Tsarist Economy Flashcards
(8 cards)
Impact of emancipation
- theoretically allowed former serfs to now sell own good
-however redemption payments kept them poor
Agriculture and land under Alex 2
-Peasants given very small amount of land each which was diluted even more when passed on to multiple sons
- farming methods lagged behind as peasants had no money for equipment
- in 1878 only 50% of peasants could produce a surplus
- some kulaks did emerge
Peasant land banks 1883
- helped peasants buy surplus land with low interest rates which led to increased peasant land
Vyshnegradsky finance minister under Alex 3
- stated we shall not eat but we shall export
- export excessive amounts of grain abroad
- led to Great famine (1891-1892) where starving peasants combined with an early winter lead to disease and mass starvation
- 350,000 deaths
Industrial growth under Alex 2
-Von Reutern as finance minister believed state should control economic growth
-reformed tax system and treasury
- reduced tariffs to encourage foreign trade
- improved banks to make more credit available
- expanded railways and caused emergence of oil and ironworks
- However value of rouble varied drastically which caused instability
Witte minister of finance (1892-1903)
- focused on economic modernisation
- had policies of protection tariffs and heavy taxation
- secured and encouraged foreign investment
-introduced gold standard which made currency more stable - however weakness was in 1900 20% of budget was spent on paying off foreign loans
Stolypins land reforms starting in 1903
- Mir no longer responsible for all peasant taxes
- 1906 more state land was made available for peasants
- land was changed so that it was passed down to oldest male not split between all males so land wasn’t split up
- peasants could leave Mir
- 1907 redemption payments were fully abolished
- 1910 any Mir that hadn’t redistributed land was dissolved
- 3.5 million peasants moved to Siberia
- land owned by peasants went from 20-50%
- Russia was largest grain producer
-However : - farming methods still backwards
- onky 10% has moved to private ownership
- less than 1% of peasants were kulaks
Industrial growth under Nicholas
- focus on railways which stimulated heavy industry production
- trans-Siberian railway produced making Russias railway the second largest in the world
