The myth of Witt, the "great patriot" of Russia
100 years ago, 13 March 1915, the Russian statesman Sergei Yulievich Vitte passed away. In the Russian public opinion since the pre-revolutionary period (in many respects through the efforts of Witte himself, who skillfully “promoted”), the image of Witte has emerged as a major patriotic figure. For Russian liberals and modern reformers, Sergei Witte is an example. Positively about the creator of the "drunken budget", the man who accelerated the export of gold from Russia at the expense of the "gold standard", "Count Polusakhalinsky" and one of the destroyers of the potential strategic alliance of Germany and Russia who could save the Russian empire, say school and university textbooks stories.
Having carefully studied the activities of Witte, it can be understood that this was one of the largest "agents of influence" of the world "financial international", which did a lot to undermine the economy and finances of the Russian Empire, and committed a number of sabotage in foreign policy. Therefore, it is not surprising that modern Russian liberals are equal to it. They, like Witte, control the finances and economy of the Russian Federation and interfere with the progressive development of Russian civilization, siphoning out of the country resources to the West in the interests of their external curators.
Many farsighted contemporaries Witte noticed his destructive role in Russian history. Lenin noted: “Russia has already seen a brilliant budget (under Witte). There was also a “free cash”, there was also boasting to Europe, also increased lending from the European bourgeoisie. And as a result? Crash.
Very precise definition. And it is very similar to the situation in the Russian Federation. Liberals controlling the Russian economy and finances put the “brilliant budget” as a priority, Russian companies (and earlier the country) are getting into huge external debts. For the sake of a deficit-free budget, the liberals “optimize” spending, cutting spending on “social”. That is, there are fewer schools, hospitals in the country, the rest are moving “capitalist rails”, and teachers, kindergarten teachers, medical staff, retirees and other “state employees” live on the edge of poverty. How do Russian liberals react to the crisis? They are even more constricted "cash flow", raise the key rate (one of the highest levels in the world (!), Overtook only Ukraine, which already collapses), putting industry and agriculture on the brink of survival. Cuts costs, including defense, although on the verge of a world war! What is being done at this time in the modern West and East to get out of the crisis? In the USA, Canada and the EU, the key rate is from 0% to 0,25%, in Switzerland - 0,75, in Japan - around 0%. In China - 5,3%, but for a number of projects - negative. In addition, China is investing huge amounts of money in various international and domestic infrastructure projects to support the economy and preserve jobs.
We can recall from history that in Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s USSR and the USA during the Great Depression, large-scale infrastructure projects played a huge role. It was they who made the Third Reich, the empire of Stalin and the USA superpowers. In the United States, for most of the Great Depression, rates remained at record low levels. However, Russian liberals prefer "optimization", that is, to reduce and destroy. Although it is obvious that it is wiser to “tighten the belts” for some time, investing in the future, like in the USSR of the period of the first half of 1930, so that life would become better.
All this we have already passed. Before the 1914 war of the Russian Empire, only French shareholders of the next coupons of loans required half a billion francs per year (in general, during the prewar period abroad it went to pay debts around 200-300 million rubles in gold). In order to pay off, organized new loans. And for the national economy there was not enough money. The Russian Empire was increasingly entangled in the web of external and internal loans.
Witte is credited with the introduction of gold circulation in Russia in 1895 — 1897. Before the reform in the Russian Empire, gold and silver coins of various denominations went along with paper credit tickets. On the credit tickets there was an inscription that they can be exchanged for gold and silver money. After the reform, the inscription on the exchange for silver was gone. Credit cards can now only be exchanged for gold. Silver remained in circulation only as small change coins, but more, as before, did not provide the cost of paper credit tickets. As a result, a huge debt in silver was transferred to the gold equivalent. In theory, it was possible to negotiate with creditors and return the amount in silver to them, but Sergei Yulievich equated the debt in silver to the equivalent in gold, and even in terms of an unprofitable rate for the Russian state, on a large scale. Thus, Russia's liabilities in gold increased immediately by 50%! Russian Empire was robbed.
Will rob Russia in other areas. It is believed that monetary reform has improved the investment climate in the country, contributed to attracting domestic and foreign capital to the Russian economy. However, in essence, foreign investment basically only ruined the country. Taking into account the favorable exchange rate for foreigners, foreign capital flowed to Russia in a rather wide stream. Over the 20 years, from 1882 to 1902, foreign investments, together with loans, amounted to about 5 billion. 800 million rubles. At the same time, the Russian Empire paid interest on urgent repayment of loans and credits invested in government and private-industry securities, about 4 billion 370 million rubles. Taking into account operating expenses abroad, which amounted to 20 1 billion 370 million rubles for 5 years, Russia for two decades paid about 740 billion 15 million rubles (5, 1870 billion francs) to foreigners. This huge amount is equal to the indemnity that France paid to Germany after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871-XNUMX. And this contribution allowed the German Empire to make an industrial breakthrough, which made Germany a potential leader in Europe. At the end of the XIX century. Industry and agriculture in Germany developed rapidly and in the first decade of the 20th century. The second Reich ahead of the UK in key economic indicators.
Thus, Russia was deprived of huge money that went to the West. Not surprisingly, in Russia, the national per capita income was 89 rubles. per year, that is, in 5-8 times less than in the advanced powers. And in terms of industrial production per person and in terms of labor productivity in industry, Russia was inferior to advanced countries in 5-10 times. Without war and military spending, Western financial institutions defeated Russia. Once in 1900-1901's. payments to the Russian empire increased even more; Western banks received a profit every five years equal to the contribution of France, which it paid to Germany. De facto, Western banks gave Russia its money, and then received interest on them. Total profit! The introduction of the gold ruble in Russia was a real victory for the West, and only decorated the facade of the Russian economy, despite the assertions of Russian economists praising Witte’s reform.
Here are the words of the State Comptroller Peter Schwaneb: “The transition to the gold circulation was accomplished here, mainly through the accumulation of gold by foreign loans.” And to maintain such success could only be new loans. In the end, what happened? The golden stock of the empire was large. The gold supply of the Russian ruble was with a margin and was about 120%. However, gold went to the West, and there was not enough finance for lending to the national industry. As a result, the Russian Empire was never able to make the industrial breakthrough that was necessary to remain in the club of the great powers and preserve independence. The Russian Empire gradually turned into a financial and economic semi-colony of the West and provided soldiers who, in the interests of Britain and France, were killed by hundreds of thousands in battles with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. The financial noose was the prerequisite that forced Russia to get involved in the war she did not need.
The name "Witte" is also associated with "drunken budget" of Russia. From 1895, he began to introduce a wine monopoly. Thanks to Witte’s reform, the drinking excise represented the largest budget revenue item and was 2,5 more than all the direct taxes combined. The net income of the wine monopoly increased from 188 million rubles in 1900 year to 675 million in 1913 year and amounted to about 30% of the budget revenue.
There is nothing bad in the wine monopoly itself. Numerous boaters, “fists” and Jews, who in places soldered entire villages and parishes, were cut off from the sale of alcohol. However, there were two factors that undermined this positive effect. Firstly, the wine monopoly was not accompanied by the state strategy of society's sobering up. The state did not support numerous public organizations that fought for the sobriety of the people. On the contrary, state-owned monopoly stores contributed to the coping of the population. As the monarchist Shulgin noted: “The paintings that were played out in front of the Monopolist shops were disgusting. Previously, people drank in taverns and taverns. There they sat at the tables and ate something with them ... After the reform, the pubs closed. Vodka consumers drank it straight from the bottle on the street, and those who drank were lying right there ... ”That is, before Witte, a simple person could have a drink and a snack, and after the reform one could only get drunk.
The state has become economically viable process of increasing alcohol consumption. For example, then the authority of the church was quite high and she struggled with drunkenness. Priests traditionally preached about the dangers of drinking. But since the church was part of the state apparatus, the Synod, under pressure from Witte, prohibited such sermons. The weakening of anti-alcohol propaganda and the national scale of “monopoleks” led to an increase in alcohol consumption in Russia, with an increase in related problems (rising crime, industrial injuries, the number of sick people and children with chronic diseases, and much more). Drunk Russia has become the price to replenish the budget. And the state needed money to pay back debts. Vicious vicious circle.
Secondly, with Witte’s efforts, the budget became more and more parasitic and was filled not so much by increasing production as by “drunk” money. Light-looking "drunken" money hindered the development of the country, as in the past decades Russia has been hampered by the "oil needle".
What kind of stabilization of the economy of the Russian Empire can we talk about, if Witte actually gave all the mineral deposits in the empire, including promising fuel, to plunder to foreigners? In particular, most of the oil production and refining, kerosene production was controlled by the Rothschild and Nobel companies. The largest Russian enterprises and the Russian navy were forced to work on British coal, although their coal in the Donbas was no worse and cheaper. Even gas for lamps in the Russian capital was extracted from British coal. Under the pressure of Sergei Yulievich, the entire economy of the Russian Empire was made dependent on British coal.
As the head of the Kharkiv-Nikolaev Railway V. Volkov noted, all attempts by the Commission for the supply of coal for state railways in 1906 to bring down prices did not lead to anything because of the existence of a syndicate - General Society "Produgol" that controlled 44 % of coal produced in Donetsk. This syndicate actually nominated prices and was led from Paris and Brussels. The fuel, mining and other industries in Russia were largely controlled by foreigners.
In general, the “stabilization” policy of Witte was based on attracting enormous finances from abroad, which led to the financial and political enslavement of the Russian Empire. The industry developed one-sidedly, mainly in the direction related to the production of rail and metallurgy for them, which brought huge profits to the owners of enterprises. Advanced high-tech industries, including electrical engineering, chemistry, aircraft manufacturing, automotive, shipbuilding and armament, lagged far behind the advanced Western powers. More information about the difficult situation that was observed in the national economy of the Russian Empire can be found in the book of the contemporary Witte Alexander Nechvolodov “From ruin to prosperity”.
It is worth saying that behind Witte there were obviously more powerful figures who were associated with foreign countries and actively promoted their creature. Witte came into politics with a private service in the joint-stock company of the South-Western Railways. And these are such magnates as Bliokh, Gintsburg, Warsaw and Polyakov. Without close cooperation with them, Witte’s career would not have taken place. Occupying top positions in the state, Witte helped the Jewish financial and industrial capital of Russia well. In particular, he deprived the State Bank loans of the most healthy national financial and industrial groups of von Derviz, Alchevsky and Mamontov. In 1899, from his filing, a "case" of Savva Mamontov, a major Russian philanthropist and chairman of the board of the Moscow-Yaroslavl-Arkhangelsk Road Society, arose. Mamontov was the initiator of a new large railway project in the North. This project was of strategic importance for Russia. Witte initially pretended to support the project (pretense and lies were characteristic features of his personality), and then he “drowned” himself, depriving him of support. He also opened a case on the Mamontovs. The jury acquitted them, but the Mamontovs were ruined. A promising economic project for the development of the Russian North was also buried. Then in the Russian Empire it was openly said that behind the Mamontovs were the machinations of Jewish bankers.
Witte was not a champion of "honest business." The Perm-Kotlas railway (part of the Petersburg-Vologda-Vyatka line, which was not allowed to be built by Mamontov) was later built by Witte's relative, engineer Bykhovets. Mamontov was replaced by another of his relatives, the doctor Levi, on the board of the Yaroslavl-Arkhangelsk Road.
Witte also heated his hands on the construction of Transsib, the construction of which began in 1891. According to preliminary calculations, the construction cost of the Great Siberian Route should have been 350 million rubles in gold, but as a result, several times more was spent (about 936 million). They did it in about the same way as at present (like a scam at the Vostochny cosmodrome). The cost of building materials was very high. So British breeders offered steel rails for 75 cop. per pud, but the order was transferred to a domestic manufacturer for 2 rub. for a pood, so even with the issuance of an advance of several million for the construction of production facilities. At the southern enterprises, the rails were not for the treasury (the state) were evaluated in 85 — 87 cop. for pood, and for treasury - in 1 rub. 25 cop As a result, annual overpayments for the railway equipment only amounted to about 15 million rubles. For all the time of construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, no less than 180 million rubles were stolen only on the supply of rails. It is clear that officials of the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank were in the share.
In addition, the war with Japan, as wise people warned, revealed the strategic weakness of laying railways on foreign territory. Before the war, they considered two options for the construction of a railway - across Russia and through Manchuria. Sergey Witte was actively pushing the Manchu option. As a result, it was necessary to build the Amur road along its territory. In addition, it is believed that the CER was one of the reasons for the war with the Japanese Empire. Russia's active expansion in China has irritated Japan. If Russia built a railway across its territory, this would not have happened. In particular, he wrote about this, analyzing the events that preceded the war, General Alexey Nikolaevich Kuropatkin.
It must be said that the Chinese Eastern Railway was a very big scam, with which many people lost their arms. And the creation of the Russian-Chinese Bank, which was completely ruled by Sergei Yulievich, allowed the laundering of huge public funds through the banks of France. 519 million rubles in gold was spent on the Amur road. And for all the common people paid.
The crunch of the French loaf of a small class of parasites was paid for by the poverty and half-starved existence of millions of peasants. Few people know that in 1873-1874, when they introduced universal military service, the number of commissioned recruits was 6 -7%, and by the year 1901 increased to 13%. Although it was precisely at this time that the requirements for recruits regarding growth and breast volume were reduced. Regular hunger, lack of nutrition led to a decrease in the growth and pain of recruits. The same decrease in average growth occurred in the 1990s, when the quality of food in Russia, despite the variety, often harmful, fell sharply and low-quality products poured into stores and markets.
Witte was involved in fomenting the Russo-Japanese War, which was in the interests of Britain, France and the United States. Sergey Yulievich is also responsible for the infamous Portsmouth peace treaty between the Russian Empire and Japan, which ended the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 — 1905. Sergey Witte went to the negotiations with the Japanese in America and he recognized Korea as a sphere of Japanese influence, gave the Japanese Empire lease rights to the Liaodong peninsula with Port Arthur and Dalny, part of the South Manchurian road, gave half of Sakhalin and allowed the Japanese to fish along the Russians the shores of the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea.
Although the Russian army was not defeated and was preparing for a decisive offensive, the treasury had money, and Japan had completely exhausted its human and financial reserves. Russia had every chance to win this war. Nicholas II did not give consent to such a world, with the assignment of half of Sakhalin. Before leaving, Tsar Nicholas II, to Witte, said the famous phrase “I will not give a single inch of the Russian land”. However, Witte signed an agreement, fulfilling the will of the world behind the scenes structures that were based in the United States, France and England. The West was interested in undermining the Russian positions in the Far East and Witte brilliantly solved this problem.
In Russia, this defeat was presented as a “diplomatic victory” and even awarded Witte the title of count. Witte was also “torpedoed” by the Björk Treaty of 1905, which was signed by Emperor Nicholas II and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Although this treaty could save Russia from being drawn into a pan-European war and save the Russian Empire and the Romanov dynasty. You can read more about behind-the-scenes intrigues that led to the break-up of Russia and Germany in the book by Sergey Kremlev “Germany and Russia: Bleed! From Versailles Wilhelm to Versailles Wilson. "
Thus, it is obvious that the myth that “the meaning of all of Witte’s life and work was to serve Great Russia” was created by the then and current liberals to cover up the ugly and destructive activities of the “great reformer”. After all, Witte is a model for modern Russian liberals who, destroying Russia, want to “look beautiful”. Black is made white. Destroyers and enemy "agents of influence" pretend to be "great reformers", "restructuring" and "true patriots" of Russia.
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