Industrial policies of Alexander III Flashcards
What did Nikolay Bunge introduce under Alexander III?
-Peasant land banks.
-abolition of poll and salt tax.
-ownership of railways.
What percentage of railways in public ownership?
-69% (under nic)
What did Alexander blame Bunge for?
-fall in value of rouble and replaced with Vyshnegradsky.
What did Vyshnegradsky do?
-balance government budget.
-utilise government income.
-1891 famine his fault.
Why was the 1891 famine Vyshnegradsky’s fault?
-exported large amounts of grain even with the prospect of domestic shortage and starvation.
Who initiated the ‘great spurt’?
Witte
What were Witte’s main ideas?
-total commitment to industrialisation to improve the military.
-‘substitution effect’
What were Witte’s main policies?
-foreign loans, raising taxes and interest.
-foreign experts
-fixing the rouble to the ‘gold standard’ to give investors confidence.
-investment- industry+ railway
-further industrialisation- move from private enterprise.
What were the result/impact of Witte’s economic policies?
-coal, iron steel production increase
-stimulus to new technology
-railway increased
-income from industry increased.
What criticisms did Witte’s policies face?
-exaggerated success.
-neglected engineering, textiles and agriculture.
-reliance on dangerous foreign loans- not having ‘home grown’ talent
-railway expensive but not as good as Europe.
How many times less did Russia have railways compared to Germany?
11X less.
Which railway line was particularly poorly constructed?
The Siberian line.
What era is most comparable to Witte’s industrialisation?
Stalin’s five year plan era
How much was coal and steel production increased by?
-7 fold.
How much did the amount of railways increase?
Around doubled.
