11 Russia in the 18th century

• Russia under Peter I

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

• Enlightened absolutism in Russia

11.1. Russia under Peter I

In Russia in the XVIII century. along with the strengthening and execution of the estate system, profound changes in economic and social development are taking place, affecting all aspects of the national economy and the social image of the country. The basis of these changes was the process of decomposition of feudalism and the genesis of capitalist relations, which began in the 17th century. The culmination of this process was, of course, the era of Peter I (1672-1725), the king-converter. Peter I understood correctly and realized the complexity of the tasks that the country was facing, and set about to accomplish them purposefully.

Absolutism and government. Under Peter I, absolutism was finally established in Russia, Peter was proclaimed emperor, which meant the strengthening of the power of the tsar himself, he became a monarch autocratic and unlimited.

In Russia, the state apparatus was reformed - instead of the Boyar Duma, the Senate was established, which included nine dignitaries who were closest to Peter I. The Senate was the legislative body that controlled the country's finances and the activities of the administration. At the head of the Senate was the Attorney General.

Reform of public administration affected the order system and they were replaced by boards, the number of which reached 12. Each board was in charge of a specific branch of management: external relations were managed by the Board of Foreign Affairs, the Admiralty Fleet, revenue collection — Chamber Chamber, noble landowning — Eternal, etc. The cities were in charge of the Chief Magistrate.

During this period, the struggle between the supreme and secular authorities and the church continued. In 1721, the Theological Board, or Synod, was established , which testified to the complete subordination of the church to the state. In Russia, the office of the patriarch was abolished, the supervision of the church was entrusted to the chief procurator of the Synod.

The system of local government was reorganized, the country was divided in 1708 into eight provinces (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Arkhangelsk, Smolensk, Kazan, Azov and Siberian), headed by governors in charge of the troops. Since the territories of the provinces were huge, they were divided into 50 provinces. In turn, the provinces were divided into counties.

These measures testified to the creation in Russia of a single administrative-bureaucratic management system - an indispensable attribute of an absolutist state.

The reforms of Peter I affected the army and navy. In 1705, a recruitment duty was introduced in the country, and the rate for placing a soldier on a life-long service was established - one recruit from 20 peasant households. Thus, the army was created with a single principle of recruitment, with uniform weapons and uniforms. New military regulations were introduced. Officers' schools were organized. Artillery guns were delivered to the army, many ships were built. So, by 1725 the Baltic Fleet had more than 30 battleships, 16 frigates and more than 400 other ships. Under Peter I, the Russian army and navy became one of the strongest in Europe.

An important result and legislative consolidation of all the reform activities of Peter was Table of ranks (1722), which was a law on the procedure of public service. The adoption of this law meant a break with the previous patriarchal tradition of government, embodied in regionalism. Having established the order of clerical production in the military and civil service, not according to nobility, but according to personal abilities and merits, Table of Ranks helped consolidate the nobility and expand its composition at the expense of people from different sections of the population loyal to the tsar.

The development of manufacturing

The development of manufacturing The most characteristic feature of Russia's economic development was the decisive role of the autocratic state in the economy, its active and deep penetration into all spheres of economic life. Established by Peter 1 Berg-, Manufactures-, Kommerts-collegiums-and the Chief Magistrate were institutions of state regulation of the national economy, organs of the implementation of the trade and industrial policy of autocracy. There are two stages in industrial policy: 1700-1717. - the main founder of the manufactories - the treasury; From 1717, private individuals began to establish manufactories. In this case, the owners of manufactories were exempt from the state service.

At the first stage, priority was given to production for military needs. At the second stage, the industry began to produce products for the population.

By a decree of 1722, the urban artisans were united into workshops, but unlike Western Europe, they were organized by the state, and not by the artisans themselves, for the manufacture of products needed by the army and the fleet.

A higher form of industrial production was manufactory. As a result of the transformations of Peter I in the first quarter of the XVIII century. in the development of the manufacturing industry there was a sharp jump. Compared with the end of the XVII century. the number of manufactories increased about five times and in 1725 amounted to 205 enterprises.

Especially great successes were achieved in the metallurgical industry, which was caused by the necessity of arming the army and building the fleet. Along with plants in the old districts (Tula, Kashira, Kaluga), factories arose in Karelia, and then in the Urals. It was during this period that the widespread development of iron and copper ores of the Urals began, which soon became the main metallurgical base of the country. Iron smelting reached 815 thousand pounds per year, according to this indicator, Russia ranked third in the world, second only to England and Sweden. Large copper production was organized. Textile manufactories ranked second and developed in the center of the country. Leather factories also worked here, providing products primarily to the army.

Under Peter I, new branches emerged in Russia: shipbuilding, silk spinning, glass and earthenware, paper production.

The state played a large role in the development of large-scale industry. It built factories, helped private entrepreneurs, provided manufactory with labor.

The manufactories used both civilian and forced labor of peasants who worked in the patrimonial enterprises of their landlords, as well as assigned peasants from the state and palace villages. By decree of 1721, merchants were allowed to purchase serfs for their factories, who later became known as sessional farmers . Thus, in the first quarter of the XVIII century. there was a jump in the development of large-scale production and in the use of civilian labor. This can be considered the second stage in the initial period of the genesis of capitalist relations in the industry of Russia (the first stage is the seventeenth century).

Trade

Trade. During the reign of Peter I, internal and foreign trade was stimulated. This was facilitated by the development of industrial and handicraft production, the conquest of access to the Baltic Sea, the improvement of means of communication. During this period, canals were built that connected the Volga and the Neva (Vyshnevolotsky and Ladoga). The exchange between individual parts of the country intensified, the turnover of the Russian fairs (Makarievsky, Irbit, Svenskaya, etc.) grew, in which the formation of the All-Russian market was manifested.

For the development of foreign trade were important not only the construction of the St. Petersburg port, but also the support of Russian merchants and industrialists from the government of Peter I. This was reflected in the policy of protectionism and mercantilism, in adopting the Protective Tariff of 1724. In accordance with it the development was attended by the emperor himself) encouraged the export of Russian goods abroad and limited to the import of foreign products. The majority of foreign goods were subject to very high duties, reaching up to 75% of the value of the goods. Revenues from trade contributed to the accumulation of capital in the sphere of trade, which also led to an increase in the capitalist structure. The general feature of the development of trade was the implementation of the policy of mercantilism, the essence of which was the accumulation of money through an active trade balance.

The state actively intervened in the development of trade:

monopolies were introduced for the procurement and sale of certain goods: salt, flax, yuft, hemp, tobacco, bread, fat, wax, etc., which led to an increase in prices for these goods domestically and to limit the activities of Russian merchants;

Often, the sale of a certain commodity for which the state monopoly was introduced was transferred to a specific tax collector for the payment of a large amount of money;

dramatically increased direct taxes (customs, drinking fees), etc .;

The forced relocation of merchants to St. Petersburg, which was at that time an uncomfortable border town, was practiced.

The practice of administrative regulation of freight traffic was applied, i.e. it was determined in which port and what to trade. Rough government intervention in the sphere of trade led to the destruction of the shaky foundation on which the welfare of merchants, above all, loan and usury capital, was maintained.

Monetary reform. In conditions when there was a significant expansion of industrial production, the turnover of domestic and foreign trade increased, it was necessary to reform the monetary system. It was formed in the XVII century. and now, in the era of Peter the Great's transformations, it no longer corresponds to the interests of economic development. For wholesale trade and foreign trade operations, a silver penny that was in circulation turned out to be too small a monetary unit. At the same time, for petty market trading, it was unnecessarily valuable. Therefore, Peter 1 held a reform of the coinage. She provided for the minting of gold, silver and copper coins. The basis of the monetary system was based on the decimal principle: the ruble, dime, penny. The main units of the monetary system were a copper penny and a silver ruble, which, in order to facilitate foreign trade, was equal to the thaler, which was used as a monetary unit in a number of European countries. Coinage has become a state monopoly.

Agriculture. A notable phenomenon in the history of agriculture of the XVIII century. became the process of territorial division of labor, which began in the XVII century. The formation of areas specializing in the production of certain agricultural products was basically completed, their trade orientation was more clearly marked. In agriculture, the production of grains and industrial crops prevailed, among which flax and hemp held the leading place.

Social politics. In the field of social policy, Peter's legislation followed, in principle, the general trend that emerged in the XVIII century. The attachment of peasants to the land, fixed by the Code of 1649, during that period not only did not change, but also received further development. This is evidenced by the introduction of a new system of registration of the population and taxation, conducted in order to increase the efficiency of control over tax collection from the population. The government, in an effort to identify each individual taxpayer, has introduced a new taxation principle - a head tax. Taxes began to be collected - now not from the yard, but from the auditing soul ¹ . In 1718-1724 a census of the entire tax-paying population was carried out, and all those on the list had to pay a certain cap per year. The introduction of the poll tax has led to several important consequences: the consolidation of the existing social structures, the strengthening of the landlords' power over the peasants and, in addition, the spread of the tax burden to new groups of the population.

Another major initiative in the field of state regulation of social relations was an attempt by Peter I to stabilize the ruling class economically and politically. In this respect, an important role was played by the Decree on the procedure for the inheritance of movable and immovable property of March 23, 1714, known as the decree on the major-moor. Under the new law, all landed property of a nobleman was to be inherited only to one eldest son or daughter, and in their absence, to one of the family members. In a long historical perspective, Peter’s decree would have retained large landed estates indivisible, would have prevented their fragmentation. However, the Russian nobility met him extremely hostilely. The decree on maritime, despite repeated reminders and threats, was never enforced, and in subsequent reigns was canceled. The history of this legislative provision well shows the limits and possibilities of state intervention in the rationalization of social relations, the regulation of the ruling class.

At the same time, it was important, since from that moment the noble estate was equal in rights with the boyar patrimony, the differences between them did not become - the estate, like the patrimony, became inheritable. This decree marked the merging of the two estates of the feudal lords into a single class. Since that time, secular feudal lords began to be called nobles.

If the Code of 1649 issued serfdom for the majority of the rural population, then tax reform extended serfdom to sections of the population that were either free (walking people) or had the opportunity to gain freedom after the death of the master (slaves). Both those and others forever became serfs.

The results of the census, conducted by Peter, give an idea of ​​the population of Russia, it was 15.5 million people, of which 5.4 million were men, from which it was levied to submit.

Strengthening the tax yoke entailed a mass exodus of the peasants. In 1724, Peter issued a decree prohibiting peasants from leaving landowners for work without written permission. So in Russia was the beginning of the passport system.