Peter's internal activities since 1700
(continuation)
Measures of Peter I for development National economy
Concerns about the national economy always occupied a very prominent place in the activities of Peter the Great. We notice signs of such concerns in the 17th century. And the predecessors of Peter I were concerned with raising the economic well-being of Rus', shaken by the turmoil. But before Peter, no results were achieved in this regard. State finances, which were a true indicator of the people's well-being for the Moscow government, were in an unsatisfactory position both before Peter and during the first time of his reign. Peter needed money and had to find new sources of government revenue. The concern for replenishing the state treasury was a constant burden on him and led Peter to the idea that it was possible to raise the country’s finances only through radical improvements in the national economy. Peter I saw the path to such improvements in the development of national industry and trade. He directed his entire economic policy towards the development of trade and industry. In this regard, he paid tribute to the ideas of his century, which created the well-known mercantile-patronage system in the West. Peter I’s desire to create trade and industry in Rus' and thereby point out to the people a new source of wealth was the novelty of the economic measures of Peter I. Before him, in the 17th century. Only a few individuals (Krizhanich, Ordin-Nashchokin) dreamed, under the influence of Western European life, of economic reforms in Rus'. The government itself, when issuing the New Trade Charter of 1667, expressed the idea of the importance of trade in public life. But the perceived need did not lead to almost any practical measures to satisfy it until the time of transformation.
It is difficult to say exactly when Peter came up with the idea of the need to develop industrial and commercial activities in Rus'. It is most likely that he learned it already on his first trip abroad. Already in 1699, he took care of the commercial and industrial class (Burmister Chambers), and in the remarkable manifesto of 1702, with which Peter summoned foreigners to Russia, the idea of the enormous importance of trade and industry in state life was clearly expressed. Over time, Peter I moved more and more definitely and energetically towards his goal, making it one of the main tasks of his internal activities. We see a number of diverse transformative measures aimed at developing economic life. Presenting them would take too much time, and we will limit ourselves to listing the most important of them:
a) Peter I constantly undertook reconnaissance in order to better understand the natural resources that Russia possessed. With him, many such riches were found: silver and other ores, which caused the development of mining; saltpeter, peat, coal, etc. This is how Peter created new types of industrial and commercial labor.
b) Peter I encouraged the development of industry in every possible way. He called foreign technicians, put them in an excellent position in Russia, gave them a lot of benefits with one indispensable condition: to teach the Russians about their production. He sent Russians abroad to study various branches of Western industry. And at home, in the workshops, the masters had to properly train their students. Benefit technical education Peter I strenuously argued for industry itself in his decrees. He gave all sorts of benefits to entrepreneurs; among other things, the right to own land and peasants. Sometimes the government itself was the initiator of one or another type of production and, having founded an industrial business, handed it over to a private individual for operation. But, creating a preferential position for industrialists, Peter I instituted strict supervision over the entire industry and monitored both the integrity of production and ensuring that it was consistent with the government’s plans. Such supervision often turned into minute regulation of production (for example, the mandatory width of linen and cloth was precisely determined), but in general it tended to benefit industry. The results of Peter's measures regarding industry were expressed in the fact that in Russia under Peter more than 200 factories and factories were founded and the beginning was laid for many branches of production that exist today (mining, etc.).
c) Peter I encouraged Russian trade with all measures. Both in relation to industry and in relation to trade, Peter adhered to a patronage system, trying to develop trade so that the export of goods from Russia exceeded their import from other countries. Just as Peter tried to explain to his subjects the benefits of developing crafts through decrees, so he tried to arouse in them commercial enterprise. As one researcher put it; under Peter, “the throne often turned into a pulpit,” from which the monarch explained to the people the beginnings of social progress. Peter applied the same regulations that were applied to the industrial business to the trade business. He insistently recommended that trading people form trading companies in the Western European manner. Having built St. Petersburg, he artificially diverted goods from the Arkhangelsk port to St. Petersburg. Taking care that Russian merchants themselves traded abroad, Peter sought to establish a Russian merchant fleet. Not hoping for quick trading successes of the small urban class, which seemed to Peter as a “scattered temple,” he attracted other classes of the population to trade. He argued that even a nobleman could engage in commercial and industrial affairs without disgrace. Understanding the importance of communication routes for trade, Peter hurried to connect his new harbor of St. Petersburg with the center of the state by waterways, built (in 1711) the Vyshnevolotsk canal, and then the Ladoga canal.
Digging of the Ladoga Canal
However, Peter did not wait for the results of his trade policy. Internal trade revived, some internal trading companies were established, even a Russian merchant (Soloviev), who traded in Amsterdam, appeared; but in general, the matter of foreign Russian trade did not change noticeably, and Russian exports remained predominantly in the hands of foreigners. There were no noticeable successes in trade with the East, which greatly occupied Peter. However, in the absence of drastic changes in the commercial life of Rus', the revival of trade took place before Peter’s eyes, and he did not completely give up his hopes.
Addition
Industrial and commercial activities of Peter I (based on lectures by V. O. Klyuchevsky)
Industry and trade under Peter I
The capitation census found many new tax payers for the treasury and increased the amount of heavy labor. The measures aimed at industry and trade were aimed at raising the quality of this labor and strengthening the productive work of the people. This was the area transformative activities, after the army, the one that most concerned the transformer, the one most akin to his mind and character and no less abundant in military results. Here he discovered amazing clarity, breadth of vision, resourceful management, and tireless energy, and was not only a true successor to the Moscow tsars, patrimonial owners who knew how to acquire and save, but also a statesman, a master economist, capable of creating new means and put them into popular circulation. Peter's predecessors left him only thoughts and timid undertakings in this area; Peter found a plan and means for the broad development of the business.
Plan and techniques
One of the most fruitful ideas that began to stir in the Moscow minds of the 17th century was the awareness of the fundamental flaw that plagued the financial system of the Moscow state. This system, by raising taxes as the needs of the treasury increased, burdened the people's labor without helping it become more productive. The idea of a preliminary rise in the country's productive forces, as a necessary condition for enriching the treasury, formed the basis of Peter's economic policy. He set himself the task of equipping the people's labor with the best technical techniques and instruments of production and introducing new crafts into the national economic circulation, turning the people's labor to the development of the country's still untouched wealth. Having set himself this task, he affected all sectors of the national economy; It seems that there is not a single production left, even the smallest, to which Peter would not pay vigilant attention: agriculture in all its branches, cattle breeding, horse breeding, sheep breeding, sericulture, gardening, hop growing, winemaking, fishing, etc. - everything his hand touched him. But most of all he spent his efforts on the development of the manufacturing industry, manufactories, especially mining, as the most necessary for the army. He could not pass by useful work, no matter how modest it was, without stopping and going into details. In a French village he saw a priest working in a kindergarten; now with questions and a practical conclusion for myself: I will force my lazy village priests to cultivate gardens and fields so that they can earn the most reliable bread and a better life.
Trade routes
Trade within Russia was based on grain trade. At the beginning of the reign of Peter I, the grain route was closely connected with Moscow and the surrounding region. Grain was delivered here Okoye And Moscow River. In addition to grain there was also honey, hemp, oil, skins, lard and other goods. These goods came from Black Earth Region.
Through Nizhny Novgorod And Vyshny Volochek bread began to reach the new city - St. Petersburg. Bread was delivered to the center of Russia from Volga region, livestock products, for example, wool, lard, etc., saltpeter, wax, potash came from Ukraine.
Domestic trade
Internal trade both in the $17th century and under Peter I can be divided to levels. The lowest level were county and rural auctions, where local merchants and peasants gathered several times a week. The next level was trade fairs. The largest known fairs were Svenskaya near the monastery near Bryansk and Makaryevskaya near Nizhny Novgorod. The fair network was ramified and extensive, but trade was most brisk in the industrial center of the country. Fairs connected the lowest level of trade with the highest - with wholesale trade of large merchants.
Finished works on a similar topic
- Coursework 490 rub.
- Essay Trade in Russia at the end of the 17th - first quarter of the 18th century 280 rub.
- Test Trade in Russia at the end of the 17th - first quarter of the 18th century 190 rub.
You can determine how intensively trade was in a particular region by the size annual amounts of customs duties. They are an indirect indicator. Thus, customs payments for $1724-1726$. demonstrate that the Moscow region had the largest amount of fees, more than $140 thousand rubles. This was much more than in other regions: for example, in the Nizhny Novgorod province the fee was $40$ thousand rubles, in the Yaroslavl province - about $28$ thousand rubles, in the Novgorod province - about $18$ thousand rubles. In the rest of the country, trade turnover was significantly lower and, as a rule, did not exceed $5-6 thousand rubles in customs duties.
International trade. Ports, waterways, legislation
Peter I paid great attention to the development of trade. He built canals that united the waterways of the rivers. In $1703-1708$. was being built Vyshnevolotsky Canal, then in the $1720s. The Ivanovo Lake connected the Don and Oka basins, construction began Volga-Don Canal, although this project was not developed; Also, due to lack of funds, Peter I did not implement the developed projects Mariinsky And Tikhvinsky channels, they were built much later.
The foreign policy successes of Peter I were aimed not only at developing the country's power and raising its prestige at the world level, but also at developing foreign trade, which, ultimately, was supposed to bring the economy to a new level. Indeed, under Peter I, foreign trade began to play a huge role. The only port before the construction of St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, had an annual turnover of about $3 million rubles, the share of exports was almost $75%; by $1726$ the city of Arkhangelsk had lost a lot in turnover, but the port St. Petersburg reached an annual turnover of about $4 million rubles, and $60% of the amount was exported.
Astrakhan has historically been a center of trade with the East. In the $20s. $XVIII$ century. Astrakhan annual customs duty was several times less than St. Petersburg. But the strong point of Astrakhan was its fisheries, which made up most fees.
Note Riga port, whose role began to increase in the Peter the Great era. It had an annual turnover of $20. $XVIII$ century. more than $2$ million rubles. Based on the figures, the port of Riga became the second most important after St. Petersburg. Its importance also lies in the fact that through this port the large southwestern region of the country opened up to the European market. Hemp, canvas, lard, wax, leather, flax, grain, etc. moved abroad along the Western Dvina. This is important because The waterway along the Dnieper was a dead end not only because of the rapids, but also because of the hostile attitude of neighboring states.
Note 1
Thus, foreign trade under Peter I grew significantly and greatly influenced treasury revenues.
The list of goods for sale grew, but many could only be traded by the state. Whenever possible, merchants tried to buy out the right to trade, becoming monopolists. To protect entrepreneurship in $1724, Peter issued customs tariff, there was a huge customs duty on those imported goods that were abundantly available in Russia and were produced domestically.
Protectionist policies and
Mercantilism. Financial
Reform
The accelerated pace of development of Russian industry required the development of trade. In the theoretical works of F. Saltykov (“Propositions”), I. Pososhkov (“Book of Poverty and Wealth”) Russian economic thought was further developed, the theory of mercantilism, which provided for the economic policy of the state aimed at attracting as much money as possible into the country through the export of goods. With such an unprecedented scale of construction of various manufactories, money was constantly needed. Moreover, the money had to be kept in the country. In this regard, Peter I creates conditions to encourage domestic producers. Industrial, trade campaigns, workers Agriculture various privileges are given in such a way that the export of products exceeds the import. He imposed high duties on imported goods (37%), In order to develop internal trade, he adopted a special document on “fair markets”.
In 1698, construction began on the Volga-Don Canal, which was supposed to connect the largest water arteries of Russia and contribute to the expansion of domestic trade. The Vyshnevolotsky Canal was built, which connected the Caspian and Baltic Seas through the rivers.
In the first quarter of the 18th century. Sectors expanded not only in industry, but also in agriculture. New agricultural crops were imported into Russia, the development of which led to the creation of viticulture, tobacco growing, the development of new breeds of livestock, medicinal herbs, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. d.
At the same time, the encouragement of state-owned industry and trade led to the restriction of “non-statutory” trade of landowners and peasants, which impeded the free development of market relations in the Peter the Great era. Management of industry and trade was carried out by the Berg Manufactory Collegium and the Commerce Collegium.
The continuous growth of government spending on industrial development and military needs also determined financial policy. Financial functions were carried out by three institutions: the Chamber Board was responsible for collecting revenues, the State Office Board was responsible for distributing funds, and the Board of Audits controlled the first two institutions, that is, collection and distribution.
In accordance with the demands of the time and the search for funds, the Russian Tsar strengthened the state monopoly on a number of goods: tobacco, salt, fur, caviar, resin, etc. By decree of Peter I, special persons - the staff of profit-makers - looked for new and varied sources of income. Taxes were levied on windows, pipes, doors, frames, duties were established for shipping and berthing duties, for places in markets, etc. In total, there were up to 40 such taxes. In addition, direct taxes were introduced on the purchase of horses, on provisions for the fleet, etc. To replenish the treasury, a monetary reform was carried out.
Since the end of the 17th century. The restructuring of the Russian monetary system began. A new coin system was created, reducing the weight of the coin, replacing small silver coins with copper ones, and deteriorating the standard of silver. As a result of the financial reform, coins of various denominations appeared: copper ruble, half, half half, hryvnia, kopek, denga, polushka, etc. Gold (single, double chervonets, two-ruble) and silver coins (kopeck piece, penny, penny, altyn, kopeck) were also preserved. Gold chervonets and silver rubles became hard convertible currency.
The reform carried out had both positive and negative consequences. Firstly, it led to significant state revenues and replenished the treasury. If in 1700 the Russian treasury totaled 2.5 million rubles, then in 1703 it was 4.4 million rubles. And, secondly, coin transactions caused a fall in the ruble exchange rate and a 2-fold increase in prices for goods.
Social politics
Peter the Great inherited from the Moscow state poorly developed rudiments of industry, planted and supported by the government, and poorly developed trade associated with the poor structure of the state economy. Were inherited from the Moscow state and its tasks - to conquer access to the sea and return the state to its natural borders. Peter quickly began to solve these problems, starting a war with Sweden and deciding to wage it in a new way and with new means. A new regular army is emerging and a fleet is being built. All this, of course, required huge financial costs. Moscow State as state needs increased, they were covered with new taxes. Peter, too, did not shy away from this old technique, but next to it he put one innovation that Muscovite Rus' did not know: Peter cared not only about taking from the people everything that could be taken, but also thought about the payer themselves - the people, about where he can get funds 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 Russia’s technical lag behind the leading European states.
At the same time, the desire to reduce the cost of maintaining the army and navy naturally suggested 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 complete this task, the idea arose that they should be built by inviting knowledgeable foreigners for this and giving them science "their subjects", as they put it then. These thoughts were not new and have been known since the time of Tsar Michael, but only a man with an iron will and indestructible energy, like Tsar Peter, could implement it.
Having set himself the goal of equipping people's labor with the best folk production methods and directing it to new, more profitable industries in the area of the country's wealth that has not yet been touched by development, Peter "too much" all branches of national labor. During the Great Embassy, the tsar studied all aspects of European life, including technology. Abroad, Peter learned the basics of economic thought of that time - mercantilism. Mercantilism based its economic teaching on two principles: first, every nation, in order not to become poor, must produce everything it needs itself, without turning to the help of other people's labor, the labor of other peoples; second, in order to get rich, every nation must export manufactured products from its country as much as possible and import foreign products as little as possible.
Realizing that Russia is not only not inferior, but also superior to other countries in the abundance of natural resources, Peter decided that the state should take upon itself the development of industry and trade of the country. "Is our Russian state, - said Peter, - “Before other lands, it is abundant and blessed to have the necessary metals and minerals, which until now have been searched for without any diligence.”.
Thus, realizing the importance of trade and industry and having adopted the ideas of mercantilism in the West, Peter began to reform these areas, forcing his subjects to do so, even if by force.
Measures for industrial development
Throughout Russia, geological exploration of ore wealth and those manufacturing industries that could, with support, develop into large enterprises was undertaken. On his orders, experts in various crafts dispersed throughout the country. Deposits of rock crystal, carnelian, saltpeter, peat, and 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 coal mining plant in the Ryazan region. The foreigner von Azmus developed peat.
Peter also actively involved foreigners in the business. In 1698, when he returned from his first trip abroad, he was followed by many artisans and craftsmen he had hired. 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. Peter ordered Russian residents at European courts to look for and hire experts in various industries and masters of all kinds into the Russian service. For example, the French engineer Leblon - "straight out curiosity", as Peter called him, was invited to a salary of 45 thousand rubles a year with a free apartment, with the right to go home after five years with all the acquired property, without paying any taxes.
At the same time, Peter took measures to intensively train 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 the visiting foreign masters, “so that they have Russian students with them and teach them their skills, setting the price of the reward and the time at which to learn”. People of all free classes were accepted as apprentices to factories and mills, and serfs were accepted with a vacation pay from the landowner, but from the 1720s they began to accept runaway peasants, but not soldiers. Since there were few voluntary enrollees, Peter from time to time, by decrees, recruited students for training in factories. In 1711 “The sovereign ordered to send 100 people from the clergy and from the monastery servants and from their children, who would be 15 or 20 years old and would be able to write, so that they could go to study with masters of various crafts”. Such sets were repeated in subsequent years.
For military needs and for the extraction of metals, Peter especially needed mining and iron factories. In 1719, Peter ordered the recruitment of 300 apprentices to the Olonets factories, where iron was smelted and cannons and cannonballs were poured. Mining schools also arose at the Ural factories, where literate soldiers', clerks' and priests' children were recruited as students. These schools wanted to teach not only 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 clothes, and those whose fathers were wealthy or received a salary of more than 10 rubles per year were not given anything from the treasury, “until they start teaching the triple rule”, then they were given a salary.
At a factory founded in St. Petersburg, where braids, braids, and cords were made, Peter assigned young people from the Novgorod townspeople and poor nobles to be trained by French craftsmen. He often visited this factory and was interested in the success of the students. The eldest of them 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. Needing good wool for cloth factories, Peter thought about introducing correct sheep breeding techniques and ordered rules to be drawn up for this purpose - “regulations on how to keep sheep according to the Szlón (Silesian) custom”. Then, in 1724, Major Kologrivov, two noblemen and several Russian shepherd breeders were sent to Silesia to study sheep breeding.
Leather production has long been developed in Russia, but the processing methods were rather imperfect. In 1715, Peter issued a decree on this matter: “Besides, yuft, which is used for shoes, is very unprofitable to wear, because it is made with tar and when there is enough phlegm, it falls apart and the water passes through; For this reason, it must be done with blubber and other procedures, for which reason craftsmen were sent from Revel to Moscow to learn the trade, for which all industrialists (tanners) throughout the state are commanded, so that from each city several people go to Moscow and study; This training is given for a period of two years.". Several young men were sent to England to work in tanneries.
The government not only attended to the industrial needs of the population and took care of training the people in the crafts, it generally took production and consumption under its supervision. His Majesty's decrees prescribed not only what goods to produce, but also in what quantity, what size, what material, what tools and techniques, and failure to comply was always subject to severe fines, including the death penalty.
Peter greatly valued the forests he needed for the needs of the fleet, and issued the strictest forest conservation laws: forests suitable for shipbuilding were forbidden to be cut down under penalty of death.
Not content with disseminating practical training in technology alone, Peter also took care of theoretical education through the translation and distribution of relevant books. Jacques Savary's Lexicon on Commerce (Savary's Lexicon) was translated and published. True, in 24 years only 112 copies of this book were sold, but this circumstance did not frighten the tsar-publisher. In the list of books printed under Peter, one can find many guides to teaching various technical knowledge. Many of these books were strictly edited by the sovereign himself.
On August 30, 1723, Peter was at mass in the Trinity Cathedral and here he gave orders to the vice-president of the Synod, His Eminence Theodosius, that “translate three economic books in the German dialect into the Slovenian language and, having first translated the table of contents, offer them for consideration by His Imperial Majesty”.
Usually those factories that were especially needed, i.e. mining and weapons, as well as cloth, linen and sailing factories were established by the treasury and then transferred to private entrepreneurs. For the establishment of manufactories of secondary importance to the treasury, Peter willingly lent out quite significant capital without interest and ordered the supply of tools and workers to private individuals who set up factories at their own peril and risk. Craftsmen were sent from abroad, the manufacturers themselves received great privileges: they were exempt from service with their children and craftsmen, they were subject only to the court of the Manufacture Collegium, they were freed from taxes and internal duties, they could import the tools and materials they needed from abroad duty-free, as well as houses. they were freed from military duties.
Creation of company enterprises
Concerned about the most stable organization of industrial enterprises in the sense of providing them with sufficient fixed and working capital, Peter greatly encouraged the company structure of factories modeled on the structure of Western European companies. In Holland, company enterprises then brought huge income to the participants; the successes of the East India Company in England and the French for trade with America were then on everyone’s tongue. In Holland, Peter became well acquainted with the companies of those times and quickly realized all the benefits of such a structure of industry and trade. Back in the year, he was given projects about setting up companies in Russia. The basically convivial organization was not alien to Russian life. Even the Moscow government, farming out its various income items, always gave them to several persons so that each would guarantee for the other. Artels of Russian industrialists of the north have long been companies of people who united the means and strength of individuals for a common goal and divided the profits according to the calculation of shares, or shares, contributed by each participant to the artel. In 1699, Peter issued a decree for merchants to trade as they trade in other countries.
No matter how distracted Peter was by the war, 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 prescribed a model that companies should follow in their organization, commanding “to create certain shares of shareholders following 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 very willing to help with money and materials, and many companies received quite large sums of help. By lending large amounts of money to companies, often transferring ready-made manufacturing facilities for their use, the treasury assumed the position of a banker for large-scale industry and thereby acquired the right to strictly monitor the activities of companies. With this interference in private enterprise, the government not only “forced” its subjects to “build companies,” but also strictly monitored their “decent maintenance.” Not a single reorganization, even the most minor one, could be made in the company’s economy without an appropriate “report” to the Manufactory and Berg Board. Manufacturers were required to annually deliver samples of their products to the Manufactory College. The government established the type, form, and prices of those goods that were supplied to the treasury, and prohibited their sale at retail. The government awarded awards to efficient manufacturers and subjected negligent ones to strict penalties. This is how it was written in the decrees when transferring any plant into private hands: “if they (the company owners) zealously multiply this plant and make profit in it, and for that they will receive mercy from him, the great sovereign, but if they do not multiply and negligence diminish, and for that they will be fined 1000 rubles per person". The government even simply “dismissed” unsuccessful factory owners from factories.
Only fragmentary information has been preserved about how the companies organized their activities. The companies included not only people who could participate in the business through personal labor, but also “interested people,” i.e. those who gave only money in order to receive a certain income from it. In the projects of those times (back in 1698) there was already talk about 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. Businesses in the companies were conducted “according to the merchant’s custom, according to his own invention, with the general council, the head of the jury and several electors - whoever they want to choose for what business”.
Creation of new manufactories
Some of the manufactories that arose under Peter were quite large. The Petrovsky factories in the Olonets region, founded by Menshikov and led by Genning, were distinguished by their broad organization of business, excellent equipment, a large number of workers and the organization of the technical part.
State-owned mining factories were also particularly large in size and crowded. 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, extract something, but they didn’t go further than finding various “curiosities” and copper, iron, silver - everything was bought, mainly from the Swedes. Only from the time of Peter does real work begin here. In 1719, the “Berg Privilege” was issued, according to which everyone was given the right to search, smelt, cook and clean metals and minerals everywhere, subject to payment of a “mining tax” of 1/10 of the cost of production and 32 shares in favor of the owner of that land where ore deposits were found. For concealing ore and attempting to prevent the finder from mining, the perpetrators were threatened with confiscation of land, corporal punishment, and even the death penalty"due to fault." In 1702, the Verkhoturye factories, built by the sovereign's treasury and the city district people, were given to Nikita Demidov for ransom. But at first the Urals could not compete with the Olonets factories, which were closer to St. Petersburg and the site of military operations. Only after peace had been established, Peter paid more attention to the Urals and sent Colonel Genning there, who brought the entire production of the Olonets factories back on their feet. By the end of Peter's reign, about 7 million pounds of cast iron and over 200 thousand pounds 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 Sestroretsk - were distinguished by their vastness. These arms factories supplied guns, cannons and bladed weapons to the entire army and freed the treasury from the need to buy weapons abroad. In total, more than 20 thousand cannons were cast under Peter. The first rapid-fire guns appeared. At Peter's factories they even used it as driving force, “fire” machines – that’s what the ancestors of steam engines were called back then. The state-owned sailing factory in Moscow employed 1,162 workers. Of the private factories, the cloth factory of Shchegolin and 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 era of Peter
The factory workers of Peter the Great's time came from a wide variety of strata of the population: runaway serfs, tramps, beggars, even criminals - all of them, according to strict orders, were picked up and sent “to work” in the factories. Peter could not stand “walking” people who were not assigned to any business, he was ordered to seize them, not even sparing the monastic rank, and sent them to factories. There were very few free workers, because in general there were few free people in Russia at that time. The rural population was not free: some were in the fortress of the state and did not dare to leave the tax, some were owned by landowners, the urban population was very small and in a significant part also found themselves attached to the tax, bound by freedom of movement, and therefore entered the factories only of their city . When establishing a factory, the manufacturer was usually given the privilege to freely hire Russian and foreign craftsmen and apprentices, “paying them a decent wage for their work”. If the manufacturer received a factory set up by the treasury, then the workers were transferred to him along with the factory buildings.
There were frequent cases when, in order to supply factories, and especially factories, with workers, villages and villages of peasants were assigned to factories and factories, as was still practiced in the 17th century. Those assigned to the factory worked for it and in it by order of the owner. But in most cases, factory owners had to look for workers themselves by hiring. It was very difficult, and the factories usually ended up with the dregs of the population - all those who had nowhere else to go. There were not enough workers. 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 done by hand, and it was not always easy to learn it. A skilled worker who knew his job was therefore highly valued; factory owners lured such workers from each other and did not release well-trained workers under any circumstances. Anyone who learned a skill at a factory was obliged not to leave the factory that trained 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” workers from one factory to another before the end of the scheduled work period, the law imposed a very large fine on the guilty manufacturer, while the lured worker returned to his previous owner and was subjected to corporal punishment.
But all this did not relieve the factories from being deserted. Then Peter's government decided that work in factories could be performed in the same way as rural work on the estates of private landowners, i.e. with the help of serf labor. In 1721, a decree followed, which stated that although previously “merchant people” were prohibited from buying villages, now many of them wanted to establish various manufactories, both in companies and individually. “For this reason, in order to multiply such factories, it is allowed for both the nobility and the merchant people to buy villages from those factories without restriction with the permission of the Berg and Manufactory Board, only under such conditions that those villages will always be inseparable from those factories. And in order for both the gentry and the merchants of those villages especially without factories not to sell or mortgage to anyone and not to attach to anyone with any inventions and not to give such villages to anyone for the ransom, unless someone wants those villages and with those for their essential needs to sell factories, then sell them to such people with the permission of the Berg College. And if anyone acts against this, then he will be irrevocably deprived of everything...” After this decree, all factories quickly acquired serf workers, and the factory owners liked this so much that they began to seek assignment to the factories of free workers who worked for them on a free-hire basis. In 1736, i.e. After the death of Peter, they received this too, and according to the decree, all those artisans who were in the factories at the time of the decree’s publication were supposed to “forever” with their families remain strong in the factory. Even under Peter, factory owners were already judges over their workers. Since 1736 this was granted to them by law.
Serf workers did not always receive cash wages, but only food and clothing. Civilian workers, of course, received their salaries in money, in state-owned factories usually on a monthly basis, and in private factories on a piece-rate basis. In addition to money, the civilians also received grub. The amounts of cash salaries and grain dachas were small. The labor of workers was paid best in silk factories, worse in paper factories, even worse in cloth factories, and least paid in linen factories. In state-owned manufactories, in general, 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 “to properly support artisans and apprentices and give them rewards according to their merits”, but these rules were poorly enforced. Manufacturers, having bought a village for a factory, often signed up as workers and drove all the “full-time workers” to the factory, so that only old people, women and minors remained on the land. The payment of workers' wages was often delayed, so they “they fell into poverty and even suffered from illnesses”.
Product quality
The goods produced by Russian factories did not differ in the level of quality and processing. Only coarse soldier's cloth was relatively good, and everything that was needed for military supplies, up to and including guns, but purely industrial goods that sought sales among the people were poor.
Thus, most Russian factories produced, according to traders, goods Bad quality, which could not count on quick sales, especially in the presence of foreign competition. Then Peter, in order to encourage his manufacturers and give their goods at least some sales, began to impose large duties on foreign manufacturers. In accordance with the teachings of mercantilism he had learned, Peter was convinced that his manufacturers were suffering “from goods brought from abroad; for example, one man discovered bakan paint, I ordered painters to try it, and they said that it was inferior to one Venetian paint, and equal to German paint, and another was better: they made it from abroad; Other manufacturers are also complaining..." Until 1724, Peter issued orders from time to time prohibiting the import of individual foreign goods that were beginning to be produced in Russia, or of entire groups of both “manufactured” and “metal products.” From time to time, it was forbidden for anyone inside Russia to produce any linen or silk fabric, except for one newly opened factory, 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, some even directly prohibitive in relation to foreign goods.
The same thing happened to industry and trade as with all of Peter’s reforms, which he began from 1715-1719: conceived broadly and boldly, they were implemented sluggishly and tediously by the implementers. Peter himself, having not developed a general definite plan for himself, and during his life, full of wartime anxieties, and not being accustomed to working systematically and consistently, was in a hurry and sometimes began from the end and the middle of a business that should have been carried out carefully from the very beginning, and therefore certain aspects of his reforms withered like premature flowers, and when he died, the reforms stopped.
Trade development
Peter also paid attention to trade, to better organization and facilitation of trade affairs on the part of the state, a very long time ago. Back in the 1690s, he was busy talking about commerce with knowledgeable foreigners and, of course, became no less interested in European trading companies than in industrial ones.
By decree of the Commerce Collegium in 1723, Peter ordered “to send the children of trading people to foreign lands, so that there will never be less than 15 people in foreign lands, and when they are trained, take them back and new ones in their place, and order those trained to train here, it is impossible to send them all; why take from all the noble cities, so that this is carried out everywhere; and send 20 people to Riga and Revel and distribute them to the capitalists; These are both numbers from the townspeople; In addition, the college has the task of teaching commerce to certain children of the nobility.".
The conquest of the sea coast, the founding of St. Petersburg with its direct purpose of being 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 anxiety calmed down somewhat, he again turned to the thought of companies of trading people. In July 1712, he gave instructions to the Senate - “immediately strive to create better order in the merchant business”. The Senate began to try to arrange a company of merchants for trade with China, but the Moscow merchants “The company was refused to accept this trade”. Back on February 12, 1712, Peter ordered “to establish a board of corrections for the trade matter, so as to bring it into better condition; Why is it necessary to have one or two foreigners who need to be satisfied, so that the truth and jealousy in that can be shown with an oath, so that the truth and jealousy in that can be better shown with an oath, so that order can be better established, for without controversy it is that their bargaining is incomparably better ours". The board was formed and developed the rules for its existence and actions. The Collegium worked first in Moscow, then in St. Petersburg. With the establishment of the Commerce Collegium, all the affairs of this prototype were transferred to the new trade department.
In 1723, Peter ordered the formation of a company of merchants to trade with Spain. It was also intended to establish a company for trade with France. To begin with, Russian state-owned ships with goods were sent to the ports of these states, but that 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 on their own 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 freedom of trade. For a better arrangement of river trading vessels, Peter forbade the construction of old-fashioned ships, various planks and plows.
Peter saw the basis of Russia's commercial importance in the fact that nature destined it to be a trade intermediary between Europe and Asia.
After the capture of Azov, when the Azov fleet was created, it was planned to direct all Russian trade traffic to the Black Sea. Then an attempt was made to connect the waterways of Central Russia with the Black Sea through two canals. One was supposed to connect the tributaries of the Don and Volga Kamyshinka and Ilovlya, and the other would approach the small Ivan Lake in 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 abandon all hopes of capturing 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 to connect the Tvertsa River with a canal to Tsna, which, by its expansion, forms Lake Mstino, 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 Volga was the stormy Ladoga lake, and Peter decided to build a bypass canal to bypass its inhospitable waters. Peter intended to connect the Volga with the Neva, breaking through the watershed between the rivers Vytegra, flowing into Lake Onega, and Kovzha, flowing into Beloozero, and thus outlined the network of the Mariinsky system, implemented already 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 the previous usual route to the White Sea and Arkhangelsk and took a new direction to St. Petersburg. Government measures in this direction began in 1712, but protests from foreign merchants complained about the inconvenience of living in a new city like St. Petersburg, the considerable danger of sailing in wartime on the Baltic Sea, the high cost of the route itself, because the Danes took a toll 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, while all 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 export and import trade. Concerned about raising the trade importance of his new capital, Peter negotiates 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 a stronger foundation near the possible entrance to the designed channel. But this project was implemented much later, after the death of Peter.
The items exported from Russian ports were mainly raw products: fur goods, honey, wax. Since the 17th century, Russian timber, resin, tar, sail cloth, hemp, and ropes began to be especially valued in the West. At the same time, livestock products - leather, lard, bristles - were intensively exported; from the time of Peter, mining products, mainly iron and copper, went abroad. Flax and hemp were in particular demand; The grain trade was weak due to poor roads and government bans on selling grain abroad.
In exchange for Russian raw materials, Europe could supply us with the products of its manufacturing industry. But, patronizing his factories and factories, Peter, with almost prohibitive duties, greatly reduced the import of foreign manufactured goods into Russia, allowing only those that were not produced at all in Russia, or only those that were needed by Russian factories and plants (this was a policy of protectionism)
Peter also paid tribute to the passion characteristic of his time to trade with the countries of the far south, with India. He dreamed of an expedition to Madagascar, and thought of directing Indian trade through Khiva and Bukhara to Russia. A.P. Volynsky was sent as ambassador to Persia, 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 for the Shah to direct all of Persia’s trade 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 lively. Realizing the importance of the Caspian Sea for his broad plans, Peter took advantage of the intervention in Persia, when the rebels killed Russian merchants there, and occupied the shore of the Caspian Sea from Baku and Derbent inclusive. Peter sent a military expedition to Central Asia, to the Amu Darya, under the command of Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky. In order to establish themselves there, it was supposed to find the old bed of the Amu Darya River and direct its flow into the Caspian Sea, but this attempt failed: exhausted by the difficulty of the journey through the sun-scorched desert, the Russian detachment was ambushed by the Khivans and was completely exterminated.
Transformation results
Thus, under Peter, the foundation of Russian industry was laid. Many new industries have 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 through a terrible effort of the people's forces, but only thanks to this effort the country was able to endure the burden of a continuously lasting twenty years of war. In the future, the intensive development of national wealth that began under Peter led to enrichment and economic development Russia.
Domestic trade under Peter also picked up significantly, but, in general, continued to have the same caravan-fair character. But this side of the economic life of Russia was stirred up by Peter and brought out of the peace of inertia and lack of enterprise that characterized it in the 17th century and earlier. The spread of commercial knowledge, the emergence of factories and factories, communication with foreigners - all this gave new meaning and the direction of Russian trade, causing it to revive internally and, thereby, becoming an increasingly active participant in world trade, to assimilate its principles and rules.