Section 2 - Chapter 3 Flashcards
Social developments to 1914
For urban workers how did class structure change?
- There were two million factory workers in Russia by 1900 and 6 million by 1913.
- Between 1867 and 1917 the Empire’s urban population quadrupled from 7 to 28 million - as a result of rural displacement.
- By 1914, 3/4 people living in St. Petersburg were peasants by birth (compared with just 1/3 1960s)
- More than half of Moscow’s population by 1914 had arrived in the previous 20 years.
For urban workers how did class structure continue?
The atmosphere was much the same - livestock still roamed the streets and there were numerous ‘peasant’ markets.
For peasants how did class structure change?
The gap between the richest and poorest sections of the peasantry became wider as the kulaks took advantage of the less favoured.
For peasants how did class structure continue?
- Strip farming persisted on 90% of the land and there was still widespread rural poverty.
- The continuation of nobles’ landowning and backward farming methods was mainly concentrated in the Russia heartland.
- 90% of the Russian population was still peasants.
For the middle class how did class structure change?
- The growing middle classes found their natural home on the councils of the zemstva and in the town/state dumas .
- By 1914 there were growing number of positions: managers, statisticians, pharmacists, insurance specialists, civil engineers, well over 5000 vets and nearly 4000 agronomists.
- The total of graduate teachers doubled between 1906 and 1914 reaching over 20,000 teachers.
- The number of doctors increased from 17,000 in 1897 to 28,000 in 1914.
For the nobles how did class structure change?
Around one third of all nobles’ land was transferred to townsmen or peasants between 1861 and 1905.
For the nobles how did class structure continue?
- There was no redistributive taxation or attacks on landed wealth to diminish their incomes or substantially harm their ways of life.
- Nicholas (like Alexander III) encouraged noble influence and was keen to see their power within the zemstva maintained.
- The nobility were regularly appointed to provincial governorships and vice-governorships and each province and district of the Russian Empire had its own noble assembly - meeting once a year.
- In May 1906 the first meeting of the ‘united nobility’ took place.
For urban workers how did living/working conditions change?
Normal factory working hours were reduced to 10 hours by 1914.
For urban workers how did living/working conditions continue?
- Workers often found themselves living in barracks that were overcrowded and lacked proper sanitation.
- Women, who comprised one third of the industrial workforce by 1914 were among the lowest paid, earning less than half the average wage.
- In St. Petersburg at the turn of the century about 40% of houses had no running water or sewage system. Between 1908 and 1909, 30,000 inhabitants of St. Petersburg died of cholera.
- Industrial wages rose from 245 roubles a month to 264 a month whilst inflation raised prices by 40%.
For peasants how did living/working conditions change?
- The poorest peasants found life getting harsher - increasing numbers were forced to leave their farms.
- A minority migrated to Siberia - 3.5 million of the 97 million peasants took advantage of this scheme.
For peasants how did living/working conditions continue?
- A large proportion of the peasantry was turned down as unfit for military service because of their poor health.
- Mortality rates in Russia were higher than those in any other European country and there were too few doctors for the rural population.
- They were still using old fashioned methods such as a wooden plough - solcha.
For urban workers how did beliefs/culture change?
- There was an 85% rising in primary school provisions between 1905 and 1914 - the government promoted technical schools.
- Increased industrial activity - in 1914 there were 3574 stoppages. When the workers at the Lena goldfield went on strike troops were sent and 270 workers were killed and a further 250 injured.
- Increase in radical ideas.
- The image of the Tsar as the “Little Father” shattered after the 1905 Revolution.
For urban workers how did beliefs/culture continue?
Only 55% of children were in full time education by 1914.
For peasants how did beliefs/culture change?
- Government expenditure on primary education grew from 5 million roubles in 1869 to over 82 million by 1914.
- By 1911, over 6.5 million children between 8 and 11 were receiving primary education (although this was concentrated in urban areas).
For peasants how did beliefs/culture continue?
- In 1914 there was still 60% illiteracy in the peasantry.
- Only a quarter of students in secondary schools in 1911 can from the peasantry - amounting about 30,000 individuals.
- Faith in the Tsarist regime and the Orthodox Church is still strong in rural areas.
