Industrial revolution in Russia

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Milena Petkova

European Industrial Revolutions

Essay # 2

The industrial revolution in Russia

        Russia, which began its industrial revolution at least a half century behind most of the West European countries, had to meet a number of special challenges. Russia moved to industrialisation in stages. An uncertain experimental phase – which Russia had already experienced to an extent before 1870 – included larger reforms that helped free up economic change. This preliminary period was followed by more rapid growth in a society still overwhelming agricultural. Russia had well-developed industrial sectors by the early 20th century, but paused well behind the West. Russia became the only society to experience full-fledged political and social revolution after the industrialisation process was well under way.

         

        The reform period in the 1860s that brought limited freedom for the serfs also produced a host of other political changes, some of which involved economic policy. The Abolition of Serfdom in 1861, had slowed down the creation of a large workforce, and, as such, the Russian economy had been almost completely agrarian. Also, Russia’s previously untouched deposits of coal and other raw materials began to be exploited.

Government budget procedures were regularized and state bank was created in 1866 to centralize credit and finance. Government policy also encouraged more foreign investment.

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Russia’s reform ended in 1881 with the assassination of Alexander II, after which highly cruel policies went into effect in most quarters. The Ministry of Finance, however, maintained a commitment to change. The minister of finance during the 1890s, Serge Witte, dedicated his great talents to stabilize Russian finance. Witte’s background was as a railroad official, and he advocated rapid additions to the Russian network. Mileage doubled between 1895-1905, the additions including almost the whole of a line across Siberia that opened the vast resources of this region to industrial use. Private companies, working under government allowances, did much ...

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