Can you talk about the reasons and specific contents of Peter I's reform in Russia?

Background: 1, the contradiction between capitalism and serfdom has intensified.

2. The existence of serfdom led to the failure of Russia's foreign war (Crimean War).

3. The serf uprising is surging.

Nature: it is a top-down reform carried out by the tsar and has the nature of bourgeois reform.

Influence: Russia embarked on the capitalist road, but not completely, retaining the remnants of czar rule and feudal serfdom.

Background:/kloc-The reform of Peter I in the early 8th century was the requirement of Russian society at that time. It is also the inevitable product of the development of Russian history itself. As we all know, before Peter I ascended the throne, Russia was far behind some western European countries in politics, economy, culture and education. /kloc-by the end of 0/7, the capitalist relations of production in the Netherlands and Britain had been established, but in Russia they were still backward feudal serfdom relations of production, and aristocratic landlords dominated everything. Lenin made the following comments on this feudal serfdom country: "In order to establish their own rule and safeguard their power, landlords need a system to make most people obey their control and some of their laws and regulations. These laws and regulations are basically for one purpose-to safeguard the power of landlords to rule serfs and peasants. "

Russian Code 1649 reflects the further development of feudal serfdom society. This is manifested in the convergence of servile fiefs and hereditary territories, forming a unified feudal land ownership; The working people at the bottom of society, such as farmers with different subordinate relations (state-owned farmers, court farmers and private farmers), became the targets of exploitation by feudal lords, and serfs and slaves approached each other and merged into one; The autocratic power of the tsar was further strengthened, and the hierarchy represented the transition from monarchy to absolute monarchy.

At that time, Russia's economic development level was very low. Due to infighting and frequent wars between the upper classes of the ruling class, social productive forces have been seriously damaged. Farmers fled everywhere because of famine, bankruptcy and poverty, and a large amount of land became barren. Until the end of 17, agricultural production has not fully recovered, and farmers' cultivated land is still 20-25% less than in the past. In order to ensure sufficient labor force, landlords and nobles used super-economic coercive means to implement the most primitive form of feudal exploitation, that is, the brutal rocking service system, forcing farmers to bind themselves to the land, thus losing their personal freedom and becoming serfs. Under the cruel oppression of this feudal serfdom, the peasants lived a very miserable life.

/kloc-Although the workshop handicraft industry appeared in Russia in the 0/7th century, it was still very weak and serf labor was widely used. Commodity economy is still in the subordinate position of natural economy, mainly serving the feudal ruling class. Later, although there were some weak factors of capitalism, they were severely suppressed by the developing serfdom.

There are also many drawbacks in the Russian political system related to the feudal serfdom relations of production. /kloc-the yamen system in the 0/7th century reflects that the central government organs of Russia's unified country are still not perfect: the administrative, financial and judicial powers are not divided; Unclear division of labor; The financial system is chaotic; Lack of unified supervision; The organization is too big. By the end of 17, the drawbacks of the yamen system have been very serious. The efficiency is extremely low, and due to the spread of procrastination, bribery incidents emerge one after another.

Russia's military system also has many drawbacks. The former aristocratic army has gradually lost its military significance because of its slow action in managing real estate and lax discipline in the face of war. The newly established archers are mainly composed of craftsmen and businessmen. They are not only soldiers, but also engaged in handicrafts and trade. In addition, their training and equipment are very backward and their combat capability is very low. They can't meet the needs of the country's domestic policies and foreign wars.

Russia's cultural education is also very backward, and religious thoughts occupy an absolute dominant position in all ideological and cultural fields. Few residents can read, and the books that appear in society are all manuscripts, full of mistakes, expensive, and all of them are works that promote religion. Popular folk believe in ghosts and gods, superstitious witchcraft, and generally retain extremely ignorant and backward customs. Although some schools have been established, they are all religious, and the church is hostile to the spread of non-religious knowledge. According to statistics, by the second half of the17th century, only 23.6% of the residents in a big city like Moscow could read. Even some dignitaries are illiterate. Especially among women, even fewer people can read. Even in the famous Lohan state of Kharkov, almost all women are illiterate.

This backwardness has seriously hindered the development of Russian society. People of insight in the ruling class have also seen the serious harm of this backward state to Russia, and some people have tried to carry out reforms, but they have failed to do so boldly and decisively, thus achieving little effect. After Peter I came to power, with his supreme political power, he resolutely abandoned Russia's arrogant and conservative tradition, led a delegation to study abroad in person, and implemented a top-down, bold and decisive comprehensive reform.

The content of Peter I's reform is very extensive, and its specific reform measures can be summarized as follows:

First, reform the army, strengthen national defense and seize the right to control the sea. Peter I's reform activities were mainly carried out during the Northern War (1700- 172 1), which determined that many of Peter I's reform measures were carried out around military reform. Therefore, Marx believes that Peter's "all undertakings are based on conquering the Baltic coast". In order to defeat the European power Sweden and seize the seaport, Peter began to reorganize the army as early as the eve of the Northern War. 1700, Peter ordered the abolition of the shooting army and the implementation of compulsory military service, stipulating that all classes, regardless of rank, should perform military service equally. During Peter's reign, he was called up 53 times, and about 284,000 people were forced to join the army. In order to improve the technical and command ability of military cadres, Peter sent a large number of aristocratic youths to Italy, France, Britain, the Netherlands and other countries to study military affairs, and hired foreigners to hold important positions in the Russian army with heavy money. 172 1 year, among the famous Russian generals, 14 are foreigners. At the same time, China has established various military schools, technical schools and training courses to train military talents.

In order to strengthen the organization and combat effectiveness of the army, Peter I personally presided over the formulation of important military rules and regulations. The famous catch-up was promulgated in 17 16. It summed up the experience of the northern war, including the basic principles of queue and tactical training, and determined the principles of army preparation and organization. From 1720 to 1722, the naval charter was promulgated one after another, which clearly stipulated the establishment of the maritime fleet, the rank of warships, the relationship between naval officials and their rights and obligations.

While leading the naval construction, Peter paid attention to the centralized and unified leadership of the army. He adjusted his headquarters several times according to the development of the northern war. 1720, the "Army Academy" was established with Sikov, Myanmar as the principal, and the leadership of the Army was strengthened. At the same time, it pays attention to the construction of various arsenals, the production of new artillery, and the construction of national defense fortresses and naval bases.

Second, reform and improve the state administrative organs. The reform of local administrative institutions has long attracted the attention of Peter I. In order to meet the wishes of city businessmen and craftsmen, Peter ordered the establishment of a municipal court (soon changed to a city hall) in Moscow on 1699. Establish local self-government institutions in other cities. 1720, the General Administration of Municipal Affairs was established in the new capital, Petersburg, and city councils were established in other cities. According to the regulations of the Municipal Services Department, urban residents are divided into "regular" citizens and "irregular" citizens.

In order to consolidate local government institutions, 1708+65438 February 8, Peter ordered the country to be divided into eight provinces, and in 2004, three more provinces were added. Each province has 1 governor with administrative and military powers. At the same time, the provinces also set up councils, whose members were selected from local nobles. 17 19, while retaining the provincial organizational system, the whole country was divided into 50 states, and each state had a complete administrative organization.

Peter I paid special attention to the reform of the central administrative organs of the state. 1711On February 22nd, Peter ordered the establishment of the Senate to replace the original Duma. The newly established Senate consists of nine political members. The Senate has great power, from the national central organization to the local administrative system, from the budget, the collection of tribute to the establishment of Lu Haijun, all of which belong to the jurisdiction of the Senate.

After the establishment of the Senate, the1718-1721college (in charge of the army, navy, diplomacy, taxation, expenditure, mining, handicrafts, commerce, supervision, territory and justice) was successively established. Each hospital consists of 10 important members. Important issues are not decided by individuals, but solved by voting.

With the completion of the reform of state institutions, in order to improve the working efficiency of state institutions, the government of Peter I promulgated the decree of "official rank list" on June 24, 2000/722. The official rank table divides all civil and military officials into 14 grades: for civil servants, it ranges from 14 to 1; In Wuzhi, from warrant officer and gunner to general and marshal. This is a new system of selecting officials, which is conducive to stimulating the ambition and enthusiasm of civil and military officials. Before the promulgation of this law, Peter I also promulgated the "One Son Inheritance Law", aiming at expanding the revenue of the state treasury and ensuring the source of civil and military officials.

Third, carry out religious reform and strengthen imperial power. Peter I not only carried out drastic military and administrative reforms, but also boldly carried out religious reforms despite the opposition of church forces. 170 1 year, the government of Peter I ordered some church property to be nationalized, and advocated that secular officials should manage the territory of the monastery. Peter I not only restricted the expansion of the economic strength of the church, but also restricted the power of the church; Put the church completely under the jurisdiction of the state and make the church a part of the state machine. 172 1 year, the regulations on the administration of religious affairs was promulgated, and the title of archbishop was abolished. According to the form of managing secular affairs Committee, the government set up a religious Committee to manage the church to replace the power of the archbishop. This religious committee was later renamed the General Administration of Religious Affairs, with the post of general director, and was selected from non-religious people. The director of the General Administration of Religious Affairs and other senior officials of the Bureau, like secular officials, were appointed by the czar government. Therefore, the czar is called the "supreme patriarch" of the Orthodox Church.

Fourth, reform and develop cultural and educational undertakings. In order to change the backwardness of Russian culture and education, Peter I appointed governments at all levels to directly manage education, set up various schools, set up primary schools in various counties of Russia, strengthen education for aristocratic children, and send international students to study in western European countries. At the same time, Peter's government introduced the translation of modern scientific works in western Europe to Russia through various channels.

Fifth, establish modern industry and change the backward appearance of Russian economy. During the reform period, Peter I paid great attention to fostering the development of workshop handicraft industry, "developing mining industry in China and establishing factories and enterprises like those usually established in foreign countries". Therefore, under the guidance of introducing advanced technology from Western Europe, Peter I explored and exploited underground resources, such as iron ore, copper mine, silver mine and coal in China. While consolidating and expanding the original mining enterprises, some handicraft workshops established by the state have been turned into private operations, and the government has also rewarded domestic businessmen and foreign business owners with preferential measures such as providing labor services and loans, and established a number of modern mining enterprises such as ironmaking, steelmaking, shipbuilding, ordnance, coal mining, shoemaking, textile and sawing, laying the foundation for capitalist production relations.

In order to protect and stimulate the development of young national industries, Peter I set a high import tax, and at the same time stipulated that all factory owners and their relatives were exempt from military service and poll tax. 172 1 year, and he also stipulated that workshop owners had the right to buy serfs from aristocratic lords to serve as laborers in their fields. All the underground mineral deposits owned by the lords were concealed, and those who delayed mining were sentenced to death, so as to urge the lords to run mines and transform them into industrial and commercial bourgeoisie.

Sixth, foster business, develop trade and improve the political status of businessmen. In order to promote the development of commercial capital, Peter I promulgated a series of laws and divided "urban residents into three guilds". The first category is money house owners, wealthy businessmen, doctors and factory owners; The second category is small handicraft owners and vendors; The third category is ordinary workers, rough people and free ordinary citizens. "Instruct cities to establish a municipal system beneficial to businessmen and factory owners, stipulate that mayors should be elected from the first meeting, and let businessmen manage industrial and commercial, tax and civil disputes, so as to improve the political status of businessmen and factory owners. Economically, businessmen are granted trade privileges. Peter I vigorously promoted the mercantilist policy. He believes that "foreign trade is an extremely effective means for Russia to absorb western European culture and develop domestic productive forces." To this end, he encouraged businessmen to organize companies and develop foreign trade. In order to protect the advantages of domestic products in the domestic market, strict tariff protection policies are implemented in China to restrict imports. In addition, the government also vigorously rectified traffic, built trade ports, and dug canals in Vesny and Vorochak, which enabled the Volga River and neva river to communicate with each other, thus strengthening the domestic market contact and making Russian commercial trade develop rapidly.

Results: The reform of Peter I had a far-reaching impact on the development of Russian society and pushed Russia into a new historical era. Marx believed that Peter I's reform "played an important historical role in ending Russia's one hundred-year backwardness." Pushkin, a great Russian poet, gave a more vivid evaluation of Peter I's reform, saying that it "made Russia take off".

First of all, the reform of Peter I greatly enhanced Russia's military strength and ensured that Russia defeated Sweden, a military power in Europe at that time, in the Northern War, thus making "Russia gain a firm foothold on the Baltic coast" and "enter the ranks of powerful countries". By 1725, Russia has a well-trained modern standing army of more than 200,000 people. There was no navy in Russia before. By the end of Peter I's reign, the Russian Baltic Fleet had 895 ships of all kinds and 28,000 sailors.

Secondly, the reform of Peter I refreshed Russian politics, weakened aristocratic power, strengthened centralization and improved administrative efficiency. Pokrovski, a famous Russian historian, once thought that Peter I's administrative reform had the color of modern bourgeois reform, which created the modern Russian deliberative system. In particular, the Official Rank Table promulgated by 1722 embodies Peter I's thought of "using only quantity" and "appointing people on merit". It is a challenge to the decadent tradition of selecting officials according to aristocratic family, and makes a large number of people with humble origins and both ability and political integrity stand out. This is of positive significance for innovating politics, recruiting talents and improving administrative efficiency. The "only child inheritance law" forced many children of meritorious nobles to go to the sea to do business, join the army, study and "find their own jobs", which was another heavy blow to the old Russian aristocratic forces. The Law on Succession to the Throne abolished the old principle of succession to the throne, and the tsar was free to choose his successor. All these have played an important role in rectifying politics and strengthening imperial power.

In addition, the reform of Peter I promoted Russia's gradual progress towards a modern country and objectively created conditions for the development of Russian capitalism. Lenin pointed out that the Europeanization of Russia "even started from the era of Peter the Great". The reform of Peter I broke the backward state of Russia's closed door and made the social productive forces develop rapidly. It was at the beginning of the18th century that modern industry and commerce in Russia began to develop and a new bourgeoisie began to form. While the emerging bourgeoisie began to appear, the bud of the industrial proletariat was "discovered" among the exploited working people. Through reform, modern Russian mining enterprises have mushroomed. By 1725, more than 240 modern workshops have been established in Russia, with fine internal division of labor and many of them are relatively large. For example, there are 1, 162 workers in Moscow's official sail building workshop, 730 workers in Xie Guolin Wool Mill and 742 workers in mikhailov Wool Mill. Compared with the early stage of workshop handicraft industry, the proportion of private capital in industry has increased. The number of employed workers has also greatly increased, capitalist relations of production have developed to a certain extent, and Russian workshops and handicrafts have basically caught up with Britain. Especially the metallurgical industry has developed rapidly. 17 18 years, Russia's pig iron output has reached1600,000 putt, ranking first in the world. Iron and linen produced in Russia have been exported to the British market. With the development of Russian handicraft industry, the national economic structure has changed obviously, and the urban and rural commercial trade has begun to transform into capitalism in an all-round way. Russia has been able to actively participate in the commercial competition in the capitalist world market. By the end of Peter I's reign, Russia exported 4.2 million rubles of goods every year.

Third, the reform of Peter I promoted the development of Russian culture, education and science and technology. During the reform of Peter I, mining schools were established in Urals and Karelia. Moscow, Petersburg and other cities have successively opened military schools and other schools. By the 181920s, arithmetic schools had been established in more than 40 cities.

10.2,1703,65438+was published in Moscow, which is the first officially printed newspaper in Russia. It reports major political events and military news at home and abroad, as well as domestic economic construction news, such as the construction of handicraft workshops in various places, the discovery of metal deposits and so on.

17 10, Peter I ordered a simple new font to replace the complicated church Slavic alphabet. Because of the new font, it is more convenient to print books, and all kinds of books can be printed in large quantities. Some scientific and technological books in western European countries, such as military science, shipbuilding, architecture, mathematics works, etc. , has been translated into Russian and published one after another. During Peter's reign, Russia also established the first museum, the first public library and the first batch of public theaters.

1October 28th,1724,65438+Peter I issued an order on the establishment of Russian Academy of Sciences, which is of great significance to the development of Russian science and culture. The Academy of Sciences was established in 1725, and consists of three parts: mathematics, physics and social science. It is not only a research center, but also a teaching institution. Universities and middle schools are attached to it, which directly trains researchers. Lomonosov studied here and later became a famous Russian scientific leader.

In a word, the reform of Peter I is of modern significance. It reflects the requirements of the times and creates conditions for the development of Russian capitalism.

Of course, we should also see the limitations of Peter I's reform.

Peter I lived at the end of 17 and the beginning of 18, and was active in politics as a representative of the aristocratic landlord class. Although he advocated learning from the west and wanted Russia to get rid of backwardness, he did not and could not really accomplish this cause. At the same time, the broad masses of peasants did not benefit from this reform, because Peter I "improved the landlord class, helped the emerging merchant class and consolidated the nation-state of these two classes through cruel exploitation of serfs." Besides, the means used in Peter I's reform were barbaric. As Marx said, "Peter the Great conquered Russian barbarism with barbarism." Lenin also pointed out: "Peter the Great quickly urged the barbaric Russians to quickly adopt the achievements of Western Europe, and never hesitated to use dictatorship and never refused to use barbaric means of struggle when opposing barbaric forces."