Social developments in Russia up to 1914

Question 1

How many factory workers were there in Russia in 1900?

Answer 1

2 million

Question 2

How many factory workers were there in Russia in 1913?

Answer 2

6 million

Question 3

Urban population in Russia in 1867?

Answer 3

7 million

Question 4

Urban population in Russia in 1917?

Answer 4

28 million

Question 5

In 1914 how many people living in ST Petersburg were peasants from birth?

Answer 5

3 out of 4 people living in ST Petersburg were peasants from birth

Question 6

How did this ST Petersburg stat correspond to 50 years prior?

Answer 6

In 1864 only 1 out of 3 people living in ST Petersburg were peasants from birth.

Question 7

What were the facilities in Moscow like?

Answer 7

Facilities needed to provide for the large influx of the peasant cohort were grossly inadequate and the city was full of squalor.

Livestock roamed the streets of Moscow freely and there were numerous peasant markets one of which was on the main red square.

Question 8

What were living conditions like in the main cities?

Answer 8

They were horrid, workers were living in barrack like complexes owned by factory owners. These buildings were overcrowded, rife with disease and lacked adequate sanitation. Workers had to eat in canteens and wash in communal bathhouses.

Question 9

What % of houses had no access to running water or a sewage system ?

Answer 9

40%

Question 10

What was the result of a lack of a sewage system?

Answer 10

Excreement was piled up in the back yard of buildings and collected by horse and carriage - very third world.

Question 11

How many Russians died because of cholera in 1908-09?

Answer 11

30,000

Question 12

What was the rent situation like in Moscow and ST Petersburg?

Answer 12

Rents remained high - normally half an average workers wage due to the high demand for work, those who couldn’t afford the rent had the options of sleeping rough or factory floor.

Question 13

Number of women in the industrial workforce in 1885?

Answer 13

1/5

Question 14

Number of women in the industrial workforce in 1914?

Answer 14

1/3

Question 15

Wages of women?

Answer 15

Lowest paid workers as they earned less than the average industrial wage.

Question 16

What period was worse 1900-1908 or 1908-1917

Answer 16

1900-08

Question 17

Why was 1900-08 a worse period for urban society?

Answer 17

-Low wages
-bad living conditions
-Bad working conditions
-High rent
-Rife with disease

Question 18

Relation with inflation and wages?

Answer 18

Even when industry began to revive, the wages of industrial workers failed to keep pace with the rising levels of inflation. Wage increased form 245 to 264 roubles per month in the years down to 1914, while inflation was rising at 40%.

Question 19

1885 workers legislation law =

Answer 19

Prohibited night time employment of women and children

Question 20

1886 workers legislation law = ?

Answer 20

Decreed that workers had to be employed according to contracts overseen by factory boards

Question 21

1892 workers legislation law = ?

Answer 21

Employment of children under 12 forbidden and female labour banned in mines

Question 22

1897 workers legislation law = ?

Answer 22

Hours of work reduced to 11 and a Half

Question 23

1903 workers legislation law = ?

Answer 23

More efficient system of factory inspection

Question 24

1912 workers legislation law = ?

Answer 24

sickness and accident insurance for workers

Question 25

1914 workers legislation law = ?

Answer 25

Normal factory working hours were reduced to 10 hours by 1914 [didn’t apply to workshop]

Question 26

What was the biggest success of the change in social development up to 1914?

Answer 26

Education

Question 27

How much did primary school provision rise by between 1905 and 1914?

Answer 27

85% rise

Question 28

What systems of education did the government promote the most?

Answer 28

Technical colleges
Universities

Question 29

How did the promotion of universities backfire?

Answer 29

They became breeding grounds for reform movements but also radical movements such as the social revolutionaries, populists and Young Russians.

Question 30

How many children were in full time education by 1914?

Answer 30

55%

Question 31

Why was this number [children in full time education] so low?

Answer 31

Investment In education was low compared to investment in railway, industry and the military.

Question 32

What was the political aspect of the growth of towns and cities?

Answer 32

With sprawling urban populations and disgruntled workers cities and towns with large urban populations were breeding grounds for political discontent.

Question 33

Why was political activism low before 1905?

Answer 33

High levels of political oppression [Okhrana] alongside workers wanting to retain their jobs.

Question 34

What happened with political activism and workers after 1905?

Answer 34

After 1905 and the legalisation of trade unions political activism increased, the increase in political activism began in 1912 and in 1914 there were 3574 stoppages in the workplace.

Question 35

What was the Lena Goldfields strike?

Answer 35

520 people either killed or injured when soldiers opened fire on protestors at the Lena Goldfields strike.

Question 36

Effects of the Lena Goldfields strike?

Answer 36

-Escalation from the authorities only led to further hatred towards Nicholas II and his government from the urban workers.
-Britain pulled financial support away from the area of the Lena Goldfields.

Question 37

What % of farms were strip farms?

Answer 37

90%

Question 38

Main problems with the working and living conditions in the countryside?

Answer 38

-Undeveloped farming methods
-Widespread rural poverty
-Huge gap between the richest and poorest peasants
-Harsh Russian weather
-Repayments for serfdom

Question 39

Why was there such a huge gap between the richest and poorest peasants?

Answer 39

Emergence of the Kulak class

Question 40

Who were the Kulaks?

Answer 40

Rich peasants or entrepreneurs, with the help of loans from peasants banks they were able to take advantage of the les fortunate and buy out their impoverished neighbours farms.

Question 41

Prosperous farming regions = ?

Answer 41

-Parts of the Baltic
-Western Ukraine
-The Kuban
-Northern Caucasus
-Western Siberia

Question 42

How did living conditions of peasants link to Bolshevik support in the 1917 revolution?

Answer 42

Poor peasants found life harsher especially due to the continuation of nobles’ landowning and backward farming methods which were mainly concentrated in the Russian heartland. Historian Orlando Figes notes that these areas were the areas that most supported the Bolshevik revolution of 1917.

Question 43

Healthcare issues amongst the peasant populace?

Answer 43

Despite improvements in healthcare provided through the zemstvo, a large proportion of the peasantry were turned down for military service due to them being un-fit.

Question 44

How did a lack of doctors affect Russia?

Answer 44

Morality rates in Russia were a lot higher than in any other country in Europe and there were too few doctors for the large population in the countryside and in the urban working centres.

Question 45

What other profession was also in short supply?

Answer 45

Teachers

Question 46

Effect of the short supply of teachers which makes the improvement of education look weak?

Answer 46

Few people in Russia received much more than a basic elementary education and in 1914 there was still around 60% illiteracy in the country.

Question 47

Overall affect of social developments on the peasantry?

Answer 47

Russia’s land hungry peasantry remained at the bottom of the social ladder due to their primitive lifestyle of wooden huts.

However their sense of community and loyalty to the church and the Tsar was largely unblemished and they were still staunch supporters of both of them.