Exchange Committees

Exchange Committees 

in Russia, permanent and elective organs at exchanges; one of the forms of “representative organizations” of the Russian bourgeoisie. The first exchange committee appeared at the St. Petersburg Exchange in 1816; a Moscow exchange committee arose in 1837. By 1870 there were 17 exchange committees.

In 1870 the tsarist government confirmed the charter of the Moscow Exchange, which was later extended to other cities. In accordance with this charter, prominent merchants, factory owners, and bankers obtained the right to elect exchange committees for a period of several years. Exchange committees of central cities were headed by prominent representatives of commercial, industrial, and financial capital. The chairman of the Moscow Exchange Committee for many years was G. A. Krestovnikov; of the Kharkov Exchange Committee, N. S. Avdakov; and of the committee in Kiev, L. I. Brodskii.

The competence of an exchange committee was limited fundamentally to the consideration of economic questions. In 1905 exchange committees were permitted to send representatives of commerce and industry to the State Council. In 1906 exchange committees became members of the all-Russian bourgeois organization, the Congresses of Trade and Agriculture Exchanges.

By 1917 there were 101 exchange committees in Russia. After the February Revolution, exchange committees became members of the All-Russian Commercial and Industrial Union. After the victory of the Great October Revolution at the end of 1917, the activity of the exchange committees ceased. During the Civil War, they continued to function in territories under White Guard governments.

N. IA. EIDEL’MAN