Alexander III’s Economy And The Famine

Question 1

Who were Alexander III’s finance ministers?

Answer 1

• period of stability under Alexander II and Von Reutern but Alexander III saw 3 different finance ministers in 13 years
• Nikolai Bunge
• Ivan Vynedgradsky
• Sergei Witte

Question 2

Who was Nikolai Bunge and what did he do?

Answer 2

• 1881-1887
• big idea was to reduce taxes for peasants as he believed this would give them more money to spend on consumer items
• the economy would then grow as more goods were manufactured, bought and sold
• founded Peasants Land Bank, giving peasants the opportunity to purchase land

Question 3

What was the impact of Bunge’s policies?

Answer 3

• government was making less money through taxes and spending too much on important and public expenditure
• despite tax reduction, peasants still did not have enough to spend on these new goods
• Russia was running up a big financial deficit
• lost his job in 1887

Question 4

What did Vyshnegradsky believe Russia should do and how?

Answer 4

• create as much income as possible
• enough to pay for a massive public spending programme - new railways, schools etc
• realistically this would have to come from exports, tax and loans but was Russia in a position to do this?
• ‘We must go hungry but export’

Question 5

What did he do to improve the economy?

Answer 5

• raised import tariffs as high as 30% on raw materials - made imported goods more expensive than those made domestically
• increased taxes on the products - earned government more money to spend on capital projects. Peasants had to sell more to pay these taxes
• arranged loans - France gave Russia a large loan in 1888 and more followed

Question 6

What was the final portion of his plan?

Answer 6

• focussing on exports
• one of few products they were prepared to sell was grain
• famous slogan meant he was willing to sacrifice the wellbeing of peasants to get there
• between 1881-1891, grain exports rose by 18% as a percentage of all exports
• by 1892 they had a surplus. It earned more than it was spending

Question 7

What was the Great Famine

Answer 7

• words proved prophetic
• 1891-1892 poor weather was followed by a poor harvest
• famine followed at the same time that Russia was exporting large quantities of grain and the peasants were being taxed heavily.
• Grain had also been taken from the peasants, leaving them with little in reserve for the winter months to feed themselves and their animals.
• Estimates vary of how many people died - some put the figure at 350,000 but the highest estimate is 1.5 - 2 million

Question 8

How did they acknowledge the Famine?

Answer 8

• refused to admit there was a famine at all and said there had been a ‘poor harvest’
• newspapers were then forbidden to mention it in a futile attempt to cover bad news
• poorly organised and slow response at famine relief by central government
• any effective relief came from the zemstva
• proof that the autocratic regime was disorganised, harsh and uncaring
• He lost his job in 1892