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Street vendors under Peter 1. Economic policy of Peter I. Foreign trade. Ports, waterways, legislation

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Introduction

1. The state and development of Russian industry under Peter 1

2. Reform of the management system under Peter 1

3. Domestic and foreign trade under Peter 1

4. Changes in the financial system under Peter 1

5. Military reform of Peter 1

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

This essay will consider the topic: "Russia under Peter 1".

During the reign of Peter 1, Russia turned into a great power with an efficient economy, powerful army and navy, highly developed science and culture. All these achievements would be very desirable to see in modern Russia.

Russia's advance was swift and decisive. Peter maintained in his like-minded people vivacity, faith in success, he was in a hurry to have time to do a lot, and it is not without reason that the Petrine era is called “Young Russia”. But all these transformations often took place through violence, through the suffering of the people, through a sharp break in the customs, habits, psychology of people, through extremism, intolerance, unwillingness to reckon with the internal conditions for reforms. The planting of the new went through a fierce struggle with the old. Despite the fact that Peter was a supporter of the Western path of development and Western rationalism, he carried out his reforms in an Asian way.

It should also be emphasized that in trying to get closer to Western European civilization, introducing everything advanced and useful, Peter forgot about Russia's originality, about its dual Eurasian essence. He believed that all the origins of her backwardness lie in Asian roots. Striving for Europe, Peter often adopted only the external forms of progressive ideas, ignoring the inner essence of centuries-old traditions.

And yet, the significance of the great changes in the life of Russia, carried out in the era of Peter the Great, can hardly be overestimated.

1. State and r industrial development Russia under Peter 1

Undoubtedly, the young tsar's determination to start cardinal reforms was influenced by failures in the war with Sweden and Turkey for access to the Baltic and Black Seas. Military failures showed, first of all, the backwardness of domestic metallurgy. Indeed, until the very beginning of the 18th century, Russia imported, mainly from Sweden, iron, copper, tin, and weapons. The war in the Baltics stopped these supplies, so the development of our own metallurgical production became a strategic problem.

The government made great efforts to build iron-making manufactories at the expense of the treasury in the Urals and in the Olonets region. The first decade of the 18th century can be characterized as a period of active state intervention in the economy and encouragement of private enterprise. The transfer of state-owned enterprises, especially unprofitable ones, to private "particular" owners, foreigners or commercial and industrial companies - the merchants - has become a common phenomenon. The state assumed the costs of training workers, supplied equipment, and sent specialists to these enterprises. For especially important industries, various privileges were given, soft loans, free land plots for the construction of new factories.

It should be emphasized that these emergency measures played a decisive role in creating a powerful material base for the army, which made it possible to defeat Sweden in the Northern War. As a result, Russia received access to the Baltic Sea and returned its lands, which had long been part of the Novgorod principality. In 1703, the city of St. Petersburg was founded, which in 1713 became the new capital of Russia. Isaev I.A. History of the state and law of Russia: Proc. for universities on special and the direction of Jurisprudence” / Mosk. state legal acad. - M.: Jurist, 1998. - S.235.

The first manufactories appeared in Russia as early as the 17th century, but they did not play a significant role in the economy at that time. It was from the 18th century that the manufacturing period began in the national economy, since the manufacturing system became predominant in comparison with handicraft production. Since the 17th century, manufactories in Russia began to be called Western - "factories", although, as you know, factories were based on a system of various machines and freelance labor, which were almost non-existent in Russia at that time.

Since there were almost no free workers in the country, the main problem in organizing manufactories was to provide them with hired labor. If in the first years of the 18th century it was still possible to find free (“walking”, runaway) people who did not fall into serfdom, then later, when the process of enslavement intensified and the search for runaway peasants became more strict, the number of “staggering” people sharply decreased in the country . The government increased the scale of forced labor, when entire villages and villages were assigned to enterprises, at first only for the autumn-winter period, and then for good. Zuev M.N. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the twentieth century. Tutorial. - M.: Bustard, 2002. - S.218.

In addition to state-owned and patrimonial, possession-based, or conditional, manufactories began to appear (lat. Possessio - conditional possession). Since 1721, by decree of Peter I, it was allowed to buy serfs to non-nobles (merchants, rich townspeople from among artisans). In this case, the peasants were assigned to the enterprise and constituted a single whole. These peasants could no longer be sold separately; such manufactories were bought and sold only under certain conditions. The activities of the owners of possession manufactories were monitored by the state. These owners were subsequently exempted from compulsory civil service, had tax and customs privileges. Dispersed manufactories also continued to develop, which arose on the basis of merchant capital and tied domestic peasant production to commercial and industrial capital.

In the first quarter of the 18th century, there was a noticeable increase in manufactory production. And if at the end of the 17th century there were about 20 manufactories in the country, then in the mid-1720s there were already 205 manufactories and large enterprises of a handicraft type, among which 90 belonged to the treasury and 115 to private capital. There were especially many metallurgical enterprises: 52 - in ferrous metallurgy, 17 - in non-ferrous, which were mainly located in the Urals and in Tula. On the shores of Lake Onega in 1703, an iron foundry and ironworks were built, which laid the foundation for the city of Petrozavodsk. In addition, in the 1720s there were 18 sawmills, 17 gunpowder factories, 15 cloth factories, 11 leather factories, as well as enterprises for the production of glass, porcelain, paper, etc. Livshits A.Ya. Economic reform in Russia and its price. - M.: Prospekt, 2001. - P. 111.

The transformation of the Urals into the largest world center of metallurgy was a notable economic event in Russia at that time. In 1699, on the initiative of Peter, ironworks were built on the Neva River, which, since 1702, were transferred to the former Tula blacksmith Nikita Demidov. The Ural factories of the Demidovs and other entrepreneurs were at the advanced technical level, even by European criteria. The products of metallurgical plants were of high quality, they began to export them to Europe, and soon Russia came out on top in Europe in the production of pig iron. If in 1700 150 thousand poods were produced, then in 1725 - about 800 thousand poods of cast iron (1 pood = 16 kg).

In order to provide metallurgical production with raw materials, the search for various natural resources was strongly encouraged in the country. All lucky "miners" for the discovery of new deposits were supposed to be generously paid. In 1700, the Ore Order was created, later renamed the Berg Collegium, which was in charge of not only metallurgical production, but also geological exploration. To stimulate the search for natural resources, the government announced the principle of "mining freedom", according to which anyone could develop subsoil for a small fee in favor of the state or a private owner of the land.

In addition to large manufactories, the Russian economy still had a large handicraft sector in the cities, as well as home crafts in the countryside as an integral part of the natural feudal estate, although these manufacturers were increasingly dependent on market relations in the person of buyers of products. Urban and rural artisans produced fabrics, leather and felted shoes, pottery, saddles, harness and other products. In the 18th century, craft specialties appeared associated with the new way of life brought from Europe by Peter I: braiders, snuff makers, watchmakers, carriage makers, hat makers, hairdressers, bookbinders, etc. Zuev M.N. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the twentieth century. Tutorial. - M.: Bustard, 2002. -

Under Peter I, an attempt was made to put small handicraft production under state control. So, in 1722, by decree of the king, artisans were to join the workshops. Foremen were elected in the shops, who monitored the quality of products, the procedure for admission to the shop organization. Apprentices had to master the craft for seven years to become an apprentice, and those, in turn, could become masters no earlier than two years later. True, these shop organizations did not have that strict regulation on the production and marketing of products that existed in medieval Europe, and in general this system did not have such a distribution as in the West.

2. Management reform under Peter 1

Peter I sought to carry out internal transformations in Russia in order to bring it to the European level. In addition to military and diplomatic problems, he deeply delved into all issues of Russian state administration. For 25 years - from 1700 to 1725 - he adopted almost three thousand different laws and decrees concerning the economic, civil, domestic aspects of the life of the population, including the administrative structures of the state. As well as reforms in industrial production, the reform of the system of state and local government was associated primarily with the military needs of the country. In the first years of his reign, the young king dealt with these issues occasionally, in a hurry. And only in the last seven or eight years of his reign, thanks to his efforts, the activities of all administrative institutions received a regulatory framework and were regulated according to a certain system.

Radical comprehensive reforms in the field of government were due to the need to strengthen the absolute monarchy. First of all, it was necessary to create a harmonious administrative vertical, completely subordinate to the supreme authority. This was aimed at a radical reorganization of the entire structure of public administration from top to bottom. Kargalov V.V., Saveliev Yu.S., Fedorov V.A. History of Russia from ancient times to 1917. - M.:

The main object of the reorganization was the Boyar Duma, which constantly interfered in the affairs of Peter's predecessors and which no longer corresponded to the regime of absolute monarchy. In 1699, instead of the Boyar Duma, Peter established the Closest Office of eight trusted persons to assist in solving state affairs, which he called the Council of Ministers.

In 1711, he also abolished this structure, creating a governing Senate of nine people appointed by himself. It was the highest state body with legislative, administrative and judicial power. In January 1722, new positions of Prosecutor General and Chief Prosecutor of the Senate were established to oversee the activities of the Senate.

The emperor became the head of state power. This title was granted to Peter by the Senate in 1721 after a victorious end Northern war with Sweden, and Russia was proclaimed an empire. From now on, Peter and his heirs began to have unlimited power, the right to introduce strict regulation in management, ideology, social life, and culture.

Peter I spent a lot of time reforming the obsolete order system. In 1717-1718, almost the entire numerous, complex, confusing unsystematic "crowd" of orders was replaced by collegiums - new governing bodies. Unlike orders, which, as a rule, had regional competence, collegiums had nationwide powers, which in itself created a higher level of centralization. In total, eleven collegiums were created: the Military Collegium was in charge of the army, the Admiralty Collegium was in charge of the Navy, the Justice Collegium was in charge of legislation, the Manufactory Collegium was in charge of industry, etc. Later, the rights of the college were endowed with the Holy Synod, which led church affairs, as well as the Chief Magistrate, who was in charge of city affairs. Kargalov V.V., Saveliev Yu.S., Fedorov V.A. History of Russia from ancient times to 1917. - M.:

The boards were created according to the Swedish model, but taking into account Russian conditions. Each of them included a president, vice president, advisers, assistants, secretary. The president of the board, as a rule, was Russian, and the vice president was a foreigner. The work in the colleges was clearly organized, in contrast to the ordered confusion and confusion. Peter sincerely hoped that the collegiate system would not carry the old vices: arbitrariness, abuse, red tape, bribery. But the king's hopes were not destined to come true, because in the conditions of the incredible strengthening of the role of the bureaucracy, the scale of these vices only grew.

In 1708-1710, a provincial reform was carried out, according to which the whole country was divided into eight provinces: Moscow, Ingermanland (St. Petersburg), Kyiv, Smolensk, Kazan, Azov, Arkhangelsk, Siberia. Provinces, in turn, were divided into counties. In the hands of the governor were concentrated administrative, judicial, police, financial functions, in accordance with which taxes were collected, recruited, search for fugitive peasants, court cases were considered, and food was provided to the troops.

Subsequently, Peter repeatedly returned to the problem of reorganizing local government. In 1719, the second provincial reform was carried out, the number of provinces increased to eleven, the provinces were divided into 50 provinces, which were directly subordinate to the colleges and the Senate. In accordance with the reform, the power of the governor extended only to the province of the provincial city, and in the rest of the provinces, voivodes were in power, who were subordinate to the governors in military and judicial matters.

Simultaneously with the provincial it was supposed to carry out the city reform. Peter wanted to give the cities full self-government so that they could choose burgomasters there. However, unlike Western Europe, Russian cities of the early 18th century had not yet formed a rich and influential bourgeoisie that could take over city government. In 1720, the Chief Magistrate was established in St. Petersburg, who was supposed to lead the urban estates in Russia. Reader on the history of the state and law of Russia. / Ed. Chibiryaeva S.A. - M.: Bylina, 2000.

It should be noted that the administrative system created in the course of Peter the Great's reforms turned out to be very strong. In general terms, it was preserved (with some changes) until 1917. The management structure, the mechanism of power and its functions remained unshakable for almost two centuries.

Peter's reforms were undoubtedly directed against the old boyar aristocracy, which did not want change and the strengthening of a strong centralized power. At the same time, Peter relied on the local nobility, which, being a more progressive young estate, supported the course towards strengthening the absolute monarchy. In order to provide economic support to the nobility, in 1714 Peter issued a Decree on Uniform Succession, according to which the two forms of feudal landed property (patrimonies and estates) were finally merged into a single legal concept - “immovable property”. Both types of farms were equalized in all respects, the estate also became a hereditary, and not a conditional farm, they could not be divided between heirs. Estates were inherited only by one of the sons, usually the eldest. The remaining children received an inheritance in money and other property, they were required to enter the military or civil (civilian) service.

This Decree closely adjoined the introduction in 1722 of the Table of Ranks. According to this Table, all positions of the state and military service were divided into 14 classes-ranks from the lowest - the fourteenth, to the highest - the first. In accordance with the Table, employees from among the nobility or philistines were required to pass these steps in order to be promoted. This document introduced the principle of length of service and finally eliminated the previously canceled principle of parochialism, which still tacitly existed in the country. The most interested in the introduction of this order were the nobles, who could now rise to the highest state ranks, really join the power. Pavlenko N.I. Peter the Great. - M.: Knowledge, 1990. - P.72.

It is appropriate to recall that under Peter the nobility were not the privileged class that it became in the second half of the 18th century. They were still service people who were on the public service. If in pre-Petrine times the nobles returned home after military campaigns, then under Peter they had to join regular regiments from the age of 15, go through a long soldier’s service “from the foundation” and only after that receive an officer’s rank and serve in the army until old age or disability. On the other hand, every soldier who rose to the rank of officer received hereditary nobility.

In addition to service duty, academic duty was also assigned to the nobles. Hundreds of young nobles had to study military or naval affairs in Russia or abroad. All male noble children were required to learn literacy, tsifiri (arithmetic) and geometry, otherwise they were not allowed to marry. Reader on the history of the state and law of Russia. / Ed. Chibiryaeva S.A. - M.: Bylina, 2000. - S.289.

A distinctive feature of the Russian autocracy in pre-Petrine times was the complete fusion of church and state. While in Western Europe the church was moving further and further away from state administration, in Russia in the 17th century there was a so-called churched state. The king himself acted both as the supreme ruler of the church and as the head of state; religious ideas were the main ones in secular life.

Peter I destroyed this tradition and carried out a church reform, completely subordinating the church to the state. After the death of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Andrian, in 1700, the patriarchate was abolished (which was restored only after the February Revolution of 1917). In 1721, the Holy Synod was established - a special "spiritual board" to manage the affairs of the church. At the head of the Holy Synod was the chief prosecutor, a secular person, usually from guards officers. All members of the Synod were appointed by the Tsar himself. The economic rights of the church were noticeably limited, its huge land plots were cut, part of its income began to be withdrawn to the state budget. Pushkarev S. G. Review of Russian history. - M.: Jurist, 2002. - P.158.

Beginning with Peter I, the state began to interfere in religious life, followed the obligatory communion of all Orthodox. Through the Synod, the secrecy of confession was abolished, the priests were obliged to report to the Privy Office about the confessions of parishioners made during confession, if they concerned the interests of the state. From now on, the Church was obliged in all worldly affairs to obey the orders of secular authorities.

3. Domestic and foreign trade under Peter 1

To maintain and streamline the domestic market in 1719, the College of Commerce was created. Later, the Main and city magistrates were established, whose functions included all kinds of assistance to the merchants, their self-government, and the creation of guilds.

In order to improve trade routes, the government for the first time in the history of the country began the construction of canals. So, in 1703-1709, the Vyshnevolotsky canal was built, the construction of the Mariinsky water system, the Ladoga (1718) canal, completed shortly after the death of Peter, the Volga-Don (1698) canal, the construction of which was completed only in 1952, began. Land roads were very bad, during the period of rains and mudslides they became impassable, which, of course, hindered the development of regular trade relations. In addition, there were still many internal customs duties in the country, which also held back the growth of the all-Russian market.

It should be noted that the development of domestic trade was held back by "money hunger", the country still experienced an acute shortage of monetary metals. The money turnover consisted mainly of small copper coins. The silver kopeck was a very large monetary unit, often it was chopped into several parts, each of which made an independent turnover.

In 1704, Peter I began a monetary reform. Silver ruble coins began to be issued, or simply rubles, which until Peter the Great remained only a conditional counting unit (the ruble did not exist as a coin). The silver thaler was taken as a weight unit of the ruble, although the silver content in the ruble was less than in the thaler. A portrait of Peter I, a double-headed eagle, the year of issue and the inscription "Tsar Peter Alekseevich" were stamped on the ruble. Kolomiets A. G. History of the fatherland. - M.: BEK, 2002. - S.326.

The new monetary system was based on a very simple and rational decimal principle: 1 ruble \u003d 10 hryvnias \u003d 100 kopecks. By the way, many Western countries came to such a system much later. Fifty kopecks were issued - 50 kopecks, half-fifty kopecks - 25 kopecks, nickels - 5 kopecks. Later, altyn - 3 kopecks and five-altyn - 15 kopecks were added to them. The minting of coins became a strict and unconditional monopoly of the state, a ban was announced on the export of precious metals abroad. Pushkarev S.G. Review of Russian history. - M.: Jurist, 2002. - P.161. In the same period, the search for domestic silver deposits in Transbaikalia, in the Nerchinsk region, was crowned with success. The strengthening of the monetary system was also facilitated by an increase in exports and a positive foreign trade balance.

Under Peter I, gold coins were also issued: Caesar's rubles and chervonets. The first of them were often used as a military award to the lower ranks - soldiers, while the ruble was hung like a medal around the neck. Chervonets, on the other hand, mainly served foreign trade turnover and had almost no circulation inside the country.

Initially, the Peter's ruble was quite valuable and was equal to 8 1/3 spools of pure silver (1 spool = 4.3 g). Later, as a result of negative economic changes in the country, the ruble gradually "lost weight", first to 5 5/6, and then to 4 spools. Kolomiets A.G. The history of homeland. - M.: BEK, 2002. - S.327.

Peter's reforms also affected foreign trade, which began to actively develop due, first of all, to access to the Baltic Sea. The purposeful policy of mercantilism pursued by the government contributed to the strengthening of the foreign trade orientation of the Russian economy. One of the ideologists of mercantilism was the Russian thinker-economist I.T. Pososhkov, who in 1724 published The Book of Poverty and Wealth. In it, he emphasized that the country needed to create technically advanced enterprises based on domestic raw materials in order to be able to confidently enter the foreign market.

Supporters of mercantilism believed that the country should achieve an active foreign trade balance, i.e. excess of income from the export of goods over the costs of importing goods into the country. For example, in 1726, export from Russia through the main seaports - St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Riga - amounted to 4.2 million rubles, and import - 2.1 million.

An obligatory element of mercantilism is the establishment of strict customs barriers to protect domestic producers from foreign competitors. So, in 1724, a customs tariff was established, according to which a duty of up to 75% of their value was established on the import of such foreign goods as iron, canvas, silk fabrics in order to stimulate their production in their own country. Up to 50% duty was set on Dutch linen, velvet, silver and other goods, up to 25% - on those goods that were produced in Russia in insufficient quantities: woolen fabrics, writing paper, up to 10% - on copper utensils, window glass, etc. .d.

High export duties were imposed on raw materials necessary for domestic entrepreneurs so that they would not leave the country. The state kept basically all foreign trade in its hands through monopoly trading companies and farming out. The main currency used in foreign circulation was still the silver thaler (yefimok). Pushkarev S. G. Review of Russian history. - M.: Jurist, 2002. - P.160.

Significant changes also took place in the structure of foreign trade. If in early XVIII century, mainly agricultural products and raw materials were exported, then by the mid-1720s, manufacturing products began to occupy a larger share: Ural iron from the Demidov factories, linen, ropes, canvas. In imports, as before, the largest volume was occupied by luxury goods for members of the royal family and nobles, as well as colonial goods: tea, coffee, spices, sugar, wines. Thanks to the energetic actions of Peter, Russia from 1712 for the first time in history stopped buying weapons in Europe.

During the first decades of the 18th century, the geography of Russian foreign trade centers also changed. If in the 17th century Arkhangelsk played the main role in trade with the West, then St. Petersburg soon took its place, and later - Riga, Revel (Tallinn), Vyborg, Narva. Trade relations with Persia and India were conducted along the Volga through Astrakhan and the Caspian Sea, with China - through Kyakhta. Kolomiets A.G. The history of homeland. - M.: BEK, 2002. - S.328.

4. Changes in the financial system under Peter 1

The northern war with Sweden, the southern campaigns to the Sea of Azov, the construction of the fleet, manufactories, canals, cities constantly demanded huge government spending. The Russian budget was in critical condition. The task was set to find all new tax revenues. Specially authorized people - profitmakers - were sent in search of new objects of taxation. Starting from 1704, one after another, an endless series of new taxes were established: mill, bee, cellar, bath, pipe - from stoves, homute, cap, shoe, icebreaking, watering, from schismatics, cabbies, inns, from beards, sales of edibles, sharpening knives and other "petty all sorts of fees."

State monopolies were added to the new taxes. In addition to resin, potash, rhubarb, glue, new monopoly goods were added: salt, tobacco, chalk, tar, fish oil, lard, oak coffins. Fishing became an object of ransom, wine was sold only in state taverns.

The main income came from direct taxes, which were imposed only on the "vile" estates. At the end of Peter's reign, many petty fees were abolished. And in order to increase state revenues, instead of the household tax that existed since 1679, in 1718-1724, a poll tax was introduced from the revision soul, which was paid not only from a working man, but also from boys, old people and even those who died, but were still listed in revision lists. The landlord peasants paid 74 kopecks a year for the benefit of the treasury, plus an additional 40-50 kopecks to their landowner, and the state peasants paid 1 ruble 14 kopecks a year only to the treasury. Karamzin N. M. Traditions of the centuries. - M.: Knowledge, 1988. - P.133.

For a more accurate record of the country began to conduct a census of the male population every 20 years. Based on the results of the censuses, revision tales (lists) were compiled. During the census, the number of serfs increased, since former bonded serfs, who had previously received freedom after the death of their master, were equated to this category.

In addition, the black-mowed peasants of the northern regions, the plowed peasants of Siberia, the peoples of the middle Volga region, who had not previously paid taxes, because they were not serfs, were taxed. Single palaces were added to them, i.e. former service people (gunners, archers), previously exempt from taxes. The poll tax was now also required to be paid by the townspeople - townspeople, philistines.

Various estates sought all sorts of privileges in order to be exempt from paying taxes. The collection of taxes was always carried out with great difficulty, with huge arrears, since the solvency of the population was very low. So, in 1732, arrears amounted to 15 million rubles, which was twice the amount of income.

The main source of state budget revenue, as already mentioned, was direct taxes from the population - up to 55.5% in 1724. In addition, as in the 17th century, indirect taxes and a system of ransoms for the sale of monopoly goods, as well as ransoms for the construction of mills, bridges, etc., played an important role. Various in-kind duties became widespread, such as recruiting, stationing (apartment) and underwater, in accordance with which the peasants had to provide the military units that stood up with food and fodder grain. State peasants were also obliged to perform various kinds of work in favor of the state: to transport mail and allocate carts for carts, to take part in the construction of canals, harbors, roads. Karamzin N. M. Traditions of the centuries. - M.: Knowledge, 1988. - P.134.

A special role in replenishing the revenues of the treasury was played by manipulations with small copper coins. So, for example, the market price of one pood of copper was 7 rubles, but at the beginning of the 18th century copper money was minted from this mass for 12 rubles, and by 1718 - for 40 rubles. The huge difference between the market price of copper and the face value of a copper coin led to their endless illegal fakes - "thieves' money", rising prices and depreciation of money, impoverishment of the population.

The main budget item was military spending. So, for example, the military campaigns of Peter I absorbed approximately 80-85% of all income in Russia, and in 1705 they cost 96%. During the period of Peter's reforms systematically

expenditures on the state apparatus, on the construction of St. Petersburg and the palaces around it, on various ceremonial events on the occasion of military victories - “victory”, magnificent festivities, etc. also state loans, especially after the death of Peter I.

In order to streamline and strictly centralize the financial system in 1719-1721, the highest state bodies were created: the College of Chambers - to manage the country's revenues, the Staff College - to manage expenses, the Revision College - to control the financial system as a whole. All this was done in opposition to the previous system, when each order had its own sources of income. Karamzin N. M. Traditions of the centuries. - M.: Knowledge, 1988. - P.135.

5. Military reform Petra 1

One of the most significant transformations of Peter I should be called the military reform, which made it possible to bring the Russian army closer to the European standards of that time.

At the end of the 17th century, Peter I disbanded the streltsy troops not so much because of their military incompetence, but for political reasons, since the streltsy in their mass supported the forces opposed to Peter. As a result, the king was left without an army. The regiments hastily formed in 1699-1700 under the leadership of foreign officers in the battles near Narva showed a complete inability to resist the Swedes. With the help of his comrades-in-arms in the "amusing troops", Peter energetically set about recruiting and training a new army. And already in 1708-1709, she showed herself at the level of the armies of any European country.

First of all, the former principle of the formation of an army by random soldiers from walkers, hunters, dependent people, etc. was canceled. For the first time in Russia, a regular army was created on the basis of recruitment duty, which was established from 1705. In total, until 1725, 53 recruits were carried out, according to which more than 280 thousand people were mobilized into the army and navy. Initially, one recruit from 20 households was taken into the army, and from 1724 they began to be recruited in accordance with the principles underlying the poll tax. Recruits underwent military training, received uniforms, weapons, while until the 18th century, soldiers - both nobles and peasants - had to come to the service in full gear. Gumilyov L. N. From Russia to Russia. Essays on Russian history. - M.: Logos, 1999. - S.244.

Peter I almost did not use the principle of a mercenary army from among foreigners, which was widespread in Europe. He preferred the national armed forces. Interestingly, the following rule was established with regard to recruits: if a recruit was from serfs, he automatically became free, and then his children, born after liberation, also became free.

The Russian field army consisted of infantry, grenadier, cavalry regiments. The emperor paid special attention to two regiments - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky, created by Peter in Moscow in his youth, during the struggle for the throne, and later transformed into a palace guard. All nobles had to carry out military service from the soldier's rank. So, according to the decree of 1714, it was forbidden to promote to officers those nobles who had not completed military service in the guards regiments, which not all noble children liked. The most capable young nobles were sent to study (especially maritime affairs) abroad.

The training of officers was carried out in military schools founded in 1698-1699 - Bombardier (artillery) and Preobrazhenskaya (infantry). By decree of Peter in the early 1720s, 50 garrison schools were founded to train non-commissioned officers. Timoshina T.M. Economic History of Russia: Textbook / Ed. prof. M.N. Chepurin. -8th ed. Ster. - M.: Legal House "Justitsinform", 2002. - P.80.

Peter I paid special attention to the fleet. At the end of the 17th century, ships were built in Voronezh and Arkhangelsk. In 1704, the Admiralty and shipyards were founded in St. Petersburg, where the construction of ships of the navy moved. At the Admiralty shipyard, where at the same time

up to 10 thousand people worked, from 1706 to 1725 about 60 large and more than 200 small ships were built for the Baltic Fleet. Sailors for the fleet were also recruited by recruitment. By the mid-1720s, the navy consisted of 48 battleships and about 800 galleys and other vessels, on which about 28 thousand crew members served. In 1701, the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences was founded in Moscow, located in the famous Sukharev Tower, where naval officers were trained. Timoshina T.M. Decree. op. - P.81.

Conclusion

It is very difficult to evaluate all the transformations of Peter I. These reforms are of a very contradictory nature, they cannot be given an unambiguous assessment. The most important thing is that for the first time after the baptism of Russia, Peter I made an energetic attempt to bring the country closer to European civilization.

Peter I constantly emphasized that Russia should no longer remain closed to world economic processes if it did not want to continue to lag behind in socio-economic development and gradually fall into heavy colonial dependence on advanced Western countries, as happened with many Asian states that failed to end traditionalism. As a result of Peter's reforms, Russia managed to take its rightful place in the system of European states. It has become a great power with an efficient economy, powerful army and navy, highly developed science and culture.

Carrying out reforms in Russia, Peter strove for an ideal state based on fair and rational laws, but this turned out to be a utopia. In practice, a police state was created in the country without any institutions of social control.

Adopting advanced technologies, scientific, military and other achievements in the West, Peter did not seem to notice the development of the ideas of humanism there, all the more not wanting to introduce them to Russian soil. It was under Peter that the serfdom of the peasants intensified, due to which the tsar's reform activities were mainly carried out, since there were almost no other sources of economic growth in the country. The hardships of the reforms that fell on the shoulders of the peasants and the urban population were more than once the causes of major popular uprisings in Central Russia, the Volga region, Ukraine and the Don, for example, the uprising of the Cossacks led by Kondraty Bulavin in 1707-1708, brutally suppressed by the tsarist authorities .

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Merchants under Peter I: privileges, subsidies and regulation with corruption

The transformation of Russia into an absolutist state changed the class composition of the population. The number of representatives of trade professions increased especially noticeably. Merchants became for the king the most important source of development of the country, but this only led to the restriction of their rights and opportunities.

Alexander Minzhurenko, Candidate of Historical Sciences, deputy of the State Duma of the first convocation, tells about the consequences of numerous reforms of Peter I for the merchant class in the sixth episode of his investigation.

Russia's transition to the stage of absolutism introduced significant changes in the legal status of all social strata of Russian society without exception. The radical reforms of Peter I affected the most different areas life. The rights of the merchants were also seriously revised.

On the one hand, Peter I supported the merchants as the creators of the country's new economy, provided them with great help and assistance, protecting and expanding their rights and privileges. But on the other hand, this reformer thought first of all about the expansion and strengthening of the state. And to create an absolutist state, a colossal bureaucratic machine with a large number of officials and a constant large regular army and navy were required.

The formation and maintenance of two new pillars of the absolute monarchy required gigantic funds in volumes that the treasury of previous periods could not even dream of. And everyone paid for the creation of this new state: the peasants, who received a burdensome soul tax with a mass of new taxes, and the clergy, who, according to the priests, were simply “robbed” by the Antichrist Tsar, and the aristocracy, and the wealthy merchants.

However, the “robbery” of the merchants was carried out by Peter I prudently and with the understanding that merchants are a chicken that regularly lays golden eggs. And therefore, she had to help in every possible way in this process of continuous reproduction of money. And Peter I, with all his indefatigable energy and scope, begins not only to support the merchants in their pursuits, but also very persistently pushes them to new types of activity. Forced from merchants with the assistance of the state, a class of industrialists-entrepreneurs is formed.

Actually, even before Peter the Great, merchants were engaged not only in purely trade. Quite often they founded crafts and manufactories. It is known how merchants rose in the extraction of salt, ores and other minerals. They were also engaged in the processing of raw materials. Trade for many future industrialists was a stage of initial accumulation of capital. And it was natural.

So, in many cases, Peter did not wait for that very, in his opinion, slow accumulation of start-up capital, but began to allocate it to merchants almost by force, literally forcing them to engage in a new business. Subsidies and privileges fell on the merchant-industrialists as if from a cornucopia. Peter urgently needed to create a merchant and navy, for which copper, a sailing cloth and much more were needed.

The acute need for money forced Peter I to use internal trade as the most important source of state revenue. Trade was subject to various new taxes, which could not but restrain its turnover.

In addition, wanting to extract the maximum profit for the treasury from trade, Peter I declared the sale of part of the goods on the domestic market a state monopoly. This category included salt, tobacco and other goods, the trade in which was often farmed out to individual merchants, monasteries, or carried out directly by state institutions.

The Petrine era is known primarily for the desire of the state to regulate economic, social and even private life. The royal decree of January 16, 1721 also determined the legal status of the merchants. By this document, the entire urban population, with the exception of foreigners, nobles, clergy and "mean people" was divided into two guilds. The corporations of the guests, the trading people of the living room and the cloth hundreds were liquidated.

The first guild included large merchants, bankers, skippers of merchant ships. The second guild included the middle merchants, merchants of petty goods and "food supplies", as well as artisans.

But this decree not only drew new social and legal boundaries between persons of different levels of wealth: it seriously affected the interests of the merchants, in fact, infringing on their exclusive rights to engage in trade. The decree eliminated the monopoly of the merchants on trade, which they had enjoyed since the time of the Council Code of 1649. Trade was now allowed to be carried out by persons of "every rank", with the exception of the military.

Competitors merchants spawned and Peter's Decree on the same heritage of 1714. The tsar was worried about the fragmentation of landlord estates during the change of generations and forbade them to be divided among his sons. From now on, all land ownership upon the death of the owner could only go entirely to the eldest of the brothers. The younger sons of noble families were directly recommended to engage in trading activities.

Of course, various subsidies and direct state financing of trade and entrepreneurship contributed to the revival and growth of the economy as a whole. But such an active direct intervention of the state into the economic life of the country with the infusion of huge amounts of state money into it inevitably led to an unprecedented increase in corruption, nepotism and embezzlement.

The rules of free fair competition were often violated, and many respectable merchants who were not included in government programs could not compete with trading establishments that were patronized by the government. And many of the highest government officials themselves rushed into trade and production, hastily creating enterprises with state money.

So, Prince Alexander Menshikov built a sailing factory on Klyazma, and other closest associates of Peter I (Apraksin, Tolstoy, Shafirov) established a silk company. She received huge subsidies from the state and the right to sell her goods duty-free for 50 years, as well as freedom from taxes, standing and other privileges.

The protectionist tariff of 1724 also hit the interests and rights of many Russian merchants. This was done in order to create favorable conditions for the emergence and development of new domestic industries - manufacturing enterprises.

Protecting such industries, the government set extremely high and even prohibitive duties on the import of such foreign goods. If the usual import duties amounted to 10-20%, reaching up to 30-40%, then protective duties increased to 50-75% of the value of the imported goods. This affected the interests of those Russian merchants who mainly traded in these groups of goods. And they complained about the infringement of their interests and rights, that they were placed in unequal conditions with other merchants.

At the same time, Peter I created the most favorable conditions for merchants involved in the export of Russian products and products. In most cases, goods exported from the country were subject to a low (up to 3%) duty. And if Russian merchants exported goods on their own ships, the duty was reduced by a factor of three.

Frankly copying the Western European experience, Peter began to cobble together various companies from scattered entrepreneurs (“in the manner of the East Indian.”) These companies were financed by the treasury and were under strict control of the state. Trading companies did not take root in Russia during the reign of Peter I. Merchants preferred to trade separately from each other, through their clerks.

Thus, the period of Peter the Great's reforms was accompanied by a kind of "nationalization" of trading activity and its strict regulation. The king sought to subordinate everything in the country to the interests of the state. From here, many merchants experienced both the patronage of the government and many of the restrictions imposed by it.

However, not all spheres of trade fell into the field of view of Peter I, so medium and small merchants freely traded in traditional goods. For them, the regulation of trading activities by the state was expressed in most cases in the bribery of civil servants. Large merchants also suffered from corruption, and on a large scale.

Peter himself, knowing about the widespread vice and the massive violation of the rights of merchants, resolutely fought against this evil, but he failed to create an effective system for protecting the rights of the merchants.

Together with your classmates, prepare a presentation on the topic "Russian merchants and their trade routes under Peter I."

Answer

Development of trade

Peter also paid attention to trade, to the better organization and facilitation of trade on the part of the state, for a very long time. Back in the 1690s, he was busy talking about commerce with knowledgeable foreigners and, of course, became interested in European trading companies no less than industrial ones.

By a decree of the College of Commerce in 1723, Peter ordered “to send the children of merchants to foreign lands, so that there would never be less than 15 people in foreign lands, and when they are trained, take back and in their place new ones, and order those who have been trained to teach here, in honor of all it is impossible to send; why take from all the noble cities, so that this could be done everywhere; and send 20 people to Riga and Revel and distribute them to the capitalists; these are both numbers from the townspeople; besides, the collegium of labor has to teach commerce certain of the noble children.

The conquest of the sea coast, the founding of St. Petersburg with the direct appointment of it as a port, the teaching of mercantilism, adopted by Peter - all this made him think about commerce, about its development in Russia. In the first 10 years of the 18th century, the development of trade with the West was hampered by the fact that many goods were declared a state monopoly and were sold only through government agents. But Peter did not consider this measure, caused by the extreme need for money, to be useful, and therefore, when the military alarm calmed down somewhat, he again turned to the thought of companies of trading people. In July 1712, he gave an order to the Senate - "immediately try to make the best order in the merchant's business." The Senate began to try to arrange a company of merchants for trade with China, but the Moscow merchants "refused to take this trade into the company." As early as February 12, 1712, Peter ordered “to set up a collegium for the correction of the trade business, in order to bring it into a better condition; Why is it necessary for one or two foreigners who need to be pleased, so that they show the truth and jealousy in that with an oath, so that it is better to show the truth and jealousy in that with an oath, in order to better arrange order, for there is no doubt that their bargaining is incomparably better ours". The collegium was formed, worked out the rules of its existence and actions. The collegium worked first in Moscow, then in St. Petersburg. With the establishment of the College of Commerce, all the affairs of this prototype of it were transferred to the new department of trade.

In 1723, Peter ordered a company of merchants to trade with Spain. It was also planned to arrange a company for trade with France. To begin with, Russian state-owned ships with goods were sent to the ports of these states, but this was the end of the matter. Trading companies did not take root and began to appear in Russia no earlier than the middle of the 18th century, and even then under the condition of great privileges and patronage from the treasury. Russian merchants preferred to trade personally or through clerks alone, without entering into companies with others.

Since 1715, the first Russian consulates appeared abroad. On April 8, 1719, Peter issued a decree on the freedom of trade. For a better arrangement of river merchant ships, Peter forbade the construction of old-fashioned ships, various boards and plows.

Peter saw the basis of the commercial significance of Russia in the fact that nature judged her to be a trading intermediary between Europe and Asia.

After the capture of Azov, when the Azov fleet was created, it was supposed to direct the entire trade movement of Russia to the Black Sea. Then the connection of the waterways of Central Russia with the Black Sea by two channels was undertaken. One was supposed to connect the tributaries of the Don and the Volga, the Kamyshinka and the Ilovley, and the other would approach the small Ivan Lake in the Epifansky district, Tula province, from which the Don flows on one side, and on the other, the Shash River, a tributary of the Upa, which flows into the Oka. But the Prut failure forced them to leave Azov and give up all hopes of mastering the Black Sea coast.

Having established himself on the Baltic coast, having founded the new capital of St. Petersburg, Peter decided to connect the Baltic Sea with the Caspian Sea, using the rivers and canals that he intended to build. Already in 1706, he ordered the Tvertsa River to be connected by a canal to the Tsna, which, forming Lake Mstino with its expansion, leaves it with the name of the Msta River and flows into Lake Ilmen. This was the beginning of the famous Vyshnevolotsk system. The main obstacle to connecting the Neva and the Volga was the stormy Lake Ladoga, and Peter decided to build a bypass canal to bypass its inhospitable waters. Peter planned to connect the Volga with the Neva, breaking through the watershed between the rivers Vytegra, which flows into Lake Onega, and Kovzha, which flows into Beloozero, and thus outlined the network of the Mariinsky system already implemented in the 19th century.

Simultaneously with the efforts to connect the Baltic and Caspian rivers with a network of canals, Peter took decisive measures to ensure that the movement of foreign trade left its former habitual path to the White Sea and Arkhangelsk and took a new direction to St. Petersburg. Government measures in this direction began in 1712, but the protests of foreign merchants, who complained about the inconvenience of living in a new city like Petersburg, the considerable danger of sailing in wartime on the Baltic Sea, the high cost of the route itself, because the Danes took a fee for the passage of ships , - all this forced Peter to postpone the abrupt transfer of trade with Europe from Arkhangelsk to St. Petersburg: but already in 1718 he issued a decree allowing only hemp trade in Arkhangelsk, all the grain trade was ordered to move to St. Petersburg. Thanks to these and other measures of the same nature, St. Petersburg became a significant place for holiday and import trade. Concerned about raising the commercial importance of his new capital, Peter is negotiating with his future son-in-law, the Duke of Holstein, regarding the possibility of digging a canal from Kiel to the North Sea in order to be independent from the Danes, and, taking advantage of the confusion in Mecklenburg and wartime in general, he thinks to establish himself more firmly near the possible entrance to the projected channel. But this project was carried out much later, after the death of Peter.

The subject of export from Russian ports were mainly raw products: fur goods, honey, wax. Since the 17th century, Russian timber, tar, tar, sailcloth, hemp, and ropes have been especially valued in the West. At the same time, livestock products - leather, lard, bristles - were intensively exported; from the time of Peter the Great, mining products, mainly iron and copper, went abroad. Flax and hemp were in particular demand; trade in bread was weak due to lack of roads and government bans on selling bread abroad.

Instead of Russian raw materials, Europe could supply us with the products of its manufacturing industry. But, patronizing his factories and plants, Peter, with almost prohibitive duties, greatly reduced the import of foreign manufactured goods into Russia, allowing only those that were not produced in Russia at all, or only those that Russian factories and plants needed (this was a policy of protectionism)

Peter also paid tribute to the enthusiasm characteristic of his time to trade with the countries of the far south, with India. He dreamed of an expedition to Madagascar, and he thought of directing Indian trade through Khiva and Bukhara to Russia. A.P. Volynsky was sent to Persia as an ambassador, and Peter instructed him to find out if there was any river in Persia that would flow from India through Persia and flow into the Caspian Sea. Volynsky had to work so that the Shah directed the entire trade of Persia in raw silk not through the cities of the Turkish Sultan - Smyrna and Aleppo, but through Astrakhan. In 1715, a trade agreement was concluded with Persia, and Astrakhan trade became very active. Realizing the importance of the Caspian Sea for his broad plans, Peter took advantage of the intervention in Persia, when the rebels killed the Russian merchants there, and occupied the coast of the Caspian Sea from Baku and Derbent inclusive. AT Central Asia, on the Amu Darya, Peter sent a military expedition under the command of Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky. In order to establish themselves there, it was supposed to find the old channel of the Amu Darya River and direct its course to the Caspian Sea, but this attempt failed: exhausted by the difficulty of the path through the desert scorched by the sun, the Russian detachment fell into an ambush set by the Khiva, and was all exterminated.

It is difficult to disagree with the famous historian Immanuel Wallerstein, who argued that Moscow State (at least until 1689) should no doubt be placed outside the framework of "European Europe". Fernand Braudel, author of the brilliant monograph Time of the World (Librairie Armand Colin, Paris, 1979; Russian edition, Moscow, Progress, 1992), who agrees with Wallerstein, nonetheless asserts that Moscow has never been absolutely closed to European economy, even before the conquest of Narva or before the first English settlements in Arkhangelsk (1553 - 1555), Europe strongly influenced the East with the superiority of its monetary system, the attractiveness and temptations of technology and goods, with all its power. But if the Turkish Empire, for example, diligently kept aloof from this influence, then Moscow gradually pulled itself towards the West. To open a window to the Baltic, to allow the new English Moscow company to settle in Arkhangelsk - this meant an unambiguous step towards Europe. However, the truce with the Swedes, signed on August 5, 1583, closed Russia's only exit to the Baltic and retained only the inconvenient Arkhangelsk port on the White Sea. Thus, access to Europe was difficult. The Swedes, however, did not prohibit the passage of goods imported or exported by Russians through Narva. Exchanges with Europe also continued through Revel and Riga. Their positive balance for Russia was paid in gold and silver. The Dutch, importers of Russian grain and hemp, brought sacks of coins, each containing between 400 and 1,000 riksdaler (the official coin of the Netherlands after the Estates General of 1579). In 1650, 2755 bags were delivered to Riga, in 1651. - 2145, in 1652 - 2012 bags. In 1683, trade through Riga gave Russia a positive balance of 832,928 riksdaler. Russia remained semi-closed in itself not because it was allegedly cut off from Europe or opposed to exchanges. The reasons were rather in the moderate interest of the Russians in the West, in the unsteady political balance of Russia. To some extent, the experience of Moscow is akin to the experience of Japan, but with the big difference that the latter, after 1638, closed itself to the world economy through a political decision. Turkey was the main foreign market for Russia in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The Black Sea belonged to the Turks and was well guarded by them, and therefore, at the end of the trade routes that passed through the Don valley and the Sea of Azov, goods were reloaded exclusively on Turkish ships. Equestrian messengers regularly ran between Crimea and Moscow. The capture of the lower reaches of the Volga (the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan in the middle of the 16th century) opened the way to the south, although the waterway passed through weakly peaceful areas and remained dangerous. However, Russian merchants created river caravans, uniting in large detachments. Kazan and, to an even greater extent, Astrakhan became the checkpoints of Russian trade heading to the Lower Volga, Central Asia, China and Iran. Trade trips captured Qazvin, Shiraz, the island of Ormuz (which took three months to reach from Moscow). The Russian fleet, created in Astrakhan during the second half of the 16th century, actively operated in the Caspian. Other trade routes led to Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, all the way to Tobolsk, which was then the frontier of the Siberian East. Although we do not have exact figures expressing the volume of Russian trade exchange between the southeast and west, the prevailing role of the markets of the South and East seems obvious. Russia exported raw hides, furs, hardware, coarse linen, iron products, weapons, wax, honey, food products, plus re-exported European products: Flemish and English cloth, paper, glass, and metals. To Russia from the eastern states spices, Chinese and Indian silks in transit through Iran; Persian velvets and brocades; Turkey supplied sugar, dried fruits, gold items and pearls; Central Asia provided inexpensive cotton products. It appears that Eastern trade has been positive for Russia. In any case, this applies to state monopolies (ie, to some part of the exchanges). This means that trade relations with the East stimulated the Russian economy. The West, on the other hand, demanded only raw materials from Russia, and supplied them with luxury goods and minted coins. And the East did not disdain ready-made products, and if luxury goods made up some part of the commodity flow going to Russia, then along with them were dyes and many cheap consumer goods.

The legacy of Peter the Great from the Muscovite state inherited the underdeveloped rudiments of industry, planted and supported by the government, poorly developed trade associated with the poor organization of the state economy. Were inherited from the Muscovite state and its tasks - to win access to the sea and return the state to its natural borders. Peter quickly set about solving these problems, starting a war with Sweden and deciding to wage it in a new way and with new means. There is a new regular army, a fleet is being built. All this, of course, required huge financial outlays. The Muscovite state, with the growth of state needs, covered them with new taxes. Peter also did not shy away from this old method, but next to it he put one innovation that Muscovite Russia did not know: Peter cared not only about taking from the people everything that could be taken, but also thought about the payer himself - the people, about where he can get the money to pay heavy taxes.

Peter saw the path to raising the people's well-being in the development of trade and industry. It is difficult to say how and when the tsar had this idea, but it probably happened during the Great Embassy, when Peter clearly saw the technical backlog of Russia from the leading European states.

At the same time, the desire to reduce the cost of maintaining the army and navy naturally led to the idea that it would be cheaper to produce everything that was needed to equip and arm the army and navy. And since there were no factories and factories that could fulfill this task, the idea arose that they should be built, inviting knowledgeable foreigners for this and giving them to science. "their subjects" as it was then expressed. These thoughts were not new and have been known since the time of Tsar Michael, but only a person with an iron will and indestructible energy, such as Tsar Peter, could carry it out.

Having set himself the goal of arming people's labor with the best folk methods of production and directing it to new, more profitable industries in the area of the country's wealth not yet touched by the development of the country's wealth, Peter "went over" all branches of national labor. During the Great Embassy, the tsar studied all aspects of European life, including technical ones. Abroad, Peter learned the basics of the economic thought of that time - mercantilism. Mercantilism based its economic doctrine on two propositions: first, every nation, in order not to become impoverished, must produce everything it needs, without resorting to the help of other people's labor, the labor of other peoples; second, every nation, in order to grow rich, must export as much of its own products as possible from its own country and import as little foreign products as possible.

Realizing that Russia was not only not inferior, but even superior to other countries in the abundance of natural resources, Peter decided that the state should take over the development of the country's industry and trade. "Our Russian state, Peter said, before other lands it abounds and the necessary metals and minerals are most blessedly, which until now have been searched for without any diligence ".

Thus, realizing the importance of trade and industry and having assimilated the ideas of mercantilism in the West, Peter set about reforming these areas, forcing his subjects to do so, even if by force.

Industrial Development Measures

Geological exploration of ore resources and those manufacturing industries that could, with support, could develop into large enterprises, was undertaken throughout Russia. By his order, connoisseurs of various crafts dispersed throughout the country. Deposits of rock crystal, carnelian, saltpeter, peat, coal were discovered, about which Peter said that “This mineral, if not for us, then for our descendants, will be very useful”. The Ryumin brothers opened a plant in the Ryazan region for the extraction of coal. The foreigner von Azmus developed peat.

Peter also strenuously attracted foreigners to the cause. In 1698, when he returned from his first trip abroad, he was followed by many artisans and craftsmen hired by him. In Amsterdam alone, he employed about 1,000 people. In 1702, Peter's decree was published throughout Europe, inviting foreigners to industrial service in Russia on very favorable terms for them. Peter ordered Russian residents at European courts to seek out and hire experts in various industries and craftsmen for the Russian service. So, for example, the French engineer Leblon - "straight curiosity", as Peter called him, he was invited to a salary of 45 thousand rubles a year with a gift apartment, with the right to go home in five years with all the acquired property, without paying any taxes.

At the same time, Peter took measures to strengthen the training of Russian young people, sending them to study abroad.

Under Peter, the number of manufactories, which became technical schools and practical schools, increased significantly. We agreed with visiting foreign masters, “so that they would have with them from Russian students and teach their skills, setting for that the price of the award and the time, what time to learn”. People of all free classes were accepted as apprentices at factories and factories, and serfs - with a vacation pay from the landowner, but from the 1720s they began to accept fugitive peasants, but not soldiers. Since there were few volunteers, Peter from time to time, by decree, recruited students for training at manufactories. In 1711 “The sovereign ordered to send 100 people from the clergy and from the servants of the monastery and from their children, who would be 15 or 20 years old, and would be able to write, so that they could go into teaching to the masters of various deeds”. Such sets were repeated in subsequent years.

For military needs and for the extraction of metals, Peter especially needed mining and ironworks. In 1719, to the Olonets factories, where iron was smelted, cannons and cannonballs were poured, Peter ordered to recruit 300 students. Mining schools also arose at the Ural factories, where they recruited literate soldiers, clerks and priests as students. In these schools they wanted to teach not only the practical knowledge of mining, but also theory, arithmetic and geometry. The students were paid a salary - one and a half pounds of flour per month and a ruble per year for a dress, and those who had wealthy fathers or received a salary of more than 10 rubles a year were not given anything from the treasury, "until they begin to teach the triple rule", then they were given a salary.

At the factory founded in St. Petersburg, where braids, braid, cords were made, Peter appointed young people from Novgorod townsmen and poor nobles as training for French masters. He often visited this factory and was interested in the success of the students. The older ones had to come to the palace every Saturday afternoon with samples of their work.

In 1714, a silk factory was founded under the leadership of a certain Milyutin, a self-taught man who studied silk weaving. In need of good wool for cloth factories, Peter thought about introducing the right methods of sheep breeding and for this he ordered rules to be drawn up - "Regulations on how to keep sheep according to the Slesian (Silesian) custom". Then in 1724 Major Kologrivov, two nobles and several Russian sheepdogs were sent to Silesia to study sheep breeding.

Leather production has long been developed in Russia, but the methods of processing were rather imperfect. In 1715, Peter issued a decree on this subject: “Because the yuft that is used for shoes is very unprofitable to wear, because it is made with tar and when there is enough sputum, it spreads, and the water passes; for the sake of it, it is necessary to do it with torn bacon and a different order, for the sake of which masters were sent from Revel to Moscow to teach that business, for which it is commanded to all industrialists (tanners) throughout the state, so that from each city several people would go to Moscow and study; this training is given a period of two years". Several young men were sent to England to work in tanneries.

The government not only entered into the industrial needs of the population and took care of educating the people in crafts, it generally took production and consumption under its supervision. The decrees of His Majesty prescribed not only what goods to produce, but also in what quantity, what size, what material, what tools and techniques, and for non-fulfillment, severe fines were always threatened, up to the death penalty.

Peter greatly appreciated the forests he needed for the needs of the fleet, and issued the strictest forest protection laws: it was forbidden to cut forests suitable for shipbuilding under pain of death.

Not content with spreading one practical teaching of technology, Peter also took care of theoretical education by translating and distributing relevant books. The "Lexicon of Commerce" by Jacques Savary ("Savarian Lexicon") was translated and printed. True, in 24 years only 112 copies of this book were sold, but this circumstance did not frighten the king-publisher. In the list of books published under Peter, you can find many guides to teaching various technical knowledge. Many of these books have been strictly edited by the Emperor himself.

On August 30, 1723, Peter was at Mass at the Trinity Cathedral and gave an order here to the vice-president of the Synod, His Grace Theodosius, that “translate three economic books in the German dialect into Slovenian and, having first translated the table of contents, offer them for consideration by His Imperial Majesty”.

Usually those plants that were especially needed, i.e. mining and weapons, as well as cloth, linen and sailing factories were arranged by the treasury and then transferred to private entrepreneurs. For the establishment of manufactories of secondary importance to the treasury, Peter willingly loaned quite significant capital without interest and ordered that private individuals who set up factories at their own peril and risk be supplied with tools and workers. Masters were discharged from abroad, the manufacturers themselves received great privileges: they were exempted from service with their children and craftsmen, they were only subject to the court of the Manufactory Collegium, they got rid of taxes and internal duties, they could bring duty-free from abroad the tools and materials they needed, houses they were exempted from military posting.

Creation of company enterprises

Concerned about the most stable setting of industrial enterprises in the sense of providing them with sufficient fixed and circulating capital, Peter greatly encouraged the company organization of factories along the lines of the structure of Western European companies. In Holland, company enterprises then brought a huge income to the participants, the success of the East India Company in England and the French for trade with America was then on everyone's lips. In Holland, Peter became well acquainted with the companies of those times and vividly arranged all the benefits of such a device for industry and trade. Back in the year, he was submitted projects on the organization of companies in Russia. At the core, the company organization was not alien to Russian life. Even the Moscow government, giving away its various income items, always gave them to several persons so that each would vouch for the other. The artels of the Russian industrialists of the north have long been companies of people who, for a common purpose, combined the means and forces of individuals and divided the profits according to the calculation of the shares, or shares, contributed by each participant to the artel. In 1699, Peter issued a decree to trade people in the same way as they trade in other states.

No matter how the war distracted Peter, from time to time he continued to insist on the establishment of companies, reminding him of this at every opportunity, forcing him to do so by force.

In a decree of 1724, Peter prescribes the pattern that companies should follow in their organization, commanding "make certain shares of shareholders with the example of the East India Company". Following the example of Western European governments, Peter proposes to attract wealthy, “capital” people to participate in company enterprises, regardless of their origin and position. The government was always ready to help with money and materials, and many companies received rather large sums of help. By lending large sums of money to the companies, often by transferring ready-made manufacturing equipment to their use, the treasury became the banker of large-scale industry and thus acquired the right to strictly monitor the activities of the companies. This intervention in private enterprise, the government not only "forced" its subjects to "build companies," but strictly supervised their "decent maintenance." Not a single reorganization, even the smallest one, in the company's economy could be done without a corresponding "report" to the Manufactory and the Berg Collegium. Manufacturers were required to annually deliver samples of their products to the Manufacture College. The government established the type, form, prices for those goods that were supplied to the treasury, and forbade selling them at retail. The government rewarded good factory owners and severely punished negligent ones. This is how it was written in the decrees when a plant was transferred to private hands: “If they (companion workers) multiply this plant with their zeal and make profit in it, and for that they will receive mercy from him, the great sovereign, but if they do not multiply and diminish by negligence, and for that they will be fined 1000 rubles per human". Unsuccessful factory owners were even simply "deprived" of factories by the government.

Only fragmentary information has been preserved about how the companies arranged their activities. The companies included not only people who could participate in the business by personal labor, but also "interested parties", i.e. those who gave only money in order to receive a certain income from them. In the projects of those times (back in 1698), there was already talk of such a structure of companies, in which every “particular” person who contributed a certain capital to it, by purchasing a certain amount "portion, or shares", could be a member of the company. But before 1757-1758, not a single joint-stock company was formed in Russia. Business in the companies was conducted “according to the merchant’s habit, according to his own invention, with general advice, the elder of the jury and several elected ones - whom it would be prudent to choose for what business”.

Creation of new manufactories

Some manufactories that arose under Peter were quite large. The Petrovsky factories in the Olonetsky region, founded by Menshikov and led by Genning, were distinguished by their broad organization of work, excellent equipment, a large composition of workers and the organization of the technical part.

State-owned mining plants were also distinguished by especially large size and crowding. 25 thousand peasants were assigned to nine Perm factories. To manage the Perm and Ural factories, a whole city arose, named after the queen Yekaterinburg. Here, in the Urals, back in the 17th century, they tried to dig something, to mine something, but copper, iron, silver did not go further than finding various "curiosities" - they bought everything, mainly from the Swedes. It is only from the time of Peter that the real work begins here. In 1719, the “Berg Privilege” was issued, according to which everyone was given the right to search, melt, boil and clean metals and minerals everywhere, subject to the payment of a “mountain tax” of 1/10 of the cost of production and 32 shares in favor of the owner of that land where ore deposits are found. For hiding the ore and trying to prevent the finder from arranging the development of the perpetrators, land confiscation, corporal punishment and even the death penalty “through the fault of looking” threatened. In 1702, the Verkhoturye factories, built by the sovereign's money treasury and city county people, were given for ransom to Nikita Demidov. But the Urals at first could not yet compete with the Olonets factories, which were closer to St. Petersburg and the place of hostilities. Only after peace was established, Peter paid more attention to the Urals and sent Colonel Genning there, who put the entire production of the Olonets factories on their feet. By the end of Peter's reign, about 7 million poods of cast iron and over 200,000 poods of copper were smelted annually at all his factories. The development of gold and silver deposits also began.

After the mining factories, the weapons factories - Tula and Sestroretsky - were distinguished by their vastness. These weapons factories supplied guns, cannons and edged weapons to the entire army and freed the treasury from having to buy weapons abroad. In total, under Peter, more than 20 thousand cannons were cast. The first rapid-fire guns appeared. At Petrovsky factories, they even used “fiery” machines as a driving force - that was the name of the progenitors of steam engines at that time. 1162 workers worked at the state-owned sailing factory in Moscow. Of the private factories, Shchegolin's cloth factory with his comrades in Moscow, which had 130 mills and employed 730 workers, was distinguished by its vastness. Miklyaev's Kazan cloth factory employed 740 people.

Workers in the Age of Peter

The factory workers of the time of Peter the Great came from a wide variety of strata of the population: runaway serfs, vagabonds, beggars, even criminals - all of them, according to strict orders, were taken and sent to “work” in factories. Peter could not stand "walking" people who were not attached to any business, he was ordered to grab them, not sparing even the monastic rank, and sent them to factories. There were very few civilian workers, because in general there were few free people in Russia at that time. The rural population was not free; . When a factory was established, the manufacturer was usually given the privilege of freely hiring Russian and foreign craftsmen and apprentices, "paying them a decent wage for their work". If the manufacturer received a factory arranged by the treasury, then workers were transferred to him along with the factory buildings.

There were frequent cases when, in order to supply factories, and especially factories, with working hands, villages and villages of peasants were attributed to factories and factories, as was still practiced in the 17th century. Such assigned to the factory worked for it and in it by order of the owner. But in most cases, the manufacturers themselves had to find workers for themselves by hiring. It was very difficult, and the dregs of the population usually ended up in the factories - all those who had nowhere else to go. There were not enough workers. The factory owners constantly complained about the lack of workers and, above all, that there were no workers. Workers were so rare also because dressing was then predominantly manual, and it was not always easy to learn how to do it. A skillful worker who knew his job was highly valued for this reason; the factory owners lured such workers away from each other, and under no circumstances did they release well-trained workers. He who learned the skill in a factory undertook not to leave the factory that taught him for ten or fifteen years, depending on the agreement. Experienced workers lived in one place for a long time and rarely became unemployed. For "calling" working people from one factory to another before the expiration of the fixed period of work, a very large fine was imposed by law on the guilty manufacturer, while the enticed worker returned to the former owner and was subjected to corporal punishment.

But all this did not save the factories from desertion. Then the government of Peter decided that work in factories could be carried out in the same way as rural work on the estates of private landowners, i.e. through hard labor. In 1721, a decree followed, which stated that although previously "merchant people" were forbidden to buy villages, now many of them wanted to start various manufactories both in companies and one by one. “For this reason, it is allowed for the reproduction of such factories, both for the nobility and merchant people, to those village factories to buy without restriction with the permission of the Berg and Manufactory Collegium, only under such a condition, so that those villages were always already at those factories inseparably. And in order not to sell or mortgage to anyone, to the gentry, and to the merchants of those villages especially without factories, and not to secure anyone for anyone by any fiction, and not to give such villages to anyone at the ransom, unless someone wants for their necessary needs those villages and with those sell the factories, then sell them with the permission of the Berg Collegium. And if anyone acts against this, then it will be irrevocably deprived of all that ... " After this decree, all factories quickly acquired serf workers, and the factory owners liked it so much that they began to seek assignment to the factories and free workers who worked for them in free employment. In 1736, i.e. already after the death of Peter, they received this, and according to the decree, all those artisans who were at the factories at the time the decree was issued had to “forever” with their families remain strong in the factory. Even under Peter, the factory owners were already judges of their workers. From 1736, this was granted to them by law.

Serf workers did not always receive a monetary salary, but only food and clothing. Civilian workers, of course, received a salary in money, usually on a monthly basis in state-owned factories, and piecework in private ones. In addition to money, grubs also went to civilian employees. The amounts of cash salaries and grain dachas were small. The labor of workers was best paid in silk factories, worse in paper factories, even worse in cloth factories, and the least paid in linen factories. In general, in state-owned manufactories, wages were higher than in private ones.

Work in some factories was precisely and thoroughly established by company regulations. In 1741, a fourteen-hour working day was established by law.

The workers depended on the manufacturers for everything. True, the law ordered them “decently maintain artisans and students and repair them with rewards at their true worth”, but these rules were poorly enforced. The factory owners, having bought a village for the factory, often registered as workers and drove all the “full workers” to the factory, so that only the old men, women and minors remained on the ground. The wages of the workers were often delayed, so that they “came into poverty and even suffered from diseases”.

Product quality

Goods produced by Russian factories did not differ in high quality and processing. Only rough soldier's cloths were relatively good, and everything that was needed for military supplies, including cannons, but purely industrial goods that were looking for sales among the people were bad.

Thus, the majority of Russian factories produced, according to merchants, goods of poor quality, which could not count on a quick sale, especially in the presence of foreign competition. Then Peter, in order to encourage his manufacturers and give their goods at least some kind of sale, began to impose heavy duties on foreign manufacturers. In accordance with the teachings of mercantilism he had learned, Peter was convinced that his manufacturers were tolerating “from goods brought from abroad; for example, one peasant discovered the paint of bakan, I ordered the painters to try it, and they said that it would yield to one Venetian, and equal to German, and another better: they made it from abroad; other manufacturers also complain…” Until 1724, Peter issued orders from time to time prohibiting the import of either individual foreign goods that began to be produced in Russia, or entire groups of both “manufacturing” and “metal products”. From time to time, it was forbidden even inside Russia to produce any linen or silk fabric for anyone, except for one factory that had just opened, of course, with the direct goal of giving it the opportunity to get on its feet and accustom the consumer to its production.

In 1724, a general tariff was issued, strictly protective of its industry, in part even directly prohibitive in relation to foreign goods.

With industry and trade, the same thing happened as with all the reforms of Peter, begun by him from 1715-1719: conceived broadly and boldly, they were brought to life by the performers sluggishly and tediously. Peter himself, not having worked out a general definite plan for himself, but for his life full of wartime anxieties and not accustomed to working systematically and consistently, hurried a lot and sometimes started from the end and middle of a business that should have been carried out carefully from the very foundation, and therefore certain aspects of his reforms withered like early ripening flowers, and when he died, the reforms stopped.

Development of trade

By decree of the College of Commerce in 1723, Peter ordered “Send the children of merchants to foreign lands, so that there are never less than 15 people in foreign lands, and when they are trained, take back and in their place new ones, and order those trained to teach here, it’s impossible to send everyone; why take from all the noble cities, so that this could be done everywhere; and send 20 people to Riga and Revel and distribute them to the capitalists; these are both numbers from the townspeople; besides, the collegium of labor has to teach commerce certain of the noble children ".

The conquest of the sea coast, the founding of St. Petersburg with the direct appointment of it as a port, the teaching of mercantilism, adopted by Peter - all this made him think about commerce, about its development in Russia. In the first 10 years of the 18th century, the development of trade with the West was hampered by the fact that many goods were declared a state monopoly and were sold only through government agents. But Peter did not consider this measure, caused by the extreme need for money, to be useful, and therefore, when the military alarm calmed down somewhat, he again turned to the thought of companies of trading people. In July 1712, he ordered the Senate - “Immediately rush in the merchant’s business, the best order to do”. The Senate began to try to arrange a company of merchants for trade with China, but Moscow merchants “they refused to take on the bargain with the company”. On February 12, 1712, Peter ordered “to set up a collegium for the commercial business of correction, so that it can be brought to a better state; Why is it necessary for one or two foreigners who need to be pleased, so that they show the truth and jealousy in that with an oath, so that it is better to show the truth and jealousy in that with an oath, in order to better arrange order, for there is no doubt that their bargaining is incomparably better ours". The collegium was formed, worked out the rules of its existence and actions. The collegium worked first in Moscow, then in St. Petersburg. With the establishment of the College of Commerce, all the affairs of this prototype of it were transferred to the new department of trade.

Peter saw the basis of the commercial significance of Russia in the fact that nature judged her to be a trading intermediary between Europe and Asia.

Simultaneously with the efforts to connect the Baltic and Caspian rivers with a network of canals, Peter took decisive measures to ensure that the movement of foreign trade left its former habitual path to the White Sea and Arkhangelsk and took a new direction to St. Petersburg. Government measures in this direction began in 1712, but the protests of foreign merchants, who complained about the inconvenience of living in a new city like Petersburg, the considerable danger of sailing in wartime on the Baltic Sea, the high cost of the route itself, because the Danes took a fee for the passage of ships , - all this made Peter postpone the abrupt transfer of trade with Europe from Arkhangelsk to St. Petersburg: but already in 1718 he issued a decree allowing only hemp trade in Arkhangelsk, all the grain trade was ordered to move to St. Petersburg. Thanks to these and other measures of the same nature, St. Petersburg became a significant place for holiday and import trade. Concerned about raising the commercial importance of his new capital, Peter is negotiating with his future son-in-law, the Duke of Holstein, regarding the possibility of digging a canal from Kiel to the North Sea in order to be independent from the Danes, and, taking advantage of the confusion in Mecklenburg and wartime in general, he thinks to establish himself more firmly near the possible entrance to the projected channel. But this project was carried out much later, after the death of Peter.

Peter also paid tribute to the enthusiasm characteristic of his time to trade with the countries of the far south, with India. He dreamed of an expedition to Madagascar, and he thought of directing Indian trade through Khiva and Bukhara to Russia. A.P. Volynsky was sent to Persia as an ambassador, and Peter instructed him to find out if there was any river in Persia that would flow from India through Persia and flow into the Caspian Sea. Volynsky had to work so that the Shah directed the entire trade of Persia in raw silk not through the cities of the Turkish Sultan - Smyrna and Aleppo, but through Astrakhan. In 1715, a trade agreement was concluded with Persia, and Astrakhan trade became very active. Realizing the importance of the Caspian Sea for his broad plans, Peter took advantage of the intervention in Persia, when the rebels killed the Russian merchants there, and occupied the coast of the Caspian Sea from Baku and Derbent inclusive. In Central Asia, on the Amu Darya, Peter sent a military expedition under the command of Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky. In order to establish themselves there, it was supposed to find the old channel of the Amu Darya River and direct its course to the Caspian Sea, but this attempt failed: exhausted by the difficulty of the path through the desert scorched by the sun, the Russian detachment fell into an ambush set by the Khiva, and was all exterminated.

Transformation results

Thus, under Peter the foundation of Russian industry was laid. Many new industries entered the circulation of people's labor, i.e. the sources of people's well-being increased quantitatively and qualitatively improved. This improvement was achieved by a terrible strain on the people's forces, but only thanks to this strain was the country able to endure the burden of the twenty-year uninterrupted war. In the future, the intensive development of national wealth, which began under Peter, led to the enrichment and economic development of Russia.

Domestic trade under Peter also revived significantly, but, in general, continued to have the same caravan and fair character. But even this side of the economic life of Russia was stirred up by Peter and brought out of that calmness of inertia and lack of enterprise, which was different in the 17th century and earlier. The spread of commercial knowledge, the emergence of factories and factories, communication with foreigners - all this gave a new meaning and direction to Russian trade, forcing it to revive inside and, thereby, becoming an increasingly active participant in world trade, to assimilate its principles and rules.

Peter considered foreign trade to be one of the most effective means of introducing Russia to Western European culture. At the beginning of his reign, he took vigorous measures to expand trade. He visited Arkhangelsk three times and built several ships at the Solambal shipyard to export government goods abroad. And the trade of Arkhangelsk developed rapidly; at the end of the 17th century. its turnover barely reached 850,000 rubles, and in 1710 - 1,485,000 rubles. But the White Sea, in its remoteness, the brevity of the navigation period and its difficulties, did not meet the needs of Russian foreign trade, even in its then size.

A different, more convenient outlet was needed for the products of the Russian economy. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish itself on the Sea of Azov, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were acquired for Russia and St. Petersburg was founded. Promises of benefits attracted foreign merchants to the new Russian port; the Dutch and the British took the greatest part in its trade. In 1706 a trade convention was concluded with France; Italian ships, in respect of range, were promised a concession of half of the duties; Prince Menshikov was instructed to enter into correspondence about trade benefits for the merchants of Hamburg, Bremen and Danzig. At the same time, Peter took care of the arrangement of water communication between the internal grain-growing and populated regions of the state with St. Petersburg (Vyshnevolotsk system). The canal for bypassing Lake Ladoga was started in 1719 and completed in 1728.

Having established himself on the Neva, Peter redoubled his concerns about St. Petersburg and its trade. He ordered to proceed with the construction of a military and merchant port on the island of Retusari (Kotlin), where the Baltic fleet was to have a permanent residence, and where all ships would be unloaded, for which the entrance to the mouth of the Neva, due to its shallow water, was impossible. Subsequently, this harbor, as well as the city that arose with it, received the name of Kronstadt. Trade in the new port at first developed poorly. Both Russians and foreigners preferred Arkhangelsk, where routes had been established for a long time. To strengthen the trade of St. Petersburg, Peter took a number of artificial measures. By decree of October 31, 1713, he commanded " announce publicly that merchants and other officials who have hemp and yuft should not be taken to the city of Arkhangelsk and Vologda for trade, but would be brought to St. Petersburg. Also, which sovereign goods: caviar, glue, potash, resin, bristles, rhubarb should not be released to Arkhangelsk, but brought to St. Petersburg". Merchant foreigners were invited to notify their compatriots abroad so that ships to load Russian goods would be sent to St. Petersburg, and not to Arkhangelsk. Subsequently, at the request of the merchants, with the accumulation of export goods in St. Petersburg, permission was given to carry a certain part of the goods to Arkhangelsk. By decree of November 20, 1717, the most eminent merchants of Arkhangelsk were resettled in St. Petersburg. By a decree of 1720, the usual 5% duty was reduced to 3% from goods sent to St. Petersburg, while no duties were levied at internal outposts from those assigned for export from St. Petersburg abroad; carts with these goods, after examination and sealing, passed non-stop to St. Petersburg itself.

With all these measures, St. Petersburg trade was strengthened, Arkhangelsk trade was reduced. Within 8 years (1710-1718), the vacation of Arkhangelsk rose from 1 1/3 to 2 1/3 million rubles, and the import from 142,000 to 600,000 rubles; in 1726, goods worth 285,387 were shipped to Arkhangelsk, and only 35,846 rubles were brought in. In 1718, goods worth 268,590 rubles were exported from St. Petersburg, in 1726 - 2,403,423 rubles; in 1718 it was brought to St. Petersburg for 218,049 rubles, in 1726 - for 1,549,697 rubles. In 1720, 76 foreign ships entered the Neva, in 1722 - 119, in 1724 - 180. 452,403 rubles were collected from these duties.

The trade of Riga, which was greatly reduced in the first years after its conquest by Russia, soon exceeded its previous size: in 1704, 359 ships visited Riga, in 1725 - 388. The growth of Riga, despite the competition of St. export was served by the Lithuanian-Polish region far from St. Petersburg. Revel, Narva and Vyborg have lost some of their former importance, partly due to military events. Vyborg, especially those who suffered from them, Peter granted free trade in bread, resin, timber and other goods that were prohibited or were the subject of state monopoly. As part of the development of Russian overland trade, in 1714 a state-owned transport of Siberian goods was sent to Poland and Hungary, which had excellent sales there; the proceeds were used to buy Hungarian wines. The Nezhin Greeks were given the privilege of trading with Moldavia and Wallachia. Overland trade arose through Poland with Prussia. In 1723, Russian merchants were allowed to trade with Breslavl. The storage place for our overland trade with Germany at that time was Vasilkov - the Russian customs on the Polish border.

Peter's attempt to acquire several strong points on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea was unsuccessful in order to conduct direct trade from there with Khiva and Bukhara, and then, with the help of caravans sent from these khanates to India, to direct Indian trade through the Caspian Sea to Russia. Russian-Persian trade was still concentrated mainly in the hands of Armenian merchants who had their offices in Astrakhan. They not only brought Persian goods, mainly silk, to Russia, but also sent them by sea to Holland, from where, in turn, they exported Dutch cloth and other goods that were marketed in Persia. Peter willingly allowed this trade, in view of the significant state income from transit duties. In 1711, with the knowledge and approval of the Persian Shah, he concluded a condition with the Armenians, by virtue of which all the silk exported from Persia was to be delivered by them to Russia. For this, the Armenians were granted a monopoly trade in silk, and were given some duty benefits. Russian merchants, mainly from Astrakhan, carried on quite a lively active trade in Nizabad and Rasht. They stored their goods mainly in Shamakhi. When this city, in 1711, was sacked by the Lezgins, Russian merchants lost significant sums: the losses of one trading house stretched up to 180,000 rubles. In 1716, the import of Bukhara and Persian goods to Astrakhan alone amounted to 464,000 rubles, while duties were collected over 22,500 rubles. In order to strengthen Russian-Persian trade relations, in 1715 a special embassy was sent to Persia, which managed to conclude a trade agreement with Persia. In 1720, the tsar appointed a Russian consul to Ispahan (who, however, was stopped in Rasht due to internal unrest). The British applied for permission to resume their transit trade with Persia through Russia, but were refused, as did the Dutch and French. The last years of Peter's reign were marked by a number of orders concerning the organization of Russian-Persian merchant shipping on the Caspian Sea and shipbuilding in Astrakhan.

In terms of streamlining Russian-Chinese trade, back in 1698, Peter ordered a caravan to be sent from Moscow to Nerchinsk not annually, but a year later, so that prices would not fall from the influx of Russian goods there. In 1719, Peter sent the captain of the guard Izmailov to Beijing, who managed to achieve the conclusion of a treatise on such, among other things, conditions:

that a Russian consul should have a permanent residence in Beijing, and vice-consuls in some other cities;
that the Russians should have the right to freely travel throughout the territory of China and transport goods along Chinese rivers and store them on wharfs;
so that Russian merchants were allowed duty-free trade in China.

Russian-Chinese relations, however, did not improve. Soon after Izmailov's departure, the Chinese government forbade Russian caravans from coming to Beijing until certain borders were established between Russia and Chinese Mongolia; the establishment of borders, through the fault of the Chinese, slowed down.

Having ascended the throne, Peter not only left all state monopolies in force, but also multiplied them: yuft, hemp, potash, tar, lard, hemp oil, flaxseed, rhubarb, caviar, fish glue could be brought by private individuals only to river, lake or sea piers, and then passed into the hands of the treasury. At first, Peter conducted this trade, like his predecessors, either himself or entrusted its conduct to special officials, but soon, due to lack of time, he began to lease out the export of state-owned goods. So, in 1703, the export of tar, “seal skins and all fishery products of the Arkhangelsk coast was handed over to Prince Menshikov; Vologda merchants Okonishnikovs at the same time received a monopoly on the sale of flaxseed. Later, the caviar trade was sold for 100,000, rhubarb - for 80,000 rubles. Other export and some imported goods were also surrendered. According to the decree of 1715, the treasury sold the monopoly goods that were not at the mercy of the treasury exclusively for cash (full-weight "efimki", i.e. johimstalers). However, Peter adhered to the system of state monopolies only until experience convinced him of their unprofitability for the treasury and harm to the people's well-being. The decree of April 8, 1719 commanded " there should be only two state-owned goods: potash and smolchaku”, which were withdrawn from the circle of“ free ” trade in the form of forest conservation.

In 1718, a commerce board was established. The first Russian consulate was established in Amsterdam; he was followed by consulates in London, Toulon, Cadiz, Lisbon, and soon in almost all the chief cities of Europe and Persia.

In 1724, the customs tariff and maritime trade regulations were published. According to the tariff of 1724, the duty on most imported and selling goods did not exceed 5% of the price, but selling goods, for the supply of which Western Europe, Russia had little or no competitors, were paid with higher duties; for example, 27.5% was charged from the price of holiday hemp. Customs duties were paid in foreign coins accepted at a known rate. Customs revenues were collected at the end of Peter's reign up to 869.5 thousand rubles. The value of exports from Russia was higher than the value of imports, which is explained as much by the usefulness of Russian raw materials for the Western European manufacturing industry as by the small demand in Russia for luxury and comfort, due to the lack of rich people. But even then, the relatively small costs of the Russians to pay for imports worried Peter; he wanted to create a merchant fleet in order to save sea freight in favor of Russia, and if not increase the export of products, then at least reduce their import, developing the manufacturing industry in the country.

By the decree of November 8, 1723, it was ordered, among other things, “to multiply your commerce, build companies, start particular auctions in the Ost See, for example, send Persian goods, sashes, etc. to Poland” and do all this “not loudly, so that with an extra echo there was no harm instead of good." In 1724, the tsar decided to equip at his own expense three Russian ships to Spain and one to France, so that the merchants who were supposed to go there with goods would stay abroad for some time to study trade operations. Measures aimed at reducing foreign imports include benefits and privileges for the establishment of factories and factories in Russia and the taxation of imported goods from abroad. " To collect the scattered temple of the merchants”, Peter established magistrates in the cities. The patronage of his factory owners even went as far as attaching peasants to factories.

Under the successors of Peter to Catherine II

Peter's immediate successors continued his trade policy, but soon its shortcomings began to be revealed, and, above all, excessive petty regulation of trade and industry. Protests were made by the merchants, for the consideration of which a special commission was established in 1727 in St. Petersburg. Among the applications considered by her was a petition from English, Dutch and Hamburg merchants living in St. Petersburg with a request to reduce customs duties on imported foreign goods. In 1731, a customs tariff was issued, according to which duties on imported goods were lowered, and on some exported goods they were completely combined. Taxation on price for most goods has been replaced by duties on weight, measure and bill. The taxation of goods passing through Arkhangelsk with an additional duty of 25% was abolished. In 1731, a “sea charter” was issued, according to which Russian merchants who sent their goods from St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk and Kola on their own ships, or in general on ships built in Russia, were charged 4 times less dues than they were established by the tariff; from the importation on the same ships, in order to avoid fraud, they took a full duty. If a Russian subject released his goods on foreign ships, he paid only 3/4 of the duty established for foreigners. Thanks to the relief of the customs burden, trade revived; thus, in 1726, Russian goods were exported from St. Petersburg worth 2 2/5 million rubles, and in 1751 - 4 1/4; in 1726 it was brought to St. Petersburg for 1 1/2, and in 1751 - for 3 3/4 million rubles.

Peter's dying order to send three Russian ships with Russian goods to Spain was executed under Catherine I: the ships were loaded with lard, hemp, ropes, yuft, canvases, canvas, flax and caviar; the treasury delivered 2/3 of the cargo from itself, the rest was collected with great difficulty among the merchants, of whom two, by order of the government, were to go on this journey. The ships arrived safely in Cadiz and here, under the supervision of the Russian consul, the cargo was soon sold out; but this example did not find followers. The same outcome had attempts to start active trade with Italy and France. More successful and longer was the experience of the merchants Bazhenov and Krylov, who sent goods on their own ships to Amsterdam and Hamburg.

In general, Russian foreign trade still remained in the hands of foreigners, at first predominantly the Dutch, and from the 1930s, the British. The export of iron, canvas, linen, and rhubarb from Russia was concentrated in English hands. The British taught South European merchants to place orders for Russian goods with English trading firms. The government repeatedly tried to establish direct trade relations with France, but these attempts were unsuccessful, partly for political reasons, mainly due to the lack of entrepreneurial spirit among Russian and French merchants. In 1734, an agreement was concluded between Russia and England, granting the subjects of both states the right to free navigation and trade in all areas belonging to them in Europe, and English and Russian ships were admitted on the basis of the greatest favor. Both the Russians in England and the British in Russia had the right to transport all kinds of goods, with a few exceptions, and the same duties were paid on both sides. To eliminate fraud and falsification, a “truthful marriage” was established, with the responsibility for the good quality of products being placed on the rejecters. This agreement was renewed in 1742 for another 15 years.

The trade agreement of 1726 with Prussia, renewed in 1743 for 18 years, was distinguished by the same character. In Sweden, under an agreement of 1735, it was allowed to export duty-free from the harbors of the Baltic Sea bread for 50,000 rubles, hemp, flax and masts - also for 50,000 rubles. After a two-year war, in 1743, a new treaty was concluded, which restored mutual free trade between the subjects of both states. Duty-free export of bread, hemp and flax was allowed from Russia for an amount twice as large as under the agreement of 1735, and in the event of a crop failure in Sweden, bread was allowed to be exported there "no matter how much you get." Russian furs, leathers and cattle went through Poland to Prussia, Schleswig, Saxony and Turkey: Russian merchants themselves went to the destinations of goods and there they acquired goods needed for Russia. Maritime trade went mainly through the ports of the Baltic Sea, between which St. Petersburg played a dominant role. The improvement of the Vyshnevolotsk waterway and the opening, in 1728, of the Ladoga Canal, especially contributed to the expansion of its trade turnover. In addition to St. Petersburg, Russia had 6 trading ports on the Baltic Sea: Riga, Revel, Pernov, Ahrensburg, Narva and Vyborg. In 1737, Gapsal was attached to them, in 1747 - Friedrichsgam.

Relations with the East underwent many changes. According to a treaty concluded in 1732 in Rasht, Russia returned to Persia most of its conquests. For this, the shah granted Russian merchants the right to trade duty-free in Persia, undertook to protect the Russians from any arbitrariness and provide them with speedy justice, without the usual red tape in Persia. Russia was allowed to keep consuls in the cities to protect the interests of its merchants. In 1755, a Russian partnership was founded for trade with Persia. The Armenians, seeing him as a serious competitor and not having achieved its closure, united with him in 1758 in one "Persian Trading Society", with a capital of 600,000 rubles. In 1762, it, along with other monopoly companies, was closed, as Peter III found that the Russian trading companies of that time served only as a refuge for bankrupt merchants and were “ nothing but the unrighteous appropriation to one of what belongs to all».

The terms of trade with Central Asia improved somewhat after the Kirghiz-Kaisatsky horde accepted Russian citizenship (in 1731), especially due to the foundation on the river. Orsk fortress, Troitsk and Orenburg in the Urals. Since 1750, a fairly frequent movement of caravans from Bukhara, Tashkent, Kashgar to Orenburg begins. The attempts of Russian merchants to go with goods through Orenburg to Central Asia were not unsuccessful. In Balkh, Russian caravans met with Indian ones and exchanged goods with them. Under an agreement with Turkey in 1739, free trade was granted to the subjects of both states; but Russian trade on the Black Sea was to be carried out on the ships of Turkish subjects. The embassy sent by Catherine I managed to conclude a general treaty with the Chinese government in 1727, and in 1728 an additional one, which established free trade between empires. For the bargaining of private individuals, two border places were appointed - Kyakhta and Tsuruhaitu; the right to send caravans to Beijing was granted only to the Russian government, no more than once every three years, and the number of merchants in caravans should not exceed 200. From that time on, the government sent its caravans with furs to Beijing only 6 times, between 1728 and 1755 .G. Caravan bargaining at the expense of the treasury required significant costs that did not pay off with profits, which is why under Peter III it was canceled. Furs were mainly sold to China, and silk and rhubarb were obtained from there.

The monopoly in foreign trade remained in force, being of interest not only to merchants, but also to noble people; for example, Count P. I. Shuvalov received the exclusive right to leave abroad fat, blubber, and forest. On the other hand, Russia owes to the energy of the same Shuvalov the destruction (April 1, 1753) of internal outposts and the abolition of internal duties, which were becoming more and more complicated and increasing. The following fees were abolished: 1) customs (ie, ruble and fair duty); 2) from hiring cabbies and floating ships; 3) with branding clamps; 4) from bridges and transportation; 5) lifting; 6) from tan and tan horse and cowhide skins and from cattle; 7) free and dump; 8) tenth collection from egg fish; 9) stationery petty; 10) from an icebreaker and a watering place; 11) from measuring quarters; 12) from the sale of tar; 13) from scales of weighty goods; 14) from stone millstones and pottery; 15) from traveling printed letters; 16) deductible from wine contractors and advertisers; 17) with a customs letter. Not so much the duties themselves were burdensome, but the formalities, arbitrary requisitions and all sorts of pressure on the part of collectors (tsolovalnikov) and tax-farmers. These fees were especially difficult for rural petty trade, since any goods worth more than 2 hryvnias were recorded at customs. Instead of the abolished fees, the customs taxation of imported and exported goods at the border customs was increased by 13%. At the time of the abolition of internal duties, their annual amount throughout Russia, excluding Siberia, was determined on a 5-year basis at 903,537 rubles; and since it was at least 5% of the value of goods circulating in domestic trade, the entire amount of domestic trade turnover is determined at 18 million rubles, while the turnover of foreign trade for imports reached 6, and for vacation 7.5 million rubles .

Such a weak development of domestic trade indicates the dominance of subsistence over money economy. The customs tariff of 1757 was strictly protective in nature: import duties were raised on all non-essential items. The number of items prohibited for import or export has been increased. This tariff did not apply to Livonian ports. Under Peter III, much was done to facilitate foreign trade. The export of grain, which was sometimes allowed, sometimes forbidden without sufficient reasons, began to be carried out from all ports without hindrance. The export of salted meat and live cattle was facilitated. Arkhangelsk received all the rights that the port of St. Petersburg used. According to the data of 1758-68, the most important items of Russian vacation were, in addition to bread, hemp (about 2 1/4 million pounds per year), flax (692 thousand pounds), flaxseed and hempseed (120 thousand pounds ), hemp and linseed oil (166,000 poods), hemp ropes (19,000 poods), linen and equals (up to 7.5 million arshins), lard (up to 1 million poods), yuft and other leathers (up to 200 thousand pounds), furs, mostly cheap, live poultry, soap, horse hair, bristles, iron, copper. The release of wooden beams, mast and other timber, as well as pitch and tar, was subject to restrictions, and often even a complete ban, in the form of forest conservation. Silk and rhubarb were exported from transit Asian goods. Information about the number of imports is available for St. Petersburg: here in the middle of the 18th century. cloth and woolen products worth 827 thousand rubles, indigo and other dyes for 505 thousand, wines and vodkas for 348 thousand, sugar for 198 thousand, small goods for 146 thousand, silk fabrics for 108 thousand, fresh fruit by 82 thousand, haberdashery by 60 thousand, tea and coffee by 57 thousand. The total annual turnover of foreign trade and customs income in this period is expressed, according to Storch, by the following numbers:

In 1761, 1779 ships arrived at Russian ports, including 332 ships in St. Petersburg and Kronstadt, 957 in Riga, 145 in Revel, 115 in Narva, 80 in Vyborg, 72 in Pernov, 37 in Friedrichsgam, and 37 in Ahrensburg. 34, Gapsal - 7.

Under Catherine II and Paul I

Convinced that “trade is removed from there, where it is used, and settled where its tranquility is not disturbed,” Catherine, soon after her accession, issued a decree on trade, which confirmed the orders of Peter III to facilitate the trade in bread, meat, flax, as well as the abolition of government trading with China; ordered “rhubarb and pitch to be in free trade, but potash and pitch, to save forests, leave state-owned goods; narrow canvas can be freely exported abroad, but linen yarn is not produced; to destroy the sale of tobacco, seals and fish, and to make the release of beavers free. The customs farm, given to Shemyakin in 1758 for 2 million rubles, was also destroyed. in year. In 1763, a "Commission on Commerce" was established.

The tariff developed by her and put into effect in 1767 imposed high duties on imported goods “for home dressings and decorations, as well as for luxury in food and drink”; those products are prohibited for import, with which “we can be content with abundance in our own state”; goods are exempted from the duty, "of which the production or factories in the state have not yet begun, in order to encourage agriculture or needlework thereof." Overseas products and goods that were produced in Russia "not yet in sufficient quantity and not perfect kindness" were subject to a duty of about 12%. On imported goods, "which are also made in Russia, and these factories have been brought to some perfection," duties were set at 30% of the price to encourage the factories. “This surplus of 30% to the promotion may be satisfied; if you are not satisfied, then it is useless to keep such factories. The prevailing role in the development of foreign trade was still played by the Dutch and the British, especially the latter, who, according to the treaty of 1766, enjoyed special advantages: for example, they could pay duties in current Russian coin, at the rate of 1 ruble. 25 kop. for efimok, while from other foreigners they were certainly charged with efimok, at the rate of 50 kopecks. The attitude towards the British has changed since, during the Anglo-American War, Russian ships, like the ships of other nations, began to be inspected and stopped by the British on suspicion of carrying military contraband, and items necessary for equipping ships were also taken for smuggling. and even food supplies. Armed neutrality put an end to this (1780).

Taking advantage of the coolness between Russia and England, the continental states, one after another, concluded treaties with Russia granting them the same rights that the British enjoyed in our country. In 1782, Denmark concluded an agreement with Russia, in 1785 - Austria, in 1786 - France, in 1787 - the Kingdom of Naples and Portugal. We reduced duties on French, Hungarian, Neapolitan and Portuguese wines, on Marseille soap, olive oil, Brazilian indigo and tobacco, and Portuguese salt, which was imported into Riga and Revel. Instead, it was said: the Austrian government - a reduction in duties on Russian furs, caviar and yuft; in French - the exemption of Russian ships from the payment of freight duties and the reduction of duties on Russian lard, soap, wax, strip and sectional iron; in Neapolitan - a significant reduction in duties on Russian iron, lard, leather, yuft, ropes, furs, caviar, linen and hemp cloths, in Portuguese - a reduction in duties on boards and wood, from hemp, hemp oil and seed, from strip iron, anchors , cannons, cores and bombs, from sailing canvases; flemish, equal and linen kolomyankas; finally, Denmark provided Russian ships with significant benefits when passing through the Sound.

With England, the treaty of 1766, after a 20-year period, was not renewed. The events that took place in France in 1789-92 served as an occasion for a sharp change in Russian politics: by terminating the treaty of 1786, Catherine forbade French ships from entering Russian ports, banned the import of any French goods and trade in them, on March 29, 1793, she concluded a convention with England, by which, among other things, it was decided not to send any bread or other provisions of life to France. These hostile measures also extended to trade relations with Holland and other states that fell under the rule of the French. By a decree of May 20, 1796, Dutch ships were denied access to Russian ports.

Relations with the southern European states through the Azov and Black Seas at the beginning of Catherine's reign were insignificant. The entire Azov-Black Sea trade was concentrated in Cherkasy, where the Kubans and Crimean Tatars brought Greek wines, southern fruits, vegetable oils, rice, cotton, and the Russians - leather, cow butter, canvas, iron in and out of business, hemp, ropes, fur, leather. Russian merchants often traveled to the Crimea and lived there for a long time, enjoying the favor of the local government and paying moderate duties: 5% for import and 4% for export. According to the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kaynardzhy (1774), Russian ships received the right to free navigation in all Turkish waters, and Russian merchants - all the benefits that subjects of the most favored powers enjoyed in Turkey. In order to revive trade in the ports newly acquired from Turkey, Catherine introduced a special, preferential tariff for them, the rates of which for both imported and holiday goods were 25% lower than the general tariff. Legislative activity continued for the benefit of internal trade: in 1773 the last state monopolies were abolished; in 1785, the "City Regulations" were published, which expanded the rights of the merchant class; It was founded and renamed from villages to 300 new cities. improved waterways; established credit institutions. From 1762 to 1796, the release of Russian goods abroad increased 5 times, and the import from abroad - four times:

Periods	Export	Bringing
Periods	million rubles
1863-1765	12,0	9,3
1766-1770	13,1	10,4
1771-1775	17,4	13,2
1776-1780	19,2	14,0
1781-1785	23,7	17,9
1786-1790	28,3	22,3
1791-1795	43,5	34,0
1796	67,7	41,9

For amounts up to 200,000 rubles. brought: cotton, linen, lead, zinc, sheet iron, needles, craft tools, haberdashery, ribbons, silk and woolen, stockings, writing paper, faience and porcelain products, pharmaceutical goods, cheese, horses. The entire import, on average, amounted to 27,886,000 rubles annually. In 1763, no more than 1,500 sea merchant ships came to the main Russian ports, and in 1796 - 3,443.

Emperor Paul I at the very beginning of his reign issued a series of decrees that softened the prohibitive nature of the measures taken in 1793 against trade with France. By two decrees on February 16 and 28, 1797, he allowed the transport from Holland not only of all goods in tariffs not prohibited, on ships belonging to neutral powers, but also some French: Provence oil, canned food, olives, anchovies, wines, vodka, pharmaceutical materials ; the importation of other commodities was prohibited, as were all direct relations with France. With Portugal, trade relations beneficial for Russia were secured by a treaty of 1798. In 1800, an agreement was concluded with Prussia on naval armed neutrality; treatises with other states that were not at war with Russia at that time were confirmed without any changes.

Trade with China, according to the rules of 1800, was to have a strictly exchange character; it was forbidden to sell anything to the Chinese for money under pain of a fine. To protect the interests of Russian trade, the first merchants were elected, who were supposed to take care of raising prices for Russian goods and lowering prices for Chinese goods. According to the Kyakhta tariff published in 1800 for trade with China, customs duties were to be levied on Chinese gold and silver, as well as Russian copper coins and banknotes; deferred payment and transfer of bills of exchange to Irkutsk, Tobolsk, Moscow and St. Petersburg were allowed, as before. To facilitate trade relations with Central Asia, the export there of foreign gold and silver coins from the border customs was allowed.

The customs tariff issued in 1797 differed from the tariff of 1782 in higher duties on provisions. The two “leading” merchant harbors of the Crimea, Feodosia and Evpatoria, Paul granted complete freedom for the arrival of ships of all nations, “with the fact that each and every natural Russian subject and foreigner not only bring goods to these harbors duty-free, but also deliver them to all other places peninsulas on the same right. In the case of sending such goods into the interior of the empire, they were subject to payment, in Perekop, with duties according to the tariff, as well as goods imported into the Crimea from the rest of Russia. Much was done during this reign for the development of trade in the inner regions of the empire: the Oginsky Canal was completed, connecting the Dnieper basin with the Neman basin; the Sievers Canal was dug to bypass the lake. Ilmen; The Syassky Canal was started and work continued on the construction of the Mariinsky Canal.

In the last years of the reign of Paul I, under the influence of external political events, several orders on trade were issued. So, according to a decree on March 6, 1799, it was ordered to arrest all the ships that were at that time in Russian ports and belonged to the inhabitants of Hamburg, since the emperor had noticed for some time “the inclination of the Hamburg government to anarchist rules and the adherence to the rule of the French thieves of legitimate power.” By a decree of October 12 of the same year, Danish commercial ships were prohibited from entering Russian ports, “due to the clubs established and tolerated by the government in Copenhagen and throughout the Kingdom of Denmark, on the same grounds as those that caused nationwide indignation in France and overthrew the legitimate royalty". Both of these orders were canceled in October of the same year, when the emperor found that both the Hamburg government and the Danish king satisfied all his requirements, "proposed for the good of the general." In November 1800, it was ordered to sequester all sorts of English goods in all shops and stores and completely prohibit their sale. On February 8, 3801, “due to the measures taken by France for the safety and security of Russian ships,” trade relations with this power were again allowed. At the same time, it was forbidden to export Russian goods not only to England, but also to Prussia, in view of the fact that England, after breaking off direct trade with Russia, "decided to conduct it through other nations." On March 11, 1801, the emperor ordered that from Russian ports, land border customs and catching no Russian goods without a special High. no command was issued. In 1800, goods worth 61.5 million rubles were exported, and 46.5 million rubles were brought in.

In the 19th century

Under Alexander I

Emperor Alexander I, who reigned on March 12, 1801, “desiring to deliver free and unhindered circulation to commerce”, by decree on March 14 ordered to remove “the previously imposed ban on the export of various Russian goods”, as well as an embargo from English ships and a sequestration from the property of English merchants. Soon the dispute with England about neutral trade ended with the peace concluded on June 5, 1801 in St. Petersburg. It was recognized that a neutral flag did not cover the enemy's cargo, and that belligerent powers could stop neutral ships, even under escort, and compensate them for damages in case of unfounded suspicion. On September 26, 1802, an agreement was concluded in Paris with France on the basis of a commercial treatise of 1786. According to the Tilsit Treaty of 1807, Alexander undertook, if England did not conclude peace with Napoleon within 5 months, to proceed to the “continental system ". October 24 of the same year issued a declaration of rupture with England; after that, an embargo was imposed on English ships, and in 1808 the import of English goods to Russia was prohibited.

The continental system, by blocking the sale of Russian raw materials abroad by sea, dealt a heavy blow to our agriculture, without benefiting the manufacturing industry, since the products of Russian plants and factories could not yet compete with foreign ones that penetrated to us through the land border. Huge masses of Russian holiday goods lay idle in the coastal towns, and at the same time we could not obtain many of the colonial products necessary for factories, for example. dye substances. Our internal trade has weakened, the exchange rate has fallen. With the obvious impossibility of maintaining a system harmful to Russia, Alexander I allowed from 1811 the importation of colonial goods under the American flag and forbade the importation of foreign luxury goods that came to us by land, mainly from France. The change in Russian commercial policy, together with a number of political circumstances, led to a break with France and a new rapprochement with England. In 1814, trade relations were resumed with France and Denmark, in 1815 - with Portugal.

At that time, in our European trade, the “Regulations on Trade for 1811” published in 1810 still had the force of a customs tariff, which allowed for duty-free importation of many raw products needed for crafts and factories, and prohibited the importation of linen, silk, woolen; export duties on flax, hemp, lard, linseed, resin and sailcloths were raised. In terms of economic rapprochement with European states, the emperor was still Congress of Vienna agreed to soften the severity of this situation, but it was decided to do it gradually. According to the tariff of 1816, tanned leather, cast iron, many products made of iron, copper and tin, many varieties of cotton and linen fabrics were still prohibited from being imported; but other products are allowed with the payment of a duty of 15 - 35% of the cost (velvet, cambric, cloth, carpets, blankets, high-quality iron, cutlery, weapons, furs, etc.). It was decided to levy duties on both silver and banknotes, counting (for 1817) 4 rubles. banknotes equal to 1 silver ruble; from goods taxed not by weight, but by price - only in banknotes. The tariff of 1816 was already replaced by a new one in 1819, on the following occasion. By Article XVIII of the Treaty of Vienna, Russia, Austria and Prussia mutually undertook "in order to promote, as far as possible, the success of agriculture in all parts of the former Poland, to stimulate the industry of its inhabitants and to establish their well-being, to allow henceforth and forever the free and unlimited circulation of all between all their Polish regions products of the land and products of the industry of these regions. This resolution, supplemented by the conventions of August 24, 1818 and April 21, 1819, provided Austria and Prussia with such privileges for the export of any goods to Russian possessions that our government could no longer maintain the previous tariff in force, and in 1819 issued was new, the most indulgent towards foreign provenances ever in force in Russia. The duty on foreign goods, according to this tariff, consisted of two parts: the actual customs and consumptive. The first was paid by the importer, the last - together with the first - by the Russian consumer. Put together, these two parts, in most cases, were very close to the tariff rates of 1797, and the consummation part was many times higher than the customs part. Here are some examples:
Duties:

Name of product	Imported, cop.	Consommation		Total
Name of product	Imported, cop.	rub.	cop.	rub.	cop.
for sugar from pud	40	3	35	3	75
on cast iron from pud	9		81		90
on steel from a pud	7,5		17,5		25
on hay scythes	3		27		30
on writing paper	2 1 / 6		12 5 / 6		15
on calico	13,5		26,5		40
on the sailcloth and equal	3 / 4		79 1 / 4		80

An increase of more than 15 million rubles. the importation of foreign products could not but affect our manufacturing industry: many factories were closed; number sugar factories decreased from 51 to 29. The alarmed government made several partial amendments to the rates of 1819, and in 1822, issued a strictly protective tariff, “considered”, as the manifesto says, “with the success of its own industry, equal to the institutions in other states published on this subject. Particularly high duties were imposed on imported products, semi-finished materials and luxury goods; more moderately - raw works; almost all holiday goods were subject to comparatively light taxation, while many were exported duty-free.

Under Alexander I, our trade on the Black Sea made great strides, thanks to geographic location New Russia and government concerns about it. In 1803, all customs duties, both on imports and on holidays, for the Black Sea region were reduced by 25%; in 1804 allowed " send through Odessa all sorts of goods in transit to Moldavia, Wallachia, Austria and Prussia, as well as from there across the sea". The Peace of Bucharest in 1812 confirmed the free entry of Russian ships into the Kiliya mouth of the Danube and free navigation along this river. The free port right granted by Paul I to the Tauride Peninsula was extended to Odessa. On the Caspian Sea, trade was hampered by hostilities against Persia; only after the conclusion of the Gulistan Treaty (1813) did Russian-Persian trade revive, which was facilitated by the granting in 1821 to all traders in Transcaucasia, Russians and foreigners, exemption for 10 years from the payment of duties and duties, except for the customs 5% duty on imported from Persia goods. Trade with Central Asia along the Kyrgyz border continued to develop, which was facilitated by the permission for merchants - all three guilds - to conduct foreign trade here, and for people of all classes - barter. Merchant caravans heading from Orenburg to Bukhara and back were guarded by a military convoy. To encourage the importation of goods to the remote regions of Siberia - Okhotsk and Kamchatka, the government allowed the duty-free importation of life supplies, medicines and tools there; holiday goods were paid for by duty at a moderate rate. In 1825, 236 1/3 worth of goods were exported from Russia, 195 million rubles were brought to Russia, and 53 million rubles were received in customs duties.

Under Nicholas I

The patronizing commercial and industrial policy did not bring the fruits that were expected from it. Under the protection of the tariff, which is prohibitive for many foreign products, factory production has not made sufficient progress either quantitatively or qualitatively. Despite high duties, the import of foreign goods from 1825 to 1850 doubled in value, in particular, the import of goods quadrupled. Foreigners still dominated our foreign trade: in the 1930s, only 14% of the total number of ships navigating abroad belonged to Russians (including Finnish). And even these few Russian ships did not always meet in foreign ports the hospitality that foreign merchant ships in Russia have long enjoyed. So, in the thirties, in Great Britain and the United States of America, Russian ships were allowed to come only with a cargo of Russian goods; tolls from our ships in England were levied at double the usual rate for others. In France, our merchant ships, even with Russian merchandise, had to pay much more duties and other fees than the ships of the most favored nations. The surcharge on Russian ships was also levied in other states, with the exception of Sweden, Norway and the Hanseatic cities. Of the 7182 ships that came to Russian ports and left them, there were only 987 Russians. In 1825, 64 worth of goods were exported from Russia, and 51 million rubles were brought in. silver; in 1850, exported for 98, and brought - for 94 million rubles. silver.

Our relations with the European states were sealed, from time to time, by trade agreements. So, in 1828 it was concluded and in 1835-38. the treaty was renewed with Sweden, in 1832 with the United States of North America, in 1845 with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in 1846 with France, in 1847 with Tuscany, in 1850 with Belgium and Greece , in 1851 - with Portugal. By the last treaty, by the way, it was forbidden to bring Chinese and Indian goods on Russian ships to Portugal; goods brought on Russian ships to Portugal and on Portuguese ships to Russia were subject to payment of an additional duty of 20%. The correct course of T. with Poland, which in customs terms was considered a foreign state until 1850, was violated during the troubles of 1830 and 1831, but restored in 1834: almost all prohibitions were canceled, all goods, except for cotton products, it was allowed to bring from Poland to Russia, but only on the basis of certificates of origin of goods.

Prussia acquired the greatest importance in our trade along the land border, whose turnover with Russia increased from 6 to 25 million rubles during the second quarter of the century. Our vacation there rose from 4.0 to 10.9, and the import from there - from 1.6 to 14.4 million rubles; The turnover of trade with Austria increased from 6 to 12 million rubles. Prussia bought bread, flax, hemp, timber, lard, leather and bristles in Russia, not so much for herself as for export, through Danzig, Koenigsberg and Memel, to Great Britain, Holland, France and other states. In addition to these goods, furs and cattle were exported to Austria. Furs were the subject of significant trade at the Leipzig Fair, while cattle were sent to Bukovina, and the rest of the sale was stolen to Olmutz and Vienna. Mostly manufactory goods were brought from Prussia and Austria; moreover, silk, grape wines, scythes and sickles came from there.

The Adrianople treatise of 1829 confirmed the strength of the trade agreement of 1783, and the duty on all, both imported and sold goods, was determined at 3% of their value, established by a special tariff. In 1846, a new treaty was concluded, by which Turkey undertook to replace all hitherto existing internal trade fees with one duty, 2%, and also to grant Russia the rights of the most favored power. Thanks to a long peace, the trade of southern Russia developed rapidly: the release from the Black Sea ports quadrupled in 20 years (from 1830 to 1850), and the import increased 3 times; the number of ships arriving in 1850 reached 2,758. Wheat was the main export here, while fruits, wines, olive oil, silk, cotton, and various colonial goods were brought in. The Turkmenchay peace treaty of 1829 restored trade relations with Persia, and Russian-Persian trade temporarily revived: vacations to Persia rose to 5.5, imports to 2 3/4 million rubles; but, under the influence of English competition, the former fell in 1832 to 900,000 rubles, and the latter to 450,000 rubles. Despite the encouragement and benefits for the Russian merchants, by the middle of the century, vacations had increased only to 1.5 million rubles, and imports - up to 8.5 million rubles.

Central Asian caravans came to the border points twice a year: in spring and at the end of summer. Their nearest route from Bukhara to Khiva was inconvenient due to the lack of water and because of the enmity between the Bukharians and the Khivans; the second way went to Petropavlovsk, the third, not safe from the Kirghiz - to Troitsk. To secure the way through the steppes, Bukhara, Kokand and Tatar merchants resorted to hiring Kyrgyz carters from those clans that migrated to the Russian border places for the summer, and went south for the winter. Thus, cotton, paper yarn, soft junk were brought to Russia from Central Asia, and calico, chintz, leather, glass and products from it, paints, cast iron, iron, steel, copper, tin, zinc and products from these metals were exported there, mercury, silver. Orenburg and Siberian merchants took part in this trade. At the beginning of the 2nd quarter of the XIX century. In the 1940s, especially since Kankrin (in 1844), retired, objections were heard in Russian society against the extremes of protectionism. In 1846 some duties were reduced; in the same year, a special committee was drawn up under the chairmanship of the Tengoborsky, which developed a new tariff, approved on April 21, 1851. The number of prohibitions was reduced, duties on paints, cotton and metal products and haberdashery goods were lowered; duties on selling goods were partly lowered and partly abolished. At the beginning of the second half of the XIX century. the total annual turnover of Russian foreign trade for export extended to 107, for import - up to 86 million rubles, with the inclusion of the Kingdom of Poland, which in customs terms since 3851 was connected with the Empire. The countries of destination of our sea vessels and the origin of imported goods were distributed in 1849-1851. in the following way.

On vacation:

By import:

From 1855 to 1900

The war with Turkey and the three powers allied with it diverted many people's forces from productive labor, which is why within two years the turnover of Russia's foreign trade decreased significantly: exports, which in 1853 reached 147 million rubles. ser., fell in 1854 to 67, and in 1855 - to 39 million; import from 102 decreased to 70 and 72 million rubles. ser. After the conclusion of peace, trade revived and expanded more and more every year. By the end of the reign of Alexander II, exports reached half a billion, and imports - 622 million rubles. The development of trade was most facilitated by the liberation of the peasants, the lowering of customs duties on imported goods, the development of a network railways, increased under Alexander II from 1 thousand to 21 thousand miles, the destruction of farming, the abolition of the poll tax from the townspeople and peasants, zemstvo institutions, judicial reform, city regulations in 1870

In 1857, a new tariff was put into effect, Tengoborsky took part in developing the bases for it. Under 299 articles of the tariff of 1850, duties were reduced, and prohibitions on imports were lifted under 12 articles. The import of raw and semi-finished materials was especially facilitated. In 1859 and 1861 two 10% increases were made to the tariff rates of 1857, but even after that the customs taxation, which amounted to in 1850-1852. 34% of the price, did not exceed 16%. By the tariff of 1868 customs duties were again lowered, in general, to 12.8% of the value of the import. Trade treaties were concluded with almost all states on the basis of mutual favor: with France - in 1857 and 1874, with England and Belgium - in 1858, with Austria-Hungary - in 1860, with Italy - in 1863. , with the Hawaiian Islands - in 1869, with Switzerland - in 1872, with Peru - in 1874 and with Spain - in 1876.

Several agreements were concluded with China that were beneficial for Russia. According to the 1858 treaty in Tien-Jing, all those Chinese ports were open to the Russians, in which foreign trade was allowed. The Beijing Supplementary Treaty of 1860 allowed the subjects of both states to carry out barter trade along the entire border line and confirmed the right of Russian merchants to travel at any time from Kyakhta to Beijing and along the way, in Urga and Kalgan, to carry out retail trade, with the sole purpose that they no more than 200 people gathered in the same place. In 1869, special rules were established for Russian-Chinese overland trade, on the basis of which trade could be conducted duty-free at a distance of 100 Chinese li (about 50 versts) from the border line; Russians were given the right to trade duty-free in Mongolia. The duty on goods brought by Russian merchants to the Tien-Ching was reduced by 2/3 against that due under the general foreign tariff; no duties were levied on Chinese goods purchased by Russian merchants in Tien Jing for export by land to Russia, unless these goods had already been paid for by duty in any port; goods purchased for the same purpose in Kalgan were paid only by a transit duty, half the amount against export. Finally, goods, but named in a foreign tariff, were cleared with a duty according to the Russian additional tariff; on goods that did not appear in either one or the other, duties were levied, according to general rule, at a rate of 5% of the cost.

Russian-Chinese trade, however, developed poorly, the main reason for which was the competition of the British, who sold their goods at a cheaper price. In particular, the trade in tea in Kyakhta was somewhat reduced due to the opening of the western Russian border for its import. Back in 1852, an expedition was sent to Japan, under the command of Admiral Putyatin, who managed to conclude a trade agreement with the Japanese government: three ports were opened in Japan for Russian ships - Shimoda, Hakodate and Nagasaki, to which Ieddo was added in 1858 and Osaka. In 1867, a convention was concluded with Japan, with which the provisions of the previous treaties, which were beneficial for Russian trade, were supplemented.

Thanks to the strengthening of trade relations with foreign countries and moderate customs duties on imported goods, the turnover of foreign trade in 20 years (1856-1876) increased from 160 to 400 for holidays, and from 122 to 478 million credit rubles for imports. The rapid increase in imports, which outstripped, in value, exports, aroused fears. In order to hold back the growth of imports, and also in the interests of the fiscal, who needed gold for the upcoming war, it was decided to levy, from 1877, customs duties on all imported goods in gold, while maintaining the previous nominal rates. With this, customs taxation was immediately increased by 1.5 times, if we take into account the exchange rate not in 1876, but in the five years following it. On June 3, 1880, the duty-free import of cast iron and iron was canceled, and duties on metal products were increased; On December 16, 1880, duties on all duty-free goods in general were increased by 10%; On May 12, 1881, duties on jute and jute products were raised, on May 19 of the same year - on cement; June 1, 1882 for many items of the tariff in the amount of up to 7.5 million rubles; On June 16, 1884, duties on coal and coke were established and increased - on pig iron not in business; On January 15, 1885, duties on tea, wood oil, herring and some other items were increased; On March 19, 1885, agricultural machinery and apparatus were besieged; On May 10, 1885, duties on copper and copper products were increased; On May 20, 1885, the rules on trade relations between the Empire and Finland were changed, and many customs tariff rates were raised; On June 3, 1885, duties were increased on 167 tariff articles. All these allowances were expected to increase the customs revenue by 30 million rubles, but in reality the revenue along the European border did not increase. The raising of customs duties with the aim of tariff protection for various industries continued after 1885; so, for example, on March 31, 1886, duties on copper and copper products were again increased, on June 3 - on brick, alum, soda, sulfuric acid, vitriol and glue, on July 12 - on coal brought to the southern ports, in 1887 - for pig iron, iron and steel not in business, for coal and coke and for some other goods of secondary importance.

Since the establishment of the collection of duties in gold currency, the exchange rate of the credit ruble has not only not increased, but has fallen from 85 kop. in 1876 to 67 in 1877 and to 63 kopecks. in the next five years. In 1887 the rate dropped to 55.7, in 1888 it rose to 591/2, in 1889 to 66. From the beginning of 1890; the exchange rate of the credit ruble began to rise and reached 77 in the first half of the year, which reduced the customs protection of industry, expressed in credit currency. As a result, it was deemed necessary from the middle of 1890 to raise indiscriminately, with very few exceptions, all customs duties by 20%. At the same time, work was being completed on the revision of the tariff of 1868, which ended with the introduction, on July 1, 1891, of a new tariff, which slightly modified and brought into the system all the partial and general increases in rates that preceded it. How big the difference between the rates of the last two tariffs can be judged from the following examples:

Customs duty per pud:

Product	at the rate of 1868	at the rate of 1891
Cast iron	5 kop.	45-52.5 kop.
Iron	20-25 kop.	90 kop. - 1 rub. 50 kop.
rails	20 kop.	90 kop.
Machinery, factory, other than copper	duty-free	2 rub. 50 kop.
Steam locomotives	75 kop.	3 rub. 00 kop.

On average per inhabitant, trade turnover increased in the 2nd period against the first by 44.6%, in the 3rd against the second by 81.9, in the 4th against the third by 34.0%. In 1900, 716,391 thousand worth of goods were exported, and 626,806 thousand rubles were brought in. Simultaneously with the increase in Russia of duties on imported raw materials, machinery and tools, in some foreign continental states the duties on Russian grain and raw materials were increased, which, regardless of changes in our trade policy, was caused by the increased importation of cheap overseas agricultural products to European markets. works. For the first time, Germany raised duties on imported bread and on some other agricultural products in 1879. Gradually rising, these duties reached in 1892: 37.9 for wheat and rye, 30.3 for oats and 30 kopecks for barley. from pud. In 1892 and 1893 Germany concluded agreements with 22 states, including all our competitors in the marketing of bread, under which duties on grain products, butter, eggs, livestock, timber and some other agricultural products were reduced by 30-40% for these states. . Thus, Russia was effectively eliminated from the German market. After unsuccessful attempts at an agreement, allowances of 15, 20, 25% were made in Russia to duties on goods coming from Germany. The latter responded with a 50% increase in duties on Russian agricultural products, as a result of which an addition to duties on German provenances in Russia was made in the same amount, and German ships were subject to an increased last tax: 1 rub. instead of 5 kop. with flippers. Then negotiations began, leading to an agreement on January 29, 1894, for a period of 10 years. Duties on Russian wheat and rye were lowered to 26.5 kopecks, on oats to 21 1/5 kopecks, and on barley to 15 kopecks. In addition, for 10 years, no increase in duties on oilseeds, forest products and horses and duty-free imports of bran, cake, seeds of forage grasses, bristles, game, skins, wool and some other goods are guaranteed. In total, duties on Russian goods were dropped in the amount (according to the calculation for 1895) about 13.5 million rubles. For Germany, Russia reduced duties on 120 goods and commodity groups, totaling (for 1895) 7 million rubles (at the rate of 1/15 imperial). The benefits of this treaty are extended to all European states and the North American United States. In the last 20 years, more agreements were concluded: with China - in 1881, with Korea - in 1889, with France (additional convention) - in 1893, with Austria-Hungary - in 1894, with Denmark, Japan and Portugal - in 1895, with Bulgaria - in 1897 Thus, Russia has trade agreements that secure for it the right of the most favored power with all European states, except for Romania, where the same common customs tariff applies to all states. Of the Asian states, Russia does not have a trade agreement only with Siam, of the American states, it is connected by agreements only with the United States and Peru.

Russia's internal trade is much less explored than its external one. Its total turnover is unknown; but there is no doubt that they are many times greater than the turnover of foreign trade. The annual production of agriculture is estimated at 3.5 billion rubles, cattle breeding and all other agricultural industries - at 2.5 billion; the mining and manufacturing industry - factory, handicraft and home - adds another 3 billion to this mass of values. Thus, the entire annual production of consumer goods can be estimated at 9 billion rubles. About half of this mass of products is consumed locally without entering the markets, so that the value of goods circulating in domestic trade can be estimated at 4.5 billion rubles. Russia's internal trade turnover is estimated at about the same amount based on trade tax data and trade documents.

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Introduction

1. The state and development of Russian industry under Peter 1

2. Reform of the management system under Peter 1

3. Domestic and foreign trade under Peter 1

4. Changes in the financial system under Peter 1

5. Military reform of Peter 1

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

1. State and r industrial development Russia under Peter 1

2. Management reform under Peter 1

3. Domestic and foreign trade under Peter 1

4. Changes in the financial system under Peter 1

State monopolies were added to the new taxes. In addition to resin, potash, rhubarb, glue, new monopoly goods were added: salt, tobacco, chalk, tar, fish oil, lard, oak coffins. Fishing became an object of ransom, wine was sold only in state taverns.

5. Military reform Petra 1

One of the most significant transformations of Peter I should be called the military reform, which made it possible to bring the Russian army closer to the European standards of that time.

Peter I paid special attention to the fleet. At the end of the 17th century, ships were built in Voronezh and Arkhangelsk. In 1704, the Admiralty and shipyards were founded in St. Petersburg, where the construction of ships of the navy moved. At the Admiralty shipyard, where at the same time

Conclusion

Carrying out reforms in Russia, Peter strove for an ideal state based on fair and rational laws, but this turned out to be a utopia. In practice, a police state was created in the country without any institutions of social control.

Listliterature

Gumilyov L.N. From Russia to Russia. Essays on Russian history. - M.: Logos, 1999. - 674 p.

Zuev M.N. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the twentieth century. Tutorial. - M.: Bustard, 2002. - 896s.

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