Handicraft production

Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans. Handicraft yarn production at home (30s)

Handicraft production is a small–scale production of products using manual labor.

It was especially common in the Middle Ages, during the era of the Industrial Revolution it was mainly supplanted by mass production; however, it still exists for the production of goods such as luxury goods.

An example of handicraft production today can be the manufacture of jewellery, custom–made furniture or tailoring by a designer, the manufacture of amateur designs (for example, Hi–End technology), and more recently, the production of parts on 3D printers.

Difference from craft production

Handicraft production differs in many ways from craft work. By craft is meant a production in which products are made mainly to order. In factory and handicraft production, the order is an exception. Finally, in craft production there is a very small division of labour, while in factory and handicraft production, the division of labor has become widespread. Also in the handicraft industry, the worker is much more independent.

At the same time, it is also difficult to give a comprehensive characterization of the handicraft and craft industry. So, back in 1902, at the Congress of Workers of the Handicraft Industry, the participants in the congress tried to give a definition of the handicraft and craft industry, but after a lengthy debate they abandoned this attempt.

History

The handicraft method of production has been used by people since ancient times. Initially, handicraftsmen (people engaged in handicraft production) aimed to satisfy the needs of their own economy; however, with the development of commodity–money relations, an increasing number of goods produced by them began to be supplied to the market. Mostly these were household products: dishes, furniture, jewelry, souvenirs, clothes, shoes. However, over time, other goods, such as weapons, began to go on sale. Painted utensils made by handicrafts were popular in Russia. Such schools of painting by Russian masters as Gzhel, Khokhloma, Zhostovo are known all over the world.

In pre–revolutionary Russia, handicraft production was still quite widespread: about 30% of all manufactured products were produced by handicraft methods. Products were sold at fairs, and barter exchange was widespread.

With the beginning of industrialisation and collectivization of the Soviet Union, the handicraft mode of production was declared "the highest degree of oppression of the working people" and ceased to exist in almost all spheres of the Soviet economy. The craftsmen, who previously acted independently, were forcibly united in organizations, which were to produce only the products prescribed by the plan, and individual activities were persecuted. But still, handicraft production did not completely disappear: the craftsmen did not stop producing souvenirs, selling them to visitors.

However, in the conditions of a commodity shortage of "developed socialism", at first illegally and semi–legally, and then, with the release of the Decree "On the Creation of Cooperatives for the Production of Consumer Goods" and the permission of individual labor activity in the Restructuring Era, a lot of handicraft and semi–handicraft industries arose that filled niches, in which there were practically no goods produced by large enterprises ("cooking" of jeans, sewing fashionable clothes and making accessories for them, assembling household computers, and so on). With the development of the market, almost all of these industries have disappeared.

Nowadays

Handicraft production continues to this day. It is especially developed in the manufacture of jewellery or other luxury items. In backward and developing countries, handicraft production is dominant.

Handicraft production as the backbone of the national economy

Vietnam's economy is largely based on handicraft production. For example, in the 50s in North Vietnam, there were more than one hundred thousand handicraft enterprises. In the early 70s, even before the end of the war, handicraft production provided about half of all the products of the local industry and almost a third of the total industrial production of the republic. By 1977, after the reunification of Vietnam, there were 700,000 handicraftsmen in South Vietnam.

Handicraft production in Nepal withstands competition with industrial production and foreign goods, which is explained not only by economic and natural–geographical factors, but also by the support and encouragement of the handicraft industry from the state.

Interesting facts

• Mechanical engineering of the late 19th – early 20th centuries was essentially a handicraft before Henry Ford initiated the transition from handicraft to mass production.
• In pre–revolutionary Russia, handicraft production was quite widespread. Russian and foreign scientists have been studying this phenomenon of the domestic economy. In 1872, the Council of Trade and Manufactures of the Ministry of Finance established a Commission for the Study of the Handicraft Industry in Russia. It included representatives of departments related to agriculture and small industry and members of scientific societies. Many problems caused lengthy discussions among the members of the commission. More than once we discussed the definition of the content of the term "handicraft industry" and which of the manufacturers should be attributed to handicrafts.
• Viktor Polesov, the hero of the novel by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov "The Twelve Chairs" is a "single handicraftsman with a motor", that is, he uses equipment with an engine in his work.
• The character of Nikolai Pogodin's play "Kremlin Chimes", a watchmaker: "Now such masters, whom I have the honor to be, are called "a lone handicraftsman without a motor".

See also

• Do it yourself

Sources

• "Кустарная промышленность". Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 86 Volumes (82 Volumes and 4 Additional Volumes). St. Petersburg. 1890–1907. Search this book on
• Golitsyn F. S. (1904). "Initial Research on the State of the Handicraft Industry in Russia (1850s)". Handicraft Business in Russia: The Historical Course of the Development of Handicraft Business in Russia. Activities of the Government, Zemstvos and Individuals. 1. Saint Petersburg: V. F. Kirshbaum's Printing House on Palace Square, House of the Ministry of Finance. p. 7. Search this book on
• Kruse E. E. (1976). "Chapter I. The Number and Dynamics of Wage Workers in Russia". The Situation of the Working Class in Russia in 1900–1914. Leningrad: Leningrad Branch of the Publishing House "Science". Search this book on

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