L. Nauka. 1981. 275 p. Modern Soviet historiography, which covers the politics of the autocracy in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, its relations with various classes and institutions of society, is significant and interesting. As an element of domestic policy, commercial and industrial policy is the main content of relations between tsarism and the bourgeoisie. The research of the senior researcher of the Leningrad branch of the Institute of History of the USSR, Doctor of Historical Sciences L. E. Shepelev introduces a new approach to the development of this problem. Based on the analysis of the legacy of the classics of Marxism-Leninism, the author outlined the content and direction of his work, which aims to reveal the connection between politics page 117 states with the economic needs of society and the interests of the ruling class. Special attention is paid in the book to the peculiarity of Russia, where the autocracy was the exclusive representative of state interests, which gave it a certain freedom of action in setting tasks and choosing methods of economic policy (p. 10). In terms of research methodology, the approach of L. E. Shepelev is characterized by the desire to consider industrial policy in a long historical retrospective. It was only necessary, perhaps, to emphasize more the transitional character of the first years of the twentieth century, including in the sphere of trade and industrial policy of the autocracy. It is not by chance that the author notes the second stage (1900-1904) in the activity of S. Y. Witte. The conclusion reads: "By the beginning of the twentieth century, industry in Russia had reached such a level of development that tsarism had to reckon with it not only because it was interested in its development, but also because of its already acquired economic and political significance" (p.258). During these years, due to the transition of capitalism to the imperialist stage, a more noticeable manifestation of s ... Читать далее