The formation of the block system in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The Russian bourgeoisie at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century: composition, size, interests of the 19th and early 20th centuries was

Starting from the 19th and almost until the middle of the 20th century. changes are taking place that can be characterized as the establishment of an industrial society.

It is characterized by the following features:

- the dominance of the electric power industry in industry;

- invention of new types of fuel;

- new types of transport (railways, steamships, automobile construction, later - aviation);

- urbanization of the population;

- formation of the military-industrial complex and so on.

These and other achievements provided an opportunity to create new industries, and this, in turn, required large material costs. Therefore, united industrial and financial societies are beginning to form. In addition, in the conditions of an industrial society, competition is intensifying, which also pushed entrepreneurs to unite. All this led to such a new phenomenon as monopolization. The first monopolies were American "Standard Oil" D. Rockefeller, since 1872 it controls oil production and refining and others.

Under these conditions, states tried to control the economic situation by adopting laws that did not allow monopolies to jeopardize competition. So it was formed state-monopoly capitalism.

Students should also rememberthat it was during this period that international (or transnational) corporations began to be created.

However, the world development process has been uneven. Some countries: the USA, Germany, Japan took the lead, and such countries of the old world as England and France began to lag behind.

The United States developed especially rapidly.

The reasonsof such development were:

- quite large raw materials;

- industrial modernization;

- an influx of qualified emigrants;

- protectionism in government trade policy. The rapid pace of development in Germany was determined by:

- strengthening the role of the military-industrial complex, which gave huge orders to industry;

- modernization of technical equipment;

- the unification of the country.

Japan in the second half of the 19th century. as a result of the war between the northern and southern parts of the country (1867-1869), she began an active modernization of the economy. The new emperor, named Meiji (educated), finally took the path of industrialization - the "Meiji revolution." The characteristic features of the then Japanese economy were:

- creation of new modern industries;

- modernization of the army and navy;

- training of qualified specialists;

- the policy of paternalism.

One of the first monopolies in Japan was Mitsui and Mitsubishi.

As for the English economy, it began to lag behind the advanced countries.

The reasons:

- since the end of the 19th century. the free trade system ended, the British economy was largely export-oriented and began to suffer;

- orientation of the economy towards lending instead of investment in industry.

France in many ways repeated the British situation. Scientists characterize French capitalism of the late XIX-early. XX Art. as a usurious, which also did not contribute to active development.

Russia, after the defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856), found itself in a pre-revolutionary situation. Therefore, in 1861, Tsar Alexander II signed a law abolishing serfdom. Later, other bourgeois reforms were carried out. This opened the way for the development of capitalism. Russia, albeit very slowly, began to transform from an agrarian country into an agrarian-industrial one.

So, the most developed countries of the world developed unevenly. This could not but push to the struggle for the territorial redistribution of the world.

More than half of the world's countries were in one form or another of colonial dependence. The largest colonial powers were England, France, Holland. However, new colonial empires arose: Germany, USA, Japan, Belgium, Russia. Competition increased among all of them. All this stimulated an arms race or the militarization of the economies of these countries. This process was most active in Germany, the USA, and Japan.

In the ideological sphere, new trends in world development have emerged, on the one hand:

- in apologetics of the predatory interests of the respective countries (for example, A. Bismarck demanded a "place in the sun" for Germany);

- ideas beyond the importance of American values;

on the other, a new term "imperialism" (power) appears. In the works of researchers (J. Hobson, Ulyanov (Lenin), A. Schumpeter), attention is focused on the expansion of the influence of monopolies, on the increase in the threat of war.

It is important for students to know that such situations generate:

- Firstly, aggressive plans of certain circles;

- secondly, contribute to the spread of reactionary nationalist views.

Indeed, each country had its own interest in the redistribution of territories. Yes, France has always wanted the return of Alsace and Lorraine; Austria-Hungary sought to expand its territory at the expense of the Balkans and the Ukrainian population in the East; Russia also dreamed of taking the lands inhabited by Ukrainians in Austria and regaining control over the Black Sea straits. Germany generally wanted to expand its borders, as well as take away some colonies, etc.

All this led to education military blocs:in 1882 the Triple Alliance, and in 1904-1907. Entente.

Thus, the world was preparing for war.

The beginning of the XX century. affected by a series of local wars that preceded the great war: the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, the Balkan Wars of 1912, 19113. In the East, bourgeois-democratic revolutions took place (Russia 1905-1907, 1906 - in Persia, in 1908 - in Turkey, in 1911 - in China, which, firstly, were directed against the remnants of feudalism in these countries and, secondly, stimulated the national liberation movement in Europe and Asia.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Russia took the path of modernization, the formation and development of an industrial society. The main goal of the Russian version of modernization was the desire to catch up with the industrialized countries in its development, to prevent too much lag in the military-economic field, to join the world economic system and thus defend its national interests.

According to the level of its development, the speed and intensity of industrialization, Russia belonged to the agrarian-industrial countries, with a weak-average level of development of capitalism (82% of the population was employed in agriculture). The Russian economy was characterized by:

The "catch-up", forced character of the development of capitalism;

The formation of a multi-structured economy (along with the capitalist, pre-capitalist, feudal and patriarchal structures were preserved)

Many undertakings in economic development were initiated not by society, but by the state;

Unstable, crisis development of society.

In 1891-1900. Russia has made a giant leap forward in its industrial development. Over the decade, the volume of industrial production in the country has doubled, in particular, the production of means of production has tripled. During the industrial upsurge, the length of railways in Russia tripled (up to 60 thousand km), pig iron smelting increased fivefold, and coal production in Donbass increased sixfold. Russia produced as many cars as it imported. The country has become the world's top grain exporter. As a result of the financial reform carried out by S.Yu. Witte, in 1900 the huge external debt of Russia was paid off, inflation was stopped, the gold equivalent of the ruble was introduced.

In Russia, monopolies (cartels, syndicates, trusts) are created - large economic associations that have concentrated in their hands a significant part of the production and sale of goods. Among them: "Prodamet", "Roof", "Nail", "Produgol", "Prodvagon", etc.

A characteristic feature of industrial development is the widespread attraction of foreign investment.

An important feature of the capitalist evolution of Russia was that the autocracy played a significant role in economic life, in the formation of the basic elements of new relations. It created state-owned factories (military production), which were withdrawn from the sphere of free competition, controlled railway transport and the construction of roads, etc. The state actively promoted the development of domestic industry, banking, transport and communications.

Despite the accelerated development of industry, the agricultural sector remained the leading one in terms of its share in the country's economy. Russia ranked first in the world in terms of production: its share was 50% of the world rye harvest, 25% of world grain exports. At the same time, it should be noted that the agricultural sector of the economy was only partially involved in the modernization processes. New forms of management were introduced on the lands of landowners and wealthy peasants. The overwhelming majority of peasants used old, ineffective forms of farming. Semi-feudal and patriarchal survivals remained in the village: the communal system of land tenure and land use. It was the problems of agriculture that became pivotal in the economic, social and political life of the country at the beginning of the century.

Thus, Russia embarked on the path of modernization, lagging behind the countries of Western Europe. Autocracy, the preservation of the administrative-feudal methods of management slowed down economic development.

The formation of social strata of the population inherent in industrial societies in Russia proceeded at a rapid pace. As evidenced by the 1897 census, the total population of the empire was 125.5 million. On January 1, 1915, it reached 182 million 182 thousand 600 people. During this period, the number of those who lived off the sale of their labor increased by one and a half times and amounted to almost 19 million people. The number of entrepreneurs grew even more intensively. The indicators of the urban population were closely related to the expansion of capitalist production. During the same period, the number of citizens increased from 16.8 to 28.5 million.

Despite these changes, in Russia, the basis of the social structure was still made up of fortunes - closed groups of people endowed with certain rights and obligations that were hereditary. The dominant class remained the nobility (about 1% of the population). The nobility was divided into two categories: generic and personal. The generic was hereditary, the personal was not. Although the role of the nobility in the economic life of the country was diminishing, it still remained a privileged estate. The privileged estates included honorable and noble citizens - the top of the townspeople.

The clergy and guild merchants were in a special state. A significant part of the urban population was made up of bourgeois - shopkeepers, artisans, workers and employees.

Cossacks - Don, Kuban, Ural - were in a special military-service state. They had the right to land, served military service, and preserved certain traditions of the Cossack environment.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the bourgeoisie, the working class, and the intelligentsia are being rapidly formed in Russia.

The bourgeoisie is becoming an economically powerful class. The bourgeoisie was formed from different social strata, owned enterprises, land plots, concentrated large capital in its hands. However, in Russia, the bourgeoisie, unlike the countries of Western Europe, did not become a powerful independent force. This was due to the fact that the Russian bourgeoisie turned out to be dependent not on the market for raw materials and goods, but on the government, and acted as a monopolist in these markets. High profits in production were associated with the ability to get government orders and subsidies for its implementation. These conditions demanded from the capitalist not the qualities of an entrepreneur, but rather a courtier who knows all the loopholes at court. As a result, the capitalist did not value freedom, but close relations with the emperor and the government. This situation contributed to an increase in the proportion and autonomous functioning of a special social group - the bureaucracy. The economic basis for the growth of the role of this stratum of the population was the presence of a widely ramified state capitalist economy: banks, railways, state-owned factories, state lands. Until 1917, there were up to 500 thousand officials of various ranks in the country.

The peasantry, as before, constituted the majority of the country's population. However, the penetration of commodity-money relations into the village contributed to its stratification. One part of the peasants joined the ranks of the proletariat, the other expanded their economy, gradually ousting the landlords from the agricultural market and buying up their land.

The peculiarities of the "reformation" of the social strata of the population in Russia caused serious contradictions both within certain strata of the population and between individual strata (the nobility - the bourgeoisie, the nobility - the peasantry, the bourgeoisie - the workers, the government - the people, the intelligentsia - the people, the intelligentsia - the government, etc. ). The immaturity of the middle strata, the gap between the "upper" and "lower" classes led to an unstable, unstable position in Russian society.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia remained an autocratic monarchy. Representative bodies of power were not formed. All legislative, administrative and judicial power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor. Most of the subjects considered autocratic power to be familiar and stable. The proximity to the monarch created for many real opportunities to influence the political and economic life of the country.

The highest state institutions "State Council" and "Senate" served as advisory bodies. By 1905, Russia did not have a unified government. Each minister reported directly to the emperor on the affairs of his ministry.

The judicial system as a whole is based on judicial reform of the 60s of the 19th century. The Police Department was responsible for the protection of state security. The army was an important state institution. There was universal military service in the country, although along with this there was a developed system of benefits and deferrals from conscription.

Local self-government - zemstvos - played a significant role in organizing the country's life. Zemstvos were elected by representatives of peasants, landowners and townspeople. Their areas of activity covered almost all issues of local life.

The events of the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907 forced the authorities to undertake the transformation of the existing political system. The manifesto of October 17, 1905 "On the improvement of the foundations of public administration" presented the population with freedom of conscience, speech, assembly, and unions. A law on elections to the State Duma was soon adopted.

The Duma participated in the development of bills, considered the state budget, discussed the issue of building railways and the establishment of joint-stock companies. Later, the State Council was reformed, which became the upper legislative chamber. She received the right to approve or reject laws approved by the Duma. Despite the preservation of the legislative power, a step was taken towards the liberalization of society. The new political system was characterized by the fact that the legislative power belonged to the emperor and a bicameral parliament, and the highest executive power belonged to the emperor and the ministers responsible to him, the highest judicial and controlling power belonged to the senate.

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To better understand what Russia was like in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, I want to quote the words of Leo Tolstoy from his letter to Nicholas 2 dated January 16, 1906. None of the historians described the situation in Russia of that era better.

Russia is in the position of strengthening protection, that is, outside the law. The army and police (overt and covert) are increasing. The prisons are overcrowded. Even workers are now equated with political prisoners. The censorship has reached the absurdities of prohibitions, which it has never achieved. Religious persecution has never been more severe. As a result, those 100 million, on which the power of Russia is based, is becoming impoverished. Beggars so that hunger is now normal. Even 50 years ago, under Nicholas 1, the prestige of the tsarist power was very high. Now he has fallen so much that even representatives of the lower classes criticize not only the government, but already the king.
Lev Tolstoy

Population

The first official census (without economic connotation) in the Russian Empire took place in 1897 and counted 125 million people in the country. The second census of 1914 recorded 178.1 million people (an increase of 53.1 million over 17 years). Population growth rates were high and it was calculated that if Russia manages to get through to the middle of the 20th century without external and internal shocks, then the population in the country will be about 350 million inhabitants.

Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was a multinational country. The same 1914 census recorded the following population composition:

Russians - 44.6%
Ukrainians - 18.1%
Poles - 6.5%
Jews - 4.2%
Belarusians - 4.0%
Kazakhs - 2.7%
Other peoples - each no more than 2%

The official language of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century is Russian. At the same time, there was no linguistic harassment and other peoples could use their language for communication.

Estates

An important characteristic of the Russian population at the beginning of the 20th century is the preservation of estates. The bulk of the population is peasants, whose estate made up slightly more than 80% of the country's population. The nobility in Russia was about 1.5%, but this was the leading class, which held the power together. The nobility was not united, they were subdivided into hereditary and personal.

The problem of the nobility was acute in Russia, since according to the reform of 1861, the nobles were formally deprived of all rights of exclusive land use. This became the starting point, after which the position of the nobility began to deteriorate, and with them the power of the Emperor became less and less strong. As a result, the events of 1917 happened.

A separate important class in Russia is the clergy. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was divided into categories:

Black (monastic). Monks who took a vow of celibacy.
White (parish). Priests who are allowed to have a family.

Despite the important status of the clergy, the church continued to be under state control.

Autonomy

Autonomy is a characteristic feature of the development of the Russian state. The empire, by adding new lands to its composition, in most cases provided these lands with autonomy, preserving their national traditions, religion, and so on. The most complete autonomy was in Finland, which had its own parliament, legislation and money. I specially emphasized this system of preserving autonomies, which was relevant at the beginning of the 20th century, so that you could compare how Russia annexed the regions and how the Western countries did it. Suffice it to recall that as a result of the colonization of North America by Europeans, Indians (the indigenous population was almost completely exterminated, and the part that remained alive was placed in special reservations - cattle pens, from where it is impossible to get out.

Autonomy was also granted to the peoples of the Baltic states and Poland in the west. The autonomy of these regions has been curtailed in terms of political freedoms, since, for example, the Polish population is always advocated the restoration of the Polish state, and therefore actively fought underground against Russia.

The best indicator of the preservation of the cultural integrity of the autonomies was religion. Despite the dominance of the Orthodox Church (76% of the population), other religions persisted: Islam (11.9%), Judaism (3.1%), Protestantism (2.0%), Catholicism (1.2%).

Territory

At the beginning of the last century, geographically there was a peak in the scale of Russia, and naturally it was the largest country in the world. The western borders of the state passed with Norway, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.

The Russian state included: modern Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, partly Poland. I would like to note that the current capital of Poland, Warsaw, was part of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

We examined the territory of Russia in Europe, since this was the theater where the main actions of that era took place. If we talk about Asia, all the states that later joined the USSR were also included in Russia.

Governance and laws

Russia at the beginning of the 20th century continued to remain a monarchy, when in the first article of the country's code of laws it was written that "the emperor is an autocrat with unlimited power." Power in the country was inherited, the eldest in the family. In this case, preference was given to males.

Control system

The main figure in the country was the Emperor. He had the main functions in governing the country. The Romanov dynasty itself and all the persons who belonged to it had an impact on the emperor and influenced the policy of Russia. According to the laws of that time, only Orthodox Christians could be members of the ruling dynasty, so when representatives of other countries joined the dynasty, they were immediately baptized into the Orthodox faith.

Since 1810, the State Council functioned in Russia - an advisory body that provided legislative ideas to the Emperor, but the adoption of the law was the sole function of the Emperor.

Executive power was concentrated in the hands of Ministries. There were no government and prime ministers above the ministries. Each minister reported directly to the ruler (this is a feature of the imperial regime). The most important ministries of the Russian Empire of the late 19th - early 20th centuries: internal affairs, military, foreign affairs, finance and public education. The ministries created a huge number of officials. According to official statistics in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century there was 1 official for every 3 thousand people... It was the largest bureaucratic apparatus in the world. Corruption and bribery were typical problems for tsarist officials. This was largely due to low salaries. The obvious problem of the big bureaucratic apparatus was the inability to make important decisions quickly.

Judicial functions

The highest judicial power in the country, since the time of Peter 1, belonged to the Senate. He served as the judiciary, oversight and interpretation of laws. The judiciary itself relied on judicial reform in the 1860s. Equality, jury trials and publicity were practiced in Russia. In practice, however, inequality persisted, since the numerous laws of the Russian Empire left many loopholes for lawyers. Who could hire them - he won in the courts.

Regarding the judicial system of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, it is important to note that a special method of litigation was applied to political criminals (anyone could be classified as such, with a strong desire). After the assassination of Alexander II, the law "On the Preservation of Order and Public Peace" was adopted. According to him - in respect of political prisoners, the verdict was passed not by the court, but by officials.

Local government

the local government system functioned on the basis of the laws of the 60s of the 19th century. Local zemstvos were created, which solved exclusively local issues (construction of roads, schools, etc.) By the beginning of the 20th century, the functions of the zemstvo had changed somewhat. Now, a bureaucratic apparatus was built over them, completely controlling all the functions of local authorities.

Self-government bodies were subdivided into:

Urban. City Dumas were formed, to which only owners of houses in the city could be elected.
Rural. Rural gatherings or "worlds" were formed.

Every year the role of local authorities became lower and lower, and more and more control organizations appeared over them.

Army and security

Internal security issues were handled by the Police Department (analogous to the current Ministry of Internal Affairs). The police network was ramified and, in general, did not perform well in its functions. It is enough to recall only the numerous assassination attempts on members of the imperial house to be convinced of this.

The number of the army at the beginning of the 20th century exceeded 900 thousand people. The army continued to be regular, formed according to the principle of conscription. The conscription was universal, but benefits were provided. The only sons in the family, breadwinners, teachers and doctors were exempted from military service. Today there is a lot of talk about the fact that the army of the Russian Empire was the best in the world. You can definitely argue with that. It is enough to recall the Russo-Japanese War to understand that the problems in the army and in its management were significant. The limitedness of the command is also emphasized by the First World War, in which Russia entered with practically no artillery (the command was convinced that this was a hopeless type of weapon). In reality, 75% of all losses of that war were from artillery.

Economy

The problems that were characteristic of Russia at the end of the 19th century were reflected in the economic development of the country at the beginning of the 20th century. After all, it is no coincidence that this stage includes 2 revolutions and significant discontent of the population. There are 3 points of view on the economy of that era:

If we single out the main features of the Russian economy of that period, then we can single out: the formation of monopolies, the preservation of the serf economy in many respects, the complete dependence of the economy on the state, the uneven economic development of the regions.

The state made attempts to solve the problem that had accumulated in the economy. For this, Witte's reforms and Stolypin's agrarian reform were undertaken. These reforms did not fundamentally change the situation, and at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia there was a drop in production and living standards of the majority of the population. This is where the social dynamite that exploded in 1917 lies.

The situation in the village

The events of 1893 are very important for understanding the situation in the Russian countryside in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. That year, a law was passed restricting the community's right to redistribute land. Now the land was divided once every 12 years. What does it mean? Every 12 years, the land was divided again. That is, the community took a land plot from one peasant and gave it to another. Some historians speak of the insignificance of these events, but this is not so. The land issue has always been very acute in Russia, and most of the riots, uprisings and revolutions happened precisely because of the land issue. Subsequent events best represent the significance of the 1893 Act. It is enough to add 12 years to convince of this. The following dates are obtained:

1905 (1893 + 12) - first revolution
1917 (1905 + 12) - February and October revolution
1929 (1917 + 12) - the beginning of collectivization

Due to the peculiarities of redistribution, agriculture suffered greatly. There was no point in investing in land. Anyway, after 12 years, this site will be given to another. Therefore, it was necessary to squeeze out the maximum in 12 years, and then let another owner think about restoring the yield of the land. And this point of view was widespread!

Once again I want to emphasize the years of land redistribution: 1905, 1917, 1929. These are the most important years of Russian history, and if we consider them without taking into account the specifics of land redistribution, it is impossible to understand the real events in the Russian countryside in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. After all, the overwhelming majority of the population were peasants, and the land feeds them. Therefore, in the literal sense of the word - the peasants were ready to kill for land.

International relationships

After the reign of Alexander III, Russia was very often characterized by a powerful country, but too distant from European political processes. This fully corresponded to the interests of the Empire, and Nicholas II promised to continue this policy. This was not done. as a result, Russia was drawn into a world war.

The early 20th century saw the rise of the German Empire, which grew stronger every year and showed signs of subjugating Europe. If we objectively consider this process, Germany did not threaten Russia in any way, but Nicholas II, who in words guaranteed the Empire's path to isolation from European intrigues, in fact was frightened by Germany and began to look for allies. So the rapprochement with France began, and after the signing of the Franco-English treaty, the Entente was formed. I will not now describe in detail the idiocy of Nicholas II's behavior (this topic is well analyzed in the material about the First World War), but it was his fear of Germany that allowed Russia to be drawn into the war, where its allies in the Entente (France and England) did not help at all and more interfered with.

The traditional rival of Russia, the Ottoman Empire, was in clear decline, and more and more often questions were raised in Russian society that Constantinople should be taken away from Turkey. It is noteworthy that this should have happened (all documents were signed) after the First World War. This is one of the reasons why Western countries so quickly recognized the Russian revolution as legitimate

Russia in the late 19th century - early 20th century

The late 19th - early 20th centuries were a period of rapid economic growth. During 1860-1880, industrial production increased 2.5 times. During the reign of Alexander III, the industrial policy of the government, previously based on the principles of free competition, liberal customs policy, "freedom" of relations between entrepreneurs and workers, was replaced by a policy of state regulation of economic and social relations. Protectionism, high customs duties on industrial products imported from abroad, assistance to some industries and some containment of others, the introduction of regulation of the conditions of factory labor are the main directions of this regulation. In 1885-1913 alone, large joint-stock enterprises increased their funds by 11.1 times, although small front-run enterprises grew much more slowly. The average growth of productive assets in 1885-1913 was 596%, or 7.2% per year, that is, higher than in the United States for the same period. The mechanization of production proceeded at an accelerated pace. If in 1860 machines were introduced for 16.5 million rubles, then in 1870 it was already at 65 million rubles, and in 1913 - for 340 million rubles. If in 1860 mechanical equipment was used in production for 100 million rubles, in 1870 - for 350 million rubles, then in 1913 - almost 2 billion rubles, that is, about a fifth of the technical fleet of machines was updated annually.

The growth rate of the production of means of production in private enterprises in Russia was twice as high as the growth rate of the light and food industries. As a result, the share of production of means of production reached 43% of all industrial production, 63% of equipment and means of production needed in industry were produced domestically, and only a little more than a third was imported from abroad.

In 1910, 53% of industrial workers in Russia worked in enterprises employing more than 500 people, in the United States the corresponding figure was 33%. Enterprises with more than 1,000 workers in Russia employed 44% of the workers, which is more than twice as much as in US industry.

The given data of the factory inspection did not include the largest state-owned and all metallurgical plants. Including these factories, the rate of concentration of workers at the largest factories in Russia rises one and a half times. Thus, the share of large enterprises in Russia was three times higher than in Germany and the USA.

There were only 12 giant factories with the number of workers over 5000 in Germany in 1907, while in Russia there were more of them in St. Petersburg alone than in the whole of Germany (14 factories). Throughout Russia, there were 35 giant factories.

During the first decade of the reign of Nicholas II, the state budget of Russia increased from 965 to 1,947 million rubles, that is, more than 2 times. In 1902, it was one and a half times or more superior to the state budgets of England, France, Germany, being the first in size. About half of the budget revenues were indirect taxes and about a quarter - the revenues of the state economy (state factories, factories, railways, etc.). Moreover, the incomes of state farms have grown 3.5 times over the decades. This meant that the concentration of the people's resources took place not only through increased taxation, but also through the development of the state economy.

In 1895, Russia switched to a system of gold circulation and established extremely strict conditions for issuing banknotes to circulation, which had to be guaranteed by gold. By 1904, the gold reserve of the State Bank of Russia amounted to 903 million rubles, while credit notes were issued for 578.4 million rubles, that is, the gold coverage was 156%. By 1914, this indicator slightly decreased, amounting to 101% of the gold coverage with an increase in money circulation: 1,664.7 million rubles. credit tickets were provided 1695.2 million rubles. gold reserves. Together with the country's positive trade balance, the solid security of the Russian currency gave confidence to foreign investment, facilitating the attraction of foreign capital to the country.

Since 1876-1880 up to 1913 Russia had a continuous active trade balance. From 1886 to 1913, it exported goods worth 25.3 billion gold rubles, and imported only 18.7 billion rubles, that is, provided an inflow of gold and foreign currency into the country for 6.6 billion rubles.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, there was a gradual spread of industrial production across the territory of Russia. The rapid growth of industry continued in southern Russia and the Transcaucasus. The Donetsk Basin has become the center of heavy industry. In connection with the construction of the Siberian railway, the industrial development of Siberia is intensified. First of all, coal mining is accelerating. Nevertheless, still about half of the production came from the Industrial Center, the North-West and the Eastern Baltic. The high degree of industrial concentration becomes even more obvious when one considers that the 11 most developed provinces of European Russia (Moscow, Petersburg, Vladimir, Ekaterinoslav, Livlyand, Kiev, Kherson, Perm, Kostroma, Kharkov, Donskaya) accounted for 63% of industrial production.

In the second half of the 19th century, Russia is rapidly increasing the production of coal. In terms of growth rates, it has surpassed Western countries many times over. Since the middle of the 19th century, coal production in Russia has increased 169 times (in the USA, 63 times), reaching 2.2 billion poods in 1913. The share of Russia in the world coal production has grown significantly.

In 1870, 27 thousand tons of oil were extracted, in 1880 - 360 thousand tons, in 1890 - 3 978 thousand tons, then in 1900 - 10 362 thousand tons. At the beginning of the 20th century, the level of oil production stabilized and even slightly decreased. The latter is mainly due to the deterioration of the conditions for the development of oil reservoirs, since the best reservoirs, which gave frequent and abundant gushers, were depleted. The main areas of oil production up to the revolution were Baku and Grozny (98% of production). In total, in 1861-1913, oil production increased 1.5 thousand times in terms of overall growth rates during this period, ahead of all other countries of the world and the United States. The total oil production before the First World War in Russia was 10 million tons, or 18-19% of the total world production. According to this indicator, Russia ranked second after the United States.

The center of metallurgy in Russia is moving from the Urals to the Donbas. Already in 1911-1913, three quarters of the cast iron was supplied by the Donbas. The Ural metallurgical industry, due to the lack of close sources of coal and because of the backward technical equipment, was significantly inferior in comparison with the South. The southern metallurgical region had nearby rich deposits of iron ore (first of all, Krivoy Rog and Kerch) and coal (Donetsk basin). The main supplier of ore in the South was the Krivoy Rog deposit, the Kerch deposit was developed to a lesser extent (335 and 24 million poods, respectively). Before the First World War, Russia's share in the world pig iron production reached 6%. In terms of steel production, Russia took the 4th place in the world, and took 5th place in the production of pig iron. Russia exported rails to Italy, Denmark, Bulgaria, Romania, Argentina, Mexico, China, Japan. Russia fully satisfied its need for iron, iron and steel at the expense of domestic production.

From 1861 to 1913, Russian industry grew 13 times. The rates of economic growth were the highest in the world, and in some sectors they were simply gigantic - steel production increased 2234 times, oil - 1469 times, coal - 694 times, engineering products - 44 times, chemical products - 48 times. By the beginning of the First World War, Russia had ceased to be a predominantly agricultural country: in 1912, agriculture produced products worth 6.1 billion rubles, and industry - 5.6 billion rubles. The national income of Russia, according to the most underestimated estimates, increased from 8 billion rubles. in 1894 to 22-24 billion in 1914, that is, almost three times. The average income of the Russian population doubled. The incomes of workers in industry grew at a particularly high rate. For a quarter of a century, they have increased at least three times.

Many years of the reign of Nicholas II were characterized by a deficit-free state budget, that is, state revenues exceeded state spending. In the pre-war decade, the excess of state revenues over expenditures was 2.4 billion rubles. Public finances flourished. Due to all this, redemption payments for peasants were canceled, railway tariffs were lowered, and some types of taxes were eliminated.

In the first half of the reign of Nicholas II, the per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages decreased. Between 1894 and 1904, it fell from 7.4 liters to 7 liters, one of the lowest alcohol consumption rates in the world. At that time in Russia they drank 6 times less than in France, 5 times less than in Italy, 3 times less than in England, half as much as in Germany.

During the years of the reign of Nicholas II, the total expenditures on public education and culture increased 8 times and more than doubled the expenditures on education in France and one and a half times in England. In 1894-1914, the budget of the Ministry of Public Education increased 6 times, the number of students in higher and secondary educational institutions increased 3 times, and in primary schools - doubled. Russia ranked first in Europe in terms of the number of women enrolled in higher education.

The law of June 2, 1897 introduced the rationing of the working day for the first time. According to this law, for workers engaged in the daytime, working hours should not exceed 11.5 hours a day, and on Saturday and pre-holiday days - 10 hours. "For workers employed, at least in part, at night, working hours should not exceed 10 hours a day." A little later, a 10-hour working day was established by law in Russian industry.

Since 1908, compulsory free primary education has been introduced in Russia. For this purpose, more than 10 thousand additional public schools were opened every year, the number of which reached 130 thousand by 1913.

Political parties appeared, both reformist (cadets, etc.) and revolutionary (Socialist-Revolutionaries, Bolsheviks). In 1904-1905, the fleet of the Russian Empire was defeated in the Russo-Japanese War in the Far East. Against the backdrop of the outbreak of riots generated by the economic and political situation (the Revolution of 1905-1907 in Russia), Russia was forced to conclude the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.