В D Vocabulary

Complete each sentence with a word from the box.

authorities emancipation engineering estates feudal illiterate landlord/landlady leap peasant serf subsistence textile

In a................... system, landowners owned the

land and the people who worked on it.

The Eiffel Tower is an amazing piece of

Л person who makes their imng from farming a small piece of land is often called a

People who cannot read or writ© are...................

Someone who owns property and rents it to others

IS A..........................................

A................... was a person who belonged to the

owner of land.

The aristocracy own large areas of land called

.................. farming means you only just

manage to survive on what is produced.

The................... industry produces cloth, cotton

and wool.

The people vvho rule the country are sometimes called the

.................. is another word for jump.

People have to be free - their................... is

necessary.

The Russian economy in the 19th century

Hie Russian empire grew enornvuish durum tin. P'th century, covering land from Poland in the West to the Pacific coast in the Fast The population also grew quickly. In economic terms this meant an increase in two of the fecit factors of production: land and labour You nuuht think then, that the Russian economy at th^;s time was booming. Hut until the 1 sot is. this w as not true at.ill Compared to other important powers likt Britain, France and America. Russia's economy was hopelessly underdeveloped. Wh> was this sor

m,,..j* - i 105

The main problem was Russia's feud.il economic system. Almost SO per cent ol the population were peasants I'hev either worked on land owned by the si.in oi they were serfs. Serfs worked land that belonged t<> a small number of wealthy landlords In return lor a small piece of land and a place to live, serfs had to work lot their landlords. In tact, tin serfs didn't just work for tin ir landlords tlle> belonged Ю them.

This system did not encourage economic growth. Peasants' labour was used in subsistence tanning tor their families or working to maintain their landlord's estate. Without surplus goods, there were no profits or savings. With no savings, domestic investment for growth was not possible. Russian agriculture still used the most basic technology, and almost the whole workforce was unskilled and illiterate.

In addition, the empire's industrial base was poorly developed. Helore 1 S5<». there were relatively few factories, mostly producing textiles. Some factories were run by the state, but many were run on the estates of landlords Industrial technology was basic, and engineering education was not encouraged by the authorities.

To make matters worse, the (Crimean War from IS5Л to IS5o had weakened the Russian economy even more. Eventually, the Russian authorities realised that they had to do something about the economy. The empire was now surrounded by- modern industrial powers. Russia had to make an economic leap into a new age.

The first step was the emancipation of the serfs. Tsar Alexander II finally made this happen in IV»I I'his meant that the population was n<> lunger lied to the land and could provide labour for industry. Willi foreign investment. Russia began to build up its industries. The iron and steel industries grew rapidly. Mining of raw materials increased and industrial centres developed along the Поп and Dnepr rivers The output of the iron.md steel industries helped to build a huge railway network, including the Trans-Siberian railway.

K)6 M 4 «m i n (». } • r • t ~ U ^ ' t JO

(e. tli continued and by the lWOs the Russian economy was experiencing a real Ixrom. From tiv i pi r cent in the lS(>t>s. annual growth reached nine per cent in the 1 VHJs higher than anywhere else in EurojH- at the time However, much of the growth was built with foreign debt Agricultural methods and technology were still primitive. And whit about the economy's human capital? The exploited si rl's had now l>eeonic exploited factory workers. The majority of the population remained tot.iily illiterate and desperately jv>or With the turn of the new century, how much longer could the boom continue*

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