1855-1894, Economic and Social Developments

Question 1

Who were the two Finance Ministers that oversaw the industrial takeoff?

Answer 1

Vyshnegradsky - 1887-1892
Witte - 1892-1903

Question 2

Who was the Finance Minister 1862-1878?

Answer 2

Mikhail von Reutern

Question 3

What were von Reuter’s reforms?

Answer 3

Treasury structure and tax collection reformed. Use of foreign technical experts and capital supported railway expansion.
Oil extraction in Baku in 1871 and developing oilfields in Donetsk in 1872.

Question 4

What was the average economic growth rate 62-78?

Answer 4

6%/year

Question 5

What was the Russian economy like 1862-1878?

Answer 5

Weak - 1/3 of all income went into debt repayment and the rouble varied hugely. The limitation of the emancipation edict was that it left 66% of government revenue from indirect taxation, freezing the social hierarchy as it was.

Question 6

How did coal and crude oil production change under Vyshnegradsky?

Answer 6

Coal doubled and crude oil production increased by 8x.

Question 7

How did Vysnegradsky try and boost home production?

Answer 7

He put a 30% import tax on goods, this also helped the iron industry and the mechanisation of industry.

Question 8

Where did he secure a loan from in 1888?

Answer 8

France - this was accompanied by increased taxes and swelling grain exports.

Question 9

What was the growth of grain export from 1881?

Answer 9

18%, as a share of total exports.

Question 10

By what year was the BOP in surplus?

Answer 10

1892.

Question 11

How was the surplus achieved?

Answer 11

Over-requisitioning - ‘we shall not eat, but we shall export’.

Question 12

How many died during the Great Famine?

Answer 12

350,000 from starvation, typhoid or dysentery.

Question 13

How did Witte want to curb revolutionary activity?

Answer 13

Economic modernisation - essentially appeasal.

Question 14

How did Witte modernise the economy?

Answer 14

Protective tariffs, heavy taxation and forced export.

Question 15

What was Witte’s main focus?

Answer 15

FDI, increased from 98m in 1880 to 280m in 1895.

Question 16

What was the focus of the FDI?

Answer 16

Mining, metals, oil and banking. He also brought in managers from Europe to oversee huge railway expansion.

Question 17

What was the growth rate under Witte, and where did Russia end up in the world industrial production?

Answer 17

8%, 4th largest industrial economy by 1897.

Question 18

How much railway was built under Witte, and how much was state-owned?

Answer 18

1300km, 60% state owned.

Question 19

How much did the Emancipation change agriculture?

Answer 19

It actually worsened the quality of it - without the structure and discipline of the landowning elite the quality of farming decreased The average peasant had less than 4 hectares of land, and high taxes, grain requisitioning, redemption payments and traditional agricultural practices produced limited social change.

Question 20

What was established in 1883 to increase yields?

Answer 20

The Peasants Land Bank - peasants could take out a loan to buy more land, but this just increased debts.

Question 21

Which group of people stepped up to produce overall agricultural growth during this period?

Answer 21

Kulaks.

Question 22

What event showed that the peasants did not have enough land to survive?

Answer 22

1891-92 Great Famine.

Question 23

What was the state of the landed elite by 1894?

Answer 23

They sold off their land in favour of professional activities, 1/5 of professors were nobles and 700 had businesses in Moscow. Most retained much of their previous wealth and stature.

Question 24

Where did the middle class begin to emerge from by 1894?

Answer 24

They grew with industrial expansion and an increase in educational activities. There were still less than 500,000 by 1897 but workers could win government contracts for railways or housing construction, providing some enterprising opportunities.

Question 25

What was the state of the urban working class by 1894?

Answer 25

Less than 2% of the population and still often going back and forth between town and village. 1/3 of St Petersburg was peasant by birth, but wages were very low, conditions grim and pay often in kind, housing or food.

Question 26

How many strikes/year were there in cities from 1886-1894?

Answer 26

33/year.

Question 27

What was the position of the peasantry by 1894?

Answer 27

The kulaks exploited the peasants with help from the Peasant’s Land Bank. They bought grain in autumn so the peasants could survive the winter, then sell it back in spring at a higher price. The poorest became landless and in the 1880s, 2/3 of men in the Tambov province couldn’t feed their families

Question 28

What was the life expectancy for a peasant male by 1890?

Answer 28

27, compared to 45 in Britain.

Question 29

How did economic change affect the peasantry?

Answer 29

It failed to improve their lives and arguably affected them for the worse.

Question 30

What % of Russia was still Orthodox at this point, and how did the Tsar’s role in the Church change?

Answer 30

70% - with Pobedonostsev as Over-Procurator then the Tsar didn’t have to run the church anymore and became more secular.

Question 31

What was the role of State priests?

Answer 31

To provide biased spiritual guidance, act as a liaison between the State and the peasants to influence them, and the priests had to report secret Confessionals to the government.

Question 32

What did Pyotr Valuev set up in 1862 in response to complaints of abuse of power in 1858

Answer 32

An Ecclesiastical Commission to look into church organisation - in 1868 reforms increased priest’s education.

Question 33

What did the Church regain control of under Alexander 3rd?

Answer 33

Education, universities, censorship, and they could sentence people to monkship in response to ‘moral’ crimes.

Question 34

How many Muslims, Pagans and Catholics were forcible converted the Orthodoxy during Russification?

Answer 34

8500 Muslims, 50,000 Pagans and 40,000 Catholics.