The prospects for the fate of the Russian business education institutions in 1917 - the early 1920's (on the example of the St. Petersburg Commercial School of empress Maria office facilities)

The author presents the results of studying the final period of the history of the St. Petersburg commercial school (the oldest business school in Russia) on the basis of synthesis of multiple disparate sources. She notes that this school had arisen in Russia when it was especially important to the state, and played significant role in the history of the Russian business education. The author emphasizes the special status of the school at the intersection of state interests in the field of education, social, and economic policy, and pays attention to the importance of the revolutionary upheaval of the first decades of the XX century for the fate of the business school. At the last stage of its existence the radical changes in the life of society and its ideology led to the decision about “uselessness” of the commercial education in general. Using a number of socio-historical, general scientific and interdisciplinary methods (such as problem-chronological method, comparative, and statistical methods), the author makes conclusion that St. Petersburg commercial school (it was also consistently named as Demidov’s, Petrograd commercial school) was the longest to oppose to the new trends of the revolutionary era. It is known as the first one and the last one of such institutions.