Great Ivanovo Textile Mill

(full name, O. A. Varentsova “Great Ivanovo” Weaving and Finishing Textile Mill), one of the major enterprises of the USSR textile industry, located in the city of Ivanovo. It produces cotton, rayon (staple), printed, plaindyed, and bleached fabrics. The mill was founded in 1751 as a hand-weaving enterprise. Hand printing of fabrics was organized in 1760, cotton fabric production was begun in 1812, and textile-printing machinery was introduced in 1841.

The workers at the mill actively participated in the revolutionary movement. In 1905 they were on strike for 72 days. In 1915 they took part in a city wide demonstration. A Bolshevik organization was set up at the mill in 1916, and in 1917 the first factory committee was elected, which organized a fighting detachment (druzhina) of workers to defend the factory and uphold the revolutionary order in the city.

In 1970 the textile mill comprised a weaving plant, a finishing plant, a foundry, and a machine shop. Under Soviet power the plants have been reconstructed and modern equipment has been added. Automation and small-scale mechanization of production processes have been introduced. Continuous production processes for fabric bleaching, dyeing, and finishing were introduced in 1960. Continuous operations have been set up for alkali-peroxide bleaching of fabrics and for singeing over gas-flame jets. The mill has also started the production of rayon fabrics with low shrinkage and wrinkle-resistant finishes. In the printing of textiles there is extensive use of dyes that give a well-formed and highly colorfast print. The production of fabrics at the mill in 1969 reached 263.6 million meters; in 1913 it was 100 million meters.