home Economy Books History of the world economy - Polyak GB

History of the world economy - Polyak GB

15. Economic development of Russia during the formation of a single centralized state (XV-XVII centuries).

XV-XVII centuries. Occupy a special place in world history. They are filled with events of truly world-historic significance. The main ones are the Great geographical discoveries : tropical America X. Columbus, the road from Western Europe around South Africa to India Vasco da Gama, the discovery of Australia by Europeans, the strait between Asia and America S. Dezhnev, the first round-the-world expedition of F. Magellan and many others.

Thanks to the opening of new trade routes and new countries, trade has become world-wide, there has been a huge increase in goods in circulation. This accelerated the process of the disintegration of feudalism and the formation of capitalist relations in Western Europe.

The processes connected with overcoming feudal disunity, the development of bourgeois ties, the formation of centralized states covered not only the countries of Western Europe, but also North-Eastern Russia.

However, the completion of the process of the unification of the Russian lands around Moscow had significant features in comparison with the formation of national states in Western Europe, conditioned primarily by the external danger emanating from the Golden Horde, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania and other countries. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the formation of centralized states in Western Europe was accompanied by the formation of bourgeois, democratic societies. And in Russia there was a development of the orders inherent in feudal society, there was a process of formation and strengthening of serfdom, which existed until the second half of the XIX century.

The transition of Russia from feudal fragmentation to the formation of a single centralized state was due primarily to economic reasons: the growth of commodity production, the development of commodity-money relations, the erosion of subsistence economy.

15.1. Economy of Russia in the period of completion of the association around Moscow

Economic background

The final stage of overcoming the feudal disunity and unification of the Russian lands around Moscow into a single centralized state took about half a century. This happened during the reign of Ivan III and his son Vasily III. At them in structure of the Russian state 25 cities and 70 volosts have entered. It is to this period that education in the North-Eastern Russia is a huge power, which at that time was one of the largest states in Europe. Since the end of XV century. This state began to be called Russia, and Moscow became its capital .

Moscow occupied a particularly advantageous geographical position. Many settlers, fleeing from the raids of the Mongol-Tatars, going north, could not escape Moscow and settled around it. In addition, the Moscow River was a waterway that connected the upper reaches of the Volga with the middle course of the Oka River. This way, in particular, the Novgorodians used, carrying bread, wax, honey from the richest places of the Ryazan land. Near Moscow, through Istra and Volokolamsk, there was a historical trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks".
Owning such overland and river routes, the Moscow princes extracted considerable income in the form of duties from merchants and cargo flows. This contributed to the enrichment of the Moscow princes, the rapid growth of the population of the Moscow principality, the growth of its economic and military power.

In addition, one can not ignore the fact that the talents and dexterity of the first Moscow princes: Yuri Dolgoruky - the founder of Moscow, Daniel (the son of Alexander Nevsky), Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan Kalita, Ivan III, Basil III - was an important reason for Moscow's rise. It is no accident that in the struggle against Tver and Novgorod for the primacy in Russia Moscow won, becoming the center of the united Russian state.

On the state of the economy of Russia in the XV century. Continued to affect the Mongol-Tatar invasion, existed until 1480. Russia experienced the full burden of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Its consequences significantly delayed the economic and cultural development of the Russian principalities, laid the foundation for Russia's lagging behind the advanced countries of Western Europe. The need for struggle for liberation from the yoke put forward a military-service nobility on the historical arena and promoted the strengthening of feudal-serf relations on a national scale.

The Mongol-Tatar invaders, taking into account the selfless and constant struggle of the Russian people for their independence, refused to directly include the Russian lands in the Golden Horde. They did not create in the Russian principalities and their permanent administration. Dependence of Rus from the Mongol-Tatar khans was expressed primarily in a heavy tribute, the collection of which was entrusted to their proteges - Baskak, Muslim taxpayers, and from the XIV century. - Russian princes. Russia's political dependence was expressed in the fact that the right to reign was formalized by special diplomas in the Golden Horde itself, and the fierce struggle of the Russian princes for this right also weakened Rus.

Development of productive forces

However, the Mongol-Tatar yoke was unable and could not interrupt social and economic progress. The development of productive forces in Russia continued in these difficult conditions.

In the XV century. In Rus, the pre-Mongol level in the development of agriculture was restored. The most rapid recovery and development took place in the northeastern lands. This was facilitated by the fact that the population of this part of Russia was growing at the expense of peasants and townspeople - refugees from the southern lands of the country where the Mongol-Tatars turned arable land into huge pastures for their nomadic livestock. In agriculture, the main branch of the economy was agriculture. In addition to cutting (clearing forest plots for crops) and re-laying ( land use, where the field was used for 10-15 years in a row, and then for several years the land was resting and plowing again), the three-field was widely used. Under this system of farming the peasant's arable land was divided into three parts: yar, winter and steam. One was sown in the spring, another in the fall, and the third was resting. Then a year later the economic purpose of the arable land changed.

The importance of such kinds of crafts as hunting and beekeeping decreased: in connection with the reduction of the fur-bearing animals in the forests, hunting declined, and beekeeping became a domestic industry (the creation of apiaries began).

There is an increase in commodity-money relations, which affected the economy of both peasants and feudal lords. The mass transition from the cutting and the re-laying to the tripartite created conditions for increasing the yield, the appearance of surplus grain. Bread became a commodity . Its buyer was primarily the urban population. This caused the desire of feudal lords to seize vast tracts of land, subordinating more peasants. And by the XVI century. The peasant community was almost completely absorbed by the feudal state. The feudal lords actually established the monopoly right to own land, which enabled them to establish economic and political power over the peasants.

The main form of large feudal land ownership was patrimony - princely, boyar, church, inherited. Votkin was also a form of organization of agricultural production. The center of the princely patrimony was the prince's court, which included the mansion (palace), houses for important servants, premises for the rest of the servants, farm buildings. In the patrimony included agricultural land, meadows, apiaries. In it there were livestock workers, dairy and beef cattle, poultry. The peasants lived in villages and villages.

The main wealth of the fiefdom was the landed estates. In the prince's lands (domenic), the labor of feudally dependent smerds, serfs, servants was used. The work was managed by the military - village and village headmen.

Craftsmen and artisans worked in the patrimony.

Thus, the patrimonial form of the organization of the economy was built on the principle of self-sufficiency.

In the second half of the XV century. Began to appear the first elements of legal enslavement of peasants. In particular, under Ivan III, the Code of Law of 1497 was adopted , in which the peasants were restricted from leaving one feudal lord to another week before and one week after St. George's Day (November 26). For the maintenance set the size of the output fee - the elderly (the fee charged to the peasant in the transition from one landowner to another). This was the first open step towards the establishment of serfdom in Russia.

At the same time, corvée grew, the natural rent was increased, as well as the appearance of a financial quid showing the growth of commodity-money relations.

However, the Russian people managed not only to preserve their national identity in these difficult conditions of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, but also found the strength to drive out conquerors from their native places. In the XV century. The Golden Horde began to disintegrate into semi-independent khanates, for example, Kazan, Astrakhan. The Horde could no longer interfere in the internal affairs of Russia. The last invasion of the Tartars in 1480 ended with a great standing on the river. Ufa, when the Horde troops were afraid to enter into battle with the Russians and left Russia forever.

From the second half of the XV century. Under the administration of the Moscow prince, new principalities are beginning to move. Here their princes became specific princes (princes), occupying places either among the boyars of the first row, or one or two degrees lower. Turning to the service of the Muscovite prince, these princes became simple patrimonial landowners. However, in their patrimonies, they retained all the attributes of the state. They had their own yard, their soldiers, whom they brought to the service of the Grand Duke. The princes were exempted from land taxes. In their patrimonies, they had practically unlimited power: they could give their lands to monasteries for fiefdoms and give their servants to estates.

In the second half of the XV century. The so-called "black lands" prevailed in the North-Eastern Russia . Separate territories of such "black lands" existed in the central regions.

"Black lands" are the land holdings of black-peasant peasants (ie, peasants, who carried state duties and paid taxes). For black-skinned peasants, dependent not on individuals but on the state, communal land ownership with individual ownership, a personal plot and a tilled land was characteristic, as well as the existence of an elected volost self-government under the control of the princely administration-governors in counties and volostels in rural districts.

In the development of agriculture, the nature of the village craft changed. If earlier the peasant artisan himself extracted raw materials and the products of his labor were intended only for his own consumption or for the feudal lord, now the peasants began to buy the raw materials necessary for handicraft production and sell their products on the market. A number of new branches of rural craft appeared. In rural areas there were settlements of artisans and merchants.

City craft grew faster. In large cities - Novgorod, Tver, Tula, Kostroma and others, there were 60-70 handicraft trades. Especially great development was the handicraft production in Moscow, which was famous for its bronzes, smiths and jewelers. The famous Russian crafts continued to develop. The foundry business was revived, the masters of which cast bells, cannons, bronze ornaments. Masters-jewelers made ornaments with a mobile and a scan. Tannery, shoemaking and pottery were widely used, books were developed.

The importance of domestic trade has increased. There were fairs and auctions (local markets), which were the beginnings of the emerging all-Russian market.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion, although it slowed down, did not interrupt trade relations with other countries. Russian merchants (guests) were associated with Zamor (Asia Minor), with the Caspian countries, Constantinople, as well as with England and Holland, Poland, Germany, Sweden and Norway. So, furs, wax, honey, leather, weapons went to Western Europe, and from there they received spices, soap, paints, thin linen, cloth.

Changes in the social structure

Economic progress in the XV century. Caused changes in the social structure of feudal society. By this time, the former division of servicemen into senior and junior squads is out of use. The upper stratum was still called boyars, and behind the younger squad the new name of "boyar children" or "free servants" was affirmed .

In parallel with the strengthening of princely authority, the importance of service at the court of the Moscow sovereign grew. The word "yard" since the time of Ivan III was given a different, higher meaning. The former nobleman in the courtyard of the prince belonged to the category of inferior servants and workers. Now he rose to a higher level. His service became more honorable. This testified to the triumph of the new Moscow order over the old, obsolete.

Persons who were in the service of the princes, as salaries during the period of service, received lands inhabited by peasants - estates. The local land tenure system expanded. XVI century. For Russia are the years that demanded the presence of a large army and considerable funds for its maintenance. This was dictated by the transition to the so-called local system. The essence of it was that the government, having extensive, often uninhabited and unprocessed lands, granted them to private individuals with the obligation to perform military service. Such lands were called estates, and the persons who owned them were landowners. While the landowner was serving, he was the master of the estate. For this he, being drafted for the war, was to appear accompanied by several people, providing them at his own expense with complete weapons and maintenance for the duration of military operations. The number of people the landowner brought to the village depended on the size of the estate. It was called "horse, crowded and weaponly". If the landowner for some reason interrupted the service, the state deprived him of the estate, which would go to the treasury and be transferred to another.

These estates were different from the fiefdom. Unlike the owner of the fiefdom, the landlord could not give, to transfer the estate to his son by inheritance.

The nobility became the backbone of the emerging autocratic state. The population of the feudal cities (mainly at the expense of artisans and traders) grew into a major political force. Their interests demanded the cessation of inter-feudal wars, the liquidation of internal customs, the creation of a single monetary system, a unified system of measures of weight, volume, and so on.

Thus, by the end of the XV - the beginning of the XVI centuries. The great Moscow principality is transformed into a single centralized state. His princes become the princes of all Russia. And Russia itself turns into a great power - Russia. Political centralization in Russia considerably outstripped the beginning of the process of overcoming the economic disunity of the country and was accelerated by the struggle for national independence, for organizing the rebuff of external aggression. The tendency towards unification was manifested in all the Russian lands. The Russian state was formed during the XV century. On a feudal basis, the growth of feudal landownership and the development of serfdom, the formation of class society.