Nature's Evil

On the eve of the eighteenth century, hemp was the leading Russian export, linen was second and iron third, followed by fatback. Fabrics made out of hemp and linen – i.e., canvas and sailcloth – were counted separately; they occupied fifth and sixth place in Russian exports. Grain lagged behind these products. England was Russia’s biggest customer, with North America in second place. The British import of hemp doubled throughout the eighteenth century and 90 per cent of it was consistently supplied by Russia. Providing hard currency, hemp was now grown in the most productive estates of central Russia that belonged to the top nobility. For the first half of the nineteenth century the export of hemp and linen made up a third of Russian exports, a figure which did not diminish even during the Crimean War. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the significance of fibre in Russian exports had lessened dramatically – it made up just a tenth of it. Grain was now the main Russian commodity. 13

The history of the Romanovs is full of attempts to nationalise the export of raw materials. The list of export commodities that were under state monopoly lengthened considerably in Peter’s reign: items included hemp, linseed, pelts, potash, tar, fatback and caviar. Private firms had to supply these goods to the state at a fixed price, and then the exchequer sold the raw materials to foreign buyers at market prices. In 1719 Peter repealed this decree ‘out of pity for the merchants’, but imposed custom duties which continued making profits for the empire. All goods were exported on the purchasers’ ships – the Russians had no merchant fleet. Only 7 per cent of exports went overland, including exports to China via Kyakhta. In 1724 Peter established a monopoly import-export company with a handful of shareholders, following the example of the Dutch East India Company, which he remembered from his tour of Holland. ‘I would like my people to become manufacturers,’ said Catherine the Great in 1764. But the production of hemp and canvas remained cottage industries. Attempts to push the Russian merchants to export commodities on their own ships failed, but the balance of trade was usually in Russia’s favour. Export tariffs on raw materials financed state expenditure. The Hermitage bought up treasures from all over Europe. The army which would defeat Napoleon paid salaries to mercenaries of all ranks. Russian landowners wore frock coats of English broadcloth, drank French wine from Bohemian glasses, took pinches of Virginia tobacco, and then blew their noses on handkerchiefs dyed with indigo. In between all these activities they read Voltaire, Rousseau and even the anti-colonial Raynal. The richest landowners, such as the Demidovs and the Chertkovs, invested their wealth in Italian or British estates or even, like Alexander Herzen, in American bonds. All this was financed by the income received from the overseas sales of Russian raw materials.

During the Napoleonic wars Russia supplied the British Royal Navy with practically all the hemp it needed for rigging its ships, thus keeping Britain in a strategic dependency. But, in 1800, Emperor Paul I of Russia entered into a coalition with Napoleon – they planned to conquer and divide India. Paul confiscated all British property in Russia, including 200 ships harboured in Russian ports. Stopping trade in the Baltic was a blow for the aristocracy in Russia, Poland and Prussia; the curtailment of supplies was equally unacceptable for the British Navy. Admiral Nelson’s flotilla set fire to Copenhagen, clearing a route for British ships to reach the Baltic ports. But a palace coup in St Petersburg was more effective: British diplomats, Baltic barons and Russian landowners took part in the plot against Paul. Straight after his assassination, trade with England in hemp and grain started up again. In 1807, Russia and France again became allies. Having decided against invading England, Napoleon blockaded her trade with Europe by imposing the Continental System. With the consent of Alexander I of Russia, Napoleon deprived the British Navy of Russian rigging and left Russian cities without silver or sugar. In 1808 the British import of hemp diminished by a factor of three and its price in London doubled. Usually, the northern ports of the Russian Empire unloaded and loaded 4,000 to 5,000 ships per year; in 1808 there were fewer than a thousand. The Royal Navy made desperate attempts to grow hemp in India or to make ropes out of tropical trees. The Russian rouble was in free fall. As a consumer of Russian raw materials, France could not replace Britain: a continental power, France herself produced hemp, grain and hides.