Samuel Polyakov

Samuel (Shmuel) Polyakov (also Poliakoff, Poliakov, ) was a Russian businessman, informally known as the "most famous railroad king" his personal net worth was estimated at 31.4 million roubles.

Business career

Samuel and his brothers, future bankers Lazar Polyakov and Yakov Polyakov, were born in a small trader's family in Dubroŭna, in the Belarusian part of the Russian Empire. Samuel's grandfather had moved from Poland in 1783. "Polyakov" is a Russianized version of "Polyak", which means Pole. Samuel helped Yakov, the elder brother, in running father's business in alcohol tax farming, but after the emancipation reform of 1861 this opportunity dwindled, and Samuel started his own construction business. According to Sergei Witte (connected to Polyakov's business interests prior to his move into government service), Samuel Polyakov started his business empire as a proprietor of private postal station in Kharkov Governorate in Ukraine. Polyakov performed "some kind of important services" for the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs Ivan Tolstoy, later handled Tolstoy's business interests on a regular basis, and in return "Tolstoy launched Polyakov on his career".

This type of relationship between statesmen and Jewish entrepreneurs was common in post-emancipation Russia; Tolstoy by the time of his death (1867) allegedly owned half a million roubles in Polyakov shares. and the "launch" was granted as a contract to build the Grushovka-Aksay local rail line, owned by the Don Cossack Host and completed in 1863. Polyakov made himself rich charging the state 75 thousand roubles per verst of track, eight times above actual cost. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) Polyakov was commissioned to build two frontline railroads, Bendery-Galaţi and Frăteşti-Zimnicea. Actual construction was managed by Mikhail Danilov. The speed of building these railroads earned Polyakov a medal of the Paris World Exhibition of 1878 and over 20 million roubles from the government, including a 4.5 million time bonus. The state unconditionally guaranteed bond issues by railroad companies, ensuring steady flow of new investors; during the concession period, the owner-operator was entitled to all the profits of the venture. Polyakov's financial maneuvers, although legal, were questionable. His first mainline railroad (Kozlov-Voronezh) was technically set up as a zemstvo (municipal) venture, but all shares were issued to Polyakov alone. The corporate charter was approved a whole year after the railroad commenced operations, providing Polyakov time to evade accountability to other shareholders. Polyakov the contractor artificially inflated costs of railroad construction in return for bribes to state officials, usually paid with railroad shares. Rival railroad contractor Fedor Chizhov summarized Polyakov's reputation as: "Not for any amount of money will I go into business with Polyakov, and I will not soil my name". Polyakov retained the original neoclassical interiors intact; after him it passed to his son Daniel and was eventually bought by the state for the Governing Senate offices. , a national Jewish interest group which eventually grew into World ORT network.

The assassination of Alexander on March 1, 1881 provoked a wave of pogroms. In August 1881 Polyakov and Horace Günzburg organized the first conference of Jewish representatives from all over the Empire, searching for a strategy of actions for the Russian Jews. These and other conferences that followed adopted a negative attitude to Jewish emigration in favor of emancipation. Poliakov subscribed to the "standard emancipationist argument", that promoting emigration will do more harm for the Jews, as it gave antisemites a perfect reason to treat the remaining Jews as "irrevocable aliens". He was buried in a family vault at Saint Peterburg's Jewish Cemetery. Admiral Ivan Shestakov recalled that "... apart from the Tsar's funeral, I never happened to see such a mass of people as attended Polyakov's funeral". The cemetery still stands but Polyakov vault has been destroyed. The tomb of Samuel Polyakov by Mark Antokolski was salvaged and placed in the Russian Museum collection.

Lazar and Yakov Polyakov survived Samuel and eventually lost their fortunes during the banking crisis of the early 1900s. Daniel, Samuel's only son, assumed his father's chair in the ORT board Garin died leaving the book incomplete; it was prepared for print by Maxim Gorky. Polyakov, "a small ageing gentleman in a bowler hat", appears in the book in person only once, leaving the protagonist disgusted and wishing to quit work for Polyakov for ever. Mikhail Danilov, Polyakov's project manager, is a key supporting character of the plot.

The character "Bolgarinov" in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is a reference to the Polyakov brothers. The name Bolgarinov ("son of a Bulgarian") is formed in the same way as Polyakov ("son of a Pole").