States of Obligation

Taxes and Citizenship in the Russian Empire and Early Soviet Republic

By: Yanni Kotsonis

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Paperback | 27 July 2016

At a Glance

Paperback
504 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.8 x 15.0 x 2.8

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Beginning in the 1860s, the Russian Empire replaced a poll tax system that originated with Peter the Great with a modern system of income and excise taxes. Russia began a transformation of state fiscal power that was also underway across Western Europe and North America. States of Obligation is the first sustained study of the Russian taxation system, the first to study its European and transatlantic context, and the first to expose the essential continuities between the fiscal practices of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

Using a wealth of materials from provincial and local archives across Russia, Yanni Kotsonis examines how taxation was simultaneously a revenue-raising and a state-building tool, a claim on the person and a way to produce a new kind of citizenship. During successive political, wartime, and revolutionary crises between 1855 and 1928, state fiscal power was used to forge social and financial unity and fairness and a direct relationship with individual Russians. State power eventually overwhelmed both the private sector economy and the fragile realm of personal privacy. States of Obligation is at once a study in Russian economic history and a reflection on the modern state and the modern citizen.

Industry Reviews

'States of Obligation is destined to emerge as a classic not only for historians but also for political scientists and economists with an interest in imperial and Soviet Russia.' -- Scott Gehlbach Kritika Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History vol 17:03:2016 'This book opens the door to new questions related to the means by which state, population, and economy intersect in Russia and elsewhere. The author and press are to be congratulated for blessing us with these intellectual provocations.' -- David W. Darrow Revolutionary Russia November 2015 'As a study of both reformist and revolutionary state fiscal policy, an important area that has been much neglected, this is an intellectually sophisticated and stimulating work.' -- Steven Hoch American Historical review, December 2015 'Kotsonis's work offers much food for thought. For specialists or fellow travelers in Russian business history and economic history, this book is required reading.' -- Steven Nafziger EH.Net January 2016 'With its unique focus on taxation, States of Obligation makes an important contribution to the field of Russian and Soviet studies... It should be of interest to those examining issues concerning the modernizing state and definitions of citizenship.' -- Sharon A. Kowalsky Canadian Journal of History vol 51:02:2016 'Yanni Kotsonis has given us an erudite book, rich with insight. It is well worth reading.' -- Frank Wcislo Journal of Modern History vol 89:01:2017 'Yanni Kotsonis provides a stimulating and important history of the transformation of state obligations in nineteenth and early twentieth century Russia.' -- John Randolph Slavic Review vol 75:02:2016 "Yanni Kotsonis has written an original and magisterial work that will change the way we understand and teach Russian and Soviet history ... Like all great books, it will be read and referenced by generations of historians ... This is a superb work of scholarship - comprehensive, meticulously researched, illuminating, and humane." -- Golfo Alexopoulos The Russian Review

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