The Problem of the Genesis of Capitalism in Russia

Abstract

The problem of the genesis of capitalism in Russia has a history all its own. At the close of the last century the Narodnikis disputed not only the existence, but even the very possibility of capitalist development in Russia. One major Narodnik argument to support this idea was their utterly groundless assertion that at a time when the leading capitalist countries firmly controlled foreign markets, the domestic market in backward Russia was insufficient to nourish capitalist growth. Precisely for this reason Lenin, in his profound study The Development of Capitalism in Russia, directed his attention to this problem, namely, how the domestic market for Russian capital was formed, and citing the example of capitalist evolution in the post-reform Russian village, he showed how capitalism itself was creating the domestic market that it required.