How Successful Were the Russian Governments in Promoting Economic Change and Modernisation Between 1881-1904?

Russia was very agriculturally based and did not have the sufficient technology to industrialize. States could industrialize when an efficient agricultural system was implemented to provide sufficient food for the factory workers that did not have land to farm. It is the trend seen from the beginning of civilization. Trade specialization can only occur with a surplus of food. Therefore, the first step for Russia, on its way to industrialization, was to become more efficient at farming.

This demonstrates that since the stress of waging war was tremendous, it should be no surprise that the first war could be a primary cause of the Russian Revolution. Moreover, the major powers of Europe hurt Russia in World War I; yet, by 1917, all the combatants horrifically suffered from the strains of war economically, proving this to be a long-term cause. This was, to a great extent, considerable because the military defeats and social strains of World War I had created a crisis in Imperial Russia. Before, Russia had some military accomplishments and they were on their way to being successful. Nevertheless, their triumphs were not long-standing; hence, Russia was not able to be victorious due to the fact that Russia decreased in economy because of the limitations in Russia. Similarly, restraints included the shortage of food and the huge problems with getting the obligatory materials for the army during World War I, which shows that this was momentous. Along with Russia being defeated and having a scarcity of supplies, Russia also showed economic oppression due to the pressure in jobs workers faced.

Stolypin was the Minister of Finance from 1906 to 1911 under the reign of Nicholas II. He was in charge of the agricultural reforms and his goal was to create a peasants’ middle class to create enterprise and lead to improve agricultural yields. He believed that if the peasants could become property owners, the government would gain their support and make

Economically, Russia was in a lot of danger. Thus they took out a loan from France. In one respect in indicated instability in that they now relied on another country which was risky. However simultaneously it depicted how Russia was trying to overcome the backwardness. Nevertheless; linking back to Stolypins social reforms, it as well had knock on affects on agricultural affairs. As now, they were becoming more reliant and independent in their farming. As well it encouraged them to get jobs; in turn improving Russia’s industry. By 1914 only 17.8% of factories had less than 100 workers and 41.4% had more than a 1000 workers. In this respect indicating stability with Russia or at least Russia was stabilising.

Money was required for Russia to build their own industrial base to support themselves. To build this infrastructure they had to borrow money from other countries. In exchange Russia would give them grains. Hence, Russia’s economy depended on the peasant who had to feed themselves & the bourgeoisie.The peasants weren’t productive enough. As a result, Stalin started to collect agriculture to finance industrialization (New World Encyclopedia contributors, 2014). Economics historians believe it to be the fastest economic growth rate ever achieved. In 1932-1933 the 4th greatest famine occured in the USSR due to collectivication (Fitzgerald, 2013). The workers building and working in these industries were unpaid laborers and prisoners (New World Encyclopedia contributors, 2014). Because there was about ~7 million - 15 million prisoners in labor camps and they were working in industries, those camps were now necessary for the prosperity of Russia’s economy (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.). With all those measures in place the productions of coal, pig iron & steel increased (New World Encyclopedia contributors,

The building of the First Transcontinental Railroad was a key symbol of the Industrial Revolution beginning in the United States. The railroad crossed the middle of the country and connected the eastern portion to the west. The building began in Sacramento, California and continued all the way to Council Bluffs, Iowa, resulting in 1,776 miles of new rails that were a staple for both the transportation of people and goods. Less lives were lost on the hazardous trails through the Rocky Mountains and thus the West Coast experienced an increase in population. The railroad greatly impacted the nation, as it united the people and also allowed for the improvement of the speed of shipment and price of goods throughout the nation. With the constant

Almost 200,000 miles of railroad connected cities in the Northeast by 1900. The increase of railroads helped create a vast number of supporting industries.

As the second industrial revolution went on, steel, railroads, and electricity allowed for the economic growth of the

Over the period from 1855 to 1964, Russia saw various reforms and policies under the Tsars and the Communist leaders that had great impacts on its economy and society both positive and negative. Lenin definitely implanted polices that changed society and the economy for example with war communism. However whether his policies had the greatest impact is debatable and in this essay I will be assessing the view whether Lenin had the greatest impact on Russia’s economy and society than any other ruler between the period from 1855-1964.

New advancements made an influential impact on the U.S. economy and led to its initial success. The rail business expanded greatly after the Civil War. Transcontinental lines linked the East and West and by 1870, railroads could carry goods and passengers from coast to coast. Railroads served as a cheaper way to transport goods and

During Alexander II reign he concentrated on exposing Russia to the outside world therefore he built a railway line. During this period too there was some though very little reform in the government’s taxation policies which still was a heavy burden for the peasants because they still had to pay poll tax which was increased by 80% during his reign while Alexander III abolished the poll tax and also created the

Mining companies used them to ship raw materials to factories over long distances quickly. Manufactures distributed their finished product by rail to points throughout the country. The rails became highly profitable businesses for their owners. (www.theusaonline.com)

Russia was a country rich in raw materials that had been undisturbed by modern extraction and refining techniques until then, however, the majority of the countries resource rich areas were nowhere near any railways, with the bulk of the heavy materials such as steel, iron, coal and copper being in the Urals, almost 1,000km away from the nearest railway system in 1860. Oil, another key ingredient in industrialisation was almost 1,500km away to the south, in the Caucasus area3. This lack of transportation in a period when steam powered machines were producing the goods and steam powered trains were delivering them and leading the industrialisation in other countries like Britain, the USA and a future foe in Germany is an indicator of the distance that Russia was behind its rivals under the leadership of the Tsar. So the Tsar’s Russia was largely an agrarian one, but even in the agricultural sector Russia was lagging far behind the rest of the West in terms of the methods employed by farmers, little fertiliser was used and the labour saving machines used in countries with enormous agricultural output like the US were nowhere near as widespread in Russia. The weaknesses of the Tsar’s management of the agricultural sector were highlighted in 1891 when famine hit. Due to the heavy tax on consumer goods, peasants had been forced to sell more of their

Industrialization was part of the greater process of change. The trans-Siberian railroad connected European Russia with the Pacific Ocean. The railroad directly expanded Russia's coal and iron sectors. The Railroad also fueled the export of grain to the West, which became necessary to earn foreign currency for advanced Western

Basically, there are 2 ways of industrialization. The first way is own industrialization based on the “Russian Model” which do not have international investment. This approach build up all stages of industry such as light industry and heavy industry. At the end, the economy will built like a vertical industrial