The State of Perm Cannon Factory by the Beginning of the First World War in the Estimation of Researchers of Domestic Military-Industrial Complex

In the early twentieth century Perm Cannon Factory played an outstanding role in the military industry of Russia. It was the most powerful enterprise in the state mining industry, the largest enterprise produced artillery shells and the third in manufacturing artillery guns in Russia. Perm Cannon Factory was the only one manufacturing artillery pieces but located at a great distance from the border and so was inaccessible to German troops. At the same time, by the beginning of the war, it turned out to be weaker than its competitors the Obukhov and Putilov plants, and the adoption of the Perm plant reconstruction program was delayed. The purpose of this work is to analyze the opinions expressed by the native researchers about the state of Perm Cannon Factory on the eve of the First World War. The main attention in the article was paid to the fact of explaining by the researchers the unsatisfactory situation of the plant on the eve of the war. The study has been carried out with the use of comparative-historical and problem-chronological methods. It is concluded that in the process of discussing the reasons of the Perm Cannon Factory unpreparedness for the First World War a wide range of opinions, often directly opposite has developed. In fact, the authors who dealt with this issue tried all possible options for its resolution. It is concluded that Perm Cannon Factory, being the part of the state economy, depended primarily on the bureaucracy. And, despite all attempts of private capital (both foreign and domestic) to influence or subdue a competitor, the state of Perm Plant was the result of the policy of the state apparatus - the government, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of War and the Maritime Ministry.