Recruitment of trade labor force for Murmansk fishery of Nicholo-Korelsky monastery in second half of XVII century

The problem of labor organization at a remote Murmansk fishery of Nicholo-Korelsky monastery is considered. The basis of the fishery’s social organization was “pokrut” - a system in which employees provided organizers with relevant professional skills, the organizers in their turn provided all material components necessary for the fishery (fishing items, food, etc.). In scientific literature of XIX-XX centuries, “pokrut” was considered a source of social problems, and above all, a mechanism of the coast-dwellers’ enslavement. Analysis of the Murmansk fishery documents dating back to the last quarter of the XVII century led us to somewhat different conclusions. The employment of fishing cooperatives by the monastery, distribution of functions between manufacturers, as well as the way of the catch distribution complied with the standards recorded by later scholars. This speaks of stability of the fishing cooperatives as a type of social organization. However, the profitability of the fishery for its ordinary participants (manufacturers) was significantly higher than any preliminary costs (loans, grant payments), which were spent by a monastery for maintenance.