6 - Economy

Question 1

Von Reutern
Alexander II’s Minister of Finance
1862-78

Answer 1

Series of reforms to boost economy & drive industrial growth:
> Treasury & taxation reformed; tax farming abolished
>1860 State Bank set up
> 1863 tariffs reduced
> Gov subsidies for railway entrepreneurs
> Foreign investment encouraged by State - guaranteed annual dividends
> Joint-stock companies subject to new regulations to protect investors
> Gov support offered for development of cotton & mining industries

Question 2

Strengths of Von Reutern’s Reforms

Answer 2

+ Encouraged investment & enterprise
+ Foreign technical expertise & capital supported industrial expansion
+ Railway network expanded
+ Although textiles still dominated, new developments - coal & oil extraction, iron mining & working
> Annual growth rate of 6%

Question 3

Limitations of Von Reutern’s Reforms

Answer 3

• Economy remained comparably weak
• 1/3rd of all gov expenditure went on repayments of debts
• Rouble remained unstable
• Tariff reductions = decline in gov revenue so raised in 1878
• Peasantry poor & domestic market small

Question 4

Vyshnegradksy
Finance Minister 1887-92

Answer 4

Aimed to raise capital, reduce budget deficit & boost home production by:
> High tariff of 30% of imported raw materials value
> Negotiated loans & increased indirect taxes
> Drive to swell grain exports

Question 5

Strengths & Limitations of Vyshnegradsky

Answer 5

+ 1881-91 grain exports increased by 18% of total Russian exports
+ 1892 budget in surplus
- Peasants suffered, had to pay taxes and give grain to the State
- Many peasants had no reserve stores
- 1891-2 bad harvest = famine & death
> 1892 Vyshnegradksy dismissed

Question 6

Witte
Finance Minister 1892-1903

Answer 6

> Maintained protective tariffs, heavy taxation & forced exports
Sought further loans, presided over huge increase in foreign investment
Encouraged skilled workers from Western Europe to oversee developments & advise

Question 7

Strengths & Limitations of Witte

Answer 7

+ 1897 World’s 4th largest industrial economy
+ Exports & foreign trade increased
+ Railway network expanded
- Still exported mainly grain

Question 8

Agriculture & Land Issue

Answer 8

> Little changed after emancipation
1883 Peasants Land Bank & 1885 Nobles Land Bank had limited benefits

Question 9

The Landed Elite
(Former Serf Owners)

Answer 9

> Small, diverse, mainly noble status
Landowning had declined since emancipation
Retained much of their previous wealth & status
Might be employed in unis, business, state service, zemstvo

Question 10

Middle Class

Answer 10

> Growing class, due to expansion & education
Included bankers, doctors, teachers & administrators
Enterprises included building railways & starting factories
Lower middle class could be managers, workshop owners & traders

Question 11

Urban Working Class

Answer 11

> 1890s = 2% of the population, due to peasants working only temporarily in towns & migrant workers (railway)
Growing class. 1864 1/3 St Petersburg inhabitants were peasants by birth
Poor living & working conditions (some reforms 1882-90)

Question 12

Peasantry

Answer 12

Kulaks:
> Did well out of emancipation
> Bought land & employed labour
> Some bought grain from poorer peasants in autumn & sold it for profit in spring
Poorer peasants:
> Suffered more after emancipation
> Landless labourers, often in debt
> Experienced varying, but generally poor living standards
> Poor health & low life expectancy (m27 f29)

Question 13

Church

Answer 13

> 70% orthodox believers
Priests had close ties to village and state
Church courts judged moral/social “crimes” & punished accordingly
1862 Ecclesiastical Commission
1868 Reforms to improve education of priests
Evidence church control over lives weakening. Less relevant for worker