economy

• war communism - lenin

  • nationalisation of larger enterprises and a state monopoly of markets for goods and services.

  Caused unrest as it meant individuals lost the freedom to produce and sell goods at a time, price and place that suited them. They lost all ownership and hence control over the means of production, distribution and exchange.
• war communism - lenin

  • partial militarisation of labour.

  Disliked as people forced to work solely for the needs of war
• war communism - lenin

  • forced requisitioning of agricultural produce (grain) to army or urban workers.

  Most disliked policy as it involved taking surpluses of food and grain, which meant a disincentive to grow more than was actually needed by an individual household. Food production dropped and 1920, there was an acute food shortage due to insufficient grain being planted.
• similar agricultural policy to war communism is collectivisation 


  involved bringing a number of small individual farms together to create larger collective farms. The intention behind this was for peasants to collaborate to produce food for the growing urban proletariat. Like war communism, it was also based on the belief that peasants were hoarding surpluses of grain.

  However, caused unrest as it deprived individuals of the right to make extra income and restricted the types of crops they were allowed to grow.
• continued collectivisation

  stalin had also claimed that around 58% of households had been collectivised - however was exaggeration and actual number was lower. whilst collectivisation had impact on agriculture, stolypins reforms may have been more significant.
• stolypin reform

  during 1905-7 rural unrest at its peak. Nich II instructed stolypin to revamp gov policies on land distribution and agriculture - through his 'wager on the strong' he made unused or poorly utilised land available to peasants through peasant land bank (similar to K's virgin lands scheme). Also hoped to strengthen and build wealthier class of peasants so other peasants would look up to their methods of farming rather than the traditional and restrictive practices of the mir. Criticisms with some arguing that best land still not accessible to peasants.
• stolypin reform


  resulted in about 2 million individuals leaving the village commune which resulted in starvation in rural areas.
• Virgin land scheme

  took inspiration from stolypin reforms. in the early 1950s, around 96 million acres of land had been cultivated and in 1965 this increased to around 160 million acres. However, not as successful as little attention paid to crop rotation and due to cold climate the crop was often destroyed and there were cases of soil erosion. Kazakhstan and Siberia
• Alex II - reutern as minister of finance. committed move towards state involvement in industry. reutern adopted approach around continued railway construction, attraction of foreign technical expertise + employment of foreign investment capital. as result - modernisation and expansion occurred within staples(coal, iron) and newer industries like oil. e.g. loop from Manchester: textile industry.

  nobel brothers: growth of modern oil industry in caucasus.

  hughes: iron and steel production. 1884 - largest pig iron producer in empire. responsible for about half of steel production of russia
• railways - reutern

  reutern built on previous foundations so there was a seven fold increase in amount of railway track - around 2,000 miles in 1862 to nearly 14,000 miles in 1878.

  through capacity to 'break bulk' - expansion gave significant boost to industrial sector - major reason for doubling of industrial output and an average annual growth rate of 6%
• reutern

  Reutern secured foreign monies + investment by issuing gov bonds, taxation exemptions and monopoly concessions.

  where possible construction of railways was placed in hands of private contractors - gov encountered financial difficulties as money was sometimes given to certain companies when wasn't need. so caused corruption and an expensive transport system.

  due to high costs of construction and operation, around 94% of railway lines were in private hands by 1880
• bunge 1882-86


  -abolition of salt tax in 1881 + poll tax in 1886

  -1883 creation of peasant land bank

  -move to greater state ownership of railways. process that eventually led to 69% of railway system being under public control by 1911
• bunge

  his Liberal approach did not last long as AIII blamed him few the dramatic fall in the rouble in mid 1880s. so he was replaced with vyshnegradsky
• vyshnegradsky 1887-92 


  managed to balance gov budget while also making surplus of income. he achieved this through more efficient utilisation of income from taxes, railways, crown properties, the state bank and treasury.

  1891 medelev tariff which gained income from exporting large amounts of grain even during domestic shortage and starvation. 1891 famine seen as his fault. replaced with witte (1893-1903)
• witte (1893-1903)


  'great spurt' - marked distinct change from the past. he was the first to show total commitment to industrialisation to compete with other industrialised nations and improve Russias military capability - although others did attempt to stimulate industrialisation, they didn't have as much impact so witte represents greatest change
• witte (1893-1903)


  -expense of agriculture (substitution effect) - more investment in industry than agriculture (change. 1893, activity around agricultural production)-back to reuterns, taking out foreign loans, raising taxes + interest rates to boost available capital for investment in industry -resurrected reutern idea, foreign experts -1897 rouble gold standard - confidence to potential investors -most investment into heavy industry + railways like great economic powers (continuation of catchup with west)-industrialisation planned and managed by state - change from private enterprise
• witte - impacts of great spurt

  • coal production doubled and iron and steel production increased seven fold
  • development of more specialist and new technologies in oil and chemical industries
  • total amount of railway track went from 17,000 (1891) to 31,000 (1901). was facilitated by growth in capital from abroad, which increased on average by 120% every year from 1893 to 1898
  • income earned from industry shot up from 42 million roubles in 1893 to 161 million by 1897
  • led to an annual average rate of increase in industrial production of 7.5%, far exceeding russian achievement before 1914.
• witte criticisms

  achievements exaggerated

  • focusses on development of heavy industry and neglected other parts like engineering and textiles
  • reliance on foreign capital dangerous - loans could be recalled whenever and reliance on foreign technological expertise stunted home grown talent.
  • railway system was expensive and not that impressive compared to other parts of Europe - by 1914, russia had 11 times fewer miles of track than germany
  • aided industrial and agricultural expansion of Siberia - but railways rushed and poorly constructed
  • substitution effect - rural unrest and distrust
• ww1 and industrialisation

  after russo-japanese war + social unrest of 1905: witte is made prime minister and stolypin minister of finance. from 1909-13 industrial output increased on average by 7% a year and GNP by 3.5% a year. but economic performance still bad. by 1913, overall production levels still lagged behind competitors - at start of war, Russian coal production was 10% of that produced in Britain and GNP was only 20% of that in britain
• ww1

  Russian economy fell apart during this - wittes reforms were superficial. despite having the largest stock of gold reserves in Europe in 1914, this was not enough to pay for armaments required to fight successful war. industry struggled to meet demands of armed forces and railways were insufficient. more money borrowed abroad, taxes increased + gold standard abandoned. led to inflation = price of food and fuel quadrupled in first two years of war. Romanov dynasty replaced by Bolshevik rule marked turning point in way russian economy was managed
• bolsheviks economy

  nov 1917 - state capitalism: state take complete control of economy.

  decree on land - land handed to peasants

  nov 1918 - decree on workers control: workers committees given extra power

  dec 1917 formation of supreme economic council - manage key industries which were nationalised
• treaty of brest-litovsk 1918 = peace deal with germany. agreed to give valuable territory - 1/3 of European russia and reparations of 3 billion roubles. trotsky called it a 'diktat'
• civil war stopped any positive impacts of state capitalism.

  • industrial output in number of sectors fell - production coal fell from 29 million tonnes in 1913 to 8.9 million tonnes in 1921.
  • inflation so bad that by oct 1920, the rouble was worth only 1% of its value in 1917
• NEP

  • denationalisation of small-scale enterprise and return to private ownership.
  • continuation of state control of heavy industry but with use of trusts
  • rejuvenation of trade through the removal of restrictions on private sales of goods and services. shops flourished, rationing ended and new, revalued rouble introduced
  • return to encouragement of foreign trade, investment and import of foreign expertise
  • end to grain requisitioning and return to peasants being allowed to sell surpluses in markets.
• impact of nep

  short term impact was impressive. industrial output increased rapidly and this was reflected in greater amounts of food and consumer goods found in shops and markets. new breed of entrepreneur, nepman which emerged as a new type of businessman bc of the nep - responsible for over 60% of retail trade.