Industrial Development + The Land Question

• Russia did not possess a middle class.
• Von Reutern believed Russia needed economic change and he introduced reforms to do this.
• Tax-farming was abolished which meant that companies could no longer collect taxes.
• The Treasury was reformed under Von Reutern with auditing and budgeting systems being established.
• Credit facilities were made available from banks.
• Subsidies were offered to private railway companies.
• Annual dividends were guaranteed by the government for foreign investors.
• Tariffs were lowered on trade and trade treaties were negotiated.
• The cotton and mining industries expanded because on Von Reutern and there was an improvement in agriculture.
• However, mobility remained limited in transport and labour and growth was slow.
• The Russian currency was unstable because a lot of income went towards paying off debts.
• Russia remained underdeveloped compared to Western Europe.
• Vyshnegradsky tried to build up industry.
• Vyshnegradsky increase import tariffs by 30%.
• Grain imports were increased to make peasants sell to the state and they increased 18% between 1881 and 1891.
• Russia got a loan from France in 1888.
• Peasants suffered from high taxes, high goods prices and grain requisitions under Vyshnegradsky.
• A famine took place in 1891-92 under Vyshnegradsky and 350,000 people died.
• Witte wanted loans from abroad and he increased investment in mining, oil and banking.
• Witte encouraged European experts to oversee development and he wanted advice on planning.
• Witte achieved a huge expansion with the railway network.
• Emancipation brought little change to agriculture for peasants because they had too little land to become prosperous.
• The Mir failed to bring agricultural success because of backwards farming practices favoured by the elders.
• Nobles were the biggest landowners but many of them had to sell their land to pay debts.
• Some landowners abandoned farming to learn professions with some of them starting up businesses.
• Kulaks bought land through loans from the Peasant Land Bank and they also employed lower peasants.
• Poorer peasants became landless labourers.
• Most peasants were unfit to do military service and the average life expectancy for peasants in Russia was 28.
• Orlando Figes said the economic partitions "made little economic sense".