Economic Developments

Question 1

Developments in Business & Industry
Witte Finance Minister 1892-1903

Answer 1

> Railway track almost doubled
Coal output in S Russia nearly quadrupled
New Rouble, supported by Gold Standard
Foreign investment increased
Ind growth state managed; capital, technical advisers, managers & skilled workers sought from overseas

Question 2

Developments in Business & Industry
1903-1914

Answer 2

> By early C20th the state controlled 70% of Russian railways
1903-13 25%+ of Gov income from ind investments
Capital used to fund public works, develop infrastructure, develop mines/old fields & re-equip army
1894-1913 annual growth rate 8% per annum, particularly marked in railways & heavy ind

Question 3

Railways

Answer 3

> State bought out smaller companies & extended lines
Helped open up interior supporting exploitation of raw materials & export
Stimulated dev of coal/iron ind
Enabled new inds to dev along network
Caused fall in transport costs = reduced price of goods
By 1913 2nd largest network in world

Question 4

Heavy Industry
Policies

Answer 4

> Initially textiles had led the way, so Witte wanted to increase heavy good prod
Policy - concentrated production in key areas & dev large factory units

Question 5

Heavy Industry
Results

Answer 5

> By 1914 4th largest producer of coal, pig iron & steel
1885-1913 oil prod trebled. First self-sufficient & then could compete with US
2nd biggest oil producer & 4th goldmining
By 1914 world’s 5th largest ind power

Question 6

Earlier Agricultural Problems That Still Continued By 1906

Answer 6

> Peasants tied to local mir by redemption dues & were heavily taxed
Increasing less land to farm due to rising population & sub-dividing estates for sons to inherit
Still traditional practices and tools used

Question 7

Development of the Kulak Class by 1906

Answer 7

> Prospered since emancipation by buying up land & efficiently farming
Stolypin aimed to have more Kulaks, 1) to win loyalty for Tsarist regime, 2) Dev economy by improving agric, creating an internal market for ind

Question 8

Stolypin’s Ideas for Land Reform

Answer 8

> Individual peasants to own land in one piece rather than collective strips
Believed peasants should dev land as they wished without mir
1903 mir no longer responsible for paying taxes for peasants

Question 9

Stolypin’s Land Reforms
1906-10

Answer 9

1906:
> More state & crown land made available for peasants to buy
> Increased gov subsidies to encourage settlement in Siberia
> Peasants granted equal rights in local administration
> Peasants could leave the mir
> Collective ownership abolished, land property of individual
> Peasant could consolidate strips to farm
> New Peasants Land Bank to help fund land ownership
1907:
> Redemption payments abolished

Question 10

Stolypin’s Agrarian Reforms
Positive Results

Answer 10

> Larger farms were developed
Hereditary ownership of land by peasants increased
Grain production rose annually, 1909 world’s leading cereal exporter
3.5 million peasants moved to Siberia from over-populated areas
Kulaks prospered & became rural elite

Question 11

Stolypin’s Agrarian Reforms
Limitations

Answer 11

> Poorer peasants sold to prosperous
By 1913 less than 1/2 of applications for consolidation & hereditary tenure had been processed
By 1914 90% of peasant holdings were still in traditional strips
In 1914 50% of the land remained owned by nobility
-1% achieved Kulak status
Many became migrant labourers