Tomuleț, Valentin2023-10-302023-10-302012TOMULEŢ, Valentin. Burghezia basarabeană în epoca modernă (clasificarea, caracteristica, evoluţia). In: Tyragetia. Serie nouă, 2012, nr. 2(21), pp. 29-51. ISSN 1857-0240.1857-0240https://msuir.usm.md/handle/123456789/11504In the given article the author defines the bourgeoisie as a social category linked mainly to the urban economy, which has capital and power of decision in capitalist community. The author classifies Bessarabian bourgeoisie of the nineteenth century into four categories: 1. “Economic bourgeoisie” (commercial, usurious, industrial etc.) covers, in fact, those layers that are closely linked to economic activity: the large merchants (the first and second guild), moneylenders, owners of commercial and industrial enterprises etc., which differed from each other not so much in terms of origin and the place they occupy in society, but especially in terms of interests and level of wealth. This social group was formed after the introduction of guild reform in Bessarabia according to the decision of the Governing Senate of 26 September 1830. 2. The second category consisted of state officials. Promoting a national-colonial policy in Bessarabia, tsarism based not only on the small part of local nobility that it could draw to work in various state institutions, but also on foreign element, which consisted mainly of civilian and, especially, military Russian nobility. During the first half of the nineteenth century, when there was an institutional modernization, this layer, ignored by the aristocratic elite, was evolved into the bourgeoisie, and a small part of it was actively involved in economic activities. 3. A special category was formed of people engaged in the intellectual labour, which were representatives of a wide enough range of professions: teachers of different specialities, doctors, lawyers, attorneys, engineers, etc. Characterized by different levels of wages and, respectively, different levels of wealth, this category was also varied and, like the rest, differed only by intellectual training and professional qualifi cation. 4. On the lowest level in the Bessarabian social hierarchy there was “the petty bourgeoisie” (the lower middle class), which brought together representatives of different professions - small traders (the third guild of merchants), artisans of various specialties, owners of grocery stores, inns, coffee shops, and restaurants, chemists, butchers, petty officers, etc. The rapid development of Bessarabia towards capitalism had essentially contributed to social instability of this layer, thus causing their passage up and down the social scale. An example of this is the layer of guild merchants, who were constantly moved from one guild to another and from this social category in the petty bourgeoisie. Analysing the commercial bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie, the author concludes that the peripheral situation of Bessarabia in the economic and political system of the Russian Empire has determined clearly discriminatory attitude of central authorities towards the region, which was reflected in the restriction of the rights and opportunities for local residents, mostly Moldovans, through the attraction of foreign merchants and traders from the Russian provinces, providing them with various benefi ts. As a result, the lack of state unity and national independence, political domination and economic exploitation by the Russian Empire directly influenced the genesis of bourgeoisie of Bessarabia. As a result, the bourgeoisie of Bessarabia was established as cosmopolitan social structure consisted largely of alien elements, supported and protected by the imperial administration.roistoria BasarabieiArticle