imperialiststage of development of capitalism and its main features
At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. economic development largest states of the world was characterized by a number of significant changes. The system of these shifts in the socio-economic development of countries is called by domestic historical science the system of imperialism. The imperialist stage of the economic development of the capitalist countries had five characteristic features:
In the economy, monopolistic unions (cartels, syndicates, and later trusts) began to play a decisive role, such as in Russia, for example, the syndicates Produgol, Prodvagon, and others;
Industrial capital is fused with banking capital, which is usually called financial capital;
In contrast to the export of goods, the export of capital begins to play a decisive role in export either through the participation of monopolies in the development of production abroad, or through the provision of loans, credits or loans under high interest governments of other countries;
The largest monopolies agree among themselves on the division of markets or spheres of investment of exported capital on an international scale;
The governments of the largest states, forced to reckon with the economic potential of monopolies, use political, including forceful, methods of distributing territories, which by the end of the 19th century. already had their owners (55% of the land - colonies, 70% of the population of the colonies in the possessions of Britain, only 2% - in German). This meant that the redistribution of territories, or, as they say, the redivision of the world, was becoming a global foreign policy issue.
In the XIX-XX centuries. in the world there were not only developed in economic terms states and countries that have become the object of the division, but also countries that have recently entered the world stage and found themselves in the role of catching up. The socio-economic development of these countries was characterized by the following features:
Lagging behind developed countries in terms of volume and structure of production;
Uneven, spasmodic, catching up nature of economic development;
In the regulation of the economy, the state apparatus plays an important role, and this apparatus, not itself being bourgeois in nature, carries out bourgeois, capitalist transformations, which is often perceived as the imposition of new orders from above;
A whole set of features in the social sphere is preserved: a complex, motley social structure of society with a predominance of the peasantry; lagging behind in the sphere of material and cultural level; high degree social tension, when the so-called outcasts leave a noticeable imprint on public consciousness, i.e. people cut off by a wave of an economic leap from their former life, but who have not found their place in the new conditions, who have not been able to adapt to them. These features were largely inherent in the socio-economic development of Russia in the late XIX - early XX centuries.
Features of the socio-economic development of Russia at the turn of XIX-XX centuries
Volume and structure of production in the country were characterized by its lagging behind the largest states. Occupying the 5th place in terms of gross industrial production in the world, the Russian Empire still did not have many industrial productions, especially in the production of means of production. Thus, more than 50% of industrial production is the food and textile industries, and the lack of machines manifested itself in the continued existence of manufactories, that is, enterprises based on manual production. Thus, the industrialization of the country was not completed.
About unevenness and spasmodicity development Russian economy say such facts as the predominance of the agricultural sector; multi-layered economy, in which the patriarchal, i.e., semi-subsistence economy, was intertwined; small-scale, including handicraft production; private capitalist and then monopoly production. The multistructural structure testified that market relations did not cover the entire Russian economy. The level of development of individual regions (Central Asia, for example) lagged sharply behind the level of development Central regions, the Baltic States, etc. The predominance of trade profit over the profit received from the development of the production sector also speaks of the uneven development of the economy.
A government in which, despite the dominance of the feudal nobility in it, clinging to obsolete orders, a great reformer, the Minister of Finance, played a large role S.Yu. Witte tried rapidly develop the industry and, first of all, railway construction, as well as related industries. In the 30 years that have passed since the reform of 1861, the length railways increased 30 times. Funds for accelerated industrialization were pumped out of the people, and the emphasis was on increasing not direct, but indirect taxes, which in the 90s. 19th century increased by 42.7%. The growth of indirect taxes, i.e., the rise in prices for goods whose production was monopolized by the state, was especially pronounced in the income from the sale of alcohol. The wine monopoly provided the main budget revenues.
Along with the wine monopoly, industrialization was facilitated by protectionist tariffs on imported goods (33%) and a reduction in export duties, as well as the introduction of a free exchange of the ruble for gold. ("gold standard" 1897).
The vigorous activity of the Minister of Finance caused dissatisfaction among the courtiers. “How much evil,” they wrote to the king, “can a person who has contributed to state activity techniques of a stock exchange dealer and a joint-stock boss.
social structureRussian society was of exceptional brilliance. Very indicative specific gravity agrarian population: 77% of Russians are peasants. About 20% were workers, among whom there were quite a few outcasts; only 1% of the population was intelligentsia, which is very significant for assessing the cultural level of society. The complexity of the social structure was aggravated by the ethnic composition of society: more than 100 peoples of different faiths and different levels of civilization lived (Chukchi, Russians, Jews, etc.). An indicator of Russia's lagging behind was the production of goods per capita, which was several times inferior to the same indicator in other countries. The export of grain from Russia did not at all speak of the well-fed life of the peasantry. It is known that the sale of Russian wheat abroad took place under the slogan "We will not finish it, but we will take it out."
Thus, the modernization of the Russian economy was an urgent problem, without the solution of which there could be no question of catching up with those who had gone ahead. the developed countries. But it was not possible to solve it without political modernization. The economic backwardness of Russia and the growth of social tension under the conditions of an anti-democratic regime and widespread violations of human rights created the illusion that all the prerequisites for a radical social upheaval were ripe. And this increased the authority of the revolutionary and radical parties, groups, leaders.
Concepts:
- Banks- institutions serving money turnover and credit relations, emission (issue, printing) of money, control over the financial and economic activities of enterprises.
- Wine monopoly- the exclusive right of the state (or other organization) to issue, sell and set prices for wine and vodka products.
- Cartel - a monopoly association, whose members agree on the volume of production, the conditions for the sale of products and the employment of labor, while maintaining industrial and commercial independence.
- Confession- adherence to a particular religion.
- Concern - a form of association of enterprises that formally retain independence, but are actually subordinate to a centralized financial control and leadership.
- Outcasts - people who broke all ties with the countryside, but did not find a place for themselves in the city. The most disenfranchised, aggressive, subject to a destructive idea, the mass of the population, on which the leaders of the radical parties of the socialist persuasion relied.
- Monopolies (monopolistic associations) - large economic associations, concentrating in their hands a large part of the production and marketing of any product.
- Syndicate- the simplest form of a monopolistic association, an alliance of capitalists for the sale of goods.
- Trust- one of the highest forms of monopoly, in which the enterprises included in it completely lose their production and financial independence and are subject to a single management.
- Financial Capital - capital formed as a result of the merging of banks with enterprises.
- Financial oligarchy- the financial power of the few, the richest people.
The entry of the Russian economy into the 20th century was marked by the beginning of a serious crisis in 1900-1903. Economic stagnation continued until 1909, when it gave way to a new upsurge. It is wrong to consider the crisis of the beginning of the century as proof of Russia's economic backwardness or the insolvability of the problems it faced. Achievements and successes in the economy were, and considerable. However, there were also acute problems and difficulties.
First, about success. Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was a country with an average level of development of capitalism. The abolition of serfdom in 1861, the reforms of the 60-70s. did not pass without a trace: the capitalist industry grew at a high rate (first place in the world), new industries arose (oil, chemical, mechanical engineering) and new industrial regions (primarily Donbass-Krivoy Rog). Important changes took place in transport: railways connected the Center with the outskirts and stimulated the economic development of the country (at the end of the 19th century, the first stage of the Trans-Siberian Railway was put into operation). During the years of crisis (1900-1903), the process of creating large industrial monopolies - cartels and syndicates accelerated: Prodamet (1902), Prodvagon (1902), Produgol (1904), etc. Production, especially in heavy industry, was concentrated in large and large enterprises. In terms of concentration, the Russian economy was ahead of the economies of other countries. Significant developments have also taken place in banking and finance. Large banks closely associated with industry have emerged - St. Petersburg International commercial Bank(1896), Azov-Don Bank (1871), Russian-Asian Bank (1910). Financial system after the reform carried out in 1897 by the Minister of Finance S. Yu. Witte (the introduction of gold backing of the ruble and free exchange paper money for gold) was one of the most stable in the world.
Russia is among the five most developed industrial countries. It embarked on the path of economic modernization, i.e., getting rid of the remnants of serfdom, developing industry, creating the foundations of an industrial society in which industry prevails over agriculture, and urban population- over rural. Modernization in Russia had its own characteristics:
it was necessary to catch up with the industrial powers that had pulled ahead;
huge impact on the economic growth provided by the state. Government subsidies, orders, high customs duties, maintenance at the expense of the treasury of factories, factories, railways were called upon to support and accelerate the development of modern industry at that time;
in financing industrial growth, a noticeable - but not decisive - role was played by foreign capital: German, French, etc.
The task of modernization was the challenge that time itself threw to Russia. Its solution was fraught with difficult, even serious problems. Let's name some of them.
The Russian economy was multi-layered. Along with the dynamically developing private capitalist, monopolistic and state-monopoly structures, there were structures that were not covered by modernization - patriarchal, semi-serfdom, small-scale commodity.
High quantitative indicators (growth rates, concentration level, production volumes) were combined with rather low qualitative ones. Labor productivity was low. In terms of the level of industrial production per capita and the technical equipment of enterprises, Russia lagged far behind the leading industrial countries.
The development of the economy was extremely uneven across sectors and regions of the country.
Acquired extreme sharpness at the beginning of the 20th century. agricultural issue. Historians call agriculture the Achilles' heel of Russia at that time. Large landed estates were combined with peasant land shortages. The community, preserved by the reform of 1861, encouraged leveling sentiments, which were very strong among the peasantry, and condemned the successes of the "strong masters". Most of the landowners' households lived in the old fashioned way: they leased the land to the peasants on a semi-enslaved lease, and they worked it with their own primitive implements. The use of hired labor, advanced agricultural technology, agricultural machinery at the beginning of the 20th century. was an almost exceptional occurrence.
Economic modernization began to have some impact on the social structure of the country. The discrepancy between the traditional division of the population (126 million people) by estates (hereditary and personal nobility, honorary citizens, merchants of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd guilds, petty bourgeois, peasants, Cossacks, etc.) and the division into classes (bourgeoisie, proletariat, etc.) became more noticeable. .).
The nobility (1% of the population) remained a privileged, politically dominant class, but its economic situation gradually worsened. The impoverishment of noble estates, described with sympathy by I. A. Bunin and A. P. Chekhov, was a remarkable phenomenon of the era. The nobility was slowly but steadily eroded, its representatives could be found among entrepreneurs, employees, and the intelligentsia.
The bourgeoisie, which was acquiring a serious economic importance, was not united: next to the old Moscow and provincial bourgeoisie (mainly formed from merchant families, which in turn ascended to the pre-reform serf peasantry), a new St. Petersburg bourgeoisie grew up, closely connected with the state, banks and advanced industries.
The peasantry (more than 80% of the population) suffered from land shortages, remnants of serfdom, and remained committed to the communal values of collectivism and equality. The peasants dreamed of a "black redistribution", the division of the landlords' land among the community members. At the same time, there was no equality among the peasantry; the stratification of the countryside into the poor, the middle peasants and the kulaks had gone quite far.
The position of the working class (less than 10% of the population) at the beginning of the 20th century. was heavy. Long working hours, poor living conditions, low wages, combined with a sophisticated system of fines, lack of rights - these are the reasons that caused discontent among the workers.
Officials, the clergy and the intelligentsia were special social groups.
Social relations were highly conflict-prone: all major social groups had grounds for discontent. Let's add here the problems associated with the multinationality and multi-confessionalism of Russia. Our country was not a “prison of peoples”, but the relations between the peoples who inhabited it, who spoke different languages, professed different faiths (Orthodoxy as the state religion, many followers had Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, etc.), required a thoughtful and balanced national policy.
despite significant shifts in all spheres of Russian society at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, Russia lagged far behind the developed powers. The discrepancies between objective needs and the existing level of economic, political and cultural development of the country urgently demanded from the power of radical radiation,
By the beginning of the century, modernization had practically not affected the political sphere. There were no changes in the system of central authorities ( State Council, Senate, Synod, Committee of Ministers and Council of Ministers, ministries, local governors). Russia remained an autocratic (absolute) monarchy. Nicholas II, who ascended the throne in 1894, was convinced that limiting the rights of the autocrat and introducing representative institutions and a constitution would lead Russia to collapse. “I will guard the beginnings of autocracy,” he promised at the beginning of his reign.
It testified to the further crisis of the feudal-serf system. The manifestation of this crisis was:
The inefficiency of the feudal-serf economy: the decline of many landowners' farms, the intensification of the exploitation of serfs, the ruin of serf manufactories;
Significant and fast development new, capitalistic traits in the economy and the life of society: an increase in the number of capitalist manufactories, the emergence of factories, the beginning of an industrial revolution, the intensification of the stratification of the peasantry, the growth of internal trade;
The inhibitory effect of the existing economic and political system on the development of the country's economy as a whole: curbing the growth in the number of hired workers, difficulties in developing the market for goods, harmful state intervention in the economy.
These phenomena did not mean the economic decline or collapse of the country's economy. On the contrary, the 1930s and 1950s were a time of constant progressive development of both industry and agriculture. However, economic successes were achieved through the development of only the capitalist structure of the multi-structured Russian economy, while other structures declined.
The beginning of the industrial revolution.
The industrial revolution is understood as the historical period of the transition from manufactory - an enterprise based on manual labor - to machine production. This revolution is characterized not only by changes in technique, but also changes in the internal structure of society, which lead to the formation of new classes - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (wage workers). The completion of the industrial revolution is associated with the transition from an agrarian society to an industrial one.
In Russia, the industrial revolution began in the 1930s and 1940s. 19th century and had a number of features:
Unlike England and France, it began in the conditions of maintaining the dominance of the feudal-serf system;
- it began and ended much later than in a number of Western European countries;
- before the abolition of serfdom, it manifested itself mainly only in the technical side - the transition to machine production, and the emergence and growth of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat occurred mainly after the abolition.
By the end of the reign of Nicholas I in Russia there were more than 14,000 industrial enterprises, which employed more than 800 thousand workers.
The industrial revolution began primarily in the cotton industry, where by the end of the 50s. more than 1.6 million spindles were powered by steam engines. Rolling mills began to appear in metallurgy. The first experiments were carried out on the use of new methods for producing metal. Mechanical engineering developed. At industrial exhibitions in St. Petersburg and Moscow in the late 20's - early 30's. samples of products of Russian mechanical engineering were presented: steam engines, lathes, seeders.
Since the mid 30s. railway construction began. Following the first railway from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo, built in 1837, the Warsaw-Vienna (1848) and Nikolaevskaya railways were launched, connecting St. Petersburg with Moscow (1851).
Shipping developed on the Volga, Kama, Dnieper, Baltic, Black and Azov seas.
However, the beginning of the industrial coup could not yet lead to overcoming the technical and economic backwardness of Russia from a number of Western European countries, which arose in the late 18th - early 19th centuries.
Landlord and peasant economy.
Neither the landlords nor the peasants could no longer do without manufactured goods. In order to buy something they needed, they were forced to sell their products on the market.
Meanwhile, the profitability of most landlord estates, under the dominance of serf labor and backward technology, remained low. Some landlords tried to run their households in a new way: they ordered foreign cars, introduced advanced methods of cultivating the land, and bred thoroughbred cattle. In some provinces, they began to resort to free hired labor, which gave a great return. But these undertakings did not have widespread development: there were not enough free hands.
Most of the landlords ran the household in the old fashioned way. They considered the increase in quitrent and corvée to be the only way to increase income.
And this led to the ruin of more and more peasant farms, which ultimately undermined economic fundamentals serf economy.
Nevertheless, the penetration of commodity-money relations into agriculture steadily led to an increase in incentives for the development of peasant production. The stratification of the peasantry took place at a rapid pace. Next to the mass of the poor grew a layer of "capitalist" peasants. They were engaged in trade, usury, invested their money in industrial production. From the rich peasants came out large entrepreneurs who started their own factories. The entrepreneurial dynasties of the Morozovs, Garelins and others can serve as striking examples.
Financial policy of E.F. Kankrina.
A number of government actions contributed to the development of the economy. Minister of Finance E.F. Kankrin pursued a policy of patronage for the development of domestic industry and trade, although he opposed “unjustified” expenses, for example, against the construction of railways, which, in his opinion, was economically unprofitable for Russia.
In 1839-1843. he carried out a monetary reform. The main means of payment was the silver ruble, for which paper banknotes could be exchanged.
For the first time in many years, the state budget became deficit-free (its revenues exceeded expenditures). The Kankrin reform strengthened monetary system Russia, contributed to the growth of the economy. But she could not completely overcome the financial crisis either. Later, the printing of paper money, not backed by precious metals, began again.
Egor Frantsevich Kankrin (1774-1845) made a major contribution to the development of the Russian economy. In 1812, he was the quartermaster general of the 1st Western Army, and from 1813 he headed the quartermaster service of the entire active army. In 1818, on behalf of Alexander I, Kankrin presented a project for the gradual abolition of serfdom, designed for 30 years. Kankrin participated in the development of the customs charter of 1822, and in 1823 he was appointed Minister of Finance and remained in this post almost until his death. He was distinguished by decisiveness in matters of saving state funds, was known as an honest and incorruptible person, and was not afraid to argue with the tsar himself.
Trade.
In addition to the fair trade inherent in an agrarian society, in Russia in the second quarter of the 19th century. began to develop a permanent (in stores, markets) trade, which is a clear indicator of an industrial society. In 1852, the volume of trade at the largest Nizhny Novgorod fair in the country amounted to 57 million rubles, and in Moscow, where there were no fairs, the volume of trade at that time exceeded 60 million rubles.
The money supply that the population could use for purchases also grew. If at the beginning of the XIX century. each resident of Russia had an average of 17 kopecks for the purchase of various goods, then after 50 years this amount increased to 20 rubles.
Nevertheless, the demand for industrial products in the conditions of serfdom and the weakness of the overwhelming number of peasant farms increased slowly. This hindered the industrial development of the country. Difficulties with the sale of goods in the center of Russia led to the fact that Russian industrialists sought to expand it on the outskirts of the country, drawing them into the all-Russian trade turnover.
Foreign trade also continued to grow. During the reign of Nicholas I, its annual turnover increased from 67 million silver rubles to 94 million rubles. Gradually, the names of imported goods changed: more machinery and industrial equipment, raw materials began to be supplied, less - finished products. The export of metal and linen products from Russia was reduced, but the volume of export of bread was steadily increasing. While quickly satiated with its own goods Western Europe less and less in need of Russian products, their export to Asia expanded from year to year.
Cities.
In the first half of the XIX century. the number of cities in Russia increased from 630 to 1032, and their population increased from 2.8 to 5.7 million people. The largest cities of the empire were St. Petersburg (the number of inhabitants increased during this time from 336 thousand to 540 thousand people) and Moscow (from 275 thousand to 462 thousand).
New cities were mainly created along the perimeter of the country and in the newly annexed territories. These were settlements main task which was the settlement and development of the vast outskirts of the empire. This is how Novocherkassk (1805), Nalchik (1817), Kislovodsk (1830), Pyatigorsk (1830), Novorossiysk (1838), Anapa (1846), Petrovsk-Port (Makhachkala, 1857), Nikolaevsk-on-Amur (1850) ). Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (1822), Kyakhta (Troitsko-Savsk, 1851), Chita (1851) and others became cities. In Siberia, there was a transition of the population from the northern cities to the newly emerged southern ones, which were located in more favorable places for people to live.
The beginning of the industrial revolution led to the emergence of factory centers in Russia. Many of them did not have the rights of cities, but in fact they were them. Contemporaries called them "true cities". Some factory centers eventually received the rights of cities. For example, in 1844 the factory village of Pavlovo in the Moscow province became the city of Pavlovsky Posad. Cities were also formed on the basis of fortresses built in the new territories of the empire.
Results of socio-economic development.
By the mid 50s. Russia's industry developed at a fairly rapid pace, technical innovations were increasingly being introduced. Agriculture noticeably lagged behind industry in the application of new forms and methods of management due to the dominance of serfdom. The mass transfer of serfs to rent led to a significant outflow rural population into cities and the desolation of vast expanses of the earth. In turn, this contributed to the growth of landowners' debts (in 1844, the nobles mortgaged 54% of their farms).
The crisis of the obsolete system was reflected in the outburst of spontaneous protest of the peasants. All the successes and positive indicators in the country's economy did not reflect the stability of the existing system, but, on the contrary, its decline. Life urgently demanded the speedy abolition of serfdom, which lay like a heavy stone on the Russian economy.
? Questions and tasks
1. What do you understand by the crisis of the feudal-serf system?
2. Using examples, show the inefficiency of the feudal-serf economy in the 20-50s. 19th century
3. What are the features of the industrial revolution in Russia. Why did the industrial revolution start in the cotton industry?
4. What new features have appeared in the management of landlord and peasant farms?
5. What was the main idea of the financial reform of E. F. Kankrin?
6. What fundamentally new features appear in domestic trade in the second quarter of the 19th century?
The documents
1) The duties of the peasants in favor of the landowners may be determined in contracts by cash quitrent, cultivation of the landowner's land, or other work.
2) In the event that the peasants fail to fulfill their obligations under the contract, they are forced to do so by the zemstvo police, under the leadership of the county marshals of the nobility and under the highest supervision of the provincial government.
From the work of U. Karpovich, a hired manager of landowner estates, about peasant work on a landowner's estate. 1837
In summer, after half a day, two hours are allowed for rest, and in winter - one and a half hours.
In all kinds of work, and even more so in the field, assign moderate lessons, from which the serviceable will sooner get rid of, and the lazy in their days will have to work in the master's fields.
For the successful progress of work, the manager of the estate needs to look at the workers more often, sometimes from the forest, from under the mountain, generally from a distance, and try to take them by surprise...
From an article by the landowner A. I. Koshelev on the benefits of civilian labor. 1847
Let's take a look at barshchina work. The peasant will come as late as possible, look around and look around as often and as long as possible, and work as little as possible - it is not his business to do, but to kill the day. He works for the master for three days and for himself also for three days. In his day, he cultivates the land more, does all his household chores and still has a lot of free time. Master's work, especially those that cannot be assigned, lead the zealous overseer either to despair or to rage...
What difference does it make to enter a manufactory, truly organized on a commercial footing! Just as one is afraid to overwork one another in front of the other, so here they inspire and incite each other. The deduction compels everyone, stricter than any overseer, to observe the cleanliness of the work. Own benefit wakes him up to the light and illuminates him in the evening - hunting is worse than bondage.
Description by contemporaries of the Tsarskoye Selo railway
Here comes a steam locomotive with a chimney from which smoke pours; strength is equal to the strength of 40 horses; in one hour it covers a space of 30 versts. From Tsarskoye to Pavlovsk, 5 versts run exactly in 71/2 minutes. A pipe of a different kind is attached to the car, into which, in the course of the journey, the conductor blows, warning the spectators. A long line of carriages is attached to the locomotive: here is a huge stagecoach, here are Berlins [a type of an old carriage for long-distance journeys], chariots, wide covered carts with 6 rows of benches, for 5 people each; wagons, wagons open to accommodate the same number of passengers; here are huge trucks and carts for various luggage; here are a number of dissolutions for the transport of animals, such as: horses, cows, sheep, calves and poultry; here are vats for various liquids, sideboards for provisions. Let's sit in one of the carriages. Sign given. Smoke billowed from the cast-iron chimney of the locomotive; wooden houses, the river flashed by and ran back ... The hour hand barely had time to pass 71/2 minutes, and we were in Pavlovsk. Look at the wheels of our carriages: the middle part or the inside is made of cast iron, and the outside is forged from iron, so that they do not burst when driving fast.
Document questions:
1. What was the position of the "obliged" peasants?
3. What do you see as the fundamental distinguishing features of serf and wage labor based on the examples given in the article by A. I. Koshelev?
4. Which of the descriptions of the railway could cause horror and fear among the population? Why?
? Expanding vocabulary:
Banknotes- paper money.
Spindle- a rod for winding thread during spinning.
Quartermaster- a military man engaged in the supply of troops.
"capitalist" peasants- peasants who had capital (money invested in production) and engaged in entrepreneurship.
classes- large groups of people, differing in their place in the production and distribution of its results.
Usury- the provision of money in debt with the collection of interest from the debtor on the amount provided.
Commodity-money relations- relations between people during the production and exchange of goods (products produced for sale).
Economic way- special type economy, which is based on a certain form of ownership of the means of production and the corresponding relations in the course of this production. In the first half of the XIX century. The main economic structures in Russia were: feudal-serf (dominant), small-scale (handicraft) and capitalist (actively developing).
Danilov A. A. History of Russia, XIX century. Grade 8: textbook. for general education institutions / A. A. Danilov, L. G. Kosulina. - 10th ed. - M.: Enlightenment, 2009. - 287 p., L. ill., maps.
By the end of the 19th century. leading world powers entered into imperialist stage of its development. The main features of imperialism: the replacement of free competition in the economy by the domination of monopolies, the formation of finance capital and financial oligarchy, the export of capital abroad, the formation of a world capitalist economic system, and the intensification of the struggle for markets.
Russia, which embarked on the path of capitalist transformations with a great delay, quickly eliminated the backlog (, accelerating the growth of the economy and industry).
Public policy funding large enterprises, intensive construction of railways, increased demand for metal, coal, wood testify to the economic recovery that began in 1893. Production in the country has grown by one and a half times, and the production of means of production has tripled.
The main feature of large Russian industry is the high concentration of production. The corporatization of enterprises was actively going on, business and trade unions and associations were created, which at the beginning of the century grew into powerful monopolies - cartels and syndicates.
There was a concentration of banking capital. Only five Russian banks controlled almost all financial flows in the country. Bankers invested in the development of industry, which led to the merging of financial and industrial capital; a financial oligarchy was born.
At the end of 1899, Russia began economic crisis affecting mainly heavy industry. The aggravation of competition caused the ruin of more than 3 thousand small enterprises and led to the strengthening of monopolies. Huge cartels and syndicates such as Produgol, Prodvagon, etc. dominated the market. Leaders have significantly strengthened their positions Russian banks: St. Petersburg international, Azov-Don, Russian-Asian.
A feature of the imperialist stage of development of the state was the absence of facts of the export of capital abroad. Representatives of the Russian big bourgeoisie overwhelmingly preferred to invest in domestic industry and the development of vast provinces and suburbs. Russian Empire. This is explained by the presence of the military-feudal aspirations of tsarism, aimed at strengthening the central government.
Despite the high rates of economic development, Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. In comparison with the leading European powers, it was an agrarian-industrial country with a pronounced multistructural economy.
Along with the highest forms of capitalist industry, there were early capitalist and semi-feudal forms of management - manufacturing and small-scale commodity.
In the countryside, all the remnants of feudal relations, patriarchy, the community and the exploitation of peasant labor have been preserved. The low productivity of peasant labor in the agrarian sector was the result of allotment peasant farming, land shortages and striped crops.
There is no denying some progress in the Russian agriculture: sown areas have increased, productivity and technical equipment of agricultural enterprises have increased.
However, on the whole, the lagging of the agricultural sector behind the pace of industrial development took the form of an acute contradiction, which indicated the need to completely overcome feudal remnants in the Russian countryside.
These contradictions were traced in the social class structure of Russian society. On the one hand, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat were formed, on the other hand, the class division characteristic of the era of feudalism continued to exist - the nobility, the bourgeoisie, the merchant class and the peasantry.
The main social pillar of tsarism was preserved - the nobility, which played the role of the ruling class, having significant economic and political power.
Late 19th century was marked by the entry of most of the developed world powers into the imperialist stage of development. Its main features are: the formation of financial capital and dominance in economic sphere oligarchies and monopolies that replaced free competition. It was during this period that the world capitalist economic system was formed. The competition for markets has intensified.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia noticeably lagged behind the leading powers in its development. But, despite the fact that the transformations in the country began with a noticeable delay, the Russian economy in the early 20th century, thanks to the reforms of the 60s, showed a significant acceleration in growth rates. The increase in the demand for metal, coal, wood, and the construction of railways clearly testify to the economic recovery in the country that began in 1893. The state policy of that time provided for the financing of the largest enterprises.
A distinctive feature of Russian industry has become a high concentration of production. Trade and business alliances have evolved into the most powerful syndicates and cartels. The socio-economic development of Russia in the early 20th century was also characterized by the concentration of banking capital. Financial flows only 5 were controlled in the country largest banks. The financial and industrial sectors merged as bankers invested heavily in the development of a variety of enterprises. Thus, a financial oligarchy was born.
The crisis of 1988 led to the strengthening of the positions of the largest banks in Russia: Russian-Asian, St. Petersburg International, Azov-Don. About 3,000 small and medium-sized enterprises also disappeared, which led to the monopolization of production. It should be noted that the development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was distinguished by the almost complete absence of facts of the export of capital abroad. Money was invested in the development of Russian provinces and outlying lands, in industry. But, despite the highest rates of development in comparison with the leading states of Europe, Russia was noticeably losing, possessing a multistructural structure in the economic sphere and, still, remaining an agrarian-industrial country.
Semi-feudal and early capitalist forms of economy continued to exist in the country - small-scale and manufacturing. All remnants of serf relations in the countryside were preserved (community, patriarchy, exploitation of peasant labor). Peasant labor was distinguished by extremely low productivity due to the lack of land, striped land, and allotment peasant land ownership. Some progress was achieved only by increasing the cultivated area and improving the technical equipment of large agricultural enterprises. The strong backwardness in the agrarian sphere required the final overcoming of the remnants of feudalism.
Obvious contradictions can be noted in the social class structure of society. Class division was characteristic of the feudal era: there were peasantry, philistinism, merchants and nobility. But, on the other hand, the formation of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie has already begun. The nobility still played the role of the dominant and most privileged class in the country. It was a serious economic and political force, it was the main social pillar of tsarist power.
