The 19th Century Russian Economy

Eric Helmold

Overview

• Progression of Russian Economy 19th Century

• Influences on Crime and Punishment and Textual Appearances

Progression of Russian Economy 19th Century

Economy Early 1800s

• Largely agrarian based• Limited industry, comparatively “backwards”• Social-Economic Classes– Nobles (Landowners)– Free Peasants (Tenant Farmers)– Serfs (Farmers tied to land)

• Hundreds of serf uprisings

The Crimean War (1852-56)

• Russia fought against western Europe• Russian industry was insufficient– Shortage of weapons, munitions, and machinery– Poor railway network– Ill-equipped army

• Russia suffered terrible losses• Need for modernization clearly realized

1861-Freeing the Serfs

• Tsar Alexander II issues emancipation of serfs 1861– 44% of population, 22 million serfs– Owned by 100,000 landowners (pomeshchiki)– Paid owners bonds, serfs owed collective debt

• Motivation of modernization– Last European country with serfdom– Mobile industrial labor source– Easier conscription

Economic Analysis

• Serfs gained economic freedoms– Small pieces of land distributed– Many formed village communes– Peasants struggled to pay 50 year debt– Landowners’ Gov. bonds devalued

• Progress was not immediate– Most serfs not much better off– Emerging small, successful peasant class (Kulak)

1870s-Rise of Industry

• Large expansion of railroad network• Growth of urban centers and population– Moscow, Kiev, St. Petersburg, Baltic Coast

• Coal, steel, and petroleum production increase

• Mining and industrial development

1890s – Sergei Witte

• Finance/Transportation Minister of Russia– Encouraged foreign investment– Moved to gold standard (1897)– Heavy taxation of peasants– Trans-Siberian Railroad (1904)– Large deficit spending

• Greater growth in 1890s than in entire previous century

Trans-Siberian Railroad

• Moscow to Vladivostok (1904)• Connected east and west– Resource deposits in east– Factories and ports in west

• Costly to build but good investment

Statistical Figures

• 18501890 Population doubled• 18601890 Coal production up 1,200%• 1890 – 20,000 miles RR, 1.4 Million factory

workers• 18901900 Coal, Iron, Oil production tripled• 19001/2 of heavy industry foreign owned• 4th in world steel production, 2nd petroleum

Influences on Crime and Punishment and

Textual Appearances

Russian Urbanization-Setting

• Serfs moved to cities Industrial Proletariat• Rapid industrialization/urbanization– Poor grade housing, tenements, overcrowding– Unhygienic living conditions, pollution– Poor nutrition, crime, spread of disease

• Pg.5-6 “accustomed to shabbiness” / “drunken men” / “house […] more like a cupboard”

• Marfa’s Tuberculosis, people getting ill• Pg.120 “Soup and meat” / “spoonfuls of soup”

More Quotes

• “A disgusting place – filthy, stinking” Pg. 143 Raskolnikov

• “There have been many economic changes” Pg. 147 Zossimov

• “Love yourself above everyone else, for everything in the world relies on self-interest” “Economic truth adds” / “We have been hindered by idealism and sentimentalism” Pg. 145 Luzhin

Revolutionary Idealists

• Capitalism – Profits, free markets• Utilitarianism – Greatest good for majority• Socialism – Collective ownership of factories• Communism – Classless society of equality• Utopian Societies • Lebeziatnikov’s ideas Pg.351 “through

communes” / “normal condition of women” / “protest against the organization of society”

Development of Worker’s Parties

• Urban strikes and unionization• Russian Social Democratic Labor Party – 1898• United Socialist Revolutionary Party• Petrograd Soviet in 20th Century• Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks• Siberian labor sentences used criminals and

political dissidents• Raskolnikov sentenced to hard labor– Pg.507 “second-class convict Rodian”

Works Cited