Third, there was a perceived shortage of credit and money. Farmers believed that interest rates were too high because of monopolistic lenders, and the money supply was inadequate, producing deflation. A falling price level increased the burden of debt, as farmers were forced to repay much more than they actually had to3. According to James A. Stewart “farmers demanded ceilings on
Railroad companies that charged four times as much as on the East gave farmers incentive to band together in order to combat outrages rates politically (Document D). Freight rates especially hurt farmers, who were far from both buying and selling markets, a clever extortion trick by the railroad companies to force farmers into paying at every occasion (Document F). With over a twenty percent decline in agriculture economy over fifty years, the farming community grew smaller and less organized by the day – an easy target for abusive
Agriculture in Russia was far behind other great powers and peasants were suffering greatly through the repeated famines in 1902 and 1905. Sergei Witte had done nothing to improve agriculture only focusing on the economy of Russia. This led to subsistence agriculture. Grain was being exported and there wasn’t enough for the peasants. 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.
However, in the early 1930 grain harvest dropped. This crisis under collectivisation remained worse than in the last years of the tsarist regime. By 1935 the number of livestock was half of what it was in 1928 resulting in the decline of arable faming and meat production which hindered economic progress. So there were failures in the system. Nevertheless, the success of the mass migration from the countryside to the cities outweighs this fiasco.
This left the ordinary people with much less land to live on and much less opportunity. This shows inequality between the different classes of this time period. Another thing to show inequality between the different classes in the period of 1865 to 1900 was the new version of the reaper invented by Cyrus McCormick. This was expensive and not all could afford it, once again showing unequal opportunity. This led to a disadvantage for the poorer folk and left them with much more labor.
This money was important because the economy in Russia was poor at the time; bearing in mind there was a huge number of peasants and very few working class people at the time may suggest a reason for this. Russia's biggest produce was grain. This was the most important factor in my opinion, as without this money, Witte wouldn't have been able to implement any of his ideas. The second area was state sponsored development of heavy industry. Witte believed that heavy industry was the way forward, because he thought that light industry and agriculture could both benefit from this boost.
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.
To what extent did the policies of Sergei Witte address the problems facing Russia at the end of the nineteenth century? Russia faced many problems at the end of the nineteenth century. Under Minister of Finance Ivan Vyshnegradskii there had been famine because of high taxes on consumer goods which had forced peasants to sell more and more grain. The government were slow to act and, although they eventually enforced a ban on grain exports, 350,000 died of starvation or disease. Economically and industrially Russia was also falling far behind many other Western countries at the time, like Britain and Germany.
Family Farms P1 American Family Farms: Going Extinct April 19, 2011 Family Farms P2 American Family Farms: Going Extinct In early America, farming was the backbone of economic prosperity. During the times of the 13 colonies, different areas of the country had different strengths and weakness in their crops. Farmers in New England colonies had the hardest time producing crops. Their soil wasn’t good enough to grow consistently good crops and the long hard winters often killed their crops. Farmers in middle colonies prospered the most of all colonies.
America had the resources to solely rely on agricultural, but the incoming of new inventions made it harder to pass up a great opportunity and America had to use these innovations to their advantage. The Industrial Revolution brought many settlers to America to work in the growing factories. More workers meant more production, thus creating an economic boom in America. This economic boom was also the start of prosperity for the people in America. The fact that people would travel West and have a new way of life using the new technology and at the same time being able to have land that was all their own.