The history of the world economy - Polyak GB

15.3. Russia's economy is on the threshold of modern times (XVII century.)

Russia's economy in the years of the Time of Troubles

The end of the XVI - beginning of XVII centuries. marked by huge tests, incredible social and economic problems for Russia. It is no coincidence period from 1598 to 1613. He went down in history as the Time of Troubles.

Reasons for the Time of Troubles are rooted primarily in domestic and foreign policy of Ivan the Terrible. Chief among them two. First, the long Livonian War (1558-1583), ended with the signing disadvantageous for Russia, the world has caused economic hardship, a sharp increase in taxes, the impoverishment of the people. Secondly, the oprichnina (1565-1572) caused great damage to the country, further undermine the Russian economy, ravaged the population in many regions. The farm has fallen into decay, the city deserted. People leave their homes. The country has come a "great devastation."

The Death of Ivan the Terrible even more complicated socio-economic situation in the country. His successor - painful and imbecile Fedor was not able to cope with the enormous social and economic crisis. To all this was added another huge disaster - a terrible famine caused by the unprecedented bad harvests. In Moscow alone killed 27 thousand. Man. Attempts by the government to fight hunger (bread distribution and money famine) were not successful. All this gave rise to great confusion in the country.

For fifteen years the Time of Troubles (1598-1613) replaced the six rulers in Russia: Boris Godunov, F. Godunov, False Dmitry I, V. Shumsky (simultaneously with "legal Tushino" False Dmitry II) and Vladislav I (son of the Polish King Sigismund III). In these years there defeated a rebellion of peasants and slaves, led by a servant of clubfoot (1603) and the peasant war led by Ivan Bolotnikov (1606-1607). These are the years of the nationwide struggle against the Polish invaders, the exile militia Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin Poles from Moscow (1610-1612).

After the liberation of Moscow from invaders country was in a very difficult position. The Polish troops were still close to Moscow. Many cities were devastated and obezlyu-Dena, villages burnt and looted. In the north and north-west, hosted the Swedish invaders. In such circumstances, at the beginning of 1613 the Zemsky Sobor was convened, at which Mikhail Romanov was elected tsar. Smoot is not over yet, but the main thing was achieved: the weary hard times the Russians were able to find peace and order in the state.

In order to meet the challenges of economic recovery, a new royal government had to solve the most important task - to ensure peace on Russia's borders with Poland and Sweden, and he succeeded. In 1617, in columnar (near Tikhvin) was signed peace with Sweden and in 1618 in the village of Deulin armistice was concluded at fourteen and a half years with Poland. Russia had an opportunity in peace to rebuild destroyed rural and urban.

At the Time of Troubles, about 50% of arable land were abandoned, depopulated, many villages were deserted city.

Economy Recovery took several decades. Only in the middle of XVII century, it was able to restore the size of arable land.

Craft. The development of the manufactory

In the process of restoring the national economy occupies an important place craft. In some cities, 30-40% of the population were engaged in trade. The growth of handicraft production and the expansion of markets have led to specialization of individual areas and territorial division of labor. For example, metal processing involved in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Veliky Ustyug, processing flax - in Vologda, Kostroma, Novgorod, Pskov, Yaroslavl counties; skin treated in Vologda and Yaroslavl; pottery production was concentrated in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Veliky Ustyug; Wood processing has been extended in the Dvina district, Solvychegodsk Velikoustyug-tion and Vyatka land.

artisan work in order gradually replaced the work on sale and turned into a small-scale production. Urban artisans sold their products on the local urban markets.

In the XVII century. in Russia increased the number of manufactories - industry based on manual labor and the division of work operations. This form of production in its historical development was preceded by the factory. There was some metallurgical and metal-working enterprises, based on both Russian and foreign businessmen, with the support of the tsarist government. Dutch merchant A. Vinius in 1637 built three large steel factory near Tula (a blast furnace, water acting-forming rock and furs). Then, the Dutch and Danish merchants have built several such plants in Kashira district and Zaonezhie. These plants not only smelted metal, and manufactured guns, cannon balls, wire, bolts, chains. Each plant had three branches (factories): domain, Molotov, boring. To drive the bellows of crushing hammers, drilling machines are sometimes used water acting mechanisms. At the end of the XVII century. 10 plants operated in Russia, which annually smelted 150 thousand. Tons of pig iron and 50 thousand. Pounds of iron.

Unlike Western manufactory XVII. in Russia were formed and strengthened under the domination of feudal relations in the country. Serfs were state-owned factory (which acted organizer and leader of the government) and lands (owned by nobles with their serf labor). By manufactories are often attributed to the whole village and then became serfs serf workers. The serfs manufactories interwoven bourgeois and feudal relations: the entrepreneur at the same time was a landowner - he belonged to the manufactory, and working the land, and the worker does not have the means of production, and there was due to the forced sale of its workforce.

Social contradictions. The final zakreposhenie farmers

The country is still not enough money on the military. The government saw output increase in taxes. Of the direct taxes transformation affected land-taxation. Since pososhnoe taxation does not take into account the ratio of processed and vacant land, which became more and more, it was introduced homestead lodge. This has increased the number of taxpayers. It has been changed and the system of other direct taxes.

During this period, the farming system is widely implemented in Russia, where the collection of taxes transferred to merchants who were prepared for this right "naddachu" is the source of primitive accumulation of capital. Taxes have grown so much that the farmers, who could not repay them, whole villages were hiding in the woods, and the townspeople settled in the cities 'white land', with which the tax will be charged. Escaped the peasants if they were found, returned to his lords, and citizens - in Draught settlement.

tax growth, further enslavement of the peasantry intensified class contradictions in the country and have caused a number of revolts.

The largest was an uprising in Moscow in 1648, called "Salt Riot." The occasion was the introduction of confiscatory tax on salt for the people, when the king was replaced by a variety of direct taxes to the uniform tax on salt in order to replenish the treasury, which caused its rise in price by several times. The uprising took part townspeople, peasants, archers. The rebels set fire to Moscow White City and China Town, defeated the hated boyars yards, clerks, merchants. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was forced to make concessions to the rebels. He dismissed the head of Boris Morozov government from power and exiled him in Belozersky monastery; was delayed collection of arrears, the musketeers were given double the money and the meal allowance. However, after some time BI Morozov had returned to Moscow and again led government.

The wave of uprisings swept through the Russian cities:. Great Ustyug, Novgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Vladimir, etc. The uprising was covered about 30 cities.

The tsarist government, frightened by the scale rebellions, in 1649 adopted the Conciliar The Code, which had about 1,000 items, grouped into 25 chapters. This body of law gives lords the right to indefinite investigation fleeing peasants. The Code finally abolished St. George's Day and completely enslaves farmers. The feudal lords got the right to fully dispose of the person and property of the farmer. Serfdom was extended to chernososhnyh and palace peasants. They were forbidden to leave their community. Legal Code limited and church land ownership, what reflected the trend subordination to the state church. The Posada had been eliminated "white settlement", now all the urban population was required to pay a single state tax - tax.

Code of 1649 contained a number of provisions adopted in the interests of the nobility. The nobles were given the right in some cases to transfer the estate by inheritance. Conciliar The Code has played a major role in strengthening the autocracy and prepared the conditions for the transition to absolutism.

Adoption of the Catholic Code of 1649 has not brought calm in the social life. In 1662 there was a new major uprising - "Copper rebellion". His main reason was the release of a large number of copper coins, equal in value to silver, which led to its devaluation, and mass production of counterfeit copper coins. The uprising was attended to ten thousand people, mostly residents of the capital. The uprising was brutally suppressed, but his influence in 1663 copper coins were canceled.

Following Moscow's "Copper rebellion" insurrection broke out on the Don Cossacks. In the spring of 1670 the rebels under the leadership of Stepan Razin Ataman went to the Volga. After the capture of Tsaritsyn they took Astrakhan, captured without a fight Saratov and Samara. However, in the battle for Simbirsk rebels were defeated. Stepan Razin was issued wealthy Cossacks tsarist government. He was taken to Moscow, June 6, 1671 executed. Peasant War was drowned in blood. But it was the signal for a change in the socio-economic life and prompted government authorities to change.

Merchants and trade

With the development of trade continued to develop merchant class. Higher privileged merchants corporation in Russia were guests. They were major trading both domestically and abroad, were appointed to senior positions in central and local economic and financial bodies. For example, there were about thirty people in Moscow. Also, there were merchants' corporations - living hundreds and hundreds of cloth.

Realizing that foreign trade - an important source of income, of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich government strongly encouraged its development. This is beneficial to the development of trade with the European (Sweden, England) and Asian countries (Iran, India, China).

Meeting Russian "industry people" with Dutch merchants on the shores of the Arctic Ocean

Meeting Russian "industry people" with Dutch merchants on the shores of the Arctic Ocean

Russia exported furs, wood, tar, potash, hemp, leather, rope, canvas. Admission (for the feudal upper) of wine, spices, mirrors, cloth, weapons, metal products, paper, paint and other products.

Taking care of the development of domestic trade, the government fully supported the merchant, which is reflected in the adopted in 1653 Customs statute. A variety of duties levied on goods sellers, were replaced by a single ruble duty of 5% on turnover. In the realm of the secular and spiritual feudal levy carriageways duties it was forbidden.

On the domestic Russian market in the second half of the XVII century. It had the dominance of foreign capital. Experiencing difficulties of competition, Russian merchants have repeatedly appealed to the Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with a request for foreign traders to restrict access to the Russian market. In this connection in 1667 was adopted by the New Commercial Charter which provided for foreigners some restrictions: they were not allowed to make trades in the inner cities of Russia; they can only trade in the border cities of Arkhangelsk, Novgorod and Pskov, and only during the fairs. To trade a special permit (charter) required outside these cities. The foreign merchants had to pay duty at the rate of 6% from the sales price, and with luxury goods (such as wine) 15%.

New Commercial regulations, a draft of which was prepared by the distinguished economist and a great statesman AL Ordin-Nashchokin wore protectionist and was designed to monopolize the domestic market in the hands of big Russian merchants-wholesalers.

The economic development of the country in the XVII century. led to the merger of all the lands and principalities into a single economic unit, to a predetermined increasing exchange of goods, the union of small local markets into a single all-Russian market. The whole country was known fairs such as Makarevskaya near Nizhny Novgorod, Svenskaya near Bryansk, Irbit in the Urals.

Education nationwide market meant overcoming the economic isolation of certain areas and merge them into a single economic system. This ended a long process of formation of the Russian centralized state.

In the west of Russia's foreign policy had considerable success. This showed unsuccessful war with Poland, Russia for Smolensk (1632-1634). However, a different situation was in the east. In an unusually short period of Russian explorers, continuing campaigns Cossack Ataman Ermak, passed by Obi to the Pacific Ocean, Kamchatka and the Kuriles. In 1645 V. Poyarkov came to the Amur and sailed by the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. S. Dezhnev with twenty-five Cossacks skirted the northeastern tip of Asia and discovered the strait between Asia and North America (1648-1649). In 1649-1653 gg. E. Khabarov with a detachment of Cossacks made a number of trips to the Amur.

Cossacks-pioneers laid the town and forts. Behind them were enterprising merchants, industrialists, farmers and various "free" people. At the end of the XVII century. Russian population of Siberia was about 150 thousand. man. The local population had to pay tribute to the state (a tribute to fur-bearing animals, especially sable skins). By the end of the XVII century. Siberian agriculture was producing so much bread that it sufficed to feed the entire population of Siberia.

At the end of the XVII century. Russia occupied a vast territory from the Caspian Sea to Arkhangelsk, and from the left-bank Ukraine to the Pacific Ocean. The country's population was 10.5 million. Man.

Completion of the economic unification of the country, folding nationwide market, the beginning of the manufacturing production have created the objective opportunity to overcome the relative backwardness of Russia.

Review Questions

1. What are the main features characterize the economic fragmentation of Russia in the XV century.?

2. What is the nature and significance of the struggle between intra-patrimonial nobility and landed gentry in the XVI century.?

3. Trace the evolution of economic ideas of Law of Ivan III and Ivan IV.

4. Tell us about the causes of the economic unification of Russian lands into a single state.

5. What are the preconditions, the main content and significance of the Catholic Code of 1649?

6. Tell us about the main stages of the enslavement of the peasants in Russia, describe the role of the state in this process.

7. Describe the influence of the Mongol and Polish-Swedish aggression on the further development of Russia's economy.