Issue 1 (66)
| STATE OIL ECONOMY IN RUSSIA: OPTIONS, PROJECTS, DISCUSSIONS (1913–1917) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2020 | Number | 1(66) |
| Pages | 37-44 | Type | scientific article |
| UDC | 94(470)“1913/1917” | BBK | 63(3)53 |
| Authors | Stepanov Valerii L. |
Topic | INSTITUTIONS AND ECONOMIC POLICY |
| Summary | The article is based on the materials of the Russian State Historical Archive and deals with the preparation and discussion of projects to create state oil economy which took place in the highest bureaucratic authorities of the Empire on the eve and during the First World War. It is noted that this was caused by the inability of private industry to overcome the beginning fuel shortage, the need to provide state enterprises, railways and the Navy with oil products, as well as the demands of consumers to put an end to the arbitrariness of large companies which artificially raised prices in the domestic market. Special attention is drawn to the reasons for the government’s refusal to introduce state oil monopoly, which was advocated by many Zemstvos, exchange committees and business organizations, — the lack of funds in the Treasury to carry out such a large-scale reform and the danger of a crisis in the industry in the event of its accelerated governmentalization. At the same time, the trade and industry department and the Council of Ministers could not take an outside position and leave the oil business completely in the hands of private capital. Therefore, the “top” preferred a compromise option: a combination of state-owned industries with private enterprises. It is concluded that such a prospect, despite the strong resistance of oil companies, could be real in the post-war period, but the implementation of these plans was thwarted by the October events of 1917. | ||
| Keywords | Russian empire, oil industry, oil companies, state regulation, oil monopoly, state-owned oil fields | ||
| References |
Gefter M. Ya. [On the history of the fuel-metal “famine” in Russia on the eve of the First World War]. Istoricheskiy arkhiv [Historical archives]. Moscow; Leningrad: AN SSSR Publ., 1951, vol. 6, pp. 49–80. (in Russ.). Ibragimov M. Dzh. Neftyanaya promyshlennost’ Azerbajdzhana v period imperializma [Azerbaijan’s oil industry during the period of imperialism]. Baku: ELM Publ., 1983. (in Russ.). Popleteeva G. A. [The problem of state regulatory Russian Oil Industry in the early 19th century]. Vestnik Rossiyskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: istoriya Rossii [RUDN Journal of Russian History], 2009, no. 1, pp. 40–46. (in Russ.). Stepanov V. L. [State regulation of Caucasian Oil Industry in the First World War (1914 — February 1917)]. Sovremennaya nauka: aktual’nye problemy teorii i praktiki. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki [Modern Science: Actual Problems of Theory and Practice. Series: Humanities], 2018, no. 12, pp. 63–68. (in Russ.). |
||
| Download in PDF | |||
