2.9 Social Developments to 1914 Flashcards
Number of factory workers in Russia, 1900 + 1913
1900: 2 million factory workers
1913: 6 million factory workers
Between 1867 and 1917, what happened to the Empire’s urban population?
Quadrupled, from 7 to 28 million
By 1914, what fraction of people living in St Petersburg were peasants by birth? How does this compare to 50 years earlier?
3 out of every 4 people - had been 1in 3 50 years earlier
By 1914, how much of St Petersburg’s population had arrived in the last 20 years?
half the city’s population
At the turn of the century in St Petersburg, what percentage of houses had no running water or sewage system?
About 40% of houses
In 1908-09, how many inhabitants of St Petersburg died of cholera?
30,000
When was the industrial depression? (where urban conditions were at their worst)
1900-08
What was the average industrial wage increase from 1908 to 1914? What was the inflation rate at the same time?
245 roubles a month –> 264 roubles a month
while inflation was running at 40%
What piece of workers’ legislation was passed in 1885?
Prohibited night-time employment of women and children
What piece of workers’ legislation was passed in 1897?
Hours of work reduced to 11 and a half
What piece of workers’ legislation was passed in 1912?
Sickness and accident insurance for workers
What were normal factory working hours reduced to, by 1914? Why in reality did this not have much of an effect?
10 hours.
However, this did not apply to workshops, which were far more common
What was the percentage rise in primary school provision between 1905 and 1914?
85%
How many children were in full time education by 1914?
only 55%
Why was political activism in towns comparatively rare before 1905?
partly because strike activity illegal + secret police efficient
BUT ALSO
because of the relatively small numbers of workers + their desperation to get and retain jobs
From what year did strike activity escalate again? How many stoppages were there in 1914?
from 1912, strike activity escalated again
By 1914, there were 3574 stoppages
When did workers at the Lena goldfields go on strike? What happened?
1912, went on strike for better wages and conditions - troops sent in + 270 workers killed, 250 injured
On what percentage of the land did strip farming persist?
90% of the land
Why did the gap between the richest and poorest sections of the peasantry become wider?
the wealthier kulaks took advantage of the less well off + sometimes even bought out their impoverished neighbour with the help of the peasant banks
How many moved to Siberia from 1896? Why?
only 3.5 million, from a peasant population of nearly 97 million, encouraged by gov schemes to sponsor emigration from over-populated rural south + west to new agricultural settlements opened up by Trans-Siberian Railway
What was the size of the peasant population by 1914?
nearly 97 million
Where was there more prosperous commercial farming (and therefore better living standards)
in the peripheral regions of the empire - parts of Baltic, western Ukraine, northern Caucasus (to the south), western Siberia
Where was the continuation of nobles’ landowning, and backward farming methods mainly concentrated?
In the Russian heartland - Figes noted that these were to become the areas that supported Bolshevik revolution in 1917, the more prosperous areas centres of counter-revolution
What was Russia’s European ranking in terms of mortality rates
Mortality rates in Russia were higher than those in any other European country
