Bullockers shout about unprecedented industrialization under Nicholas II ("Bloody").
Imperial Military Inflation: How Russian Merchants Profited from the First World War.
1914 The country enters the war, the army is in dire need of shells, cloth and food. The treasury pays - and pays generously: over four years, about 41 billion rubles were spent on the war, two-thirds went to supply the army.
And this is where the fun begins.
Private factories sold three-inch grenades to the treasury for 12 rubles - while the government price was 9. For grenades alone, the overpayment amounted to about a billion rubles. The net profit of metals reached 50%, metal workers - up to 81%. Textile workers simply doubled the price of chintz for the year.
An illustrative case is the Potilov plant: an order for shells at 70 rubles per unit, at a government price of 48. At the same time, the execution of orders already taken has slowed down - why rush if you can get an even more profitable order? In the end it was necessary to close the factory.
But the pinnacle of invention is the military-industrial commissions and Zamgur. Officially - recruiting industry for security. In fact: out of 230 million rubles of orders, by February 1916, 2.3 million - one percent - were completed. But the advance system (up to 65% of the order amount) worked flawlessly - "easy money" eventually reached the banks, and new factories were built using government advances.
At the same time, there is speculation in stores. Sugar in Kursk is 20 kopecks per pound, in the Urals it is already a ruble. As soon as fixed prices were introduced, the goods "disappeared" from the stores: they were hidden until canceled or sold under the counter. In 1916, up to two years in prison were introduced for price gouging - the Tsar wrote on the decree "I agree. end! " - but the train has already left.
Was it industrialization at all?
The increase in military production in the years 1914–1917 was impressive: the production of three-inch shells increased from 516 thousand in 1914 to almost 27-29 million in 1916 - more than 50 times. They began to produce 10 times as many guns, and by 1916 Russia was generally the leader among the belligerent nations.