8. Economic developments of Russia to 1914 Flashcards
Industry under Witte
Foreign investment statistics
1895, 280 million
1900, 911 million
1914, 2000 million
Industry under Witte
What did he introduce that strengthened the currency?
A new rouble
= backed by value of gold
Industry under Witte
How was industrial growth managed?
- By state.
- capital, technical advisors, managers and skilled workers were sought from overseas.
Industry under Witte
What were the main areas of industry?
- Baltic coat
- Baku coalfields
- Krivoi rog
Industry under Witte
Coal, iron and steel production
- iron and steel rose by 50%.
- Russia 4th largest producer of steel, coal + iron.
- Coal output in S. Russia quadrupled.
Industry under Witte
Annual rate of econ =
more than 80% per annum from 1894-1913
After Witte 1903-1914
From 1903-13, where did gov recieve over 25% of income from?
Industrial investments
After Witte 1903-1914
What was capital used for?
To fund public works, develop Russias infasturcture + mines + oil fields + forests for timber, requip army after Russo-Jap war
Railways
Caused fall in…
transport costs, inturn causing reduced price of goods.
Railways
Effects of railway trackage doubling
- Linked grain-growing areas/opened up Russia’s interior
- Allowed more extensive exploitation for Russia’s raw materials.
- Raised funds for gov from frieght charges and passanger fares.
- By 1913, largest railway network.
- stimulated coal and iron industry - by 1905 59k of rail, 66% state owned.
Agarian reforms
Stolypin’s aims
to reform agriculture in order to modernise Russia + make it more competative with other European powers.
Agaria reforms
What did Stolypin hope to do?
Reorganise the land which would increase support for Tsar amoung unskilled farmhands.
- instead of collective landstrips, peasants should have one whole land.
- wanted them to have private ownership of land.
Guiding principle: ‘Suppression first and then, and only then reform’
Believed industrial progress by itself could not solve underlying problems of feeding the rapidly growing population
Agarian reforms
Stolypins reforms:
- Redemption payments abolished.
- Loans for peasants to buy more land becmame avalible - peasant land bank.
- Mirs now ouldn’t stop ppl from leaving to buy priv land.
- Peasants had financial incentives.
- moved
Stolypin
Land mortgage reforms
- High price of Land which led to heavy mortgage repayments had impoverished the peasants.
- Peasants felt threatened, insecure and feared the government would seize their land if they did not keep up to date with payments.
- Government therefore bought off the peasants by announcing the outstanding payments would be cancelled.
- Tactics known as ‘de-revolutionising the peasants’.
- In 1907 new law allows peasants to leave the commune
Stolypin
‘Wager on the Strong’
- Intention was to create a layer of prosperous, productive peasants whose new wealth would turn them into natural supporters of the Tsar.
- With the decline of the nobility after the emancipation of Serfs this was even more important.
- Idea to replace the inefficient strip system with fenced fields based on pattern that existed in Western Europe.
- Essentially this was an attack against the peasant cooperatives/communes (Mir) and the deeply conservative elders of the villages who allocated out land.
