Russian Colonialism - Tsarist Era

Tsarist Era

In the late 19th century industrialization became a driving force behind imperial policy and coal and iron-ore extraction were rapidly developed in non-Russians areas like the Donets Basin, eventually eclipsing production in the Urals. Cotton began to be planted in Central Asia. While industrial growth occurred it was one sided because finishing and manufacturing was underdeveloped in non-Russian territories, except for Russian Poland and Baltic provinces. During the 1920s Soviet historians considered these policies and actions colonialism.

In the 19th century, Russian settlers on traditional Kirghiz land drove a lot of the Kirghiz over the border to China.

In Ukraine under Tsarist rule mercantilist legislation enacted in the 1720s in order to foster trade and commerce in central and north-western Russia effectively destroyed Ukrainian urban manufacturing and merchants by the nineteenth century. Throughout the next century tariff policy benefited central-Russian producers at the expense of non-Russian borderland producers. State-sponsored programs under the Tsarist and Soviet regimes developed extractive and heavy machine-building industries and promoted agricultural export. On the other hand, they neglected the consumer manufacturing, finishing, and service sectors. In 1900 Ukraine produced 52 percent of the empire's pig iron and 20 percent of its iron and steel. Between 1900 and 1914,Tsarist Ukraine produced on average 75 percent of the empire's grain export. Meanwhile, peasants still used earthenware utensils, wooden axles and hinges, and straw-thatched roofs. Finished goods were imported at excessively high prices set by Russia, while the prices for Donets' industrial products was low. Vladimir Lenin, in exile in 1914, stated in a speech that "it has become for Russia what Ireland was for England: exploited in the extreme and receiving nothing in return."