History Essay – Russia To what extent did Witte achieve economic modernisation in Russia? Russia saw a lot of changes in the years 1881-1903. A lot of these were due to Witte. The Russian empire wasn’t strong as it seemed and it was certainly not modern. Witte tried to change this with a series of projects, to help the economy and industry of Russia.
For a long time, Russia had been considered backward, both in its political methods and its ways of life. 80% of the population were peasants and Russia itself was a very large country to govern. Modernisation was a way for the country to keep up with its European neighbours. There were two key areas that Sergei Witte, Finance Minister for Russia, was focused upon: Industry and Transport. He felt these areas would help to solve Russia's three biggest problems; Communication, Size and Social Divide.
This also meant that the land was not used to it full potential, all these factors lead to the famines and causing peasants to up rise using violence against government officials. This was on the verge of the revolution. The deep resentment from the peasantry towards the Tsar increased after the war as lots of money had being invested in the war and Russia had lost. Moreover, Sergei Witte had tried to improve the economy of Russia but it was to make sure that the Russian social order stayed the same. Due to industrialisation, factories were built which lead to rapid growth of population in the towns and cities for example from 98 million in 1885 to 125 million in 1905.
This lack of organisation also lead to food shortages and issues with transport. A common occurrence within the army was troops trading their weapons- of which there was a shortage of- for food or other basic necessities. War weariness also created other issues such as inflation. At the start of 1914 Russia had achieved financial stability, yet from 1914-17 government spending rose from 4 million roubles to 30 million. In an attempt to raise capitol taxation was increased, coupled with heavy borrowing from other countries.
Besides all this such industrialization improved the overall military capability of Russia. Therefore during this period Russia’s economy was dramatically and successfully transformed. Russia's industrialization was further hindered by the financial state of both its government and its people. The government was highly in debt and forced
Even though this solved all the immediate needs of the communist state, the majority of the peasants were unhappy about the new policies and rebelled against the Bolsheviks. This, in turn, forced Lenin to change policies and introduce the New Economic Policy. The NEP was seen, in the Bolsheviks’ eyes, as a return to capitalism as it allowed small businesses to open and people to sell goods in the market, even though major industries, such as steel and iron were still under government control. Lenin had a huge impact on Russia. He made Russia a strong state and consolidated her
Despite this, the collapse of Tsarism could be blamed on different factors of Russia, such as the civilians; the percentage of peasantry in Russia was extremely high, not only the percentage but also the conditions of peasants was awful. Before World War 1, the Russian political state was extremely corrupt and fragile. Nicholas II held absolute power and his dynasty had ruled Russia for 500 years and was increasingly unpopular. Nicholas II traditional ruled Russia without a parliament. The Noble class of Russia owned most of the countries wealth and land.
Either we do this or they crush us.’’ Stalin wanted the USSR to modernise at such a fast rate that it would make up the 50-year gap in 10 years. The industry had to be developed to such an extent that the country, which had all along depended mostly on agriculture or farming, had to depend on industry more. Although Russia was recovering from war, its production from heavy industries was still low compared to other countries. Stalin felt that this needed to be improved if they were to survive any possible attack that might come from the capitalist West attempting to destroy Communist Russia. The USSR needed to invest in materials like coal, iron, steel and power to defend itself properly.
This railway also opened up a range of different jobs, meaning that the unemployment of Russia plummeted. Although this factor of the changing in Russia was very substantial, it promised more than it delivered. Sections of the railway were still incomplete in 1914 and it did not greatly improve or increase east-west communications. Between 1881 and 1910, Russia’s trade with other countries dramatically increased very dramatically this is seen by the statistics as the exported goods is higher than the imported goods, also the productivity of natural resources dramatically increased as there was allot more iron, coal and oil being produced and sent from Russia to the rest of Europe. Although this was a large advantage to the economy of Russia, the grain production did increase, but it didn’t
Due to this debt the government then resulted in printing money and this resulted in inflation. Inflation destroyed savings of the middle class and especially effected land owners as they relied on rent. State employees and factory workers purchasing power fell by 25% because of the value of the Iire. The state also spent 148 billion lire on the war effort and inflation increased with the price index quadrupling, and rising from 100 in 1914 to 413 in 1918. Conscription soaked up rural unemployment and some peasants grew prosperous.