Stages of government control development of seaports work in the Far East

We used not only archival collections (Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East) as materials for the study, but also the works of the authors, which historically and consistently traced the development of domestic navigation, as well as the issues of government control of seaports of the Far East. The main purpose of this work is to try to form the stages of the government control system of the seaports in the Far East in the period from 1862 to 1923. To achieve this goal, we conducted a retrospective analysis of the stages of development of the government cont-rol system of the work of seaports, to make reasonable administrative decisions and explain the promising directions of government control of the ports of the Far East region. As a result of the study, the following stages were formed: the first one - the period of formation and development of maritime navigation and the formation of the system of state management of seaports; the second one - the period of strengthening the role of the state in the regulation of merchant shipping; the third one - the period of finding a balanced model of management of seaports. This has allowed us to conclude that seaports in any environment should remain objects in the management of which the leading role belongs to the state government, and this role should be maintained and continuously improved. However, it should be emphasized that the characteristic feature of the development of the port in the Far East was the combination of the state initiative with private entrepreneurship, showing the dynamics of this interaction throughout the studied historical period. It is appropriate to quote K.P. Pobedonostsev, who pointed out that “every great thing begins with a small, and from a small grain, when it falls on good soil, a tree can grow. The power of the state for a lot of things cannot take from their funds, as the efforts of individuals directed by the faith, knowledge and experience, will not outline ways and pave the road for the state”. The changes in the government control of the seaports of the Far East considered in this work and the extension of the generally accepted order of management of seaports of the empire to them, in our opinion, met the requirements of that time and was one of the main factors that had a significant impact on the development of the entire Far East region.

Far East, seaports, government control issues, retrospective analysis, formed stages, the leading role should belong to the state