The beginning of the nineteenth century took place in Russia under the rule of the country Paul. Catherine II left the Russian Empire to her son Paul I in a more prosperous state than she had received. So, if in the middle of the XVIII century. the country's population was 19 million people, by the end of the century the number increased to 36 million. Such population growth was not only due to the annexation of new territories, but also due to natural population growth. The total number of factories and manufactories increased from 500 to 1500. At the same time, the number of owners, including peasants, increased. The amount of state revenues increased from 16 million rubles to 69 million rubles, i.е. has more than quadrupled. A banking system was also established.

However, from the end of the 18th century to the first third of the 19th century, pre-crisis processes appeared in the socio-economic situation in Russia, caused by the fact that new market relations began to rapidly gain strength in an economy based on feudal forms of management. In general, in the country, despite the differences in the economic policies of Paul I, Alexander I and Nicholas I, the imperial model of modernization, laid down by Peter I and based on the leading role of the state in all transformations in the country, was preserved. At the same time, political and, above all, military factors dominated. The strengthening of state power over a vast territory was accompanied by the bureaucratization of public life. So, if in 1804 - 1805. there were 13,000 officials per 40 million population, in 1847 there were already 61,000 officials per 74 million population. Under such a system, there was a shortage of financial resources, to reduce which a compensation system was created in the country based on the use of free sources: serf labor, natural resources and military acquisitions.

Under Paul I (1796 - 1801), who was known for his love for the Prussian order, the Russian army was reorganized according to the German model. At the same time, noble privileges were abolished, and instead of “enlightened absolutism”, the country pursued an “iron vine” policy. In addition, the gradual replacement of collegiums with ministries began, a provincial reform was carried out, and some measures were taken to alleviate the position of serfs. For example, in April 1797, a Manifesto was issued on a three-day corvee.

The economic policy of Paul I was not unambiguous. On the one hand, it contains many progressive changes that have a beneficial effect on the development and strengthening of the economy. Such transformations include measures to create new plants and factories, new industries based on advanced foreign technology. On the other hand, its definite minus was the practical steps in the field of finance and foreign trade, which caused extreme dissatisfaction among the merchants and the nobility, which became, among others, one of the reasons for the conspiracy against Paul I.

Pavlovian reign, like no other in the history of the Russian autocracy, for a long time was shrouded in a veil of silence, removed from public historical coverage. In the historical literature, it is generally accepted that economic activity Paul I, led to the fact that since that time Russia began to economically lag behind the states of Europe. However, it is not true to attribute all the negativity to one reign, and at the same time a very short one. The reasons for the economic backwardness of Russia should be considered that the successors of Peter I could not bring his transformation to its logical conclusion.

The accession to the throne in March 1801 of Alexander I (1777 - 1825) was greeted by Russian society with great hopes. The government and the emperor's inner circle actively set about transforming work in a liberal spirit. In this direction, the emperor carried out government reforms and, first of all, in the establishment of ministries.

It should be especially emphasized that Alexander I, like Peter I and Catherine II, made his political and economic steps, relying not on government structures, but on like-minded friends. Already in 1801, for the socio-economic reform of the country, the so-called Secret Committee was formed, which brought together progressive-minded figures, personal friends of Alexander I - V. P. Kochubey, N. I. Novosiltsev, P.A. Stroganov and A. Czartoryski. State Secretary M. M. Speransky became its leading consultant.

The members of the committee prepared a program in the field of economic policy drawn up in a liberal spirit. They drew arguments for its justification from the writings of Adam Smith, in particular because Novosiltsev, Kochubey and Czartorysky were educated in England. Alexander I was also an admirer of the ideas of the English economist. In the program developed by them, the main provisions were on the freedom of foreign trade, directed against commercial mercantilism. With his participation, some liberal transformations were carried out, primarily in the agricultural sector:

- in 1803, a decree was issued on free cultivators, giving the right to the landowner to release peasants with land for ransom;

-the distribution of state-owned peasants into private hands was stopped;

– an agrarian reform was carried out in Latvia and Estonia, which provided for the abolition of serfdom for peasants, but without giving them land;

- land was allowed to be purchased by merchants, philistines and state peasants (landlord peasants received this right only in 1848).

In 1802 - 1812. the reform of the supreme governing bodies was carried out. Initially, 8 ministries were created to replace the Petrine collegiums, then their number increased to 12. Administrative methods of management were also used in the regulation of business activities. In accordance with the manifesto of January 1, 1807 “On the granting of new benefits to the merchants, differences, advantages and new ways to spread and strengthen commercial enterprises”, two types of merchant associations (trading houses) were established in the country: full partnership and partnership in faith.

General partnership:

• joint and several liability for the affairs of the enterprise with all its property;
• involving only relatives and close acquaintances;
• the opportunity to participate in the activities of only one enterprise.
• Faith Partnership:
• liability only in the amount of contributions;
• the possibility of attracting investors from outside;
• the possibility of investors to participate in the activities of several such companies.

At the same time, partnerships for plots began to be created - these were the first joint-stock companies, but they did not receive much development until 1830. This was determined by many factors, including the licensing system of entrepreneurship that developed under the conditions of absolutism. For example, for the formation of new joint-stock companies, it was necessary that their charters be approved by the ministry at the request of the founders. At the same time, the decision to create had to be approved by the Committee of Ministers. Permission to establish a company was given by the government, approved by the emperor and then announced by Decree of the Senate.

In this period of time, special joint-stock legislation began to take shape, which had a separate (restrictive) character and contained in its most general form the principle of limited liability of shareholders. The regulation affected not only production, but also trading activities, and was aimed at limiting the transition of peasants to the merchant class.

The most complete conditions under which a peasant entrepreneur could enroll in a merchant guild were formulated in decrees of October 20 and 24, 1804. These conditions included:

- the need to prove that the peasant has actually been a merchant for a long time;

- the presence of a written certificate of the community from which the peasant came out, that this person has no arrears and debts and confirmation that his land will not be empty;

- the obligation of the city society, which receives the peasant, to pay for him until a new revision, everything according to the peasant tax;

- the requirement to pay due taxes and fees for three years for both estates;

- proof that the peasant is "a man set free by the landowner."

At the same time, the spheres of peasant trade were noticeably expanding. By a decree of April 9, 1804, the peasants were given the right to their own petty trade, albeit in a limited range of goods, and the decree of February 23, 1806, allowed the peasants to engage in the previously prohibited wholesale trade, as well as extensive trade in imported goods. According to the “Additional Rules”, published on December 29, 1812, independent, without a power of attorney from the merchant, entrepreneurial activity peasant, subject to payments for four types of trade certificates from 40 to 2500 rubles. But, despite the significantly expanded access to business transactions, the peasants were deprived of equal rights with the guild merchants.

In 1809, under the leadership of M. Speransky, a new draft of Russian laws was developed, known as the Introduction to the Code of State Laws. Its main goal was not only to streamline the outdated legislation of the Russian Empire, but also to bring legal norms closer to the requirements of developing market relations both within the country and taking into account European laws. The most significant advantage of this project was that it laid down the principle of separation of all branches of power: legislative, executive and judicial on the basis of the formation of a system of central and local institutions.

In 1810 - 1812. Speransky prepared several financial measures. Among them, the most significant was the introduction of new direct taxes in the country: the poll tax from peasants and philistines increased from a ruble to two rubles, a tax was also introduced on noble estates, on the lands of landowners. The dissatisfaction of the privileged strata of Russian society led to the resignation of the reformer.

In the first years of the reign of Alexander I, the New Deal of the government was actually aimed at adapting Russian absolutism to the developing

capitalist relations in the country. Thus, by decree of March 14, 1801, Alexander I canceled Paul I's ban on the export of agricultural raw materials and lifted the embargo on the import of industrial and cultural goods from England. The Manifesto of Alexander I of April 2, 1801 proclaimed free trade and opened wide opportunities for Russian merchants to export goods abroad. The government concluded a new trade agreement with England. Participation in the trade war against England was terminated.

However, the ongoing policy of free trade caused strong dissatisfaction among the emerging bourgeoisie. Its ideologists were Count N. S. Mordvinov (1754 - 1845), the largest Russian economist of the first half of the 19th century, a supporter of the industrial development of the country, chairman of the department of state economy, Count N. P. Rumyantsev (1754 - 1826) Minister of Commerce, then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Secretary of State Count M. M. Speransky (1772 - 1839). They believed that Russian industry was not sufficiently developed compared to the level of the leading European countries, and therefore Russia could not use free trade in foreign economic relations, that such a measure would undermine the emerging capitalist economy in the country, since Russia was not yet ready to compete with foreign industry. They developed plans to bring Russia into the ranks of the world's leading trading powers by pursuing a flexible customs policy based on a moderately protectionist tariff system.

Minister of Commerce N. P. Rumyantsev proposed to Alexander I a program for the development of Russia's foreign trade, independent of foreigners, who, in his words, seized "active bargaining" into their own hands. In the interests of raising domestic trade, he put forward a project to combine the management of foreign and domestic trade in a single Ministry of Commerce, considered it necessary to create a chamber of a commercial court to resolve trade cases, develop a commercial code, establish commercial banks and insurance companies. His program provided for the active participation of Russia in international trade relations. It boiled down to three main points:

1. Imports should be limited in the interests of domestic production.

2. Export must take place under the auspices of the state, which must remove all obstacles and seek new markets.

3. The government should also take control of transit trade.

Under the leadership of Rumyantsev, in 1803 a reduced tariff for imports was developed, which was beneficial for merchants who traded with foreign countries; began the development of a new customs tariff, providing for the freedom of export and restriction of the import of bread. Rumyantsev defended the "system of national trade" and had a negative attitude towards benefits for foreign merchants. He offered to trade with the countries of Western Europe without intermediaries, and was opposed to trade agreements with them, since, in his opinion, such agreements were unprofitable for Russia at that time. Since 1802, on the initiative of N.P. Rumyantsev, the publication of annual reports on the foreign trade of the Russian Empire began. N. P. Rumyantsev organized the release Russian Academy sciences of the journals "Commercial news" and "Types of state foreign trade". In general, Rumyantsev's plans can be assessed as moderately liberal.

However, the implementation of the Rumyantsev program was terminated due to Russia's participation in continuous wars, which led to an increase in military spending and, in connection with this, to a general deterioration in the country's economic situation. In the first quarter of the XIX century. the country's economy was greatly influenced by the continuous military operations carried out by Russia. So, in 1804 - 1813. -it was a war with Persia, in 1805 - 1807. - in alliance with England, Austria, Prussia and Sweden against Napoleonic France, in 1806 - 1812. - war with Turkey, in 1808 - 1809. - with Sweden and, finally, - the Patriotic War of 1812 and foreign campaigns of 1813 - 1814.

Foreign economic relations of Russia at the beginning of the XIX century. determined, to a greater extent, trade relations with England and France. Thus, the mutual interest of the commercial and industrial circles of France and Russia led to the restoration of economic ties and the renewal in 1802 of the commercial agreement of 1787. Trade between France and Russia (especially on the Black Sea) became regular.

The British firmly established themselves in the Russian market. They brought down prices or bought out sometimes completely unnecessary goods (tobacco) in order to prevent the strengthening of French competitors. Even traditional French exports (luxury goods, wines) were delivered to Russia not by the French, but by the British and the Dutch. The British held in their hands half of the Russian foreign trade turnover. The French could not compete with the British and Dutch in terms of the number of ships sent to the shores of Russia: England sent up to 500 ships annually, Holland - 200 - 300, and France in 1802 - only 10. The young French bourgeoisie, yielding in the competition more than experienced and economically strong English, needed versatile state support. Napoleon Bonaparte preferred to defend the interests of the French bourgeoisie not with a franc, but with a bayonet. However, neither during the period of the Franco-Russian reconciliation of 1801-1803, nor later during the period of the Franco-Russian alliance of 1807-1812. Napoleon was unable to provide the commercial bourgeoisie of his country with the necessary financial support, and therefore, even in the conditions of the expulsion of the British from the Russian market, they could not dominate it.

The Russian merchant class was even weaker economically. It also needed the patronage and protection of the autocratic state. For the same reasons as Napoleon, the Russian government was unable to allocate the necessary loans to the merchant class and speed up the construction of the merchant fleet - the army and war demanded too much Money. Therefore, the Franco-Russian trade of the early XIX century. developed inefficiently. The defeat of the Russian troops in the Battle of Austerlitz on November 20, 1805 and subsequent failures in 1806-1807. in the war with France they forced Alexander I in 1807 to sign the humiliating Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon and join the continental system (blockade) of England, declared in 1806 by France. The meaning of the continental system was to stop trade and other relations with England in order to force her to capitulate to Bonaparte by starvation.

England was strong in its trade and its colonies, it was a predominantly industrial country, and therefore needed imported consumer products, without which the economic life of the country could be completely paralyzed. It should be noted that Russia's participation in the continental system had some support in the circles of society, it was believed that thanks to an alliance with France, Britain's monopoly on trade with the East could be eliminated and trade relations between Russia and Asia could be resumed again.

However, participation in the continental blockade, on the one hand, deprived the landowners of the opportunity to sell agricultural products to England, their prices fell. On the other hand, difficulties arose in the import of industrial products, machinery and equipment to Russia, which weakened the domestic industry, especially the metallurgical industry, which was so important for waging war. Prices for imported raw materials have risen significantly. The result was a reduction in foreign trade, a leak of gold and a depreciation of the ruble. Half-ruined landlords and merchants lost the opportunity to pay taxes regularly. All this led to the impoverishment of the treasury and the weakening of the military power of Russia.

Under these conditions, it turned out to be impossible to completely stop Russia's trade with England. Despite the strict measures imposed by the terms of the blockade, British goods entered Russia on neutral ships. N. S. Mordvinov and M. M. Speransky even developed the “Regulations on Neutral Trade for 1811”, which was published on December 19, 1810. Napoleon Bonaparte saw in these measures a violation of the Tilsit Treaty. The actual refusal of Russia from the continental blockade aggravated relations with France. A trade and customs war began between the two countries, which became one of the main reasons for Napoleon's attack on Russia on June 12, 1812.

The Patriotic War of 1812 had a heavy impact on the state of the Russian economy. Moscow - the center of factory industry and trade - was burned, finances fell into complete disarray - the rate of banknotes fell to 20 kopecks in silver. Only, special military expenses amounted to 157 million rubles, and the budget costs for the army and navy were equal to 769 million rubles for three years (1812 - 1814), that is general expenses for the war, not counting the huge damage caused by the enemy, reached over 900 million rubles. Excessively increased military spending brought the country's finances into a critical state. The budget deficit from 1803 to 1809 increased by 135 million rubles. In such a situation, it was impossible to count on obtaining foreign loans, and therefore it was necessary to find sources of funds within the country.

One of these sources was income from foreign trade. However, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, ocean communications from Europe to the East were restored, and Russia's mediating role began to decline steadily. The share of foreign goods transported through Russia in transit decreased in Russian exports to China from 54.5% in 1801 to 37.7% in 1826. In 1840, the transit transportation of goods completely ceased.

At the beginning of 1820, Alexander I proceeded to toughen domestic policy, which was called Arakcheevshchina (after the Minister of War). There were two reasons for this. First, the financial problems of the state. To reduce the cost of the army, military settlements began to be created, which were special forms of combining military and rural labor and existed until 1830. Secondly, the fight against the spread of radical political ideas in society after Russia's victory over Bonapartist France. The culmination of this development was the massacre of the Decembrists.

In the first half of the 19th century, Russia remained an agrarian country. 90% of its population was employed in agriculture. About half of the agricultural sector was made up of landowners, the other half was occupied by the system of state feudalism. The introduction of market relations stimulated the landlords to take measures to improve the efficiency of the economy. For these purposes, hired labor of otkhodnik peasants was used, wheat crops were expanded, the technical equipment of production was improved (they used seeders, winnowers, threshers). The potato, which had become the staple food of the population, turned into a field crop. However, in the main, the landowners' estates continued to use the forced labor of serfs.

The accession to the throne of Nicholas I (1825 - 1855) was accompanied by the strengthening of the personal power of the tsar and the strengthening of centralization in the state. For this, a police-bureaucratic system was created. The bureaucratic system covered the whole country, the army of officials grew to 70 thousand people, and half of them were military. Society was dissatisfied with the despotic and bureaucratic rule of Nicholas I.

Alexander II (1955 - 1881) carried out the abolition of serfdom, reorganized local government (zemstvos, elected

bodies from representatives of all estates, dealing with the development of education and health), urban, judicial, military reforms were also carried out, and reforms were carried out in the field of education and the press. The reforms carried out were progressive. In addition, reforms of a more private nature were carried out in the economy: the abolition of wine farms and their replacement unified system excise and patent fees (1863).

The fundamental difference between the reforms of 60 - 70 years. from all the previous ones was the creation of legal guarantees to entrepreneurs from the state. They were enshrined in the "Regulations on duties for the right to trade and other crafts" of January 8, 1863, this put an end to the inequality of classes in the rights to engage in private business activities. Restrictions that existed until 1917 were imposed on Jews, civil servants, Orthodox priests, Protestant pastors, their wives and minor children. The military, both soldiers and officers, could engage in commercial activities only through authorized representatives.

The situation left two merchant guilds, abolishing the category of "trading peasants". Guild certificates of the first category were purchased by wholesalers operating throughout Russia. Guild certificates of the second category were taken by the owners of industrial establishments in which there were machines with a steam or water engine, or there were more than 16 workers. Progressive in this situation was the introduction of an economic feature for dividing industrial establishments according to technical equipment and the number of workers. In addition to these guilds, there was a category of “petty bargaining”, as well as “delivery”, “pedestrian”.

All these transformations turned out to be very significant for the economy, because marked the beginning of the stage of market recovery and discontinuity in the model of the country's economic development, although they did not differ in consistency. Thus, under the reign of Alexander II, Russia approached the advanced European socio-political model. The first step was taken towards turning Russia into a bourgeois monarchy, but the assassination of Emperor Alexander II by the Narodnaya Volya on March 1, 1881. changed the general direction of government policy.

The government of Alexander III (1881 - 1894) pursued a deeply conservative policy based on the principles of unlimited autocracy, religiosity and Russophilism. The territory of the Russian Empire continued to grow at the expense of, mainly, Central Asia. The population in 1897 was 128 million people, of which 13% were urban population. By the end of the 19th century, there were sharp disproportions in the economy: with the rapid growth of industry, there was a sluggish stagnation in agriculture, which practically could not be overcome in the current conditions.

In the 80-90s of the 19th century (just after the democratic reforms, the assassination of Alexander II and the launch of counter-reforms), the empire's economy experienced a period of growth. Capitalism began to take shape. Cities and villages began to affect modernization process carried out comprehensive reforms. The rapid economic development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century resulted, in particular, from these two decades.

In contact with

Early 20th century modernization

In the economy of our country in the initial period of the last century, the following were noted:

• business development;
• increase in capital (internal, external) included in the economy;
• an increase in the number of hired forces at enterprises of various types.

In just two decades, the empire turned from an agrarian into an agrarian-industrial state (still more than 80% of the population was involved in the agricultural industry).

This is the main feature of Russian modernization - its accelerated course. Russian capitalism developed at the highest rates.

The path that England has traveled for several centuries, Russia "ran" for several decades. According to the main indicators, the country was gradually catching up with such economic leaders as England, Germany, France and, taking a tight place in the 2nd echelon of modernization.

Attention! Political scientists, sociologists and economists distinguish the following echelons of economic modernization: the first (completion of the stage of formation of the capitalist system) - the British Empire, the United States of America, Germany, the French Republic; the second (states of developing capitalism) - the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary, Japan; the third (weak growth of capitalism) - the states of Latin America.

The cyclical nature of the economy

Our state, integrating into the world economy, adopted its characteristic cyclicality (a feature of Russian modernization at the beginning of the century). Periods decline and rise economy of the first years of the century can be represented as follows (table):

The economy began to respond to all political processes taking place in the world: wars, revolutions, changes of governments and rulers.

monopoly capitalism

In the Russian economic system of the first decades of the 20th century (following other countries), monopoly capitalism began to take shape.

It was a special phenomenon, as a result of which the central white global conglomerate leading industry and banking associations.

These trends occurred around the world, but with different time intervals. Depending on the mentality of peoples, historically established cultural values, and so on.

Signs and features

The characteristics of monopoly capitalism are:

• the formation of large industrial groups - monopolies;
• dominance of money export over commodity(opportunities to attract cheap labor, cheap raw materials in third world countries and colonies);
• economic redistribution (territorial division) of the world between the largest monopolies (Russian companies took an active part in this redistribution, which rather resembled political, colonial expansion);
• bitterness of colonial wars;
• the formation of imperialism.

Businessmen began to actively influence foreign policy, defending their own commercial interests.

The Russian economy also had special characteristics of this type capitalist relations:

1. It was formed against the backdrop of the preservation of autocratic power and landlordism, class inequality and the absence of social rights.
2. The Russian Empire was a huge multinational power, where different regions and different peoples existed in different socio-economic conditions.
3. Capitalist monopolism was formed in a special order solely because the Russian Empire made the transition to the capitalist system later than a number of other European states.

Stages of formation

The formation of monopoly capitalism in the Russian state is divided into 3 main stages:

• 1880-90s - the appearance of first cartels who agreed on sales markets and prices;
• 1900-08 - the emergence of syndicates, banking monopolies, the beginning of the merging of industrial and banking capital;
• 1909-13 – formation of syndicates, financial capital.

Forms of monopolies

There were two main forms of monopolies in the economy of the Russian Empire:

• marketing - cartels and syndicates;
• production - trusts and concerns.

The fundamental differences between different forms of monopolies from each other and the periods of their formation in the Russian Empire are presented in the table:

Industry development

Russian industry of the early 20th century went through a period of transformation. new branches of production appeared, the achievements of technology and science began to be used.

Russian industry in this period of time was formed and developed with the active participation of foreign and state capital.

Agricultural development

Despite the accelerated pace of industrial development, Russia remained an agrarian country. But despite the fact that it was the leader in the export of agricultural products, the situation in this sector of the economy was quite difficult:

• grain specialization led to agrarian overpopulation and depletion of the lands of the South and South-East of Russia;
• in the main, the farms were low-power (this also applied to peasant and landowner farms);
• non-use of technology led to frequent crop failures and famine;
• in the countryside, semi-serfdom patriarchal remnants were preserved, modernization in this sector was very slow.

In addition, Russia is in the zone of “risk farming”. Due to climatic conditions (floods, drought, frosts), crop failures often occurred.

Important! During this period, the United States, Latin American countries and Australia began to compete in the world agricultural market of the Russian Empire.

Reforms of P. A. Stolypin

The reforms of P. A. Stolypin, carried out by him in 1906-1910, were aimed at accelerating the modernization processes in agriculture. For these reforms:

• peasants received the right to leave the community;
• peasants could get a loan from the Peasants' Bank for the development of the economy;
• the state provided assistance to peasants who wanted to move for.

All these measures led to the accelerated development agriculture and increase the profitability of agriculture, its marketability and

connections with, but they did not remove the social tension that existed in the Russian village.

The fact is that Stolypin did not dare to take the most important step - the elimination of landlord landownership, which would lead to land

redistribution and would solve the problem of small land of peasant farms. In this way, he would get rid of the strong class inequality and spur the economy.

Transport

In Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, the transport system did not undergo significant changes. The leading role in the transportation of goods and logistics was played by railways, as well as water communications (there were many private shipping companies in Russia). Highway roads there were very few. Equipped tracts were laid between the cities.

Financial system

The Russian financial system of the early 20th century was dominated by public and private capital:

The Russian financial system of the early 20th century was not in the best condition. First, the international crisis of 1900-1903 had a serious impact on it. Secondly, and the revolution of 1905-1907. actually emptied the Russian treasury. Thirdly, the constant appeal to foreign capital has led to an increase in public debt.

Reforms of S. Yu. Witte

The reforms of the Minister of the Interior S. Yu. Witte were an attempt stabilize the financial system. He carried out a whole range of measures aimed at improving the economy:

• regulation of the tariff system;
• reorganization of the taxation system;
• state regulation of foreign and domestic trade (protectionism);
• revitalization of the activities of the State Bank and monetary reform 1897 aimed at strengthening the national currency;
• fighting the budget deficit.

In general, the reforms were positive, but S. Yu. Witte was not allowed to complete them, blocking his agrarian program.

Features of economic development

Thus, the Russian economy of the early 20th century was characterized by (it was characterized by):

• a combination of a developed industrial and financial system with a backward agrarian one;
• the weakness of the bourgeoisie, which had just begun to take shape under conditions of social inequality;
• high concentration of foreign capital with low domestic exports.

Briefly about the Russian economy at the beginning of the 20th century

The development of the Russian economy in the 20th century

Output

On the one hand, the Russian economy rapidly evolved and developed, on the other hand, autocracy, landlordism, remnants of serfdom and social inequality hampered modernization processes. But, in any case, during this period, the level of Russia's economic development has increased and its lagging behind the leading capitalist powers decreased significantly.

The economy of the Russian Empire was a single national economic organism, which had its own characteristics. Along with the factory industry and elements of the state-monopoly economy, small-scale production, domestic labor, peasant crafts, and manufactory production existed in Russia. Over half of the country's national income came from agriculture. It gave more than 1/4 of the world production of bread, including 24.8% - wheat; 47.5 - rye; 35.4 - barley; over 80 - flax; 17% - potatoes. The country ranked first in the world in terms of total agricultural output.
Russia quickly turned into an industrial-agrarian state. Since the mid 1880s. industrialization was in full swing. It changed the structure of the national economy of Russia as a whole and its individual regions. New industries were created - railway engineering, locomotive and car building, fuel (coal and oil), chemical, electrical and electromechanical, and construction industries. Urbanization processes intensified, cities grew.
New regions developed: the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog coal and mining and metallurgical basin, the Baku oil region. Their ties with other regions were formed, exchange contacts outside of Russia became more active. The textile products of Russian factories were sold in Persia, China and even in France (silk and cotton fabrics).
Becoming in the last third of the XIX century. part of the world economy, the Russian national economy was exposed to the ups and downs of world production. World economic crisis of the early 1890s. and the bad harvests experienced by Russia in 1889, 1891, and 1892 delayed by several years the industrial boom that began in 1893. Over the next six years, industrial production in Russia nearly doubled. In 1899-1903 Russian industry was once again gripped by a severe crisis, the exit from which dragged on for five years.
The economic revival that came at the end of 1903 in certain industries and regions was first interrupted by the military events of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), and then by the First Russian Revolution (1905-1907), which began in the conditions of an unfinished, lost war with Japan by Russia.
In the intensified class struggle, great importance was attached to the question of whose expense the way out of the crisis would be carried out. The next revival of the domestic industry (which did not extend to tobacco production), which began in 1907, was disrupted by the world economic crisis. In 1908, the value of the gross annual industrial output fell again. The deepest drop (up to 20-18%) occurred in the oil refining and oil-producing industries.
During the long-term crisis, changes took place in the structure of individual industries. The number of Gründer (preying on founders' profits) joint-stock companies that did not intend to engage in real production was reduced. The process of concentration of industry gained strength, which strengthened the position of the monopolies, which by this time had acquired the skill of business activity. Purely foreign (in terms of board and shareholders) companies left the market.
Coming out of the crisis in 1909, domestic entrepreneurs began to cooperate more actively with representatives of foreign capital. Taught by the crisis, foreigners preferred joint actions with Russian entrepreneurs, the creation of mixed companies with the participation of Russian capital.
The strengthening of the role of monopolies in industry strengthened influential forces alien to historical Russia. Investment attractiveness for foreign capital and foreign entrepreneurs in Russia was represented by the possibility of obtaining super profits in a number of branches of Russian industry, as well as the richest natural resources of the country.
The transport system of the Russian Empire was actively developing. Its infrastructure (industrial, social and market) was improved, which ensured the functioning of the economy. Outstanding scientists and engineers such as D.I. Mendeleev (1834-1907) and the creator of the television tower on Shabolovka, inventor V.G. Shukhov (1853-1939), military chemist V.N. Ipatiev (1867-1952), representing the national creative forces, did a lot for the economic and scientific and technological development of the country, its defense capability.

Lecture, abstract. The economic development of the Russian empire in the late XIX - early XX centuries - the concept and types. Classification, essence and features.

The economic policy of the Russian Empire - diving into the abyss

Before analyzing in detail the economic policy of the early 20th century, it is necessary to briefly outline how the situation developed until the accession to the throne of Nicholas II.

A distinctive feature of Russia as an empire was the endless wars that it waged, which inevitably led to huge budget deficits, because the economy always needed additional issuance of banknotes. One of the most costly was the Crimean War, which forced the printing of paper money in large quantities.

In the era of military campaigns and reforms of Alexander II, the total amount of budget deficits amounted to astronomical for those times, 1 billion rubles. and half of this billion falls on 1855-1856. Such huge costs had to be covered by foreign borrowing. The colossal growth of the national debt led to the fact that in the budget of 1857 out of 268 million rubles. income, 100 million rubles were intended for debt service. As a result of the reign of Alexander II, the public debt increased three times.

During the reign of Alexander III, Russia collects huge crops of grain during a crop failure in Europe, which makes it possible to develop grain exports to enormous sizes. Since 1888, a new significant item of income appeared in the budget - income from state-owned railways. In combination with a policy of economy, this made it possible to achieve a deficit-free budget and even an excess of state revenues over expenditures. At the same time, a policy of customs protectionism is being introduced, which makes it possible not only to pay interest on the external state debt in gold and silver, but also to accumulate the state gold reserve. This policy, however, comes to ruin due to the bad harvest of 1891. The government was forced to ban the export of bread this year and allocate 161 million rubles. to buy food for the hungry. These expenditures had a noticeable effect on the state treasury, forced them to print paper money again and resort to new loans.

By the time of accession to the throne of Nicholas II, payments on the public debt accounted for 20% of government spending. With a total treasury income of 1.7 billion rubles. 346 million rubles are spent on servicing the debt. In 1897, the "financial genius", a representative of a new wave of monetarist economists, Finance Minister S. Yu. Witte, concerned about Russia's successful entry into the world economy, proposes to the Emperor a monetary reform aimed at strengthening investment activity and increasing the inflow of foreign capital into the country. The Emperor agrees. And in 1897, a reform takes place that pegs the ruble to gold, and as we will see later, this becomes the beginning of the collapse of the Russian Empire and the loss of its economic sovereignty.

After the reform, foreign capital poured into the country, which began the construction of new enterprises. As a result, the rate of industrial growth increased sharply. However, the West had nothing to be afraid of Russia "rushing" forward. The more efficiently the Russian economy worked, the more income the banks of Western countries received. It is very significant that after the reform the amount of external debt continued to grow. The Russo-Japanese War forced an even greater increase in the amount of borrowing. The public debt increased from 6.6 billion rubles. up to 8.7 billion rubles The place of the main creditor of the Russian Empire (about 60% of loans) belonged to France.

In 1887-1913. The West has invested 1,783 million gold rubles in Russia. During the same period, net income was exported from Russia - 2326 million gold rubles (an excess of income over investments for 26 years - by 513 million gold rubles). Annually, up to 500 million gold rubles were transferred abroad on interest and loan repayments (in modern prices, this is 15 billion dollars).

For the period from 1888-1908. Russia had a positive trade balance with other countries in the amount of 6.6 billion gold rubles. This amount was 1.6 times higher than the value of all Russian industrial enterprises and their working capital. In other words, having built 2 enterprises in Russia, the West built 3 enterprises at home with the money of Russia. Therefore, the average per capita income in Tsarist Russia grew much more slowly than the average per capita income of those countries that plundered Russia with their “investments and loans”.

Moreover, all these enterprises did not belong to Russia at all. Take, for example, the book "Securities of the Russian State", published in Moscow in 1995. In it, the authors provide photographs of samples valuable papers. Having carefully examined these photographs, we see that the industry of Russia was practically divided among Western states.

So, for example, shares of enterprises, banks and railways of the Russian Empire had inscriptions in Russian, German, English and French, in addition to distribution addresses in St. Petersburg and Moscow, they had distribution addresses in Europe and the United States.

In other words, at least 2/3 of Russia's industry did not belong to it and worked not for the welfare of the country, but to support the growth of foreign economies. Isn't it a very familiar picture?

First of all, Russia, even in terms of industrial production, lagged behind the USA, England, Germany and France. Its share in the total industrial production of the five above powers was only 4.2%.

In global production in 1913, the share of Russia was 1.72%, the share of the USA - 20%, England - 18%, Germany - 9%, France - 7.2% (these are all countries with a population 2-3 times less than Russia).

And this despite the fact that in Russia in 1913 there was a record (80 million tons) grain harvest.

The average yield in Russia is 8 centners per hectare. The figures are very low. Despite this, Russia annually exported approximately 10 million tons of grain abroad. As a result, in terms of bread consumption, Russia consumed 345 kilograms of bread per person per year. USA 992 kilograms, Denmark 912 kilograms, France 544, Germany 432 kilograms. At one time, about this situation in Germany, V.I. Lenin said a very interesting phrase: “In Germany, not just famine reigned, but a brilliantly organized famine”

In terms of gross national product per capita, Russia was 9.5 times behind the United States, England - 4.5 times, Canada - 4 times, Germany - 3.5 times, France, Belgium, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Spain - 3 times, Austria-Hungary - 2 times.

Russia continued to lag behind - in 1913, its GNP correlated with the GNP of Germany as 3.3 to 10, while in 1850 the ratio was 4 to 10.

Volumes of industrial production in 1913:

General, million rubles

Per capita, rub.

Great Britain

Germany

When they talk about economic growth, they somehow leave aside one very interesting thing - despite economic growth, per capita income in Russia almost halved from 1885 to 1913, and the gap with developed countries almost doubled. That is, Russia did not develop, Russia regressed.

By 1913 Russia had lost its economic sovereignty. This is only the property in Russia that belonged to foreign capital. Not to mention even those loans that were taken.

The First World War, which the Russian Empire entered in 1914, revealed with particular clarity the depravity of the economic model adopted. The economy, which entered the world economic system, was unable to provide for the vital problems of the country and the army waging war. As a result: the gold reserve, which at the beginning of the war amounted to 1.7 billion rubles. in 1914, in 1915, already a year later, it decreased to 1.3 billion rubles. and by January 1917 it amounted to 1.1 billion rubles. External debt for the first year of the war grew from 8.8 billion rubles. in 1914, up to 10.5 billion rubles. in 1915, and by January 1917 it had totaled 33.6 billion rubles.

For the army there were not enough weapons, for the country there was not enough food. The issue of money not backed by gold began. Inflation reached 13,000%. The peasants refused to sell food, and at the end of 1916 the state was forced to introduce a surplus appraisal.

It turned out that at state-owned factories 122 mm shrapnel costs 15 rubles per pound, and at a private factory 35, since the main defense plants in Petrograd and the Urals belonged to foreign capital.

And here is a conversation between Nicholas II and the head of the main artillery department, Manyakovsky:

Nicholas II: They complain about you that you constrain the initiative of society in supplying the army.

Manyakovsky: Your Majesty, they already profit from supplies to the army by 300%, and sometimes even by 1000.

Nicholas II: Well, let them profit, as long as they don't steal.

Manyakovsky: Your Majesty, but this is not even theft, but pure robbery.

Nicholas II: Still, there is no need to irritate public opinion.

(N. Yakovlev, Decree, p. 196)

What state goals did Russia pursue in World War I? We all know the talk that Russia fought for the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. But why do Russia need them as a state? If we carefully look at the map, we will see that in fact, no state problems were solved by the acquisition of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. Only trade problems were solved. Here we go back to the map. You can see the French enclave. The richest, most fertile lands, latifundia, which were under French influence through obtaining loans, through French-owned railways. The export of grain through Odessa in the direction of Constantinople was necessary for private capital so that there was no courier barrier on the straits in order to calmly export their grain to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea. That is why, in order to fulfill the economic tasks that England and France, members of the Entente, set themselves, Russia was drawn into the war.

As a result, the Russian Empire collapsed, unable to withstand the test of the world war. The Provisional Government that replaced it not only did not correct the state of affairs in the economy, but, on the contrary, aggravated them even more. The already huge public debt grew by July 1917 to 44 billion rubles. and by October it was 60 billion rubles. Inflation continued in the country - an excess of money in circulation. Its inevitable companion was the depreciation of money and the rise in prices. By February 1917, the purchasing power of the ruble was 27 kopecks; by October 1917, the purchasing power of the ruble had fallen to 6-7 kopecks of the pre-war level.

You can give such a curious example: the only normally working industrial enterprise in Russia in March-October 1917 was the Procurement Expedition government papers in Petrograd on the Fontanka (now Goznak, which celebrated its 190th anniversary in 2008). This factory under the Provisional Government worked continuously, in 4 shifts, and threw more and more paper money into the market, which cost less and less. problems. An analysis of the economic state of the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and up to October 17 clearly shows that the transfer of the Russian Empire to the rails of liberal monetarism ended in collapse and disaster for it. Unfortunately, since the collapse of the USSR, Russia has been led the same way. Doesn't this mean that modern capitalism has not abandoned its cherished desires for economic enslavement and the division of our country into zones of economic expansion?..

In the post-reform period (since 1861), as a result of economic development, primarily in industry, the system of Russian capitalism finally took shape. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. From a backward agrarian power, Russia became an agrarian-industrial one, and in terms of industrial output it entered the top five most powerful states (England, France, the USA and Germany) and was increasingly drawn into the world economic system.

In comparison with most European countries, where the principles of parliamentarism, multi-party system were affirmed, the role of elected bodies increased, the Russian Empire remained the last stronghold of absolutism. At the beginning of the XX century. in the political and legal system of Russia there were no democratic principles of separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial. Absolute power belonged to the emperor, who relied on a centralized and extensive bureaucratic apparatus in governing the state. Since Russia was not isolated from the transformations in Europe, the problem of political transformation is the limitation of the power of the autocracy by constitutional institutions, the participation in government of the general public through elected bodies, democratic freedoms, and the like - throughout the 19th - early 20th centuries. was in the center of attention of society, which influenced the level of development of the socio-political movement.

Deprived of representative bodies, the public showed political activity in illegal opposition groups and organizations to the government. The peasantry suffered from landlessness, high taxes, the power of landowners and petty guardianship on the part of the peasant community.

The workers were mercilessly exploited, as a result of which the working class became fertile ground for the propaganda of revolutionary ideas. The state supported the development of certain industries, pursued a policy of protectionism, which ensured the loyalty of the bourgeoisie to the absolutist regime. These contradictory trends in political and social development destabilized the domestic political situation and led to three revolutions that led to the collapse of the Russian state.

During the past two centuries, the main task of Russian tsarism was the strengthening of unlimited autocratic power. Political reforms of the 60-70s of the XIX century. (the creation of zemstvos and city dumas) were only a prerequisite for the development of parliamentarism. However, already in the 80s, during the period of "counter-reforms" of Alexander III (1881-1894), the role of these bodies was reduced to nothing. The government and the emperor saw the root of the revolutionary actions of the "populists" in the liberal reforms of the 60-70s of the XIX century. In 1882, censorship was strengthened, and in 1884 a new university charter was adopted, which significantly limited the autonomy of universities and placed the professorial and student corporation under strict government control. The same measures were applied to the secondary school, and by a special circular of 1887, access to secondary education was limited to people from the lower classes. Primary schools were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Holy Synod. In the early 1990s, the rights of zemstvos and city self-government bodies were significantly limited. The centralization of power reached its apogee and the extensive bureaucratic apparatus became the sovereign master of the situation. The Council of State and the Senate were only the highest advisory bodies, and all decisions were made solely by the emperor.

In the context of a patriotic upsurge after the victorious Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 pp. the chauvinistic policy towards the national outskirts of the empire became more active. its main components were the strengthening of the role of the Orthodox Church, Russification and restrictive measures. The assertion of the "Russian national spirit" was accompanied by restrictions on the freedom of non-Orthodox religious denominations and the activities of sects in 1883. At the same time, numerous measures began to be taken aimed at the Russification of the occupied regions of Central Asia, a ban on the teaching of the Polish language in the western regions of the empire and the Baltic states, and a ban on foreigners to acquire land property , limiting the autonomous rights of Finland, and the like. 31881 introduced restrictive measures against Jews - they established the so-called Pale of Settlement for them, 1887 introduced a 3% quota for admission to universities (although she never strictly adhered to), they were not accepted into the public service and even expelled 20 thousand from Moscow.

Nicholas II (1894-1917) not only did not seek to bring the country's political system in line with the requirements of the time, but also saw the main political task in preserving and strengthening the autocratic form of government. To numerous zemstvo petitions for the inclusion of elected bodies in the system of state administration and for limiting the arbitrariness of bureaucratic bureaucracy, he answered in his throne speech: "I will protect the foundations of autocracy as firmly and unswervingly as my late father guarded."

The first evidence of such a course was the celebration of the coronation of the new emperor, during which on the field in Khodynka (near Moscow), in pursuit of penny royal "gifts", the crowd trampled to death 1389 people, and 1300 were seriously injured. During the 23 years of his reign, Nicholas II dragged Russia into two lost wars and three revolutions, which cost millions of human lives and caused terrible upheavals.

For various reasons, discontent covered almost all sectors of society, and at the end of the existence of the empire, almost all of its politically conscious population belonged to the disaffected. The society expected political changes.

In Russian society, brought up on the traditions of the deification of royal power, there was no legal culture, respect for the rights and freedoms of the individual. The principles of parliamentarism, which were observed by representatives of the progressive intelligentsia, were known only in theory, and not in practice.

The liberal opposition movement was started by zemstvo figures. In 1899, the Zemstvo created an illegal circle "Conversation". As supporters of the evolutionary development of Russia, the liberals advocated the consistent implementation of reforms and legal methods of struggle. their moderate program did not even imply limiting the legislative power of the emperor, but proposed expanding the rights of the zemstvos, establishing the equality of citizens, granting freedom to the press, introducing universal education, and the like. These demands were supported by the majority of the intelligentsia, which at the beginning of the century created professional associations and unions. The "constitutional" movement, launched by the Union of Liberation (1904) party, which tried by legal means to organize the struggle for the creation of a parliamentary system and the implementation of broad social and political reforms, was spreading.

In 1904, the Zagalnozemsky congress took place, which adopted a resolution of 11 points. It talked about improper public administration, noted the need to introduce political freedoms in the country, create an elected representative body under the government, and expand the rights of local self-government. In the same year, at the initiative of the Union of Liberation, a so-called banquet campaign was held (banquets were held on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the progressive judicial reform). Banquets gathered people of homogeneous professions (lawyers, journalists, doctors, professors), who demanded the introduction of a constitution in the country with a legislative assembly, political freedoms and all the attributes of a constitutional state. More than 120 banquets were held in 34 cities of Russia, in which almost 50 thousand people took part.

The need for political reforms was also recognized by progressive statesmen. Minister of the Interior P. Svyatopolk-Mirsky submitted a memorandum to the tsar on the need to strengthen the rule of law, expand the political rights of the people, introduce elected officials from the provinces where there were zemstvos into the State Council, and the like. A special meeting in defiance of the emperor and frank To the conservative. Pobedonostsev supported the minister's proposals. Nicholas II responded with a decree that ignored the opinion of not only liberals, but also ministers. It emphasized the need to preserve autocracy and the immutability of laws. The emperor rejected the possibility of a peaceful political transformation of Russia, pushing Russia into the arms of the revolutionaries, who considered the radical change of society the best way out of the political crisis.

at the end of the 19th century. radical revolutionary parties arose in Russia. In 1888, G. Plekhanov and some former "populists" created the "Emancipation of Labor" group, whose task was to disseminate Marxist literature, propagate in Russian society ideas about the need to overthrow the autocracy in a revolutionary way and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.

In the autumn of 1895, V. Ulyanov (Lenin) created the underground organization "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class", and in 1903 the revolutionaries united into the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP). The organizational principles of the new party laid down by Lenin (strict centralization, discipline, strict hierarchy, unconditional implementation by its members of the decisions of the central body) turned it into a party of conspirators who neglected universal human values ​​in order to achieve a political goal - the destruction of autocracy and the seizure of power.

The party of Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), which arose in 1902 and inherited certain elements of the populist ideology and tactics of individual terror, also waged an active struggle against the autocracy. The goal of the party was to achieve political freedom through constitutional means, and in the long term - to conquer power. The Social Revolutionaries carried out propaganda among the peasants and workers, and their "combat organization" successfully carried out several terrorist acts against the relatives of the emperor and high dignitaries.

The Socialist-Revolutionaries are representatives of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. The Socialist-Revolutionary Party arose in 1901, until 1917. was in an illegal position. Neo-populist, ultra-revolutionary, terrorist by nature. It reflected primarily the interests of the peasant masses. Basic requirements: democratic republic, political freedoms, land socialization. After the February Revolution of 1917, the most influential and largest party in Russia (in the summer of 1917 it had almost 1 million members). Socialist-Revolutionary leaders: Chernov, Gots, Avksentiev, Spiridonova and others. In an effort to broadly unite all progressive forces, they collaborated with the Mensheviks and the Cadets. Socialist-Revolutionaries prevailed in local self-government bodies and most public organizations, were part of the Provisional Government. They refused to seize power, planned to get a majority in the Constituent Assembly and peacefully democratically implement their program, the core of which was the agrarian question. They proposed to abolish private ownership of land and transfer them to public use without redemption. their foreign policy was determined by the slogan "Democratic peace to the whole world", at the same time, the possibility of a separate peace with the states of the Quadruple Alliance was denied. The right SRs perceived the October coup as "a crime against the motherland and the revolution", while the left supported the Bolsheviks, created the Party of Left Socialist-R-Tsioneriv (Internationalists) and collaborated with the Bolsheviks for some time (November 1917 - July 1918). In the elections to the Constituent Assembly, the Social Revolutionaries as a whole received 58% of the vote. By the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of June 14, 1918, the Right Social Revolutionaries were excluded from the composition of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and councils at all levels. In July, the Bolsheviks excommunicated the Left SRs from power. During the years of the civil war in Russia, the Social Revolutionaries were persecuted by the Bolshevik authorities. After his arrest in 1925. the last composition of the Central Bureau of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, the latter actually ceased to exist in Russia (USSR). Yeserivska emigration with centers in Paris, Berlin and Prague continued to operate. The last émigré group of Social Revolutionaries in New York ceased to exist in the mid-1960s.

The opposition parties found support among the villagers and workers. The population explosion at the beginning of the century led to an increase in the number of the peasant population and sharply posed the problem of providing it with land. Compared with the post-reform years, peasant allotments have almost tripled. The government tried to resettle part of the peasants from European Russia to Kazakhstan, Siberia and the Far East, but did it mediocre and disorganized, which further exacerbated social tension in the countryside. The lack of agricultural machinery, draft power, efficient agronomic and veterinary services led to low yields. Taxes, the price of land, and rents grew due to the simultaneous fall in prices for agricultural products. Drought and crop failures periodically caused famine. The peasants understood that the land problem could be solved by redistributing the landowners' lands. In 1902, a wave of peasant revolts swept through Ukraine and the Middle Volga region. The peasants sacked the landlords' estates, seized fields, livestock and agricultural implements.

The result of Russia's dynamic economic development was the emergence of an industrial proletariat. Its number was constantly growing, the concentration on large industrial enterprises increased, there was a stratification into qualified and highly paid (working elite) and semi-literate, unskilled people from the village. It was the latter that were the best object for Bolshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary propaganda. Long working hours (up to 14 hours), low wages, numerous fines, lack of safety measures, unsanitary living conditions, and the ban on professional associations turned the working environment into a source of social tension. There was no labor legislation in Russia, only separate laws prohibited the employment of women and children at night, reduced the working day to 11 hours, and regulated the imposition of fines. However, entrepreneurs avoided them in every possible way. In 1903, a general strike of workers swept the south of Russia. Simultaneously with economic demands (increased wages, shorter working hours, improved working conditions, etc.), the workers for the first time put forward political slogans (political freedoms, the right to form trade unions, to strike, and the like).

In the early 90s, the economic situation in Russia was aggravated by the global economic crisis, famine in the Volga region and in the south of the country, which was caused by cold and drought. There was a real danger of lagging behind the major European countries, which, in the conditions of tense international relations and the Anglo-German military confrontation, threatened state security. It was necessary to develop heavy industry and carry out the technical re-equipment of the army and navy. Deficiency has become an obstacle along the way. state budget. The solution of a difficult task was entrusted to the Minister of Finance - Count S. Witte, who for 10 years has consistently pursued a policy of accelerated development of Russian industry on the basis of decisive financial measures. Strict financial discipline, new taxes and excises on alcoholic beverages, tobacco, sugar, matches, etc. ensured financial stability and made it possible in 1897 to carry out a financial reform by establishing the gold equivalent of the ruble. Industrial production almost tripled, and coal mining and iron smelting nearly quadrupled. The length of railways at the beginning of the century reached 58 thousand km. The latest achievements of technology were included in the daily life of the inhabitants of large cities: electric lighting, telephone, electric tram, water supply and sewerage, photography. The army received new types of weapons, including machine guns. The fleet was replenished with new warships, and battleships formed its basis.

The share of foreign capital in the modernization of Russia was quite high: according to the latest estimates, in heavy industry in 1900-1913. it was 48-52%. Among foreign investors, the French and Belgians made up the majority (58%), followed by the Germans and the British. About 2/8 of all machines that were used in industry were foreign-made. At the same time, the country's foreign debt also grew, reaching $4 billion in 1913, or 35-37% of the gross national product.

The economic recovery continued until the global economic crisis 1900-1903 pp. The influx of foreign investment fell sharply, the government was unable to take advantage of foreign loans, which led to a reduction in government orders in heavy industry and the closure of several thousand industrial enterprises and mass layoffs of workers.

in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Russia pursued an active foreign policy in the Far East. She traded profitably with Mongolia, Manchuria, Tuva and China. In 1891, the construction of the strategically important Trans-Siberian Railway from Chelyabinsk to Vladivostok began. Russia, taking advantage of China's defeat in the Japanese-Chinese war of 1894 - 1895, in 1895 provided it with a loan to pay indemnity to Japan, created the Russian-Chinese Bank and in 1897 began construction of the Chinese Eastern railway. In 1898, Russia leased Port Art and turned it into a naval base.

Chinese Eastern Railway (Chinese-Changchun Railway) "- a railway line in Northeast China. Built by Russia in 1897-1903. After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 - 1905, the southern direction of the line went to Japan and was called the Pivdenno-Manchurian Railway Since 1924 it was under the joint control of the USSR and China, in 1935 it was sold to Manchukuo, since August 1945 it was under the joint control of the USSR and China with the name of the Chinese-Changchun Railway. China's right to the highway.

Port Arthur (Luishun) is a city and port in China in the Bo-Haiwan Bay of the Yellow Sea. According to the convention of 1898r. received by Russia on temporary lease. At the end of XIX - beginning of XX century. a Russian naval base was established here. In 1904-1945. - occupied by Japan. Liberated by the Soviet army in 1945. The naval base was jointly used by the USSR and China. In 1955, the USSR withdrew its troops from Port Arthur and handed over the facilities in the base area to the Chinese government free of charge.

At the beginning of the XX century. Russia actively joined the struggle for China, which was led by the United States, Great Britain and Japan. S. Witte insisted on pursuing a peaceful policy in the Far East and offered to continue commercial and industrial penetration into this region. However, the "policy of power" won. In 1900, the "Boxer Rebellion" broke out in China. Under the pretext of protecting the personnel of the Chinese Eastern Railway, Russia sent troops into Manchuria, put forward a strict demand to China - not to grant concessions in Manchuria to other states without first offering them to the Russian-Chinese Bank. Under pressure from other states, China did not agree, but this aggravated relations between Russia and Japan. In January 1902, the Anglo-Japanese treaty was signed, which pushed Japan to war with Russia.

Nicholas II was dismissive of the Japanese army, and the Russian military convinced foreigners that "Japan in Europe was too overestimated in terms of its military power after its victory over China. The Japanese have never dealt with European troops." Obviously, such an attitude towards the mighty eastern neighbor provoked him before the war and did not allow the Russian army to conduct appropriate preparations for the war. Events unfolded very quickly. At the end of December 1908, Japan delivered an ultimatum to Russia demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Manchuria, but St. Petersburg left it unanswered. In January 1904, Tokyo announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia. Instead of bringing its Far Eastern army on alert, St. Petersburg exchanged diplomatic notes with the Japanese government. S. Witte wrote in his memoirs about the causes of the war: “We have few Poles, Finns, Germans, Latvians, Georgians, Armenians, Tatars, etc., we also wished to annex the territory with the Mongols, Chinese, Koreans. empire."

The fighting began on January 27, 1904 with a surprise attack by a Japanese squadron on Russian ships in Port Arthur. Japanese destroyers blew up two armored ships and one cruiser. The next day, the main forces of the Japanese fleet fired on Port Arthur and blocked the Russian fleet in its bay. A heroic page in the history of the war was written by the cruiser "Varyag" and the gunboat "Koreets", which in the Korean port of Chemulpo entered into an unequal battle with Japanese destroyers. Only individual Russian cruisers and destroyers, which were based in Vladivostok, had access to the operational ocean space. Thus, Japan fulfilled the first part of its strategic plan - it established dominance at sea.

Russia entered the war unprepared. The combat training of the troops and the fleet, reserves and communications for maneuver did not correspond to the then conditions. At the head of the army were mediocre commanders. International isolation also had an effect - England and the United States openly supported Japan, Russia's ally France declared neutrality, Germany pushed tsarism to take active steps without assuming any obligations. The internal situation in Russia was unstable - a wave of anti-government protests by workers, peasants, and students was growing.

In March 1904, an attempt by the Pacific Squadron to leave Port Arthur to meet the Japanese fleet was defeated. The flagship battleship "Petropavlovsk" was sunk, on which the commander of the fleet, Admiral S. Makarov, was killed. The Japanese army completely intercepted the strategic initiative and blocked Port Arthur and began its siege.

On April 18, after the battle on the Yalu river, the Japanese army forced the Russian troops to retreat to Liaoyang. In a few days, the Japanese captured the railway between Port Arthur and Manchuria, which gave them the opportunity to finally block Port Arthur. Due to command errors, the Russian fleet was unable to break through the blockade.

The defense of Port Arthur on July 17, 1904 lasted 157 days. The first assault began on 6 August and ended in failure for the Japanese. More than 6 thousand soldiers and officers were lost by the Japanese army during the September assault. Only in September - November 1904, the Japanese made three general assaults. In August 1904, Russian troops, despite their double numerical superiority, were defeated in Manchuria near Liaoyang. The attempt of the Russian army to launch an offensive in September 1904 on the city of Makhe also ended in failure, after which it went on the defensive. In November, the Japanese captured Mount Vysokaya, from which they fired at Port Arthur and the Russian squadron, which was stationed in the inner roadstead of the port. On December 20, 1904, the commandant of the fortified area, General A. Stessel, signed the act of surrender of the still quite combat-ready fortress.

The fall of Port Arthur meant for Russia the futility of further warfare. This was also confirmed by the battle of Mukden in March 1905, in which the mediocre General A. Kuropatkin practically gave victory to the Japanese, leaving almost 90 thousand Russian soldiers killed on the battlefield.

The final stage of the war was the naval battle in the Tsusimsky Strait on May 14-15, 1905. Back in October 1904, the 2nd Pacific Squadron was sent to the Far East. Hastily assembled from obsolete and diverse types of ships, with great difficulty, having circled Africa, reached the Far East. However, the fall of Port Arthur left her without a land base. The fast and well-armed Japanese fleet, many of whose ships were built in the shipyards of England, almost completely destroyed the Russian squadron - out of 38, 19 ships were sunk, 7 were taken prisoner, and only a few managed to reach Vladivostok.

On August 28, 1905, Russia and Japan signed the Portsmouth peace agreement, which testified to the collapse of the Far Eastern policy of tsarism. Korea was recognized as a sphere of economic, political and military interests of Japan. Russia gave Japan Port Arthur, the southern part of the Skhidno-Chinese railway (to Changchun station), the southern part (up to the 50th parallel) and the Sakhalin Islands, granted the Japanese the right to fish along the Russian coasts in the Sea of ​​Japan, Okhotsk and Bering Seas. Russia actually lost free access to the Pacific Ocean.

The war did not stop the wave of anti-government protests. In the summer of 1904, members of the "militant organization" of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party killed the Minister of the Interior. Plehve, who took harsh measures against revolutionaries and liberals. In December of the same year, the "Union of Liberation" organized a "banquet campaign" on the occasion of the anniversary of the Decembrist uprising, where calls were made for the immediate convocation of

Constituent Assembly. In January 1905, the St. Petersburg workers started a mass strike. Revolution 1905-1907 in Russia developed in two directions: liberal and revolutionary. The intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie tried to peacefully solve the problems of Russia's democratization (to introduce a parliamentary system); the peasantry sought a just solution to the agrarian question; workers put forward slogans to improve their economic situation and carry out political reforms. Revolutionary organizations (Bolsheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries) propagated the idea of ​​armed struggle against the autocracy and organized spontaneous protests by peasants and workers.

The Bolsheviks - first representatives of the faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (1903-1917), later - an independent party. The name "Bolsheviks" reflected the results of the elections of the governing bodies of the RSDLP(b) at the Second Congress (1903), at which a split occurred among the Russian Social Democrats. Its reason was the tough position of V. Lenin and his supporters regarding the upholding of the concept of the party as an illegal organization of professional revolutionaries, capable of secret work and seizing power. Program requirements (until 1917): liquidation of the autocracy and its replacement by a democratic republic by convening a Constituent Assembly; the creation of a unicameral legislature; universal, equal and direct suffrage; inviolability of person and home; freedom of speech, press, assembly, strikes, unions; the right of nations to self-determination; the right of every person to prosecute any official; selectivity of judges by the people; the replacement of the standing army by the general armament of the people; separation of church and state; general free education and the like. The vast majority of program requirements turned out to be declarative and were ignored by the Bolsheviks after they came to power. 31917r. they began to establish a "dictatorship of the proletariat," dispersed the Constituent Assembly, unleashed a civil war, and sought to carry out a "proletarian" revolution throughout the world. The victory of the Bolsheviks in the civil war of 1917-1920. the communist totalitarian regime was finally established and the Bolshevik experiment continued until 1991, in fact. The leader and ideologist of Bolshevism was V. Ulyanov (Lenin). Other prominent figures of the Bolshevik Party - N. Bukharin, L. Trotsky, I. Stalin and others. The desire to dissociate themselves from the RSDLP (Mensheviks) led to the use (from March 1918 to October 1952) of the double name of the party ("Bolshevik" and " communist"). The word "Bolsheviks" was included before the official name of the Communist Party - RSDLP (b) (1917-1918), RCP (b) (1918-1925), VKP (b) (1925-1952). XIX Party Congress (October 1952) decided to rename the CPSU (b) into the Communist Party Soviet Union- CPSU.

Attempts by the autocracy through minor concessions to the public to preserve the political system of the country, a split in the camp of democratic forces, the refusal of radical parties to peacefully resolve problems did not make it possible to politically reorganize Russia - to limit the autocracy, introduce a parliamentary system, and implement political and social reforms.

To put pressure on the government, a strike was organized by the workers of the Putilov factory in St. Petersburg. Since January 1905, 12,000 workers have stopped work in protest against the dismissal of four comrades. The strike instantly spread to all enterprises in the province. On January 8, there were already more than 200,000 strikers. A meeting of Russian factory workers, led by the priest G. Gapon, popular among the workers, on January 6 prepared a petition to the tsar with economic and rather moderate political demands. it was signed by over 150,000 workers.

On January 9, 1905, over 100,000 workers went to the Winter Palace to hand the petition to the tsar, but were met with fire from army units and the police. Several hundred people died and several thousand were injured. "Bloody Sunday" dispelled the faith of the workers in "a kind and just tsar and became the beginning of a mass strike movement" which in the first half of the year covered most of the industrial cities and regions of the country - St. Petersburg, Moscow, the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, South Russia, etc. The strikers put forward demands for the democratization of the country.

To relieve tension in society and calm the strikers, on February 18, 1905, Nicholas II issued a rescript on the creation of a representative body and the implementation of political reforms. The latter were proposed to be carried out gradually while maintaining the foundations of the monarchical system. At the same time, a decree was signed that allowed private individuals and public bodies to submit petitions and proposals for improving public administration. However, tsarism was again late and the public demanded not a consultative body, but a full-fledged Constituent Assembly.

Professional organizations of the intelligentsia (teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc.) united in the "Union of Unions" headed by the historian P. Miliukov. They sought the introduction of representative government and a multi-party system. At the same time, at the Third Congress in London (April 1905), the Bolsheviks called for the organization of an armed uprising against the autocracy. In May, thousands of workers went on strike. Often came to armed clashes with the police.

In Ivanovo-Voznesensk, the workers created the first Soviet of Workers' Deputies, which led the strike, maintained discipline and helped the strikers financially. The Bolsheviks assigned the role of the organizers of the uprising to the soviets.

In the spring, peasant unrest began in Ukraine and the main agricultural regions of the country. The peasants sowed the landlords' lands, seized grain and agricultural implements.

In order to organize spontaneous actions of peasants, the intelligentsia created the All-Russian Peasant Union, which supported the program of the "Union of Unions". In the summer, the 1st All-Russian Peasant Congress took place, which put forward demands to the government: to allocate land to the peasants through the expropriation of landownership, to reduce taxes, to hold elections to the Constituent Assembly, and the like.

In the summer of 1905, the workers' strike in Łódź developed into an armed uprising led by a Bolshevik committee. Barricade battles in the city continued until 25 June. Simultaneously with the events in Lodz, an uprising of the sailors of the battleship "Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky" began in Odessa, which was provoked by the rude treatment of officers, poor food and Bolshevik agitation. A few weeks later, the battleship surrendered to the Romanian authorities of the port of Constanta.

The events of the spring and summer of 1905 testified that delay in carrying out political reforms was dangerous for the autocracy. On August 6, 1905, Nicholas II issued a decree on the convocation of the State Duma, but with limited powers and no legislative initiative. The opposition movement split into supporters and opponents of the boycott of the Duma elections. Moderate liberals proposed using the Duma to fight for the democratization of the country. Radical liberals from the Union of Unions and the Social Democrats called for a boycott of the elections and resort to a general political strike.

The strike began in October 1905. Soviets of Workers' Deputies were formed in Moscow and St. Petersburg. On October 17, 1905, the tsar issued a Manifesto, in which he promised to grant the people civil liberties (speech, press, assembly, the creation of organizations, personal immunity), ensure elections to the Duma for all segments of the population, develop a law on general elections, transfer legislative functions to the Duma. The liberal opposition greeted the Manifesto, albeit warily, but with hope, since it opened up prospects for real parliamentarism and legal ways of political reorganization of the country. It was created by the party of the Octobrists (the party "October 17"), the Cadets (constitutional democrats), "Soyuzrosiyskogo naroda", which occupied the right positions.

The Bolsheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries did not cooperate with the autocracy and stepped up preparations for an armed uprising. Armed "military squads" were created, weapons and ammunition were purchased, agitation work was intensified among workers, soldiers and sailors. At the end of October 1905, uprisings of sailors broke out in Kronstadt and Sevastopol, unrest began in the troops, who were returning home after the end of the war with Japan; peasant uprisings swept the Chernigov, Kursk, Saratov and Simbirsk provinces. The culmination of revolutionary uprisings was the uprising of Moscow workers, which began on December 7, 1905. Barricade battles continued for more than a week, but the poor armament of the rebels, the lack of leadership, and mass support in other regions of the country led to the defeat of the uprising. More than a thousand people were killed by the Cossacks and regular army units.

The defeat of the rebels in Moscow and other regions of the country allowed tsarism to launch a counteroffensive. Freedom of the press was again curtailed, strikes banned, new law about the elections, which turned them into multistage and unequal. The Duma lost the right to legislative initiative. The electoral law was very complex and intricate, providing advantages to the landlords and peasants. But the elections, held even in accordance with these laws and in an atmosphere of repression, were won by opposition candidates - Cadets, Octobrists, non-party deputies who sought political and economic reforms. The Bolsheviks and Social Revolutionaries boycotted the elections.

At the first meetings of the new legislative body, an appeal was adopted to the government demanding the restoration of general elections, the abolition of all restrictions on the legislative activity of the Duma. The appeal noted the personal responsibility of ministers, guarantees of civil liberties, the abolition of the death penalty, and the like. The government categorically refused to accept the proposed provisions. The agrarian question, which became the main issue at Duma meetings, further aggravated relations between the government and the Duma. Ignoring on the part of the government of all bills developed by the Duma, it led to its adoption of a vote of no confidence in the government and demanded its complete resignation. On the other hand, on July 9, 1906, the emperor dissolved the Duma itself.

The new Prime Minister P. Stolypin introduced a state of emergency in certain regions of the country: workers' and peasants' unrest was suppressed by punitive detachments, thousands of death sentences were passed by courts-martial, and the publication of publications opposed to the government was suspended.

Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (1862-1911) - a hereditary Russian nobleman, an outstanding Russian figure, the last reformer of tsarist Russia. He began his service career after graduating from St. Petersburg University in 1884 from a modest position in the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property. High education, decency, purposefulness, deep knowledge of administrative and economic work, natural oratorical talent contributed to his career advancement: Kovno district, provincial marshal of the nobility (1889-1902); Grodno (1902-1903), Saratov (1903-1905) governor; Minister of the Interior and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1906-1911). A convinced monarchist, a supporter of the rule of law and a strong executive power. He developed a broad package of reforms for the peaceful renewal of Russia, which provided for the introduction of laws on freedom of conscience, personal immunity, universal primary education, etc. He attached particular importance to the agrarian issue. The agrarian ("Stolypin") reform was supposed to solve the long-standing problem of land ownership and land use in Russia and to promote the development of productive forces in the countryside. It was based on the Decree of November 9, 1906, which granted communal peasants the right to withdraw from the community while simultaneously securing a part of the communal land they used as personal property. In land transformations, he was guided by the progressive and healthy forces of the peasantry. He was killed in Kyiv. Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

"First - appeasement, and then reforms," ​​P. Stolypin argued. However, even in such a situation, the new Duma, which began work on February 20, 1907, was in opposition to the government. In addition to liberals, it included representatives of the Social Democrats, Popular Socialists and Socialist-Revolutionaries. The agrarian question remained central, in the discussion of which there were disagreements between the Cadets and the left parties. However, the Duma unanimously condemned the continuation of the repressions and refused to deprive the parliamentary immunity of deputies from the Social Democratic parties. Since June 1907, Nicholas II issued a manifesto on the dissolution of the Duma and new changes in the electoral legislation, which asserted the inequality in the rights of various social groups. This event was called the "Three Heart Revolution" and meant the end of the revolution of 1905-1907.

Repressions against the revolutionaries and the dissolution of the Duma, which was in opposition to the government, made it possible for P. Stolypin to continue S. Witte's course towards the modernization of the country for four years (1907 - 1911). The concept of P. Stolypin provided for the transformation of the peasants into new owners of the land by freeing them from the guardianship of the community; accelerated development of the industry through the expansion of the domestic market and the formation of national cadres of industrialists; development of a wide network of school education through the introduction of compulsory four-year education.

Agrarian reforms were the main component of P. Stolypin's reforms. The need to implement another reform in Boula agriculture is associated with deep objective changes that have long prepared the prerequisites for radical transformations in the field of socio-economic relations:

o Firstly, the Russian economy, especially agriculture, in the late XIX - early XX century. found itself in a state of prolonged depression, which threatened the existence of the state itself;

o secondly, the main tasks set by the tsarist government during the agrarian reform of 1861 were not fully implemented, which aggravated the impoverishment of a significant part of the population, caused a powerful anti-pomishchitsky, anti-monarchist movement;

o thirdly, the economic backwardness of Russia from Western European countries led to an increasing dependence of the state on foreign capital, which created a danger of losing the integrity and national independence of the Russian Empire;

o fourthly, the revolutionary events of 1905-1907. showed that in the state there is no stable social force capable of becoming a conductor of government agrarian policy.

The chairman of the government P. Stolypin, with whose name the agrarian reform was singled out, understood that the bulk of the peasantry would meet the radical changes proposed by him without enthusiasm (the reformer himself repeatedly and openly stated that his reform was “not for the weak and infirm, who are in the majority in Russia, but for wealthy and strong owners").

In relation to the landlords, this class turned out to be noticeably weakened and relying only on it was risky.

The industrial bourgeoisie also stood up as an unreliable ally. Firstly, it was small in number, and secondly, its interests did not always coincide with the interests of the landlords.

Consequently, it was necessary to look for a new social force interested in radical transformations. Such a force, however, not numerous and organizationally weak, already existed - free peasant proprietors, their wealthiest part, which was formed after the abolition of serfdom and led a new, capitalist way of managing.

The merit of P. Stolypin was that he was one of the first to discern in this layer a stable and promising ally of the government. It was she who was most interested in creating economic conditions for free management, able to protect their landed property and the entire institution of private property. In the economic aspect, it was more stable and more promising than other segments of the rural population. Therefore, P. Stolypin's strategic move - to expand the private property system of the state by increasing the number of prosperous peasant owners - was not only comprehensively justified, but also timely.

The central idea of ​​the Stolypin agrarian reform was to:

o firstly, forcibly destroy the peasant land community and create a new, hutirsko-vіdrubna system of land tenure on its ruins;

o secondly, on the basis of the approval of private land ownership, to form a class of land owners from the prosperous part of the peasantry.

The government of P. Stolypin began the reform with the creation of the necessary technical prerequisites for the regulation of land relations.

On March 4, 1906, a special decree laid the foundation for the creation of a system of land management commissions, which became the conductors of the new land legislation and land administration. At the same time, the Committee on Land Affairs was created in the capital, which served as a coordinating center. In accordance with the said decree, land management commissions were to begin their activities primarily in those provinces and districts where there were more landless peasants.

At the same time, the government of P. Stolypin prepared a number of legal measures that contributed to the agrarian reform.

o firstly, in villages where there were no general redistributions for a long period, the communal land tenure order was considered liquidated and the peasants switched to household land use;

o secondly, every householder who owned land on the basis of communal law could at any time demand that the part of the land due to him be assigned to him in private ownership;

o thirdly, the householder had the right to demand, instead of the striped plots assigned to him, the allocation of a “cut” or “farm”, that is, the reduction of all individual allotments into one place (“demolition”) and the transfer of the estate (“farm”) there, which ensured the creation of isolated strong peasant farms independent of the communal order;

o fourthly, the principle of family property was limited: from now on, the owner of the land assigned to the yard became the sole owner, that is, the head of the family, and not the yard as a whole, as it was before.

Note that the government of P. Stolypin had no legal right to issue such legislative acts without their approval by the State Duma. However, he showed exceptional determination and perseverance, publishing them in the form of temporary decrees, which became legitimate after a while, when they had already been basically implemented.

The law on land power, adopted by the third State Duma, was adopted on May 29, 1911. It, in particular, emphasized that every peasant had the right to leave the community and start managing on a compact part of the former collective property, erected to a separate plot, even under the condition that the village assembly would oppose it.

Along with the lumpenized peasants, who were satisfied with the communal order with mutual responsibility, guaranteed minimal opportunities for material prosperity, there were many peasants, and not necessarily the richest, who understood the need to reform land relations and supported the government's desire to create a class of economically independent peasants in the countryside.

Provincial and district land management commissions controlled the exit of peasant farms from the community, their purchase of additional land plots, and conducted surveys of their economic situation.

The government of P. Stolypin was worried not only about the technical, but also about the financial side of the implementation of the agrarian reform. The main lever for its implementation was the Peasant Land Bank, founded back in 1882. On August 12, 1906, this bank began selling a significant part of the specific land to the peasants, and on rather favorable terms for them. The following loan maturities were determined: 18, 18, 28, 41 and 55.5 years. Interest payments depended on the term for which the loan was taken. If before 1906 these percentages ranged from 11.5 (for the minimum term) to 6 (for the maximum), then according to the Stolypin legislation - from 9.5 to 4.5, respectively.

An integral part of the Stolypin agrarian reform was the resettlement policy. Having received the land in the property and sold it, the peasants massively moved to Asia. Only from Ukraine, where agrarian overpopulation dominated, during 1906-1912. Almost 1 million people left. True, many peasants returned without finding suitable living conditions.

So, at the beginning of the 20th century. peasant economy not only withstood, but also won in the heavy competition with the landlord economy. It could have pressed him even more if the Stoly-Pinsky agrarian reform had been radical and did not proclaim the inviolability of noble land ownership.

The time when the reform was carried out was also unfavorable: the country could not endure the double burden of financing deep socio-economic transformations and reimbursement of military expenses.

The “new owner” was left practically without state assistance, since the 32 million rubles offered as a loan to farmers cannot be considered effective assistance, compared to 8.5 billion rubles downloaded from agriculture by the state and landowners.

at the same time, the Stolypin agrarian reform, despite its inconsistency and incompleteness, was one of the most decisive steps of liberalism in all of Russian history. It contributed to the transformation of the medieval collectivist system of peasant labor into an individual one, the formation of farm-type farms. Already in that historical period, these farms revealed great potential. The agrarian reform contributed to the expansion of sown areas, the increase in agricultural productivity, and the yield of grain crops. Russia began mass export of food products, which allowed new investments in the industry. All its leading branches - metallurgy, steel production, oil production, agricultural engineering, etc. - developed intensively. The concentration of production increased, cartels, trusts, concerns were created. Banking capital was concentrated in the six largest banks in the capital. Formed its own national industrial elite, which tried to get rid of foreign dependence and had plans for economic penetration not only in the East - the traditional direction of Russian colonial policy, but also in Europe and Asia.

In May 1908, a law was approved on compulsory primary free education for children from the age of 8. An increase in appropriations for public education made it possible to open 50,000 new schools. However, their total number was half the real needs of the population.

The reforms were carried out in conditions of severe persecution of any opposition movement, disregard for social legislation, rampant chauvinist sentiments, and outright conservatism. Of course, such a course could not remove social tension in society. On the eve of the First World War, the opposition and revolutionary movement began to grow again.

The Third Duma was elected according to the electoral law on June 3, 1907, the representatives of the ruling classes received the majority in it (representing 1% of the country's population, they had 67% of the seats). The Octobrists and nationalists had the primacy. The opposition included the Cadets, the Social Democrats and the "Trudoviks" - independent deputies who represented the interests mainly of the peasants. From the national outskirts, 26 deputies were elected, who created factions on a national basis and sharply opposed the chauvinistic course of the government of P. Stolypin.

The Prime Minister relied on the Octobrists and Russian nationalists, who formed the Party of Russian Nationalists, which supported the demands of the national bourgeoisie and formed a support for the chauvinist course of P. Stolypin. Russification of "foreigners" became his political credo. P. Stolypin tried to limit the powers of the Finnish Sejm, the autonomy of Poland, where he closed all schools with the Polish language of instruction. The Ukrainian national-cultural societies "Prosvita" were also closed, the use of the Ukrainian language was limited. Such a policy revolted the intelligentsia, its resistance to the ruling regime intensified, national consciousness grew, national organizations were created (the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine, the Musavat Party in Azerbaijan, etc.), which called not only for cultural and national autonomy within Russia, but and secession from the empire.

The revolutionary parties were weakened by arrests and their leaders were forced to emigrate. Abroad, they tried to rethink the lessons of the revolution and develop new tactics to fight the regime. The split started by the Third Congress deepened in the camp of the Social Democrats. The Mensheviks refused to actively fight the government through strikes and armed actions, offering to enter into an alliance with the bourgeoisie and help it fight for social reforms by legal means. Under their influence, the workers created legal organizations, primarily aimed at carrying out broad social reforms. This tactic was criticized by the Bolsheviks, who abandoned the alliance with the "reactive" bourgeoisie and staked on the dictatorship of the proletariat, developing a strategy for the future revolutionary struggle. The Bolsheviks paid special attention to acts of expropriation - bank robbery. And although the stolen funds allegedly went to support the party and prepare for the revolution, such activities turned them into criminals and repelled the intellectual elite from them.

However, the Bolsheviks were winning more and more favor from the lumpenized workers. The number of strikers dropped to 50,000 during Stolypin's rule. But there was growing dissatisfaction among the workers at the absence of any government attempts to resolve social issues. The law of 1906 on the 10-hour working day was hardly implemented, there was no social insurance for workers, and trade unions were under strict control of the government.

The government's blatant disregard for the legislature, chauvinistic policies, the absence of social legislation, and the conservatism of the government deprived the autocracy of support and isolated it from Russian society. The unpredictable emperor quickly lost interest in the reformer Stolypin. In September 1911, Stolypin was killed in Kyiv by a terrorist for the mysterious passivity of security agencies.

Since 1910, a new upsurge of the revolutionary movement began, caused by the execution of striking workers at the Lena gold mines (more than 200 people were beaten and 170 were wounded). In 1912, the number of strikers exceeded 200 thousand people, and in 1913 - 250 thousand people. The country was again on the verge of revolution. The government further aggravated the situation by proposing the dissolution of the Duma and the introduction of a state of emergency in the capital. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, there was a significant radicalization of political life, the influence of the Bolsheviks increased, they finally parted ways with the Mensheviks, formed their own Central Committee, numerous regional underground committees, carried out active propaganda work through the Pravda newspaper, the one-time circulation of which reached 40 thousand copies.

The intellectual environment of Russian society was in a state of "revaluation of values" - disappointment in the bourgeois ideology of individualism, in vigorous political activity, attempts to oppose socialism and Marxism, nationalism and mysticism. Religious philosophy won more and more supporters. Solovyov. The political apathy of the intelligentsia was embodied in the aesthetics of "pure art", which became the basis for the development of the Russian avant-garde in painting, literature, and theatrical art. The works of Russian artists of this period entered the golden treasury of world culture. Collections of articles "Milestones" (1909) and "intelligentsia" (1910), in which well-known philosophers, publicists, lawyers, public figures (N. Berdyaev, S. Bulgakov, S. Frank, By. Kistyakovsky, P. Milyukov). The main idea of ​​the collections was the problem of the responsibility of the intelligentsia for the current political situation. Spiritual instability reigned in society and signs of the approach of a great disaster were found.

Europe split into two opposing camps - the Entente and the Triple Alliance. Armed conflicts and local wars broke out almost every year. Chauvinistic sentiments intensified. The arms race has taken on an unheard-of scale. Russian attempts at the end of the 19th century. to convene an international conference on disarmament met with an unenthusiastic European countries, who regarded it as "an untimely action." The countries of Europe were preparing for war, militarizing, creating huge armies, re-equipping them with the latest weapons, and developing strategic plans for the war. Russia had the largest army in the world (900 thousand people) and the third largest fleet. This fueled the predatory ambitions of tsarism, which was supported by the national bourgeoisie.