Egor Frantsevich Kankrin

Born Nov. 16 (27), 1774, in Hanau, Germany; died Sept. 9 (21), 1845, in Pavlovsk, in present-day Leningrad Oblast. Russian statesman, count (from 1829).

Born in Germany of German parents, Kankrin entered Russian service in 1797 and was minister of finance from 1823 to 1844. He advocated maintenance of serfdom and defended the interests of the pomeshchiki (landlords). Kankrin deliberately held back the development of industry because he saw in the working class a threat to the existing system. He stopped credit to industry almost entirely and prevented the establishment of private banks. Kankrin’s reform of the merchant guilds in 1824 hindered the emergence of the capitalist elements from among the trading peasants and the town dwellers. But he also retained protectionist tariffs, which were in the interests of factory owners using serf labor and in the interests of the industrial bourgeoisie. Kankrin freed the state budget of deficits by a strict reduction of expenditures on the economy, by promoting the franchise sale of liquor, and by improving reporting and accountability in the state finance department. From 1839 to 1843 he carried out a currency reform. He opposed the construction of railroads. Kankrin wrote on economics, his most important work being The Economy of Human Societies and the State of Finance, and on military and other subjects, mainly in German.