The Russian market. Formation of the All-Russian Market

In the 17th century, the most profitable and prestigious branch was foreign trade. Thanks to her, the most scarce goods were supplied from the Middle East: ornaments, incense, spices, silk, and so on. The desire to have this all and in itself stimulated the formation and further strengthening of its own production. This was the first impetus to the development of domestic trade in Europe.

Introduction

Throughout the Middle Ages, there was a gradual increase in the volume of foreign trade. By the end of the 15th century, as a result of a number of geographical discoveries, there was a significant leap. European trade has become a world one, and the Middle Ages have smoothly passed into the period of the initial accumulation of capital. During the 16th and 18th centuries, there was a strengthening of economic interaction between a number of regions and the formation of national trading platforms. Together with this, the formation of national states of absolute centralized monarchies is noted. The entire economic policy of these countries was aimed at the formation of a national market, the formation of foreign and domestic trade. Great importance was also attached to the strengthening of industry, agriculture, and the means of communication.

The beginning of the folding of the all-Russian market

By the 18th century, new regions began to join the sphere of Russia's universal trade ties. For example, in the center of the country from the Left Bank Ukraine began to receive products and some industrial goods (saltpeter, gunpowder, glass). At the same time, Russia was a platform for marketing the products of local artisans and manufactories. From the Don regions, fish, meat, bread began to arrive. Back from the central and Volga counties were dishes, shoes, cloth. From Kazakhstan came livestock, in exchange for which the neighboring territories supplied bread and individual manufactured goods.

Trade fairs

A great influence on the folding of the all-Russian market was provided by fairs. The largest and most nationally significant was the Makaryevskaya. Goods were brought here from various regions of the country: Vologda, west and northwest of Smolensk, Petersburg, Riga, Yaroslavl and Moscow, Astrakhan and Kazan. Among the most popular are precious metals, iron, furs, bread, leather, various fabrics and products of animal husbandry (meat, lard), salt, fish. What was purchased at the fair, then spread all over the country: fish and furs - to Moscow, bread and soap - to St. Petersburg, metal products - to Astrakhan. Throughout the century, the trade turnover of the fair increased significantly. So, in 1720, it was 280 thousand rubles, and after 21 years - already 489 thousand.

Together with Makarevskaya, all-Russian significance was acquired by other fairs: Troitskaya, Orenburg, Blagoveshchenskaya and Arkhangelsk. Irbit, for example, had connections with sixty Russian cities in 17 provinces, interaction with Persia and Central Asia was established. The Sven Fair was associated with 37 cities and 21 provinces. Together with Moscow, all these fairs were of great importance in uniting both regional and district and local trading platforms in the all-Russian market.

The economic situation in the developing state

The Russian peasant, after his complete legal enslavement, first of all was obliged to pay the state, as well as the lord, a dues (natural or monetary). But if, for example, we compare the economic position of Russia and Poland, then for the Polish peasants, the obligation in the form of corvee service grew more and more. So, for them, it was eventually 5-6 days a week. For the Russian peasant she was 3 days.

Payment of duties in monetary form presupposed the existence of a market. The peasant had to have access to this trading platform. The formation of the all-Russian market stimulated the landlords to conduct their own economy and sell products, as well as (and to no lesser extent) the state - to receive fiscal cash receipts.

The development of the economy in Russia from the second half of the 16th century

In this period large regional trading platforms began to be formed. By the 17th century, the strengthening of business ties was carried out on a national scale. As a result of the expansion of interactions between individual regions, a new concept is emerging - the "all-Russian market". Although its strengthening was largely prevented by the Russian chronic off-road.

By the middle of the 17th century, there were some prerequisites, thanks to which the all-Russian market arose. His education, in particular, contributed to the deepening of the social division of labor, industrial territorial specialization, as well as the necessary political situation, which appeared due to the reforms that were aimed at creating a unified state.

The main trading floors of the country

From the second half of the 16th century, such major regional markets as the Volga region (Vologda, Kazan, Yaroslavl - livestock products), the North (Vologda - the main grain market, Irbit, Solvychegodsk - furs), North-West ( Novgorod - the sale of hemp and linen products), the Center (Tikhvin, Tula - purchase and sale of metal products). The main universal trading platform of that time was Moscow. There were about one hundred and twenty specialized series in it, where it was possible to purchase wool and cloth, silk and fur, fat and bread, wine, metal products of both domestic and foreign production.

The influence of state power

The Russian market, which arose as a result of reforms, contributed to the increase of entrepreneurial initiative. As for the public consciousness itself, at its level there were ideas of the rights and freedoms of the individual. Gradually, the economic situation in the era of the initial accumulation of capital led to freedom of enterprise both in trade and in other industries.

In the agricultural area, feudal measures are gradually replaced by state decrees on changing the rules of land use and farming. The government promotes the formation of the national industry, which in turn influenced the development of the all-Russian market. In addition, the state patronized the introduction of agriculture, more perfect than it was before.

In the sphere of foreign trade, the government seeks to acquire colonies and pursue a policy of protectionism. Thus, all that previously was characteristic of individual trading cities, now becomes the political and economic direction of the whole state as a whole.

Conclusion

The main distinguishing feature of the era of the initial accumulation of capital is the emergence of commodity-money relationships and a market economy. All this left a special imprint on all spheres of social life of that period. At the same time, this was a somewhat contradictory epoch, as well as other transitional periods, when a struggle took place between the feudal control of the economy, the life of society, politics, spiritual human needs and the new trends of bourgeois freedoms, caused by the expansion of trade scales that helped to eliminate territorial isolation and Limited feudal estates.