Nobelite was the common designation of the tens of thousands of employees of the companies owned by the

Nobel family The Nobel family ( ), is a prominent Swedish family closely related to the history both of Sweden and of Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its legacy includes its outstanding contributions to philanthropy and to the development of the ar ...

in Russia during the 19th century and until the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, such as

Branobel The Petroleum Production Company Nobel Brothers, Limited, or Branobel (short for братьев Нобель "brat'yev Nobel" – "Nobel Brothers" in Russian), was an oil company set up by Ludvig Nobel and Baron Peter von Bilderling. It operat ...

and the Machine-Building Factory Ludvig Nobel. The term originated from the pride and loyalty of Nobel family's employees, who enjoyed the benefits of a special worker's welfare program devised by

Ludvig Nobel Ludvig Immanuel Nobel ( ; ; ; 27 July 1831 – 12 April 1888) was a Swedish-Russian engineer, a noted businessman and a humanitarian. One of the most prominent members of the Nobel family, he was the son of Immanuel Nobel (also an engineering pi ...

. Nobelite labor conditions were far different from those usually enjoyed by other Russian workers of the time and stood out as an unparelelled humanitarian concern in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Nobelites were given decent housing, medical care, technical training and elementary education for their children. Ludvig Nobel also abolished

child labour Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...

in his companies and shortened work hours while establishing a workers'

savings bank A savings bank is a financial institution that is not run on a profit-maximizing basis, and whose original or primary purpose is collecting deposits on savings accounts that are invested on a low-risk basis and receive interest. Savings banks ha ...

and a system of regular payment.

Notes

References

*Fant, Kenne (2006): Alfred Nobel: A Biography, Arcade Publishing, p. 225. *Åsbrink, Brita (2001): Ludvig Nobel: "Petroleum har en lysande framtid!" Wahlström & Widstrand. {{ISBN, 978-91-46-18181-1 Nobel family