Living and Working Conditions of Industrial Workers Flashcards
5 points
What Negative developments in living conditions were there between 1855 - 1905?
- Period saw rapid urbanisation and industrialisation: St Petersburg population grew from 928,000 (1881) to 1,905,000 (1910).
- Led to slum accommodation e.g. families sharing a single room divided into cubicles, little ventilation or light.
- Overcrowding; 1904 average SP apartment housed 6 people per room.
- Inadequate water supply; 1904 only 1/3 of SP houses had running water.
- Poor sanitation; resulted in outbreaks of disease, e.g. cholera. Between 1892-4 estimated 200,000 died from disease across all Russia.
2 points
What negative developments in working conditions were there between 1855 - 1905?
- Low wages and long hours.
- Dangerous conditions led to frequent accidents, e.g. in 1904 556 deaths and 66,000 injuries in metallurgical industries alone.
1 point
What negative developments were there in political freedoms between 1855 - 1905?
Independent trade unions illegal.
1 point
What positive developments were there in living conditions between 1855 - 1905?
Workers enjoyed some freedom of movement.
3 points
What positive developments were there in working conditions between 1855 - 1905?
- Wages were higher than in countryside.
- 1882: Ban on employment of children under 12 and introduction of factory inspectorate (but limited actual impact due to limited numbers).
- 1896: Introduction of 11 hour working day (law did not apply to small workshops; 6 day working week remained the norm).
3 points
What negative developments were there in living conditions between 1905 - 1917?
- Poor living conditions exacerbated by continuing rapid urban growth (urban working class numbered 1 mill by 1913).
- War made situation even worse; influx of workers created huge strain on cities; e.g. between 1914 and 1917 pop of Petrograd increased from 2.1 mill to 2.7 mill.
- War resulted in urban grain and food shortages. By Jan 1917 Petrograd only recieving 48% of its grain requirements.
1 points
What negative developments were there in working conditions between 1905 - 1917?
War produced inflation of 400% by 1916, and whilst wages did rise, they only did so at half the pace.
3 points
What negative developments where there to political freedoms between 1905 - 1917?
- Despite legalisation of trade unions in 1905, industrial relations worsened. E.g. in 1910 47,000 people took strike action, in 1914 it was 1,300,000.
- Government repression of strikes caused anger. E.g. Lena Goldfields Massacre, 1912, where 200 unarmed demonstrators were killed by troops.
- Worker influence in the Duma very limited; 1 gentry vote was worth 45 workers’ votes. Situation worsened after 1907 Electoral Law.
2 points
What positive developments were there for working conditions between 1905 - 1917?
1905 revolution resulted in key reforms:
* Indtroduction of free trade unions.
* A Duma system which gave workers a (limited) democratic voice.
2 points
What positive developments were there for political freedoms between 1905 - 1917?
- Government introduced social insurance scheme to protect workers in the event of workplace injury.
- By 1914 average working day was 9-10 hours, and statutory holidays were introduced.
4 points
What negative developments in living conditions were there during War Communism (1918 - 1921)?
- Disruption of Civil War resulted in food shortages.
- Also resulted in a collapse of industrial production as transport of goods and raw materials disrupted.
- Resulted in massive urban depopulation as people returned to the countryside in search of food.
- Populations of St Petersburg and Moscow halved between 1917 - 1920.
3 points
What negative developments in working conditions were there during war communism (1918 - 1920)?
- Hyperinflation of 1,000,000% made wages worthless. By 1919 wages were at 2% of 1913 levels.
- Pressures of war meant that worker controls of factories didn’t last. In 1918 War Communism saw state seize control of running of factories from worker committees, and re-introduction of harsh workplace discipline.
- By 1921 worker discontent resulted in demonstrations and strike action - esp in Moscow and St Petersburg. Prompted government to cut bread rations by 1/3/
1 point
What negative developments were there in political freedoms during War Communism (1918-1921)?
Closure of Constituent Assembly and loss of democratic freedoms (e.g. freedoms of speech, freedoms to form a political party)
3 points
What positive developments were there during 1918 - 1921?
- Living Conditions: Housing was confiscated from private landowners, workers moved into homes of the wealthy. Civil marriage and divorce made easier.
- Working Conditions: Benefited from Lenin’s early reforms; 8 hour working day, system of social insurance.
- Political Freedoms: State Capitalism gave them the right to run their own factories - short lived, soon replaced by War Communism in 1918.
3 points
What negative developments were there during the NEP (1921 - 1928)?
- Real wages only passed pre-war levels in 1928.
- Problems of overcrowding remained.
- High prices and unemployment.
3 points
What positive developments were there during the NEP (1921 - 1928)?
- Living Condtions: Food shortages largely eliminated until the late 1920s.
- Working Conditions: Benefitted from an 8 hour working day.
- Political Freedoms: Trade Union representatives has large influence over running of the state controlled factories, but largely directed by party rather than worker interests.
8 points
What negative developments in living conditions were there during Stalin’s era (1928 - 1953)?
- Rapid urbanisation as industry grew; during 1930s sometimes towns and cities growing at a rate of 200,000 people a month.
- Led to poor accomodation and overcrowding;
- Ppl lived in barracks.
- Moscow, mid 1930s: 25% of families lived in one room shared with another family, 25% lived in communal dormitories, 5% lived in corridors and hallways.
- Living space fell from avr. of 8.5 sq. meters in 1905 to 5.8 in 1935.
- Even those in better housing lacked kitchens, bathrooms.
- Food shortages common; between 1928 and 1933 consumption of meat, fruit and milk in Leningrad fell by 2/3.
- Rationing until 1935.
3 points
What negative developments to working conditions were there during Stalin’s era (1928 - 1953)?
- By 1940 wages only 56% of 1928 value.
- Harsh workplace conditions; Absenteeism punished with dismissal, loss of housing, possible imprisonment; Piece rates.
- WWII saw further deterioration in working conditions; 12 hour working day, 6 days a week - these conditions persisted after the war.
3 points
What negative developments were there on political freedoms in Stalin’s era (1928 - 1953)?
- Ban on strike action.
- Movement of labour controlled by use of internal passports.
- Extensive use of forced labour; 14-18 million people imprisoned in over 30,000 labour camps (gulag system); estimated 1.6 million died there.
3 points
What positive developments were there in Stalin’s era (1928 - 1935)?
- Women given more opportunities in the workplace and recieved support; by 1937 50% of Leningrad workforce female.
- Increased provision of hospitals and clinics, e.g. 90% of babies born in hospitals in cities.
- Increased provision of sports clubs, facilities.
4 points
What negative developments in living conditions were there in Khrushchev’s era (1953 - 1964)?
- Quality of new housing poor; prefabricated apartment blocks often lacking lifts and running water.
- Some consumer goods remained expensive, Russian families lagged far behind the West.
- Agriculture could not keep up with urban demand for food; gov.raised prices to decrease demand, e.g. meat prices increased by 38%.
- Increases in food prices led to discontent - Novocherkassk Massacre, 1962.
3 points
What positive developments in living conditions were there during Khrushchev’s era (1953 - 1964)?
- Poverty Line established; number living below it fell from 100 mill (1958) to 30 mill (1968)
- Amount of available housing doubled, 1955 - 1964. Communal flats of Stalin abandoned, families able to find their own apartments, with free heating.
- Increased availability of consumer goods; e.g. by 1968 50% of soviet homes had a TV and a washing machine.
1 point
What positive developments were there to political freedoms during Khrushchev’s era (1953 - 1964)?
Gulag system closed down; end of forced labour.
