LECTURE No. 14. Modern entrepreneur: experience of the West and our problems

1. The evolution of Russian entrepreneurship after October 1917

In the history of Russia in the last decades of the XX century. three main stages can be distinguished:

1) the period of war communism;

2) the time of the new economic policy;

3) several decades of the command-administrative economy.

Let us briefly consider each of these stages in the system of evolution of Russian entrepreneurship.

The period of "war communism"

After the October Revolution, the decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars nationalized organizations of large, medium and partly small industry, transport, and trade in several ways over the course of about three years. All banking and credit institutions, stock and commodity exchanges have been liquidated.

According to the All-Russian Census of Industrial Establishments, in 1920 in Russia there were about 405 thousand enterprises of large, medium-sized factories and small craft industries. Of the total number of these institutions, only about 350 thousand actually operated, employing 6 million 2 thousand people, and the remaining institutions were inactive.

The vast majority of operating enterprises (approximately 70% of their total number) belonged to the category that did not involve hired labor, the average number of employed persons per such establishment was less than two people, i.e., small enterprises of the handicraft type prevailed. According to the census, there were about 31 thousand enterprises of large and medium industry with at least 7,3 workers. But more than half (51,3%) of all people employed in industry worked for them.

At that time, virtually all enterprises were state property. According to the censuses provided, 11,6% of the affected enterprises were owned by the state, but 64% of all those employed in industry worked for them.

With a few exceptions, all large-scale industry was nationalized, which in 1920 provided 72% of the total output of Russian industry.

By a decree of October 29, 1920, all private enterprises with more than five workers with a mechanical engine and more than ten people without an engine were proclaimed nationalized.

Consequently, the freedom of economic activity and the abolition of private property were set in motion, which led to the elimination of private enterprise in trade and industry.

The material situation of the workers worsened. The wages of workers in the era of "war communism" were paid in kind. Typical was the basic monthly ration, consisting of:

1) bread - 30 pounds (a pound is equal to 400 grams);

2) meat, fish;

3) fats - 1/2%;

4) sugar - 1/2%;

5) salt - 1%;

6) vegetables - 20%;

7) coffee - 1/4%;

8) soap - 1/4%;

9) matches - 2 boxes.

The confiscation of all landowners' possessions and a significant share of the land that belonged to the kulaks was carried out. The number of wealthy peasants, who constantly used hired labor, decreased sharply. Approximately 2 times reduced their property, especially the number of pigs, cattle, sheep.

The lands of the landlords and parts of the protective families were transferred to the peasants, which meant the "average" of the Russian countryside. However, the middle peasants did not have the opportunity to manage freely in the new conditions.

In the context of a fierce struggle and a civil war against the counter-revolution, a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of May 13, 1918 established a surplus appraisal, which meant the establishment of the country's food dictatorship. Each owner of grain, who had a quantitative surplus necessary for personal consumption and crops (respectively, according to established norms), was required to report this within a week in order to deliver it to the state at fixed prices. Thus, in the course of the ongoing surplus appropriation for consumption by the army and the city, agricultural products were withdrawn almost completely.

In addition to bread, the Soviet government exercised a state monopoly on other products - tea, salt, sugar, as well as on fabrics, lighting materials, mineral fuel, etc. In addition, it is necessary to carry out state procurement and state distribution of many non-monopolized products and goods - meat, fish , potatoes, fats and others.

Thus, after the liquidation of private enterprise, state commodity-money relations were almost completely eliminated.

The difficulties that arose as a result of the difficult agreements of the civil war and foreign military intervention were exacerbated by the pernicious economic policy of the state power.

Cast iron production in 1920 compared to 1918 decreased by almost 4,5 times, steel production - by 2,5 times, rolled products - by 2 times. The shortage of workers, agricultural implements and seed stock led in 1920 to a reduction in sown areas by 25% compared to 1916, and the gross harvest of agricultural products decreased by 1913-40% compared to 45. All this became one of the main reasons for the famine in 1921. It killed about 20% of the population and led to the death of about 5 million people. The country was in devastation caused by the civil and imperialist wars.

The deterioration of the economic situation in 1921 gave rise to an acute political and economic crisis in the country. The peasants were dissatisfied with the continued surplus appropriation, but it was supported by a large proportion of the working class. A wave of peasant uprisings swept almost the entire country.

For the leadership of the country, the need for a radical change in the economic course, the rejection of the policy of "war communism" became obvious.

Economic reforms of the NEP

When studying the New Economic Policy, it is necessary to avoid simplistic ideas about the NEP, it is necessary to focus exclusively on certain individual aspects of this policy.

The NEP is a system of successive measures to get the country out of the crisis, which were dictated by objective circumstances and which gradually took shape in the desire to plan a program for building socialism by cumulative economic methods. The NEP expressed an understanding of the need for a "major change in the whole point of view" on socialism. The formation of a new concept of socialism took place gradually.

It was not completely completed either by V. I. Lenin, or by his closest associates in this matter, N. I. Bukharin and A. I. Rykov, it poured gradually.

From this point of view, the correct understanding of the meaning of the term is based on the "new economic policy", a new one, that is, replacing the old, military-communist one, and putting economic management methods in the foreground. The NEP ends when, instead of economic, the absolute dominance of emergency, administrative, and violent methods is established.

The fundamental direction of the NEP was to stimulate commodity-money relations, entrepreneurship, economic initiative, and the material interest of every enterprise and every worker.

In the spring of 1921, specific steps were taken to introduce economic incentives into the national economy in the implementation of the conclusions of the X Congress of the RCP (b) in a new change in the exchange of goods for food matters of a different economic turnover, taxes in kind were 30-50% lower than the size of the surplus appropriation, they were calculated from the sowing area and announced in advance to the peasants.

In 1923-1924. at the request of the peasants, it was allowed to pay a tax in kind in products and money. The legalization of market relations gave rise to the restructuring of the entire economic mechanism. In 1921-1924. reforms are being carried out in the management of trade, industry, cooperation, monetary and credit and financial reforms, etc.

In the course of the restructuring of the state industry management system, 16 departments were organized instead of the fifty former branch central boards and centers of the Supreme Council of National Economy. The number of employees was reduced from 300 thousand to 91 thousand people.

The apparatus of other people's commissariats was reduced. The GOELRO commission and a number of people's commissariats were liquidated. Gosplan became the central body for long-term state planning. After the end of hostilities, the strength of the Red Army was reduced from 5 million to 562 thousand people.

In 1924, a monetary reform was carried out, which was of great economic and political importance. In the national economy, the chervonets, partially convertible and quite stable, received a solid monetary unit. With the help of this unit, it was possible to enter foreign exchange trading operations both within the country and abroad.

During the transition to the NEP, restrictions on private entrepreneurial activity were lifted. In July 1921, simple partnerships were allowed by law; from February 1, 1922, there was a registered Charter of the first Joint-Stock Company "Kozhsyrye". Following the simple partnerships of IAO, other configurations of associations were recognized - general partnerships and partnerships with limited liability.

To attract foreign capital, the Soviet state corporatized its own enterprises, which, in turn, provided such enterprises with the opportunity to work on a cost-benefit basis.

By the end of 1924, there were 40 state joint-stock companies, 47 mixed joint-stock companies, 12 of them with the participation of foreign capital. A relatively small number of joint-stock companies is established relatively due to the resolution of the STO of August 1, 1922. The minimum value of the authorized capital of a joint-stock company was fixed at a very high level - 100 thousand gold rubles.

And during the NEP period, rent is relatively widespread in the sphere of industrial activity.

As of September 1, 1922, 3800 establishments were leased out, employing a total of 680 workers. About half of them were rented by individuals. During this period, private enterprises provided about 1/5 of Russia's industrial production.

If the state in the 1920s. retained its dominant position in the field of wholesale trade (it accounted for 70-80% of the turnover), and in the field of wholesale and retail trade, at least half of the volume of purchase and sale was related to private capital.

In retail trade, private capital controlled in 1923 83% of the total volume of activity.

One of the authors of the New Economic Policy and its most consistent supporter, AI Rykov, emphasized that in the field of trade private capital can play a useful and important role and make it impossible to reproduce sales crises.

At the same time, the fairs are being restored. Thus, the turnover of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair in 1923 reached 75% of the 1917 level and 50% of the 1913 level.

The new economic policy promoted the resumption of agriculture. In 1923, the sown area increased to 91,7 million hectares, which amounted to 99,3% of the level of 1913. The gross grain harvest in 1925 exceeded the average annual harvest for the five-year period 20,7-1909 by almost 1913%.

By 1927, on the whole, the pre-war level had also been reached in animal husbandry.

In the 1920s In the countryside, middle peasant farms predominated (over 60%), there were 3-4% of kulaks, 22-26% of poor people, and 10-11% of farm laborers. The total number of peasant farms for 1922-1926. due to the division of land, it increased by 2,6 million - 13% compared to the level of 1913.

During the years of the NEP, a number of codes were developed: Civil, Criminal, Labor, Land, etc.

On the basis of the Civil Code, any citizen who has reached the age of 16 could obtain a license to trade in shops, public places, markets, bazaars with any products or objects, to open consumer services, shops, cafes, restaurants.

For rent of buildings and premises, production equipment, means of transport.

The main reason for owning a license was the timely payment of taxes, the provision of all accounts and documentary reporting at the first request of the authorities, non-participation in illegal financial, trade and other transactions. Similar rights and obligations are established for cooperative firms.

The Land Code recognized all available forms of land use: community, artel, farms and cuts, or combinations thereof.

The freedom of choice was given to the peasants. The preservation of the community with periodic redistribution of land was not encouraged, but it was not forbidden either.

The peasant had the right to freely leave the community and, as a user, retain the allotment. Land was allowed to be leased for a period not exceeding 2 years. It was also forbidden to buy and sell allotments.

It was also allowed to use hired labor, but with the condition that hired workers work equally as family members.

One of the directions of the NEP was the reconstruction of the exchange business. According to experts, in a mixed economy, stock exchanges stimulated trade turnover and contributed to its discipline by establishing equilibrium prices.

Commodity exchanges were first restored, and they gained maximum development. By the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of October 20, 1922, stock exchanges were organized to carry out transactions with securities.

As of October 1, 1926, there were 114 exchanges operating in the country. Their members at the beginning were 8 commercial and industrial firms and individuals, 514% were cooperative and state organizations, 67% - private entrepreneurs.

Exchanges became significant centers of commercial initiative, although their operations were mainly connected with the movement of real capital, and the organization of free trading was just beginning.

The implementation of the NEP contributed to the rise of the country's productive forces and the improvement of the approval of the peasants, workers and representatives of all other strata of Russian society at that time.

Even at the beginning of the transition to the NEP, it was announced that it was being established firmly and for a long time.

But Stalinism stopped the democratic tendencies that are characteristic of the NEP period.

Let us consider in more detail the evolution of the credit system of Soviet Russia during the period of war communism and under the new economic policy.

2. The state of the credit system in the period preceding the latest economic policy

As a result of the World War 1914-1917. and subsequent revolutionary events, the money economy in Russia was greatly upset as a result of the issuance of a large number of paper banknotes into circulation.

The spoiled money economy, filled with paper money, was inherited by the October Revolution.

The first years after the October Revolution passed in halts, when money circulation reached the extreme point of disorder, it could not be left like that.

Life demanded one or another solution of the monetary issue in order to establish its economy on the new principles of Soviet Russia.

It was necessary to find a solution to a fundamental question, from this it follows that in the future to follow the path of the monetary economy, or else, to leave the monetary system and move on to other principles. The monetary system, in the latter case, was subject to complete elimination.

It was necessary to proceed with the speedy correction and restoration of the monetary system, provided that the monetary economy was preserved.

How did the Soviet government start reforming the credit system?

One of the first acts of Soviet power was the Decree of December 14, 1917 on the nationalization of banks.

Joint-stock commercial banks were merged with the State Bank, later renamed the People's Bank of the RSFSR.

The nationalization of banks meant the complete liquidation of commercial banks. Also, along with the decree of January 19, 1920, the People's Bank itself was liquidated and turned into the Central Budgetary and Appraisal Department.

This is how commercial banks ended their existence, which to a large extent contributed to the rise of the productive forces of Russia.

For two years after the nationalization in Russia there were no banking institutions, credit and banks (1919-1921).

At the same time, the Soviet government firmly adhered to the position of the rapid extermination of money and its rapid replacement as a measure of value by a special labor unit in the State economy. However, this was not implemented.

3. The transition to the "new economic policy" and its impact on the formation of the Russian credit system

In 1921, there was a turning point in the direction of changes in the economic policy of the Soviet government. By the end of the year, a "new economic policy" was announced, which meant a transition to free markets and the dominance of the money economy.

How did the transition to the NEP affect the market system of Soviet Russia in the first years of its existence?

To answer this question, let us consider certain actions of the central government in the sphere of the Russian credit system. One of the acts of the new government during the implementation of the NEP was a decree, which refers to the establishment of the State Bank of the Russian Republic. This act took effect on November 16, 1921.

To create fixed capital, 2 billion rubles were transferred to the State Bank. from the people's treasury. The Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was instructed to approve the regulations on the State Bank within a week.

The foundation of the monetary economy of Soviet Russia was laid with the establishment of the State Bank.

At the same time, the nationalized industry, which before the transition to the NEP was based on the budgetary supply of the state, was being transformed on new principles, switching to economic accounting.

The new economic policy allowed for a free market, as well as the leasing of nationalized enterprises to private individuals.

As a result of the measures taken, the ground was prepared for the development of credit relations in the country.

The State Bank existed alone during 1921-1922. mainly by financing state industry with government reinforcements.

The State Bank arose at the beginning of the credit monopoly. And in December 1921 and in the spring of 1922, the XI Party Congress and sessions of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided that the State Bank would remain the center of the credit system, but there would also be the possibility of the existence of other credit institutions. The work of the State Bank in an environment of continuously falling currency was extremely difficult and could not produce significant results until it was granted the issuing right by a government decree of October 11, 1922.

However, in the first year of its existence, the State Bank achieved quite satisfactory results for that time: it brought its balance sheet to 588,3 million rubles. model 1923 and opened about 130 of its institutions throughout the republic.

The decree on the issue of banknotes on October 11, 1922, with their subsequent actual introduction into circulation, made it possible to consider the situation in the operations of credit institutions as stable and bank currency as a sufficient measure of values. This moment can be considered as the beginning of the emergence and formation of joint-stock commercial banks in Soviet Russia.

Until the spring of 1923, they had not yet spread very widely in the turnover of the national economy and were mainly concentrated in the cash desks of the State Bank. Beginning in the spring of 1923, banknotes became more and more common instrument of circulation, and by the end of 1923 they were finally introduced into the economic and monetary circulation, by this time reaching a significant predominance in the number of banknotes, accounting for 4/5 of the entire paper money supply.

On April 23, 1922, at the initiative of former bank employees, the South-Eastern Commercial Bank appeared in Rostov-on-Don. This Commercial Bank was the first in Soviet Russia. It was created with both public and private capital. 50% of its main capital was contributed by the State Bank.

At the end of 1922, a number of banks appeared. For example, in November 1922, the Russian Commercial and Industrial Bank was established, which at the end of 1923 took first place in the system of Russian credit institutions in terms of its turnover after the State Bank. The Russian Trade and Industrial Bank was formed by Russian state-owned industry on a joint-stock basis with the funds of this industry. The main tasks of the bank were the following:

1) mobilization of free industrial capital;

2) promoting the development of industry and the formation of proper regulation and financing of the activities of state enterprises;

3) attraction of small private and foreign capital.

The bank's charter was approved by the Council of Labor and Defense on September 1, 1922. According to the charter, the bank's fixed capital was determined in gold at 5 million rubles, which were divided into 50 thousand shares, 100 rubles each. each.

At the beginning of its activities, the Bank achieved very favorable results. Based on this success of the bank, the STO adopted a resolution on August 3, 1923, on the basis of which the capital of Prombank was increased by 3,5 million rubles. gold at the expense of the treasury.

One of the most significant achievements of the bank was the widespread attraction of funds for deposits from the free money market.

As of December 1, 1922, deposits amounted to 71 thousand chervonets, and by October 1923 they increased to 3183,4 chervonets.

In the field of developing the network of its branches, Prombank completed a grandiose work. As of October 1, during the first year, they opened 38 branches and offices throughout the republic.

On February 1, 1924, the number of branches reached 45.

A network of branches was opened exclusively at the expense of local funds.

Prombank has established direct correspondent accounts in all major European locations. On October 1, 1923, their number was 38.

In June 1923, the charter of the bank was slightly changed.

The main changes in the Charter of the Bank:

1) the bank’s fixed capital was increased to 15 million rubles;

2) the bank had the right to open its branches without the prior permission of Narkomfin, but with the obligatory registration of branches with the NCF;

3) the bank has been granted the right to buy and sell goods at its own expense;

4) the bank was allowed to participate as a founder of commercial and industrial companies. Previously, Gosplan believed that state credit institutions should shun commercial and industrial (trusts, syndicates and mixed companies) enterprises;

5) the bank was given the right to issue both registered and bearer shares, but with the condition that the total number of these shares does not exceed 25% of the total number of issued shares, in order to participate in private capital;

6) short-term lending expanded from 3 to 6 months;

7) the bank was given the name “Russian Commercial and Industrial Bank”, replacing the previous “Industrial Bank”.

In a short time, the bank mastered its activities in the state industry and took a leading position in the national economy.

Next after the Russian Commercial and Industrial Bank, the Russian Commercial Bank arises in Moscow, which began to carry out its operations on December 12, 1922; On October 19, 1922, its Charter was approved by the STO.

The first paragraph of the Charter stated that the Bank was opened "to promote trade and industry of the RSFSR and allied republics and to develop their commercial turnover abroad."

These properties of the Charter were established as the tasks of banking activity and as a place in the Soviet construction, which he planned to take.

This bank, unlike those considered, was created exclusively on the basis of private foreign capital. The founders of the bank were Snrnska Ekonomie Aktiedodapet represented by the Swedish citizen Olaf Ashbert. According to the charter, the bank's fixed capital was determined in gold at 10 million rubles, or 5146000 US dollars.

The shareholders' capital is divided into 100 thousand shares of 100 rubles each. each. This capital is 10 billion rubles. contributed entirely in foreign currency.

It is impossible not to notice that the activities of a foreign bank were allowed throughout the territory of Soviet Russia, which was determined by certain guarantees and compensations in favor of Soviet Russia. The most significant of these were the following:

1) upon approval of the Charter (i.e. after October 19, 1922), the Founder of the Bank contributes 5% of the amount of the fixed capital to the Treasury income, i.e. 500 gold;

2) 10% of fully paid shares are transferred free of charge to the founders in the ownership of the State Bank;

3) to ensure the clientele for the bank's passive operations, the State Bank must necessarily have cash or government interest-bearing securities of the country with a stable currency in the form of gold, an amount of 10% of the liability, but not less than 25% of the bank's fixed capital;

4) the bank was also obliged, on the basis of the statement of the Gosbank Board, to sell to it at the exchange rate of the day up to 50% of free foreign currency, which was at its disposal at the time of the statement of the State Bank.

The charter allowed all bank operations to be carried out in the amount of the operations of the State Bank and on those grounds, with the exception of issue transactions.

For a short period of time, the bank has established contacts with many credit institutions in America and Europe. About a hundred banking institutions were its correspondents.

The bank's commercial performance has been very positive in its first year of existence. Net profit for 9 months of the reporting period amounted to 139636,394 chervonets or 13,96% of the bank's fixed capital.

In addition to the three Joint Stock Commercial Banks of Central Russia described, during the NEP period, commercial banks also appeared on the outskirts. So, in Chita on April 26, 1922, one of the first was the Far East Commercial Bank.

The operating conditions of this bank were special and differed sharply from the operating conditions of the Banks of Central Russia, since the Far East at that time had a hard currency. Political and subsequently economic unification of the Far East with the rest of Russia. This led to the unification of the monetary systems, which was carried out very successfully due to the emergence of a healthy and rapid growth of the chervonets as a hard Soviet currency, as well as through an orientation towards Russian markets and a decisive change in the economic relations of the Far East towards rapprochement with European Russia. Chervonets received a quite favorable reception and could be freely exchanged at the gold parity on the free market, while silver remained the unit of exchange for small settlements. It was on the basis of hard currency that the Far East Commercial Bank arose in the spring of 1922.

The bank's main share capital as of July 1, 1923 amounted to 2 million rubles in gold.

The results of the first operating year turned out to be very successful. The amount of profit was 26,5 thousand gold chervonets, and 20% of the profit was spent on the calculation of dividends.

Gradually, the Far East Bank developed a network of branches in the Far East. By the end of 1923 Dalbank had 9 offices, agencies and branches. As of January 1, 1923, the bank's balance was 489,9 thousand chervonets, and by November 1, 1923, the balance had reached 1 chervonets, i.e., it had grown 974 times in less than 612 year. This is a very good indicator of the bank's performance.

Communal-type banks were one of the types of joint-stock banks. Their fundamental tasks were aimed at serving public utilities. Almost all communal banks were founded in early 1923.

They were established on a joint stock basis, and local executive committees were the founders of banks that had at least 50% of the shares, the rest of the shares belonged to the cooperatives and local industry.

According to the Charter, the fundamental capital of Communal Banks was determined from 500 thousand rubles. up to 2,5 million rubles gold.

The communal banks were local type banks. Their main operations:

1) providing a loan for the expansion and restoration of the living space of your city and province;

2) organization of a loan for the needs of the local public utilities;

3) serving the needs of local industry and trade.

By October 1, 1923, there were 5 Communal Banks in Central Russia and 2 banks in Ukraine. In total, the number of branches of Joint Stock Commercial Banks, including Communal Banks, as of October 1, 1923, reached about 60 throughout the Republic and the Far East, with most of the branches being in the hands of the Russian Commercial and Industrial Bank (38 offices and branches) and the Far Eastern Commercial Bank. bank (9 branches).

Summing up the result, we see that in 1921-1923. The Soviet credit and banking system was created. In addition to the State Bank, which was the only issuing bank in the country, the Electric Bank was established to lend to electrification, the Commercial and Industrial Bank (Prombank) to finance industry, the Russian Commercial Bank (Vneshtorgbank - 1924) to finance foreign trade, the Central Agricultural Bank (Selkhozbank). Central Bank for Public Utilities and Housing Construction (Tsekobank).

These banks implement short-term and long-term lending, distribute loans in the area of ​​attracted resources and other banking operations.

The developing national economy of Soviet Russia was interested in a stable monetary system, otherwise, without a stable monetary system, it would be impossible to accumulate capital on a large scale, to develop trade and credit relations. Producers of goods need a stable monetary system.

They must be sure that the money they receive from the sale of their goods will not be depreciated.

What was the monetary system of Russia in the early 1920s?

The monetary system of Russia before the February Revolution, despite the overstated percentage of backing banknotes with gold, was unstable as a result of the general backwardness of the country's economy, large monetary debts and a significant state budget deficit.

During the First World War, the exchange of banknotes for gold was prohibited and the issue of credit notes was provided to finance government military spending. Subsequently, bank notes actually turned into paper money. A situation of protracted inflation arose in Russia, which had negative consequences for the national economy and was a heavy burden for workers.

The Provisional Government made even greater use of the issue of money. The volume of money in circulation in October 1917, compared with the pre-war period, increased by more than 9 times. By this time, the prices for bread had increased by 1914 times compared with 16, granulated sugar - by 27 times, for potatoes - by 20 times, for meat - by 5 times. During the October Revolution, the ruble was only 6 pre-war kopecks.

In addition to bank notes and kerenok, various money surrogates were in circulation. In 1920, over 2 types of banknotes were in circulation on the territory of the former Russian Empire.

The state budget deficit in 1920 amounted to 1055 billion rubles. everything indicated that the collapse of the monetary system had practically begun in Russia. The country faced the threat of financial collapse.

There was a high need to create a stable monetary system, acclimatized to the conditions of a market economy. Without a stable monetary system, it was impossible to move on to the development of commodity-money relations, to the policy of monetary circulation and state regulation of the market.

In 1922, the government of Soviet Russia began to carry out a monetary reform.

At the end of 1922, a stable currency, the chervonets, was put into circulation. The backing of the chervonets was gold and other easily marketable valuables and goods. One chervonets was equal to 10 pre-revolutionary gold rubles. It was a stable currency and was easily introduced into economic circulation.

The reform of the monetary system was carried out in 2 stages.

At the first stage, in 1922, the ruble stabilized with the help of the issue of state banknotes of the RSFSR of the 1922 model - Soviet signs.

The new first ruble was equal to 10 former rubles. New Soviet signs were issued in 000, their ruble was equal to 1923 of the former rubles. and 1 rubles. sample 000

At the second stage of this reform, in February 1924, treasury notes in 1, 3 and 5 rubles were issued. gold. In addition, copper and silver coins were minted. The issue of old Sovznak marks was discontinued. The main part of the reform was the need to exchange Sovznak for new money in the ratio of 1 ruble. 1924 - 50 rubles. Sovznakov 000 or 1923 billion rubles. before the denomination of 50. The exchange was completed by June 1923. When implementing the reform, it was possible to reduce the budget deficit, and from October 1924, the issuance of banknotes to cover the budget deficit was prohibited by law.

The period of the administrative-command economy

For more than half a century, Russia lived in the conditions of an administrative-command economy. The main features created in the 1930s. system were the total nationalization of the economy, the general bureaucratization of public life, the suppression of democracy and mass repression.

If V. I. Lenin considered the socialization of production with a constant connection between self-government and the power of the peoples as a deep development of commodity-money relations and the market, then the stage of growing nationalization was accompanied by the trampling of all these forms that limit the alienation of man from politics and the means of production. The administrative-bureaucratic system turned into a kind of self-sufficient, putting power over society. The establishment of an absolute monopoly of state property has limited the socio-economic foundations of individual freedom.

The composition of the new course included the complete elimination of the remnants of private enterprise that operated even under the harsh conditions of "war communism", and especially those that were reanimated in the 1920s.

The number of individual peasants and non-cooperative handicraftsmen, who accounted for 3/4 of the country's population, decreased to 2,6% in 1939, 0,3% in 1959 and was reduced to zero in 1970. Bourgeoisie, landlords, merchants and kulaks, which accounted for 1913% of the population in 16,3, accounted for 1928% in 4,6, and were completely absent in 1939.

The property of private entrepreneurs, not taking into account the personal subsidiary farming of collective farmers, employees and workers, was equal in 1924 to 65% of the value of the country's fixed assets, and in 1937 - only 1%.

The share of the socialist economy in industrial output increased from 76,3% in 1924 to 99,8% in 1937 and 100% in 1976. In gross agricultural output, from 1,5% to 98,5% and 100%, respectively. %; trade enterprises in retail trade (also public catering) - from 47,3% in 1924 to 100% in 1937. The "shadow economy" has received tremendous development.

The official elimination of private enterprise has become an objective fact. The transfer of private property into the hands of the state was carried out, which accounted for 2/3 of the value of fixed production assets.

The rapid growth of state entrepreneurship has acutely raised the problem of personnel management. 30s became a period of rapid changes in the structure of the country's economy. As a result of growing industrialization, more than 8 thousand large industrial enterprises appeared. The total number of workers and employees increased from 10,8 million in 1928 to 31,2 million in 1940, including industrial workers - 3,1 to 8,2 million; in construction - from 0,6 to 1,9 million, in state farms and other state agricultural enterprises - from 0,3 to 1,5 million people. The number of managers among workers in industry increased sharply. This process is evidenced by data on the increase in engineering and technical workers from 119 thousand in 1928 to 932 thousand in 1940 and employees in industry - from 236 to 768 thousand, respectively. According to official data, at the beginning of 1941, the total number of “managerial workers and specialists” of Soviet industry amounted to 5,89 thousand people, including 1,38 thousand working in factory departments, and the rest in workshops.

According to historians, a "class of superiors" appears. Of particular importance for its development was the introduction from the end of 1929 of the method of a single beginning at enterprises and other structural divisions of Soviet society. A new type of leader is being created, capable of achieving results at any cost, even with the use of violent methods and brute coercion.

Formed in the 1930s. the collectivization of agriculture did not have anything in common with cooperatives, since two basic requirements for cooperatives were not met: the economic independence of the participants and the voluntary nature, which both Lenin and the practitioners and theorists of the cooperative movement spoke about.

It should also be emphasized that the agricultural cooperation that existed in pre-revolutionary Russia was almost completely eliminated, and its participants and theoreticians were repressed.

As a result of the formation of the activities of the command-administrative system, the conformist state entrepreneur, who depended on the orders of the higher leadership, caused significant damage to the organization of the country's productive forces. A system of party-state nomenclature of personnel appeared, replacing the pre-revolutionary "Table of Ranks". Once in the nomenclature, the majority of state entrepreneurs, in order to stay in it, did everything in their power (righteous and unrighteous).

Thanks to the efforts of several generations of the Russian people, their self-sacrifice and heroism, despite the difficult material conditions and repressions, the basis of a developed industrial economy was born, which allowed us to defeat fascism, and then restore the destroyed national economy.

Most of the economic cadres, former peasants and workers, spent all their strength on the implementation of the tasks assigned to them, and also believed in the ideals of a socialist society. For many of them, the conditions that prevailed in the command-administrative system were a personal tragedy. The reign of the bureaucratic oligarchy eventually led our society to a crisis.

To overcome the crisis, it was necessary to restructure all spheres of public life, which created the conditions for the modern development of Soviet entrepreneurship.

But before proceeding to the characterization of this stage, it is useful to get acquainted with the experience that has been accumulated by Western entrepreneurs.

4. Experience in the development of Western entrepreneurship

In the 1970s-1990s. Significant changes have taken place in the life of society. According to experts, these changes are characterized by three directions:

1) changes in the era itself;

2) shifts taking place in the economic environment;

3) the emergence of new social structures and new features of the management of society associated with them.

During this period, the global process of internationalization of economic life is growing, contributing to the strengthening of specialization, the international division of labor, the acceleration of economic development, and the improvement of the quality of life. There are new needs and ways to meet them.

At the same time, this process carries with it the danger of a great leveling, of averaging life principles. Such contradictions are very sharply manifested in the field of culture.

Therefore, along with internationalization, our world is represented by national movements in both developing and developed countries of the world. In our country, the national problem has led to the final collapse of the "imperial" system, and not today threatens the unity of Russia.

Enterprises experiencing the impact of growing internationalization also carry methods for solving these acute problems. According to the experience of the West, it is enterprises that are the basis of the developing single economic space. In them, humanity can find an effective way to solve many global issues of our time.

Another factor that radically changes the general appearance of the world and, above all, the economic environment, is the scientific and technological revolution (STR).

Breakthroughs in technology and production methods belong to the economic history of mankind. In modern conditions, they are rapidly accelerating and bringing qualitative changes to the Western economy. At the moment, a transition is being made from an industrial society, which arose during the upheavals of the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries, to a new information type of society. In this regard, the relationship between the production of a product and knowledge, the role of various phases of social reproduction, the nature of labor, the structure of production, its management, and much more are changing significantly.

An example of the scientific and technological revolution phenomena that lead to significant modifications of the socio-economic foundation of modern society in the West can be an intensive outflow of workers to the service sector from the branches of material production. Thus, in Sweden, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, the number of service sector workers in the total population by the end of the 1980s reached exceeded 60%, in the USA - 72%. The trend of transition to the service sector continued in the 90s. and obviously will continue in the future. For example, in the USA it was expected that by 2000 the share of workers in the industrial sector of the economy would decrease to 11%, and by 2030 - to 3%. In France, in 2000, the total number of the economically active population will be in the service sector with about 73% of workers.

Another fact related to scientific and technological revolution is the strengthening of the role of enterprises, which contributes to a change in their structure, creates the need for the emergence of a new type of entrepreneur who is guided by the modern needs of society, has new knowledge and meets the requirements that society currently imposes on participants in the economic process.

Under the influence of the globalization taking place in the world, as well as the shifts generated by the scientific and technological revolution, the socialization of Western society is developing. The share of value produced in the economy is redistributed through various mechanisms to the needs of society as a whole or for certain categories of the population.

This trend is clearly visible at the enterprise level. Today, it is not enough for an enterprise to have only a well-organized financial, technological and investment policy. In modern conditions, without social policy, no enterprise can successfully exist and function. Experience shows that the absence of a social policy has a detrimental effect on the enterprise.

The scientific and technological revolution has opened up many new opportunities for business ventures, but at the same time, the struggle of competitors is intensifying, the cultural environment is changing due to the growth in the level of education and training of personnel, new professions appear, and the qualitative evolution of values ​​in modern society.

The main changes that occur in the Western business movement under the influence of the following factors.

1. Chief among the many changes is a kind of boom in entrepreneurship that has been going on for several decades. The current wave of entrepreneurship, primarily in the United States, has spread to Western Europe, Japan, and other newly industrialized countries. This suggests that this trend is based not only on the features inherent in one country, but on a set of objective factors in the development of the economy of a civilized society.

An example would be such countries as the USA, Italy, Germany, France and some others.

In the USA, out of 18 million registered enterprises of all types (with the exception of agricultural ones), over 13 million were formed in recent decades. In the United States, over the past decade, 600 thousand new organizations emerged every year, of which approximately 2/3 actually carried out significant operations.

In France, in 1952, the number of enterprises operating in construction, industry and public works was 554,4 thousand, and 20 years later it increased to 1461,1 thousand.

Approximately the same dynamics has been in recent years in England, Italy, Germany and other countries. The main indicator of the increase in the entrepreneurial movement is the growth in the number of millionaires.

For example, in the 1990s there were over 2 million millionaires in the United States.

2. 1970-1990s were a time of rapid growth and an increase in the power of large industrial associations with subsidiaries abroad.

In the 1990s according to the UN, there were more than 13 thousand transnational corporations (TNCs). Currently, they play an important role in most industrial sectors of production. In the early 1990s the share of TNC enterprises accounted for about half of the value of the GNP of the West.

They produce about 50% of merchandise exports and 90% of capital exports of Western countries.

In the 1980s TNCs continued to expand the scope of their activities, conquering new sectors of the world economy - insurance and banking operations, other sectors of the credit system, the service sector, and tourism.

Large TNCs arose not only in the West and Japan, but also in countries such as Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea and other "newly industrialized countries". All these countries are rapidly forming a network of their branches around the world (also in Russia).

3. In the early 1980s. a new organizational structure is being developed, the basis of which is industrial banks and concerns. The amount of capital that is controlled by the leading industrial and financial groups (the "leading core" of today's Western economy) is growing.

4. Medium and small enterprises, which in the past often in favor of the ideological scheme of the predominance of monopolies - were declared liquidated, in life they showed stability and vitality. Instead of the expected disappearance of small firms as a result of the growth of TNCs in the West and integration processes, there is a huge entrepreneurial boom.

But its basis represents the renaissance of small and medium-sized businesses.

Most medium and small firms in all Western countries are sole proprietorships. They are owned by individual individual entrepreneurs or their families.

In the United States, of the 18 million firms, 99% are small businesses. According to American statistics, it includes companies with a total number of workers up to 500 people, including small businesses with up to 20 employees.

The criteria used in different countries for medium and small enterprises differ from each other. For example, in England, firms with less than 200 employees are small, and in construction firms - no more than 25 employees.

A significant indicator of the importance of medium and small family businesses is its role in the national economy. Therefore, about 40% of US GNP is the share of small businesses. In Germany, with 2,1 million operating small and medium-sized firms, which account for 2/3 of GDP, they employ 2/3 of all workers in the country's economy. As of January 1, 1987, according to official data in France, 52,4% of all workers in industry worked in medium and small enterprises, 81,4% of those employed in agriculture and construction, 78,2% in trade, 28,6% - in transport, 13,7% - in the financial services sector. In total, about 11,5 million people worked in medium and small French firms.

The share of their investments was 48%, in trade turnover - 60,2%, in exports - 49,6%.

Naturally, the question arises: why, despite the increase in giant transnational firms, does small and medium-sized entrepreneurship remain so important?

And, of course, there are several "secrets". Experts believe that the most significant role is played by the "creative concept", which was the basis of the family business and, in general, small business. It will become a "long-liver", according to experts, if small enterprises ensure the production of high quality products.

Another "secret" is respect for people - both on the part of the personnel of the enterprise and on the part of consumers of its products. According to entrepreneurs, the key to success is a constant dialogue with people, studying needs, striving to satisfy them as much as possible.

The broad development of specialization is of great importance. On the basis of specialization, small business finds its "niche" in the market.

In all countries, small business to some extent limits the severity of the problem of unemployment. And this is the main element of the experience of the West, which must be used.

For example, only in the USA for the period of the 1980s - early 1990s. enterprises with fewer than 20 workers created 60% of new jobs, mainly in the service sector. During this time, small firms provided jobs for 25 million people, while large corporations reduced the number of workers by almost 3 million people.

An indispensable condition for specialization is the technical modernization of small enterprises.

Small business acts as a pioneer in the implementation of the development of a new technology - "information technology".

Western experience shows that small business is a very effective economic form of management, as well as verification of the effective development of any innovation.

Greater flexibility, speed of reaction to changing market conditions, lack of firm regulation of scientific research and production work, extensive opportunities for personal initiative and reasonable risk - these, according to experts, are the cumulative methods for the success of small businesses.

Thus, a small business entrepreneur is a kind of symbol of all entrepreneurship, which in the West has received special significance in all spheres of the life of the social economy. In the West, they perfectly understand the future development of society, which depends largely on the training of personnel for medium and small firms. Much attention has been paid to this in recent years. Hundreds of special centers and schools have been set up to train entrepreneurial cadres. A variety of educational and scientific literature is published.

Consider some types of enterprises and the legal structure of Western countries.

In the business law of the West, there are two fundamental groups of enterprises - partnerships and sole proprietorships. Each of them has specific different legal forms. So, individual enterprises often exist in the form of "simple societies". In principle, these are transitional forms of the type of partner enterprises. There are two main groups of partner enterprises: capital associations (companies) and associations of persons (partnerships). Cooperative enterprises are usually distinguished into a separate group, which have become widespread in a number of Western countries.

In the West, according to the legal structure, enterprises are divided into cooperative, sole ("simple societies") and partnerships (partnerships and companies).

In the West, in any business, the primary firm is considered to be individual enterprises. They include the majority of existing enterprises. For example, in the USA in the early 1990s. Of the 18 million registered agricultural enterprises, 10 million were sole proprietorships and 4,5 million were corporations and partnership firms using hired labor.

The pure form of a partnership (association of persons) has various legal forms. Both in pre-revolutionary Russia and in modern Western Europe, limited partnerships and the opening of commercial and general partnerships are very common.

In open trading and general partnerships, their members bear unlimited, joint and several and personal liability, that is, they are liable with all their personal property, covering the debts of the partnership. When persons join an already existing society, they are also, along with the old members of the society, liable for all obligations, even for those that arose before their entry into the society. In the event of withdrawal of one of the members of the company, he is assigned unlimited liability for all debts that arose during his membership in the company for a period of five subsequent years. This practice exists in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and a number of other countries.

Limited partnerships have a different principle of responsibility. They share responsibility between two member groups. A certain part of them, as in an open commercial partnership, is liable for the debts of the company with all its property. And the second part is responsible only within the framework of its contribution to the authorized capital.

In connection with the emergence of new forms of business organization in the XX century. part of the limited partnerships began to turn into joint-stock companies.

In the XX century. (especially in recent decades) among such new forms in the countries of Western Europe, two forms are very characteristic - joint-stock companies and limited liability companies. A cooperative, which was singled out in the West as a separate group, is usually understood as the activity of a society, which is mainly aimed not at making a profit, but at assisting and assisting members of the society.

In practice, most Western cooperatives today have become large, highly profitable enterprises that play a major role in a number of sectors of the national economy.

A variety of organizational and legal and forms of enterprises speak of the pluralism of Western entrepreneurship. In the same period, such pluralism includes the pluralism of forms of ownership.

Now the following forms of ownership actually exist: state, collective (group, including cooperative) and partial. An important and leading place is occupied by the form of private property. This is evidenced by the important role of individual enterprises. It can be said to be a classical form of private property. The area of ​​private property also includes some associations of persons and many companies, for example, limited liability companies.

A significant number of joint-stock companies should be attributed to the form of group, collective ownership. It includes a number of cooperatives, as well as most of the enterprises owned by municipalities.

From time immemorial, state property has played an important role in the significant life of the West. However, significant changes have recently been made in this area related to the privatization of the Western economy - a part of the public sector is decreasing.

In the same period, the role of the state as a means of creating favorable conditions for business began to grow. In the West, the state acts as an investor, coordinator of all economic activity, organizer of scientific research.

Let us dwell on the characteristics of certain features of the Western entrepreneur. Taking them into account is important when creating a new Russian business.

In the face of increasing competition for entrepreneurs as managers and organizers of production, the importance of managing "human reforms" is growing.

Western entrepreneurs are forming a "new global strategy", the purpose of which is to increase the material and moral interest of the employee, to involve him in active participation in production management, to increase motivation for work and the degree of satisfaction with its results. In this area, the experience of Japanese entrepreneurs has gained great fame.

In recent years, the main place in the activities of many companies in Japan belongs to a specific system of organizing the work of workers called "quality control circles". At the end of 1962, the first such circles were created at enterprises and large engineering companies. A circle is a group usually consisting of 8-10 people who work directly at the workplace. The main tasks of the circle are to educate members of the society, to search, study and solve practical problems. The circle is created on the basis of the principle of complete voluntariness.

A group of people in circles, working together with managers and specialists, participate in solving production problems, in practice, implementing participatory management. The promotion of quality circles lies in the real embodiment of the slogan widely used in Japan today: "every busy person is a manager."

It can be said with confidence that over the past two decades, a sharp expansion of Japan's position in the world market has been achieved to a greater extent through the active use of quality circles, indicating an acceleration in the development of production, the development and practical implementation of progressive innovative technologies, an increase in labor productivity, and an increase in the quality of products. products. The material and moral interest of production participants in the results of their activities has increased.

Significant forms in Finland have acquired the policy of managing entrepreneurs "human resources". The slogan of the patronage of the country has become: "anthropocentric market economy", that is, a market economy, where the central place is occupied by a person. Today, the main thing for representatives of the Finnish patronage is the achievement of "mastering the human factor", since in modern conditions entrepreneurial activity is based more on capital located in the human brain than in traditional capital. Therefore, employees are attracted to the maximum participation in the activities of firms, putting forward their ideas, and the management of firms - to create incentives and rewards, maintain spiritual growth and the relationship "man-man" instead of the relationship "man-machine".

Marketing today is a popular business activity in the West.

"The interests of the client are above all" - this is one of the main axioms of Western business management. However, consumer orientation does not appear by itself, even in market conditions. It will be a really operating principle only against the background of a well-thought-out business strategy, implementing organizational and managerial methods and concepts. Their total number is marketing, which is the key problem of Western entrepreneurship. Customer satisfaction is the key to success. Otherwise, the company is waiting for bankruptcy.

In the conditions of the market economy, only the manufacturer survives, which can prolong the needs of the consumer. Therefore, the basis of marketing is the study of people's needs, their evolution, ways to meet new needs, patterns of formation, development of certain programs for production and commercial activities.

Business ethics is based on honesty and integrity in business dealings. The state contributes to the establishment of these principles. For example, in the USA there were laws and some acts regulating relations between citizens and entrepreneurs.

Enterprises and their associations play an important role in the development and implementation of ethical standards.

Many businesses develop their own codes of ethics. The so-called "lawsuit" or industry codes have been developed and operate, on the basis of which industry firms follow the same ethical standards.

Western business also has disadvantages.

Over the past 10-20 years, corruption has been growing, both in the public and in the private business world. In Western countries, a corruption struggle is being waged, with the active participation of entrepreneurs and their organizations.

Studying the history of Russian entrepreneurship, such a feature was revealed as intensive participation in various charitable activities, which has become a tradition of entrepreneurs in Russia.

This tradition is also observed among Western entrepreneurs. For example, in France there is a nationwide Association for the Development of Patronage of Industrialists and Businessmen. Its expenditures on supporting culture in 1985 were more than 350 million francs.

Patronage is also widespread in the United States. In 1989, based on printed estimates, philanthropic giving in the United States exceeded $4,75 billion, which exceeds the total 1989 expenditures of all other Western countries. There is probably not a single university in the United States that is not financed by some wealthy entrepreneur in one form or another.

For British entrepreneurs, according to English authors, the main direction of sponsorship is sports. It accounts for 90% of all philanthropic gifts.

Consider the national specifics of Western entrepreneurship in four countries - the United States, Japan, the Netherlands and France.

In the United States, the features of entrepreneurship are clearly traced, where it has reached certain "classical" parameters. The US experience has spread to other countries of the world.

The entrepreneurial status of the United States, public perceptions of it, evaluation of its actions are the high prestige of business, respect for it is the absolute authority of an active and active person who knows how to earn. A businessman in the USA is a profitable and prestigious profession, desired by most newborns. To achieve economic success, to have a fortune, to strengthen one's independence and self-reliance - such is the summary of the "American dream" that inspired American entrepreneurs. The cult of wealth has become extremely widespread in the country.

In France, the socio-psychological atmosphere has significant differences from the American one.

French entrepreneurs are just as eager to get big money as the Americans, but they do not advertise their activities, they do not turn it into a so-called cult of wealth. The limiting feature is the idea of ​​the honor of the class.

Entrepreneurs in the Netherlands have their own business philosophy. In the firms of this country, as in the Dutch society, the very principle of any formal or informal pressure is unacceptable.

The prestige of enterprises, their methods of action are based on the rules of consensus between all participants in the process of the economy and social life. The society welcomes an objective, attentive, respectful attitude to the agreements received. It does not apply sanctions that are subject to violators of agreements in the United States.

In Japan, according to experts, there are significant differences from the American or West German experience. Europe is characterized by individualism, "consumerism" and parliamentary democracy. The strategies in economics here are "the will of the consumer" and "the right to profit of the entrepreneur."

And in Japan, the actions of their entrepreneurs are carried out not with the help of a race for personal enrichment, but with the help of calls to fight against the "danger for the Japanese nation" or the slogan of the unity of everything Japanese, the glorification of discipline, "a sense of hierarchy."

Since ancient times, man in Japan has not been endowed with sovereign rights. The main principle was the awareness of each person of his place in the cell of society - the family, production, firm, state. Collective interests have always been put and are put above personal ones.

But at the same time, the collective, the firm, production, the state take a very active part in the life of each individual human individual.

In this regard, Japanese management is aimed at maximizing the development of a person's abilities, at their effective use, at motivating the needs of staff to continuously learn and at encouraging desires to apply the acquired knowledge in production practice.

When characterizing the methods and tactics of Japanese entrepreneurs, let's pay attention to such a phenomenon as a kind of "Toyotization of the West." Toyota is a large company in Japan that successfully competes in the US domestic market with American automobile giants.

"Toyotization" in the narrow sense means the use of a brigade organization of labor, which increases the responsibility of each worker and his joint efficiency, the introduction of an impeccable, rigid and accurate system of supplying the enterprise with everything necessary and marketing its products, which makes warehousing redundant, and also dramatically reduces the loss of all production. through the personal efforts of its members.

"Toyotization" in a broad sense is a set of means and activities of all Japanese firms, the use of which leads to the "Japanization" of the world. There are many examples of the expansion of entrepreneurs in Japan.

There are examples of a different nature, which it is useful to pay attention to Russian entrepreneurs.

The first example is related to the studies of Japanese entrepreneurs. Today's Japanese are the most diligent and active students in American business schools. Among foreign students, they have taken a leading place in all business schools in the United States. For the five years 1988-1992. The number of Japanese citizens who received the title of business master after graduating from business school has tripled. The main goal of studying in the USA is the ability to know your competitor well.

The second example is the charity activities of Japanese entrepreneurs, which have experienced rapid growth in recent years. In 1989, the corresponding expenses of Japanese firms reached about 1 billion dollars. In 1990, the “one percent” club was created, i.e., companies that, before taxes, devote at least 1% of their profits to philanthropic expenses. At Toyota, 1% was equal to 1991 million dollars in 540.

Now, not only the United States and Japan, but even countries such as Germany, pay great attention to the professional training of entrepreneurs, technical staff and workers, the deep introduction of modern management and market segmentation research with the help of marketing.

In recent decades, qualitative changes have taken place in the development of Western entrepreneurship - this is the growth in the importance of entrepreneurship in solving the most significant problems of their countries. Thus, Russian entrepreneurship, which has just begun its emergence in the new socio-economic conditions, has a lot to learn from its Western counterparts in entrepreneurial activity.

5. Entrepreneurship in Russia

The current stage in Russian entrepreneurship begins with the restructuring of Russian society, which has been carried out since the mid-1980s. and has been going on for more than 12 years, which have a truly fateful character for Russian entrepreneurship.

During this period, especially in the early 1990s, fundamental changes took place in society in relation to entrepreneurial activity and private property. The ban on private property has been going on for about 70 years. After that, for the first time, the state recognizes its equal rights with all other forms of ownership and declares freedom of entrepreneurial activity.

A number of significant legislative acts are being implemented, which are the basis of a new mixed economy with a characteristic pluralism of forms of ownership and organizational structures. A rapid process of their development begins.

In the early 1990s The Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Russian Federation adopted dozens of the latest resolutions and laws affecting business issues.

In December 1990, the law "Peculiarities in the RSFSR" was adopted, according to which for the first time private property was recognized as equal in rights along with municipal, state and property of public associations.

The law allows the "fold" of property and the creation of business associations: "an entrepreneur may carry out any type of economic activity, if they are not prohibited by legislative acts of the USSR."

During 1991, a number of other important laws were adopted, which determined not only the general rights of entrepreneurs, but also certain ways of forming entrepreneurship in Russia.

For example, the law "On Privatization of State and Municipal Enterprises in the RSFSR" established the organizational and legal basis for changing the ownership of the means of production in order to create a socially oriented, efficient market economy.

In 1992, on the basis of the law, a state privatization program was established, which contained tasks for the current year and forecasts for the next two years.

Laws "On Foreign Investments in the RSFSR", "On Restriction of Monopoly Activity", "On Enterprises and Entrepreneurial Activity" and many others have also been adopted.

Based on this, a legal environment was created for the manifestation of one's own initiative and the growth of entrepreneurial activity.

Transformations in the legal sphere have increased activity in the field of creating joint-stock companies and other types of enterprises.

By May 1991, 700 limited liability companies and joint-stock companies (477 LLCs and 223 JSCs) were entered into the State Register of Countries. The number of private commercial banks at the end of 1991 was over 1300.

Until recently, there were many fierce disputes on the issue of stock exchanges. A significant proportion of society categorically rejected their need, not even allowing the thought of the possibilities of organizing exchanges.

In 1990, revolutionary changes took place in this area. The question of stock exchanges has crossed the boundaries of theoretical discussions and has gained significance in practice.

The country's first Moscow Commodity Exchange (MTB) was registered on May 19, 1990. MTB is a market where goods are wholesaled according to standards and samples. On commodity exchanges, only mass transactions for the purchase and sale of homogeneous goods, such as sugar, grain, metal, cotton, etc., are carried out. This is based on the fact that the seller can enter the exchange without real goods, and the buyer without cash.

A couple of months later, the Moscow Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange (MTSB) was formed. In November 1990, the organization of two stock exchanges in Moscow was announced - the Moscow International Stock Exchange (MISE) and the Moscow Central Stock Exchange (MTSEX).

The stock exchange is a market for securities (stocks and bonds) that are objects of sale and purchase at the rate of prices registered on the stock exchange. On November 29, 1991, the number of exchanges was 520, and in April 1992, the newspapers spoke of 800 exchanges within the former Union. In Moscow alone, by that time there were 80 stock exchanges.

However, the created exchanges were far from being exchanges in their classical form. A long work was needed to improve the activities and organization of exchanges.

In January 1992, the initial step towards a market economy was taken - for most goods and services, prices were released, and the centralized fund system that distributed resources was basically abolished. The solution to this problem was the simultaneous implementation of the privatization of state property in trade, industry, the service sector, etc.

The release of prices, provided that the marginal monopolization of production was maintained, eventually led to a rapid increase in all prices without exception: by the end of 1992, by about 100-150 times compared with an increase in average wages by 10-15 times.

Since, in practice, price liberalization has been far removed from privatization, the majority of citizens whose meager savings were actually confiscated by the state were also excluded from the course of privatization. As compensation, they received free vouchers (privatization checks), which from the spring of 1993 could be invested in the shares of certain enterprises. At that time, the authorities in the country sharply increased the uncontrolled buying of vouchers from the population, the prices of which were 2 or more times lower than the official value of 10 thousand rubles, by wealthy people, foreigners, private banks, mafia groups.

In January 1991, an agrarian reform was carried out. The reform provided for the full recognition of private ownership of land, including the right to sell and buy it; changing the system of procurement of agricultural products; reorganization of the collective-farm-state-farm system with the need to liquidate unprofitable farms; measures for state support of peasant farms (farmers), processing of agricultural products, creation of an agroservice system. In the future, for the coming years, there was an increase in peasant farms by more than 15 times, i.e., so that their number would reach half a million.

In reality, the reforms in agriculture were carried out. By 1996, there were about 300 farms operating in Russia (according to the plan, there were 500), some of them are being formed again, others are being liquidated (in 1995, out of 36 established farms, 26,8 were closed). Occupying more than 1994% of the land in 5, farms harvested only 5,1% of grain, 3,5% of sugar beets, 1,5% of meat, 1,5% of milk, 1,5% of meat. Moreover, many thousands farms were overgrown with weeds and not cultivated at all. The declared slogan "The farmer will feed the country" did not come true either.

Russia, having great potential in food production, during the course of reforms turned into an “International beggar”. In Russia, in recent years, food consumption per capita has decreased by almost a third and has fallen to the level of the starving countries of the world. During the stagnation, Russia was in 7th place in the world in terms of this indicator, and now it is in 39th place.

In the course of government acts, the creation of small farms was awakened, to the exit of peasants from state farms and collective farms to carry out production in other organizational and legal structures.

The farming movement had the right to a full-fledged organization in the agro-industrial complex.

Nevertheless, the government, before embarking on the implementation of an agrarian reform, should take into account the fact that the organization of farms is a very expensive undertaking and practically impossible for a weakened state.

In order for the farming movement to be successful in its development, it was necessary to do a lot and expensive preliminary work: for future farms, create a specialized fleet of agricultural machines, as well as departments that will provide farmers with seeds, fuel, fertilizers, chemicals at affordable prices. Problems such as the training of farmers in schools and in special courses and farm marketing organizations have not been resolved.

Neither the state nor the owners of the created farms had the necessary capital for the success of managing in the new economic conditions.

This was the main reason for the failure of the farming of the agro-industrial complex. Thirty years of influence was exerted by the coercive-administrative, undemocratic nature of the transformations that are carried out by the government without taking into account the opinion of the agro-industrial workers themselves. After all, "from above" the state farms and collective farms were instructed, regardless of their wishes, within a year (before January 1, 1993) to acquire a new organizational and legal form.

Those responsible for violating the terms of the reorganization could be held accountable. Such actions of the authorities in relation to workers were very much similar to the infamous firm for the implementation of complete collectivization in the 1930s. The difference is that at that time all collectivization was carried out under the slogan of the liquidation of the kulaks as a class, and today - farming under the slogan of the liquidation of state farms and collective farms, "invented" by the Bolshevik government.

It should be noted that if 60 years ago small peasant farms united in large collectives, now the opposite phenomenon is taking place - state farms and collective farms, as large farms, should be liquidated, and hundreds of thousands of small peasant farms are planned to be formed on their basis.

Privatization in Russia began in 1991, when the law "On the Privatization of State and Municipal Enterprises in the RSFSR" was adopted.

The privatization carried out in Russia, in most cases, was in fact only a form for the formation of joint-stock companies, hiding the corporate system of property relations, when banks, the state apparatus and the administration of companies actually became the undivided owners of the former state property.

If the labor collective received a certain part of the shares, then they were either "voiceless" or covered up the lack of rights of the labor collective, because the company of collective ownership of shares did not hide the real economic content of the collective appropriation of the means of production.

Speaking about the formal side of the matter, having proclaimed in the Law on Privatization (1991) the formation of enterprises with different forms of ownership, in the state privatization program in 1992 the Russian government provided for the formation of only open joint-stock companies on the basis of state enterprises.

The reason for this decision was, firstly, the creation of a closed joint-stock company, which leads to the creation of collective property, which was obviously inefficient, and, secondly, the joint-stock company does not leave any shares in state ownership for "people's privatization" with the help of vouchers. These privatization approaches represent a departure from the widely declared adherence to the economic principles of "civilized countries". In reality, in the course of the privatization of the largest state corporations in France and England, it was open joint-stock companies that were created. It was this economic form that was intended for this kind of super-large economic structures. For the bulk of enterprises, they are closed joint-stock companies or limited liability partnerships. For example, in the USA, among American corporations, the share of closed joint-stock companies reaches 99,6-99,7%.

Thus, the hasty-compulsory nature of corporatization provides only a change in the organizational and legal form of organizations, adding almost nothing to the incentives for labor or entrepreneurial activity.

Three options for benefits were established for labor collectives in the process of corporatization of state enterprises. The options were formed in such a way that there was no concentration of a controlling stake in the hands of the labor collective.

During corporatization, none of the options for benefits created principles for transferring organizations to collective ownership.

The chosen forms and results of privatization indicate that the privatization program provided not so much favorable conditions for private business as a cheap and quick redistribution of state property with dubious characteristics.

Partnership doubtfulness is manifested in the fact that the capital of state enterprises is not subject to sale, but is artificially distributed at conditional and very low prices; even in the case of an auction by an enterprise, if their initial valuation is also artificial; equal standard conditions are not provided for persons participating in the redistribution of non-state property; the conditions for the formation of the stock market are those that ensure the reduction of the shares of most organizations to small values.

An alternative to "nomenklatura" privatization is, as a rule, declassification, the so-called "people's privatization". In practice, it was carried out on an extremely small scale, as a result of which each citizen acquired a certain part of state property with the help of a voucher, which, according to the government, was supposed to create equal initial opportunities for denationalization, the acquisition of state property for all members of society.

In reality, in Russia, as a result of "voucherization", the acquisition of the former production assets of the state was organized for the most part by those who had real liquid funds, i.e. those who could make the necessary expenses at any moment. Such forces could be either new commercial structures, or shadow foreign capital, or former state structures. And ordinary citizens were removed from state property, which they created with their labor in the past.

In Russia, more than a third of enterprises were privatized by 1991, they were on an independent balance sheet and had the rights of a legal entity. In the field of small business, more than half of the objects were privatized.

Privatization did not lead to an improvement in the economic situation - the country was still in a deep economic crisis.

It follows from this that the privatization of state property:

1) did not serve to improve the state of affairs either in industry or in agriculture (the decline in production lasted for more than 5 years);

2) has not created significant alternatives for the purpose of overcoming the decline in the real incomes of citizens;

3) caused a decrease in the already low motivation of work among the majority of citizens (the exception was those employed in a narrow area of ​​​​commercial activity, the advantage of intermediary activity), since many workers remained alienated from property;

4) privatization greatly accelerated the social inequality of the population, the threat of mass unemployment grew; contributed to the lumpenization of a certain proportion of the population, its impoverishment (in the Russian Federation in 1995, 1/3 of the total population was at a level below the subsistence level).

According to some experts, with whom it is difficult to disagree, in Russia, the creation of a market system was not necessary for the rapid and massive privatization, it was necessary to ensure the freedom to create private entrepreneurship and the commercialization of state enterprises. This would be quite enough to create full-fledged market economy entities that would be more efficient than hastily privatized state enterprises.

Still, neither commercialization nor privatization in the conditions of simultaneous price liberalization is able to provide a full-fledged strategy of market behavior.

All this suggests that in order to get out of a long crisis, we must urgently abandon the strengthening of market relations and reforms. No, in fact, the reforms should really improve public welfare.

In the meantime, criminal structures and the so-called "new Russians" are profiting from the reforms.

Author: Shcherbina L.V.

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