Section 2: Chapter 9

Question 1

Developments in living and working conditions in towns

Answer 1

Between 1867-1917 = urban population quadrupled (7 - 28 mil)
- peasants in cities to seek new work
- 1914 - 3/4 of st P peasants by birth
- conditions in towns grim -workers lived in ‘barracks’ provided by factory owners(crowded + lacked sanitation)
Rents high - wages failed to keep up

Question 2

What decrees were issues between 1885-1912 to improve town conditions:

Answer 2

Reducing working hours
Enforcing use of contracts
Banning employment of children under 12
Providing sickness/accident insurance

Question 3

political discontent in towns/ cities

Answer 3

Strike activity rare before 1905 but escalated again in 1912
-1914 - over 3000 stoppages, which gov repressed violently
- workers at Lena goldfields - went on strike for better wages/conditions - troops sent in (270 workers killed)

Question 4

Development in working and living conditions in the countryside

Answer 4

Despite Stolypins land reforms:
- still widespread rural poverty
- kulaks well, but harsher for poorest
- despite healthcare improvements, mortality rate high + many unfit for military service
- not enough teachers - 1914 - still around 60% illiteracy

Question 5

Negative changes in the lives of the nobles

Answer 5

• some nobles struggled to meet debts
• some unable to adapt to more modern business practices in managing estates

Question 6

Positive changes in the lives of the nobles

Answer 6

Some did well out of land distribution - consolidated best land for themselves at minimal cost
Some prospered by turning to industrial enterprises
Taxes not redistributed so way of life remained mostly the same

Question 7

continuity and change in the middle class

Answer 7

Traditional legal structure of Russia previously based on 4 groups - nobles, merchants, clergy + peasantry
Demand for managers + professionals grew - emergence of middle class

Question 8

Outline the continuity and change of the workers and peasantry

Answer 8

traditional attitudes persisted
1914 - political activism taking effect
In urban areas - formers peasants lost identity, they associated with others whom they lived/worked with.
Large/discontented urban working class - provided impetus to overthrow regime in 1917

Question 9

Cultural changes/ continuity by 1914

Answer 9

Patriarchal structure still in place
- new opportunities for women (education/factory work)
- education improvements - reduced illiteracy
- books/ publications increased - artists + writers addressed problems in Russia
- censorship relaxed (from 1905) - ‘silver age’ of culture