Ruth Roosa's long-awaited study focuses on the most important business organization in imperial Russia. the Association of Industry and Trade, the nerve center of Russian capitalism in the years between the revolutions of 1905 and 1917. The author's comprehensive, nuanced analysis of the Association's policy positions on Russian economic development has no peer. Of particular interest are the insights the study affords into the peculiarities of Russian business — including the operation of semi-monopolistic syndicates and the role of imported capital, banks, and the autocratic state. It supplies historical perspective on some of the more perplexing features of the new Russian capitalism.
Roosa was a pioneer in the study of early twentieth-century Russian capitalism. This volume, prepared for posthumous publication by her friends and colleagues, makes her work available at a time when it has new resonance and relevance.