11.2 Socio-economic development of Russia in the second half of the XVIII century.

The first years after the death of Peter. These years were characterized by political reaction and the deterioration of the economic situation in Russia. Frequent palace coups, conspiracies, the dominance of foreigners, the squandering of the court, favoritism, due to which the wealth of individual upstarts formed, the rapid changes in foreign policy, along with the strengthening of serfdom and the ruin of the working masses, had a negative impact on the pace of economic development in Russia.

The overall situation changes in the second half of the XVIII century. in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-1761 / 62) and especially Catherine II (1729-1796).

Agriculture. As before, agriculture remained the leading branch of the Russian economy. Feudal-feudal relations spread in breadth and depth. They covered new territories and new categories of population. The main way of development of this industry is extensive, due to the development of new areas.

The expansion of serfdom can be judged by the establishment of serfdom in 1783 in Left Bank Ukraine, in 1796 in the south of Ukraine, in the Crimea and Ciscaucasia. After the incorporation of Belorussia and Right-Bank Ukraine into Russia, the serf system was preserved there. Part of the land was distributed to Russian landowners. In 1755, factory workers were assigned as permanent workers in the Ural factories.

The situation of the serfs worsened - in 1765 the landowners received permission to exile their peasants to Siberia for hard labor, and without trial. Peasants could sell, lose cards. In the case of recognition of peasants in the beginning of unrest, they themselves had to pay the costs associated with the suppression of their speeches - such a measure was provided for by decree of 1763. In 1767 a decree prohibiting the empress from complaining to the landowners about peasants was issued.

From the point of view of using various forms of exploitation, during this period, two large regions were formed: mining (barn) became the leading form of rent on the black earth and southern lands, and monetary dues in areas with infertile soil. By the end of the XVIII century. a month became widespread in the black earth provinces, which meant depriving the peasant of land allotment and receiving them a meager pay for his work.

At the same time, there appeared more and more signs of the decomposition of feudal production relations. This is evidenced by the attempts of individual landowners to use technical devices, introduce multi-field crop rotations, grow new crops and even build manufactories — all this led to an increase in the marketability of the economy, although serfdom remained its basis.

Industry. In the second half of the XVIII century. further developed industry. Elizaveta Petrovna and Catherine II continued the policy of encouraging the development of domestic industry and Russian trade pursued by Peter I.

In the middle of the XVIII century. the first cotton manufactories belonging to merchants appeared in Russia, and a little later to rich peasants. By the end of the century, their number reached 200. Moscow gradually became a major center of the textile industry. Important in the development of domestic industrial production was the publication in 1775 of the manifesto of Catherine II on the free establishment of industrial enterprises by representatives of all sectors of the then society. The manifesto eliminated many restrictions on the creation of industrial enterprises and allowed "each and every plant to start all kinds of camps." Speaking in modern language, freedom of enterprise was introduced in Russia. In addition, Catherine II abolished fees in a number of industries with small industries. The adoption of the manifesto was a form of encouraging the nobility and adapting it to the new economic conditions. At the same time, these measures reflected the growth of the capitalist structure in the country.

By the end of the XVIII century. More than 2 thousand industrial enterprises operated in the country, some of which were very large, with more than 1,200 workers.

In the heavy industry, the Urals mining and smelting region was in the first place in terms of the main indicators.

The leading position was still occupied by the metallurgical industry. At the heart of its development were the needs of both the internal and external markets. Russian metallurgy at that time took the leading positions in Europe and the world. It was distinguished by a high technical level, the Ural blast furnaces were more productive than Western European ones. As a result of the successful development of domestic metallurgy, Russia was one of the world's largest exporters of iron.

In 1770, 5.1 million poods of pig iron were produced in the country, and in England about 2 million poods. In the last years of the XVIII century. iron smelting in Russia reached 10 million poods.

South Ural became the center of copper production. In the middle of the XVIII century. The first gold enterprises are based in the Urals.

Other industries, including glass, leather, paper, were further developed.

Industrial development took place in two main forms - small-scale production and large-scale manufacturing. The main trend in the development of small-scale production was its gradual development into enterprises such as cooperation and manufacture.

On the principles of cooperation, work on water transport was organized, which played a large role in the economic life of the country. At the end of the XVIII century. only on the rivers of the European part of Russia at least 10 thousand ships were used. Widely used cooperation and in fisheries.

Thus, in the development of industry in Russia in the XVIII century. there was a real leap. Compared with the end of the XVII century. in all branches of industrial production, the number of large enterprises of the manufactory type and the volume of their products increased many times, although at the end of the 18th century the pace of development of the Russian metallurgy compared with the English declined, since the industrial revolution began in England.

Along with quantitative, important socio-economic changes took place in Russian industry: the number of civilian labor force and capitalist manufactories increased.

Of the industries that used civilian labor, it is necessary to name the enterprises of the textile industry, where the peasants-migrant laborers worked. As serfs, they earned the necessary amount (dues) to pay their landlord. In this case, the relationship of free employment, which entered into a breeder and a serf, was a capitalist production relations.

From 1762 it was forbidden to buy serfs to the factories, their attachment to enterprises ceased. The manufactories founded after this year by people of noble origin used exclusively hired labor.

In 1775, a decree was issued that allowed peasant industry, which stimulated the development of production, and led to an increase in the number of breeders from merchants and peasants.

It can be stated that at the end of the XVIII century. in Russia, the process of folding capitalist production relations became irreversible, although serfdom prevailed in the economy, which had a great influence on the forms, ways and rates of development of capitalism and determined ultimately from the end of the XVIII century. Russia's economic lag behind other European countries.

Domestic and foreign trade

Domestic and foreign trade. Internal consolidation of the Russian Empire in the XVIII century. contributed to the rapid development of relations between its regions, the formation of the All-Russian market. The total turnover of Russia's foreign trade increased from 14 million rubles a year in the 50s to 110 million rubles in the 1890s. The specialization of economic activity by regions intensified, which intensified the exchange. At numerous auctions and fairs, bread of the Black Earth Center and Ukraine was sold. Wool, leather, fish came from the Volga region. The Urals supplied iron; Nonchernozem areas were famous for handicraft products; The north traded in salt and fish; Novgorod and Smolensk lands supplied flax and hemp; Siberia and the North - furs.

An important role for the development of the All-Russian market was played by the abolition in 1754 of internal customs duties. This decree was adopted in the interests of both merchants and nobility, since those and others were actively involved in trade operations. At the same time, the internal customs line between Russia and Ukraine was abolished, a number of other industrial and trade restrictions, as well as a monopoly on silk and chintz were removed.

The development of trade was facilitated by the improvement of roads, the construction of canals, the development of shipping. The role of the commercial bourgeoisie has increased. There were new trade points, the number of fairs, bazaars, torzhkov increased. The number of merchants grew. In 1775, the merchants were exempted from the poll tax and imposed a guild duty in the amount of 1% of the declared capital. Merchants received the right to participate in the local court.

In the second half of the XVIII century. In connection with the abolition of Peter's protectionist tariff, Russia's foreign trade turnover revived. She traded with England, Sweden, Iran, China, Turkey, etc. However, a reduction in import duties worsened the situation of Russian producers, and in 1757 a new tariff, strongly protectionist, was worked out.

Under Catherine II, foreign trade grew significantly, the trade balance was positive.

The development of banking systems. In the history of Russia of the XVIII century. It became an era when banks began to be established as an integral part of a market system promoting the formation of a capital market. The first banks were created in the reign of Elizaveta Petrovna in 1754. This is the Merchant Bank for issuing loans to Russian merchants for goods from 6% per annum. At the same time, the Nobility Bank was established with offices in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Banks were created by the treasury. In 1786, instead of them, the State Loan Bank was established for loans secured by real estate, which contributed to the development of credit. The system of credit institutions of Russia also included the loan and safe treasury (cash), created in 1772 to obtain a small loan. In 1775, orders of public charity were opened in large provincial cities, i.e. state pawnshops. In general, this system was created on the basis of class principles and was inactive. In 1758, the Copper Bank was organized, having bank offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but it did not last long. Under Catherine II, paper money (banknotes) and government loans were issued. At the same time, the Russian government began to resort to external loans.

Strengthening feudal land tenure and the dictatorship of the nobility. In the second half of the XVIII century. the line to strengthen feudal land tenure and the dictatorship of the nobility was continued by the Russian government.

Empress Elizaveta Petrovna conducted the granting of privileges and privileges to the nobles, which increased the stability of the serf economy. Four actions in this direction her government undertook in 1754: a decree declaring the distillation of a noble monopoly, organizing the Noble Bank, handing over to the nobles of state-owned factories in the Urals, and general land surveying. Only in the XVIII century. noble land tenure was replenished by more than 50 million dessiatines of land.

Another source of growth of noble land tenure and soul ownership were awards. The bounty of Catherine II surpassed everything with which the history of the previous period was familiar. The coup participants who secured her the throne, she granted 18 thousand serfs and 86 thousand rubles. premium. The decree banning industrialists from buying serfs to their enterprises was subordinated to the goals of strengthening the monopoly rights of nobles to the land.

The decree of 1782 that abolished mountain freedom, i.e. the right to use ore deposits by anyone who discovered them. Now the nobleman was declared not only the owner of the land, but also its depths. Nobles found a new privilege in the manifesto “On the gift of freedom and freedom to the whole Russian nobility”. It was promulgated by Peter III in 1762, and then confirmed by Catherine II.

Letters of charity to the nobility in 1785 Catherine II finally consolidated the privileges of the nobility. The privileged class had special personal and property rights and obligations. Nobles were exempt from taxes and duties. Noble land tenure increased significantly. State and palace peasants, as well as unpopulated lands, were distributed to landowners. In the areas adjacent to St. Petersburg, the nobles received in the first four decades of the XVIII century. about a million acres of land. In the second half of the century, vast areas of land were distributed to landowners in the Central Chernozem region and the Middle Volga region. During her reign, Catherine II distributed to the nobles more than 800,000 state and palace peasants.

The feudal duties of landowners in Russia by the end of the XVIII century. characterized by the following data. In 13 provinces of the Non-chernozem belt, 55 percent of the peasants were on a cash rent and 45 percent in the corvee. The picture in the Chernozem provinces was different: 74 percent of landowners' peasants carried corvee, and only 26 percent of peasants paid dues.

Territorial differences in the distribution of the collar and serfdom in the landlord village are mainly due to the peculiarities of the economic development of certain geographic areas.

The overwhelming majority of state peasants already at the beginning of the XVIII century. paid a cash rent. In 1776, state peasants of Siberia were transferred to it, cultivating the state tithe arable land.

The landlord economy gradually became the path of commodity production. Bread and other agricultural products were produced primarily for sale. The overall development of commodity-money relations in the country has drawn into its sphere and the peasant economy, which, although slowly, but took the path of small-scale commodity production. Along with this, the process of the disintegration of feudal relations is intensifying, which finds expression in the ever greater partnership of the landowners' farms, transferring some of the peasants to a month. All this suggests that in the last third of the XVIII century. The feudal-serf system in Russia is entering a period of crisis.

The growth of the territory. Administrative reforia. During the XVIII century. significantly increased the territory of the country. If at the beginning of the century it was about 14 million square meters. miles, then in 1791 - about 14.5 million square meters. versts, i.e. increased by almost 0.5 million square meters. versts Much increased and the population of the country. According to the first audit conducted in 1719, the total population was 7.8 million people; according to the fifth audit, which took place in 1795, 37.2 million people, i.e. increased almost 2.4 times. Under Catherine II, a broad administrative reform was carried out. In 1775, the country was divided into 50 provinces instead of the previous 20. The population of the province was from 300 to 400 thousand people. In turn, the provinces were divided into counties with a population of 20-30 thousand people. The entire completeness of the administrative and police authorities passed to the provincial government. State revenues were administered by the treasury chamber, and the provincial and county treasuries kept them.