Competition between the trading houses "Churin and Co." and "Kunst and Albers" in the Far Eastern Russia in the late 19th – early 20th centuries.

The subject of the study is the competition between the two largest trading houses in the Russian Far East - the Russian firm Churin & Co. and the German company Kunst & Albers. The article examines the main forms and methods of competition between these enterprises in the context of the socio-economic development of the region and state policy in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The history of the creation and development of these companies, the features of their retail networks, and their contribution to the urban life of Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, and other centers of the region are analyzed. The work includes an analysis of business strategies, interactions with authorities, adaptation to political changes (including the anti-German campaign during the First World War), as well as the influence of the rivalry between the trading houses Churin & Co. and Kunst & Albers on the development of the Far Eastern region of the Russian Empire. The methodology is based on the problem-chronological and comparative-historical approaches, with the involvement of archival materials (documents of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the office of the Primorsky Governor-General), reports of government inspectors, the press and business correspondence. The scientific novelty of the work lies both in the formulation of the problem and in the comprehensive study of the transformation of economic competition into an instrument of political struggle, as well as in identifying the mechanisms of interaction between business and the state in the conditions of a peripheral region. The main conclusions of the study can be formulated as follows. The competition between the firms "Churin and Co" and "Kunst and Albers", combining market methods and political lobbying, became one of the main drivers of the region's development, contributing to the development of infrastructure, logistics and consumer culture. State policy (free port regime, government orders) determined the success of the companies. During periods of crisis, such as World War I, competition took on a destructive character: economic rivalry was replaced by ideological struggle, including slander campaigns and blackmail, which reflected the subordination of business to the political situation. The study confirms the thesis about the interdependence of economic and political factors in the development of peripheral regions of the empire, where business strategies were formed within the framework of a dialogue with state priorities.

Churin and Co, Kunst and Albers, competition, Far East, Priamurye, Primorye, Vladivostok, Blagoveshchensk, anti-German campaign, government contracts