Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 3 - From Marx to Mao

Years
steamengines
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
in whole
of Russia
Steam-engines and h. p.
employed in mining
total
h. p.
steamengines
in Uralsin South
total
h. p.
steamengines
total
h. p.
No. of mine-workers
employed (not includ-
ing salt miners)
in whole
of Russia
1877 895 27,880 286 8,070 161 5,129 256,919 145,455 13,865
1893 2,853 115,429 550 21,330 585 30,759 444,646 238,630 54,670
491
Thus we see that in the Urals the increase in the use of
steam-power was only some 22 times, whereas in the
South it was sixfold; the increase in the number of workers
in the Urals was 1q times, whereas in the South it was
nearly fourfold.* Consequently, it is capitalist large-scale
industry that rapidly increases the number of workers, at
the same time enormously increasing the productivity of
their labour.
Alongside of the South, mention should be made of the
Caucasus, which is also characterised by an amazing growth
of the mining industry in the post-Reform period. The output
of oil, which in the 60s did not even reach a million poods
(557,000 in 1865), was in 1870—1.7 million poods, in 1875—
5.2 million poods, in 1880—21.5 million poods, in 1885—
116 million poods, in 1890—242.9 million poods, in 1895—
384 million poods and in 1902—637.7 million poods. Nearly
all the oil is obtained in Baku Gubernia, and Baku “from
an insignificant town has turned into a first-class Russian
industrial centre, with 112,000 inhabitants.”** The
* The number of workers in iron production in the Urals in 1886
was 145,910, and in 1893—164,126, in the South 5,956 and 16,467.
The increases are 3 (approx.) and 2w-fold. For 1902 there are no
data on the number of steam-engines and horse-power. The number
however, of mine workers employed (not including saltminers) in
1902 in the whole of Russia was 604,972, including 249,805 in the
Urals and 145,280 in the South.
** Vestnik Finansov, 1897, No. 21. In 1863 the population of
Baku was 14,000 and in 1885—45,700.
in Urals
in South