The State and Economic Growth in Late Imperial Russia (End of the 19th Century and Beginning of the 20th Century)

Abstract

Russia entered the stage of rapid industrial development in the mid-1880s. It developed within the framework of the “catching-up” model and at exceptionally high rates. This allowed Russia to strengthen its position significantly in the world industrial production and reduce the gap in the level of economic development from the advanced industrial countries. However, modern historiography has no unequivocal answer to the question by what means it was possible to make such a breakthrough. It is widely believed that it became possible thanks to foreign investment and technology and the use of foreign experience in organizing production. But such an interpretation is only partly valid. Indeed, the importation of high-quality foreign capital has played an important role in the industrialization of Russia. Of particular importance was its importance in the creation of new industries. Nevertheless, Russian entrepreneurs and a targeted state policy made no lesser a contribution to late imperial industrialization. However, the role of the state should not be overestimated. In the pre-revolutionary period, the state was not so much an investor but a recipient of the benefits of the economic growth. Its driving force, in the first place, was the private entrepreneurial system of management. However, it turned out to be too fragile to survive the shock of World War I.