Consumption of Agricultural Machinery and Tools in Russia at the Beginning of the 20th Century (Based on Materials from the Provinces of the Middle Volga Region)
Authors: Makushev Andrey E. 
Published: January 2020

Introduction. In the late XIX – early XX centuries agricultural engineering in Russia was considered as a tool for solving several important problems. Against the background of the growth of the export potential of Russian agriculture, an increase in its productivity was considered as a way of obtaining foreign currency funds necessary for settlements on international financial obligations. At the same time, the task of increasing the production of agricultural machinery could not be fully resolved without an increase in demand for it. Therefore, the large-scale agrarian transformations undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century assumed assistance to the peasants in the technical re-equipment of their farms. The preservation of manual labor and archaic methods of agricultural production at the beginning of the 20th century became a threat that could nullify all reform efforts. This article will attempt to determine the extent of consumption of agricultural machinery and implements in Russia in the late XIX – early XX centuries based on the use of statistical materials on the provinces of the Middle Volga region. Materials and Methods. In solving the research problems, archival materials, published data of official statistics, and also scientific literature were used. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was made by the methods of socio-economic history. The study was conducted on the basis of the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematic. The need for quantitative data processing led to the use of the statistical method. The digital data presented in the work received a graphical interpretation and were visualized in the form of diagrams. The application of modernization theory allowed the inclusion of the growth processes of the technical equipment of agriculture in the trend of industrial modernization. Results. Based on a study of archival and published sources, as well as available scientific literature on the topic, a dynamic analysis of the scale of agricultural machinery consumption was carried out in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The study showed a fairly significant increase in this indicator both in Russia as a whole and in relation to the provinces of the Middle Volga region. At the same time, uneven technical equipment of agriculture was revealed in relation to different provinces. The main factors hindering the introduction of agricultural machinery in agricultural practice are considered. Discussion and Conclusion. The above data quite definitely allow us to talk about the growth in the use of agricultural machinery and improved tools in the Middle Volga region at the beginning of the 20th century. However, in relation to different provinces, these dynamics had very significant differences. It looked the most rapid in the Samara and Saratov provinces. It was much less noticeable in the Penza, Simbirsk and Kazan provinces. Such high rates in the Samara and Saratov provinces are due to the active spread of intensive agriculture, which provided for a high level of mechanization of labor. Passing to the expanded production of a market type, the farmers actively introduced agronomic and technical innovations. However, the technological revolution in agriculture did not cover all producers, far more affecting those who went beyond the communal regime and moved into the category of rural private owners. Among the factors that slowed down the implementation of machines, one can single out the conservatism of the peasant consciousness, the inertia of traditions in the practice of farming, the insufficient technical literacy of the peasantry, which made it difficult to maintain and repair complex machines, their high cost, low purchasing power of rural residents, etc. All this not only hindered the development of agriculture, but also significantly restrained the processes of early industrial modernization of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.