The Industrialisation of Russia, 1700–1914

95 Pages·1972·8.35 MB·English

by  M. E. Falkus (auth.)

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B. W.E. Alford British Economic Perfonnance since 1945
B.W.E. Alford Depression and Recovery? British Economic Growth, 1918-1939
JL. Anderson Explaining Long-Tenn Economic Change
Michael Anderson Approaches to the History of the Western Family,1500-1914
R. D. Anderson Universities and Elites in Britain since 1800
Dudley Baines Emigration from Europe, 1815-1930
P J. Cain Economic Foundation of British Overseas Expansion,1815-1914
S.D. Chapman The Cotton Industry in the Industrial Revolution
Neil Charlesworth British Rule and the Indian Economy, 1800-1914
LA. Clarkson Proto-Industrialization: The First Phase of Industrialization?
D.C. Coleman Industry in Tudor and Stuart England
Michael Collins Banks and Industrial Finance in Britain, 1800-1939
PL. Cottrell British Overseas Investment in the Nineteenth Century
M A. Crowther Social Policy iR Britain, 1914-1939
Ian M. Drummond The Gold Standard and the International Monetary System, 1900-1939
Alan Dyer Decline and Growth in English Towns, 1400-1640
ME FalkusThe Industrialisation of Russia, 1700-1914
JR. Harris The British Iron Industry, 1700-1850
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OTHER TITLES ARE IN PREPARATION
The Industrialisation of Russia,
1700-1914
Prepared for
The Economic History Society by
M. E. FALKUS
Lecturer in Economic History
in the London School of Economics
and Political Science
M
MACMILLAN
© The Economic History Society 1972
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First published 1972 by
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ISBN 978-0-333-11649-4 ISBN 978-1-349-00988-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00988-6
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Reprinted 1984, 1986, 1987,1989, 1993
Contents
List of Tables 7
Editor's Preface 9
Bibliographical Note 10
1 Introduction 11
2 The Beginnings of Industrialisation 20
3 Economic Development after Peter the Great 26
4 Industrial Development, 1800-1861 31
5 Outline of Industrial Development, 1861-1913 44
6 The Emancipation of the Serfs and Economic
Development 47
7 Industrial Growth before the 1890s 51
8 The Boom of the 1890s 61
9 Stagnation and Boom, 1900-1913 75
Bibliography 85
Index 91
List qf Tables
1 Per capita national income of selected countries, 1913 12
2 Growth of population of the Russian Empire, 1722-
1913 17
3 Growth of pig-iron production in Russia, 1700-1800 27
4 Enterprises and labour force in selected industries,
1804-60 33
5 Machinery in Russia, 1831-60 34
6 Urban population, 50 provinces of European Russia,
1811-1913 34
7 Growth of certain towns, 1811-1914 35
8 Imports of cotton, 1812-60 38
9 Rate of industrial growth in Russia, 1885-1913 46
10 Average peasant holdings, 1860-90 49
11 Coal production, 1860-1913 51
12 Cotton consumption, 1865-1913 52
13 Pig-iron production, 1860-1913 52
14 Annual average railway construction, 1861-1913 55
15 Tariff levels, 1868 and 1891 58
16 Russian oil production, 1885-1913 60
17 Russian foreign trade, 1861-1913 63
18 Russian industry, 1887 and 1897 65
19 Growth of capital in Russian industrial joint-stock
companies, 1890-1915 72
20 Growth indices of selected industries, 1890-1900 and
1905-13 76
21 Concentration in Russian industry, 1901-14 83
Editor's Preface
SO long as the study of economic history was confined to only a
small group at a few universities, its literature was not prolific
and its few specialists had no great problem in keeping abreast
of the work of their colleagues. Even in the 1930s there were
only two journals devoted exclusively to this field. But the high
quality of the work of the economic historians during the inter
war period and the post-war growth in the study of the social
sciences sp~rked off an immense expansion in the study of eco
nomic history after the Second World War. There was a great
expansion of research and many new journals were launched,
some specialising in branches of the subject like transport,
business or agricultural history. Most significandy, economic
history began to be studied as an aspect of history in its own
right in schools. As a consequence, the examining boards began
to offer papers in economic history at all levels, while textbooks
specifically designed for the school market began to be published.
For those engaged in research and writing this period of rapid
expansion of economic history studies has been an exciting,
jf rather breathless one. For the. larger numbers, however,
labouring in the outfield of the schools and colleges of further
education, the excitement of the explosion of research has been
tempered by frustration caused by its vast quantity and, fre
quently, its controversial character. Nor, it must be admitted,
has the ability or willingness of the academic economic histori
ans to generalise and summarise marched in step with their
enthusiasm for research.
The greatest problems of interpretation and generalisation
have tended to gather round a handful of principal themes in
economic history. It is, indeed, a tribute to the sound sense of
economic historians that they have continued to dedicate their
energies, however inconclusively, to the solution of these key
problems. The results of this activity, however, much of it
stored away in a wide range of academic journals, have tended
9
to remain inaccessible to many of those currently interested in
the subject. Recognising the need for guidance through the
burgeoning and confusing literature that has grown around
these basic topics, the Economic History Society decided to
launch this series of small books. The books are intended to
serve as guides to current interpretations in important fields of
economic history in which important advances have recently
been made, or in which there has recently been some significant
debate. Each book aims to survey recent work, to indicate the
full scope of the particular problem as it has been opened up by
recent scholarship, and to dni.w such conclusions as seem
warranted, given the present state of knowledge and under
standing. The authors will often be at pains to point out where,
in their view, because of a lack of information or inadequate
research, they believe it is premature to attempt to draw firm
conclusions. While authors will not hesitate to review recent
and older work critically, the books are not intended to serve
as vehicles for their own specialist views: the aim is to provide
a balanced summary rather than an exposition of the author's
own viewpoint. Each book will include a descriptive biblio
graphy.
In this way the series aims to give all those interested in
economic history at a serious level access to recent scholarship
in some major fields. Above all, the aim is to help the reader to
draw his own conclusions, and to guide him in the selection of
further reading as a means to this end, rather than to present
him with a set of pre-packaged conclusions.
M. W. FLINN
Editor
Bibliographical Note
REFERENCES in the text, footnotes and table sources
within square brackets refer to the numbered items in the
Bibliography, followed, where necessary, by the page number,
e.g. ([49] 168).
10
Introduction
I
RUSSIA on the eve of the First World War could scarcely be
regarded as an industrial country. Fanning was still the occupa
tion of the overwhelming majority of the population. Possibly
two-thirds of those in employment were to be found in agri
culture, and agriculture contributed almost one-half of the
national income. Large towns existed, but they were few in
number. In 1914 the .urban population was only some 18 per
cent of the total. Foreign trade, too, reflected the agrarian
based nature of the Russian economy. Finished manufactured
products fonned only some 5'6 per cent of total exports in 1913,
while foodstuffs and agricultural semi-manufactured goods were
in excess of 70 per cent. Imports of manufactures, by contrast,
amounted to 22 per cent of the total. Agricultural productivity
in this agricultural society was extremely low, and, in con
sequence, per capita incomes were small. Indeed, Russian
national income per head was one of the lowest in Europe. The
estimates in Table 1 (which are no more than rough guides)
clearly demonstrate Russia's relative backwardness. In per capita
terms, the United States was more than six times as wealthy as
Russia in 1913, England about four and a half times, France
three and a half, and Germany three times. Italy had a per
capita income probably double that of Russia, while that of
Austria-Hungary was also substantially higher. For figures com
parable with Russia it is to nations like Romania and Bulgaria
that we must turn.
Backwardness was reflected too in the low levels of education
among the population. This factor, like so many other elements
of backwardness, was both cause and effect of poor economic
performance. In 1883 some four-fifths of the army recruits from
certain southern districts could neither read nor write, while the
average level of illiteracy in 1913 may still have been as high as
60 or 65 per cent of the total population.
There was much in the manufacturing sector of 1913, too,
11