Serious shifts occurred in the economic, political and cultural life of Russia
in the 60-70ies of the XVIIIth century. During the reign of Catherine the Second (1762-1796), the time
of "the enlightened absolutism" set
in. The system of landlords and serfs did not
yet impede the growth of productive forces,
the industries and trade were moving with
long strides, and by the end of the XVIIIth
century capitalist relations started to emerge.
The state's economic policy changed
considerably, and it was reflected in the revitalization of free entrepreneurship. In this
connection, the entire system of state government was reorganized: the economic
Collegiums (boards) were liquidated in the
70ies, and the Gubernia (Provincial)
Reform was carried out in 1775, which
resulted in the provincial administration
becoming the centre of the state government
and the Senate getting transformed from the
country's supreme governing institution into
a judicial body.
Naturally, all this influenced the nature
of Russian statistics at that time, produced
certain changes in its functions, organization
and methods of work. There were revealed
certain features of a tool of social cognition.
There appeared a new type of statistical work
intended not for meeting narrow day-to-day
requirements but for obtaining diversified
statistical data on the state of socio-economic life, the so-called cognitive statistics.
Effective 1764, there were carried out in
Russia several unique statistical works which
served as a basis for the consecutive development of statistical practice and formation
of Russian statistical science. The most significant of them were: the general inventory
of Malorossiya; the general land-surveying
and the topographic description of the
gubernias (provinces) that included minor
descriptions of the country's individual areas
with their historical, geographical, administrative and economic characteristics.
Changes in the structure of state government were caused by the necessity to implement new tasks of Russia's economic and
social development. The pressing demand
for accumulation of registration and statistical data, for their study and comprehension,
for improvement in the methods of organization and conduct of surveys, this very
demand greatly contributed to the emergence of new scientific statistical developments.
The first statistical and economic review
of Russia was prepared by Ivan (Kirillovich)
Kirilov (1689-1737), the Senate Secretary,
the author of a unique historical, ethnographic and economic atlas of Russia (1734)
which was in use for about 50 years. In his
book entitled "The Blooming Condition of
the All-Russian State to Which it was
Brought by Peter the Great, the Father of
the Land, the Emperor and the Autocrat, et
cetera, et cetera", that was completed in
1727, he made a wide use of the statistical
data coming to the Senate and represented in
tabular form, as well as summarized indicators. He also used the results of the "podvomy" (household) census of 1710 and the
first inspection of 1718, but the problem of
how to better organize such inspections was
not raised by the author at that time. This
was done by Vassily (Nikitich) Tatischev (1686-1750), the manager of state-owned
plants in the Urals, the founder of
Ekaterinburg (1723). He was also the author
of the first in Russia scientific work on the
registration of population "The Discourse on
the Head-by-Head Inspection" (written in
1747 and published only in 1861). The main
ideas put forward by Tatischev - the establishment of a single census form, the reduction of the census-taking time-period, the
upgrading of the census-takers' qualifications
- ultimately found their embodiment in
statiustical practice.
In the 60ies, Tatischev's ideas were continued by M.V.Lomonosov and other scientists of that time. Mikhail (Vassilievich)
Lomonosov (1711-1765) organized in 1760
"The Academic Enquette" with 30 questions for collection of statistical data characterizing some specific districts in Russia and
the country as a whole.
Almost at the same time, a second questionnaire, similar to the "academic" form,
was organized by Fedor (Mikhailovich)
Miller (1705-1783). The questionnaire,
named "Economic Questions" (65 questions, mainly agricultural in nature), was sent
out to provinciial governors, other officials,
and to some private persons.
All the questionnaires were important from
the viewpoint of statistical development in the
provinces, and also because they produced the
awareness of the possibility of using statistics
for better scientific knowledge. The questionnaires as such (their contents and the wording
of the questions) became a sort of a basis for
formation of economic statistics.
The development of domestic statistics
also promoted by Alexander
(Nikolayevich) Radischev (1749-1802), the
Russian writer. He set forth his views of
statistics in his works: "A Letter about the
Chinese Market" (1794), "The Description
of My Estate" (1799), "On the Statute" (1802). In the main, he followed the traditions of the descriptive school, but, along with
the "political arithmetics", applied indirect
calculations: he computed the income of
Russia's population, its monetary and commodity share, etc. He outlined a programme
of agricultural, economic, foreign trade,
demographic and judicial statistics.
Not only the branch dealing with state
affairs was represented in statistics, but the
political and arithmetical trends as well.
Wolfgang Ludvig Kraft (1743-1814), a
Russian Academician since 1771, in his works
formulated full requirements for this branch of
statistics: he worked out the indicators of fertility and mortality, derived a formula for calculation of the period of growth, in particular,
for doubling the number of inhabitants.
It can be stated that statistics in the
XVIIIth century from the study of descriptions of distinctive features peculiar to the
state passed over to a detailed analysis of the
public processes, a close research of the regularities governing their development.
The successful development of Russian
statistics in the second half of the XVIIIth century was suspended due to the reaction intensified during the reign of Pavel the First (1796-1801). However, the beginning of the XIXth
century, the first years of the rule of Alexander
the First (1801-1825) were marked by liberal
ideas sprouting in the socio-economic life of
Russia, large-scale reforms touching on the system of government. The transition to the state
management by economic branch and creation
of ministries should be regarded as the most significant of all the reforms.
The Royal Manifesto of the 8th of
September, 1802 ("The St.Petersburg
Journal" No.1, 1804) commanded that
each Minister at the end of the year should
submit to His Imperial Majesty through the
Governing Senate a written report concerning the functioning of all the departments
entrusted to him. Together with the new
organization of the government, there was
changed the system of statistical works. The
reporting from gubernias (provinces) was
restored.
In fact, the history of Russia's administrative-and-statistical agencies can be started from 8th of September, 1802.
The circular letter by Count V.P. Kochubei, Minister of the Interior, dated
September 19, 1802, gives instructions to
the governors on submission of reports containing data on the number of population,
collection of taxes and duties, growth of
cereals, establishment of village shops and
supply of the people with provisions, management of factories and plants, income-
earning by the cities, maintenance of public
buildings. The reports were received rather
punctually, but their accuracy was not high
enough, which was admitted by the organizers of the reporting system themselves, in
particular by the Ministry of the Interior.
Thus, the following was said about a
code of statistical reports based on the materials of 1802: " ... the difficulty and unusuainess of this enterprise and the lack of
many data in their original places was the
cause of the situation when the accuracy
and perfection of such work still leave much
to be desired. Notwithstanding this, the first
experience gives a substantial hope that, provided the things are explained in detail,
comments on the shortcomings committed
for the first time are taken into account, the
questions are clearly worded and supplemented by fables, and the executives work
with diligence, it would be possible to
achieve in this information more accuracy
and uniformity and thus to approach their
targets more closely".
On November 1, 1802, there was established at the Department of General Affairs,
Ministry of the Interior, the Estate of the
Noblemen including 10 persons who were
entrusted with the processing of information
coming from the provinces. In 1810 this
group was transferred to the Ministry of
Police.
On March 20, 1811, there was set up at
the Ministry of Police the Statistical Section.
It was headed by Academician Karl
(Fedorovich) Germann (Minister of
Police's Circular No. 168. dated
20.03.1811).
On November 4. 1819, the Statistical
Section was attached, at its full strength, to
the Chancery of the Ministry of the Interior.
Besides the Ministry of the Interior and
the Ministry of Police, statistical work was
carried out by other Ministries and agencies.
Among them, the most important work was
conducted by the Main Department of the
Ministry of Railways (data on transportation
by inland waterways). Ministry of
Commerce (statistics of foreign trade) and
the Ministry of Finance (statistics of mining
industry), etc.
The materials of government statistics
were widely published. In 1803 there was
issued by the Ministry of Commerce the statistical compendium "State Trade of 1802
in its Various Forms". Further on, similar
compendiums were published annually, first
by the Ministry of Commerce and then,
upon its liquidation, by the Ministry of
Finance. In 1806 there was published the
statistical compendium of the Ministry of
Finance "Tables to the Minister of the
Interior's report for 1804". On November
29,1819, there was discussed at the meeting
of the Committee of Ministers the question
of publishing the Statistical Journal and
other statistical editions.
On May 12, 1823, the Statistical
Section became part of the Department of
Executive Police of the Ministry of the
Interior.
For the first time in 1825, the Statistical
Section compiled the "Roll of the Work
Performed" for the period of 1811 through
1825 (the Letter No.18. dated 7.10.1825,
of the Statistical Section, Ministry of the
Interior).
Essential changes in the development of
Russian state statistics were outlined by the
mid-30ies of the XIX century when the
needs of the state forced the government to
get down to the organization of statistical
work.
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