Russian Liberal Visions of Agricultural Development at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century—Litoshenko and Brutzkus

So far Russian political liberalism has been well studied, but very few studies have been devoted to Russian economic liberalism. I will throw light on the little known but very important visions of two economists, Litoshenko and Brutzkus. They were the outstanding representatives of Russian economic liberalism at the beginning of the twentieth century. They had great expectations for the growing class of independent farmers as the bearer of agricultural productive forces. Before the collectivization they were sure of the successful marketization of the Russian rural economy. But they also pointed out special difficulties for the marketization of Russian agriculture, i.e., the deep-rooted communal tradition and the Bolshevik socialist policy.