Ricardo’s Writings in Russia: Influence and Interpretations

Abstract

The position of classical political economy in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century was rather ambivalent. On one hand, the ideas of Adam Smith promptly gained widespread acclaim among the Russian elite. In 1802–06 the first (abridged) edition of The Wealth of Nations was published in Russian. It was commissioned by the then Deputy Minister of Finance (later, in 1810–23, the Minister) Dmitry Guriev (the translator was one of the employees of the Ministry and a representative of metropolitan literati, Nikolai Politkovsky). On the other hand, the understanding of Smith’s theory (with some notable exceptions) remained quite superficial. For example, ‘Smithian’ discourse was widely used by the representatives of the slaveholding nobility whose incomes were becoming increasingly dependent on agricultural exports (predominantly to England) by the beginning of the nineteenth century. The notions of free trade and economic liberalism, consecrated by Smith’s fame, became their rhetorical weapon each time that protectionism recurred on the agenda of the government, or when their property rights came under scrutiny in discussions of serfdom.