The Thorny Path of Russian Capitalism in Feudal Serf Russia

Abstract

The article examines the path of capitalism in Russia during the period of serfdom through the prism of modern demographic concepts. The problems of labor intensity in agriculture are also analyzed in this paper. The author highlights the main features that distinguished Russian capitalism of the feudal period from the Western model of capitalism that dominated in England. The author argues that the high labor intensity of agriculture associated with the consequences of the population explosion of the first half of the XVIII century hindered Russia's transition from feudal to capitalist model of economy. The article emphasizes that serfdom had negative effects especially in the black earth provinces of the Russian Empire. The author considers the Upper Volga path of transition to capitalism, which main characteristic is extreme agriculture conditions, to be the evolutionary path typical for Russia of that period. The fact that the European model of the family was not accepted in Russia in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times also impeded the development of Russian capitalism. The author proves that institutionally Russian capitalism did not deviate so much from the Western model of capitalism, however Russian economy of that time lagged far behind in quantitative indicators. In particular, the author shows that factor and commodity prices were free or poorly regulated in the Russian Empire. The paper proposes to consider the discussion on the nature of Russian capitalism in Modern times with the use of quantitative analysis. The author considers the reasons for the slowdown in the development of Russian capitalism to be the consequence of the evolution of the agrarian population of Russia. Meanwhile, according to the author, Russia of Modern times played a role of an arbiter rather than an actor in the format of the conservative social system that had developed even before the reforms of Peter the Great.