Closure of the Tsaritsyn Gun Factory in the summer of 1918

In this article, using comparative historical and historical-genetic methods, a study of the history of the Tsaritsyn gun factory was undertaken at the turning point of its existence - the summer of 1918. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were put forward: to consider the circumstances of the decision to close the plant, to monitor its implementation, and also find out whether the plant was used in the future and whether it contributed to the defense of Tsaritsyn in the summer-autumn of 1918. The relevance of the topic lies in the fact that since key government figures of the first decades of Soviet power took part in the closure of the plant, and the plant as a whole was an important strategic object , to the extent that studying this issue is important for understanding the political processes of the Civil War. The main material was the plant documentation stored in the Volgograd regional archive; a number of materials from collections of documents were used, as well as personal sources, for example, the memoirs of A.G. Shlyapnikov. During the study, including on the basis of new archival materials, clarifying circumstances of the closure of the Tsaritsyn plant were established: the decision-making process was traced both in Moscow and in Tsaritsyn, the exact date of A.G. Shlyapnikov’s departure was established, due to which he was unable to take part in the process of closing the plant, a conflict was revealed during the closing of the plant between I.V. Stalin and P.V. Filippov, in which S.K. Minin became an intermediary. Finally, accurate data has been found that allows us to talk about the contribution of enterprises established on the basis of the Tsaritsyn plant to the defense of the city in 1918.