Russian Agriculture 1855-94

Question 1

How was Russian agriculture by 1894?

Answer 1

Not improved significantly, lives of peasants had gotten much harder under Emancipation.

Question 2

How did the minister of Interior restrict the innovations in agriculture?

Answer 2

Minister of Interior feared peasant disturbance - favored the continuation of the mir and the conservative practices associated with it.

Often Slavophilism ran often in this system too - preferring Russia tradition and disliking Western innovations.

Question 3

Why was Emancipation worse for peasants?

Answer 3

1. Left them with inadequate holdings - the average family had four hectares
2. Mir still operated a system of strip farming and constant redistributions

Question 4

What was done to peasants to further restrict them because of the fear from an influx of peasants from towns to cities?

Answer 4

Redemption payments - couldn’t leave until they were paid

Internal passports.

Question 5

What were the consequences of the backwardness of the mir and the fear of the minister of interior?

Answer 5

Outdated tools remained to be used - such as the wooden plough when iron replaced it in the West.

Yields remained low

Livestock levels were low - little manure to fertilize land

Many peasants fell into debt

Suspicion of western agriculture hampered the adoption of more modern methods.

Question 6

What could slightly alleviate the poverty of the peasants? What is a con of this?

Answer 6

Peasant Lank Bank established in 1885 - only helped with 20% of land payments

Question 7

How did Bunge attempt to stimulate agriculture

Answer 7

Reduced direct taxation and increased indirect

Question 8

How did Durnovo (Minister of Interior) offer incentives to peasants to colonies the steps of Western Siberia?

Answer 8

Land was made available for settlement - suited for dairy farming

But, fewer peasants than expected took this offer up.

Question 9

How many peasants took the offer of Western Siberia by 1905?

Answer 9

only 850,000

Question 10

What were the average grain harvests of 1881? Compare this to the 1861 statistic

Answer 10

33.9 million vs 28.3 million.

Question 11

In comparison to western Europe, Russia’s production remained low. How much times wheat did Britain produce more than Russia

Answer 11

3.25

Question 12

How did High tariffs under Bunge hamper agricultural improvement?

Answer 12

Peasants couldn’t afford to buy fertilizers, machines, livestock feed etc.

Question 13

How did Russian agriculture suffer in 1878?

Answer 13

Hit with a world wide depression in agriculture prices: opening of the American prairies and a flood of cheaper grain onto international market

American prairies produced twice yield per acre than Russia

Question 14

Russia’s population doubled in the second half of the nineteenth century from 68 in 1850 to 132 million in 1900L how did this amount pressure?

Answer 14

Pressure on the land known as land hunger - each time land was redistributed it was between a greater number of households.

Also, greater population, more mouths to feed.

Question 15

How did the creation of Land Captains in 1889 add further restrictions?

Answer 15

Could overturn the zemtvo

Question 16

How did the Land Banks somewhat help agriculture?

Answer 16

Helped prop up some inefficient farms which were able to continue traditional farming methods.

Question 17

Peasants were renting more land than buying - in hectares how much?

Answer 17

124 million.

Question 18

What did a survey during the 1880s in Tambov reveal?

Answer 18

2/3rds of peasants couldn’t afford to feed themselves without falling into debt

Question 19

What advances had there been by 1894?

Answer 19

Improvement of railway helped up new markets and improved grain transport.

Adoption of new crop rotations and technology such as fertilizers.