What is "promyshlenniki"

The promyshlenniki (compare the Russian промышленность (promyshlennost'), literally "a trade" or "business" or "industry") were Russian and indigenous Siberian contract workers drawn largely from the state serf and townsman class who engaged in the Siberian, maritime and later the Russian American fur trade. Initially the Russians in Russian America were Siberian fur hunters, although many later worked as sailors, carpenters, artisans and craftsmen. Promyshlenniki formed the backbone of Russian trading operations in Alaska. By the early 1820s, when the share system was abandoned and replaced by salaries, their status remained in name only; they became employees of the Russian-American Company and their duties and activities became increasingly less involved in the fur-gathering activities of the Company.