navy, remained in service of the
Russian Navy in the 2010s. In February 1917
strikes at the factory contributed to setting in motion the chain of events which led to the
February Revolution.
Red Putilovite plant 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.
Kirov factory In the wake of the December 1934 assassination of
Sergey Kirov, the
Leningrad Communist Party head, the plant was renamed
Kirov Factory No. 100. During
World War II the plant manufactured the
KV-1 tank. In 1962 the factory produced the
Kirovets K-700 tractor. The Kirov Plant was de-listed from the
Moscow Exchange in 2011. == Directors of Kirov Plant ==