Explain why in the years 1906 to 1911, Stolypin attempted to reform agriculture. (12 marks) Stolypin attempted to reform agriculture for many reasons, one of the most important being to strengthen tsarist autocracy. He strongly believed that the future of Russia depended on building a prosperous peasantry. There was widespread rural poverty but an upper class of peasant that farmed efficiently and were wealthier, they were known as the Kulaks. Stolypin believed that the encouragement of a class such as the Kulaks would make them hostile to further change therefore more conservative and loyal to the Tsar as the Tsar had made them wealthy.
In the mid-1800’s, industrialization swept Europe, allowing new ideas, business’s, and commercial production to flourish. Imperialistic industrialized nations, such as Britain, led to the spread of industry into its colonies’, which had an abundance of raw materials but different characteristics that shaped industry. This can be seen in the similarities and differences in the mechanization of the cotton industry between 1880 – 1930 in Japan and India. Similarities were seen in the rapid increase of textile production and the direct decline of the conditions of factory workers, who in both countries were mainly peasant farmers, while differences were seen in the dramatic difference in the gender that made up the majority of the labor force.
From the time period of 1870 to 1900 the growth of big businesses in the United States had a major impact on the economy, politics, and the response of Americans of Americans to these changes. These businesses grew significantly in number, size, and influence and had an ever-lasting effect on Americans and their surrounding community. Industry and its new technologies have had an amazing impact on reducing the costs of the goods necessary to life, such as food prices, fuel and lighting prices, and the cost of living (Document A). The standard of living of most Americans should have increased, as more wages would be left over to spend on luxuries. Aware of the extra-money available to working families, the different pieces of a Big Business have acted in such a way to suck that extra-money from the poor families.
Conversely, the higher-value rouble helped increase the prices of goods. Witte's main method for raising the capital and modernisation would be the Trans-Siberian Railway, which from 1881 to 1900 increased from 13,000 to 33,000 miles. It was hoped it would encourage east to West migration of workers, to feed in to industry, however this did not happen. Instead, it helped growth and exports of Russia by making transportation of materials far easier. On the other hand, the growth in population compared with national output shows less production per head, and therefore less efficient production.
In addition it will also examine the human failures; this would be defined as human loss, death and or a decrease in living conditions and quality of life. Stalin’s first economic policy of the 1930’s was to introduce Collectivization. This was the joining of private plots which had been previously divided amongst the peasants by the Tsar, in order to increase the amount of output production altogether. Efficiency of farms and a boost in agriculture was essential in order to support industrialization which Stalin wanted to push forward. He needed enough food to be produced in order to support the working masses that would be turning to industry in cities.
Witte believed that the construction of this railway was crucial to the economic growth of Russia, because it would make it possible to take advantage of the economic potential of Siberia. Witte hoped that the expansion of the railway would encourage the migrations of workers from the East to the West, but this didn’t happen. Instead, it improved communications and increased the amount of exports Russia made by making transportation of materials easier and faster. However, the growth in population was much larger than the national output, indicating less production per person, therefore production in Russia wasn’t very efficient. In addition, the railway cost the country a lot of money and a lot of time to build, so it can be argued that the railway was not even worth building in the first place as that money could have gone to other important industrial plans or improving conditions for workers.
The decrease in agricultural production also affected the soviet government. Since 1921, Russia’s government had been selling grain surpluses abroad in order to gain foreign currency necessary to provide resources for industrialisation. Clearly, if there were no grain surpluses there was no money to build up Russia’s industry. Collectivisation aimed to hold out the prospect of many economic benefits. First, large farms would increase efficiency.
Urbanisation occurred due to better agricultural machinery, producing more food in rural areas, this accounted for a thriving population, however employment opportunities outnumbered population forcing people to migrate from rural areas to urban cities seeking employment from industrial factories (Jenkins 2002). Between 1811 and 1861 population in England and Wales doubled from over 10 million to 20 million people, (see table below). Population of the United Kingdom England & Wales 1811 10,164,256 1821 12,000,236 1831 13,896,797 1841 15,914,148 1851 17,927,609 1861 20,066,224 1871 22,712,266 1881 25,974,439 1891 29,002,525 1901 32,527,843 1911 36,070,492 Taken from Wood, A (1995) Nineteenth Century Britain 1815 - 1914. Longman Press Lack of public transport meant factory workers were accommodated near work. Dwellings that housed workers were subdivided to accommodate many people which meant families were forced to share one room, poorly built tenements housed the poorest, these had no sewers, running water or sanitation and were damp and dirty.
From the railroads in the past, we have learned that faster transportation is better. Everything we need travels by boat or train or plane because we understand that is one of the most successful forms of transportation. Bye replacing home-based workshops with factories we have been able to grow our production rates which in the long run put our selling rates high. By switching from hand tools to large machines we have also been able to cut our jobs down, which allows for more money in the pockets of the business men. The industrial revolution has helped the nation and economy grown so much over the time but we know, nothing is perfect.
Stalin’s economic strategies led to the successful growth of industrialism and modernisation of the USSR. This began with the end of the NEP and Stalin’s creation of collectivisation. Stalin’s desire to modernise agriculture led him to collectivise the farms, amalgamating them and putting them under state control. This did lead to more efficient farming and increased production[4]. 90% of farmland was collectivised by 1937 and production was 80% higher in 1940 than it was in 1913.