The 19 th Century Russian Economy Eric Helmold
Feb 23, 2016
Overview
• Progression of Russian Economy 19th Century
• Influences on Crime and Punishment and Textual Appearances
Economy Early 1800s
• Largely agrarian based• Limited industry, comparatively “backwards”• Social-Economic Classes– Nobles (Landowners)– Free Peasants (Tenant Farmers)– Serfs (Farmers tied to land)
• Hundreds of serf uprisings
The Crimean War (1852-56)
• Russia fought against western Europe• Russian industry was insufficient– Shortage of weapons, munitions, and machinery– Poor railway network– Ill-equipped army
• Russia suffered terrible losses• Need for modernization clearly realized
1861-Freeing the Serfs
• Tsar Alexander II issues emancipation of serfs 1861– 44% of population, 22 million serfs– Owned by 100,000 landowners (pomeshchiki)– Paid owners bonds, serfs owed collective debt
• Motivation of modernization– Last European country with serfdom– Mobile industrial labor source– Easier conscription
Economic Analysis
• Serfs gained economic freedoms– Small pieces of land distributed– Many formed village communes– Peasants struggled to pay 50 year debt– Landowners’ Gov. bonds devalued
• Progress was not immediate– Most serfs not much better off– Emerging small, successful peasant class (Kulak)
1870s-Rise of Industry
• Large expansion of railroad network• Growth of urban centers and population– Moscow, Kiev, St. Petersburg, Baltic Coast
• Coal, steel, and petroleum production increase
• Mining and industrial development
1890s – Sergei Witte
• Finance/Transportation Minister of Russia– Encouraged foreign investment– Moved to gold standard (1897)– Heavy taxation of peasants– Trans-Siberian Railroad (1904)– Large deficit spending
• Greater growth in 1890s than in entire previous century
Trans-Siberian Railroad
• Moscow to Vladivostok (1904)• Connected east and west– Resource deposits in east– Factories and ports in west
• Costly to build but good investment
Statistical Figures
• 18501890 Population doubled• 18601890 Coal production up 1,200%• 1890 – 20,000 miles RR, 1.4 Million factory
workers• 18901900 Coal, Iron, Oil production tripled• 19001/2 of heavy industry foreign owned• 4th in world steel production, 2nd petroleum
Russian Urbanization-Setting
• Serfs moved to cities Industrial Proletariat• Rapid industrialization/urbanization– Poor grade housing, tenements, overcrowding– Unhygienic living conditions, pollution– Poor nutrition, crime, spread of disease
• Pg.5-6 “accustomed to shabbiness” / “drunken men” / “house […] more like a cupboard”
• Marfa’s Tuberculosis, people getting ill• Pg.120 “Soup and meat” / “spoonfuls of soup”
More Quotes
• “A disgusting place – filthy, stinking” Pg. 143 Raskolnikov
• “There have been many economic changes” Pg. 147 Zossimov
• “Love yourself above everyone else, for everything in the world relies on self-interest” “Economic truth adds” / “We have been hindered by idealism and sentimentalism” Pg. 145 Luzhin
Revolutionary Idealists
• Capitalism – Profits, free markets• Utilitarianism – Greatest good for majority• Socialism – Collective ownership of factories• Communism – Classless society of equality• Utopian Societies • Lebeziatnikov’s ideas Pg.351 “through
communes” / “normal condition of women” / “protest against the organization of society”
Development of Worker’s Parties
• Urban strikes and unionization• Russian Social Democratic Labor Party – 1898• United Socialist Revolutionary Party• Petrograd Soviet in 20th Century• Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks• Siberian labor sentences used criminals and
political dissidents• Raskolnikov sentenced to hard labor– Pg.507 “second-class convict Rodian”