2) social developments

problems of peasants: environment

• short growing season

• poor quality soils in non-black earth regions

• periodic droughts, especially in south

problems in peasantry: nature of emancipation

• peasants lost land

• redemption payments

• power of mir strengthened

problems of peasantry: government policy

• peasants highly taxed

• lack of direct investment in agriculture

• no real agriculture policy

problems of peasants: backwards agriculutral methods

• primitive technology: “solcha” wooden plough used

• traditional rotations leaving land fallow

• few animals, little manure, low yeilds

problems of peasants: commune organisation

• some communes perioidcally repartitioned land amongst peasanty: discouraged umprovement of land

• scattered trips: 20 per household

• communal agricultual cycles

• restricted movement away fom villages

problems of peasants: population rise

• 1860-1914: rural population rose from 50 million to 103 million

• led to smaller holdings and increased land hunger

peasant problems: small scale cultivation

farms were under 25 acres and declining

peasant problems: low grain prices, high land prices

• pressure on land led to rising land prices, rent hindered ability of peasants to get more land

peasant problems: limited education

• zemstva spread education but had little effect

peasant positives: peasant land bank

• cheap loans to help peasants get land

peasant positives: migration to siberia

land available for settlement, especially dairy farms

peasant positives: growth of non-agriculutral employment

growth of inudstry creating opportunities

peasant positives: spread of education

1860s onwards: zemstvas supplemented church schools and later on state schools in educated peasants

agriculture and the land issue

• average peasant recieved less than 4 hectares

• high taxes, grain requisitions, redemption payments and traditional farming pracitices hampered change

• established peasants (1883) and nobles (1885) land banks

• 1870s & 1880s: increase in agriculutral production

• kulak class responded positively to vyshnegradskys export drive

• 1891-92: famine showed peasants had little land

great famine of 1891-1892

• affected 17 of russias 39 provinces

• cholera and typhoid killed more

• over 35,000 died of starvation/ disease

• goverment failed to organise relief

grain harvest in million tonnes

1861: 28.2 million tonnes

1881: 33.9 million tonnes

1891: 34.4 million tonnes

average land prices

1868-1897: average land prices rose 120%

land held 1877

peasants: 31%

nobles: 25%

state: 44%

did the position of peasantry change

• peasantry was divided

• kulaks= top - employed labour/ acted as “pawn brokers”

• poorest peasants= life harder- landless labourers, dependent on others

• state peasants better off than private serfs because given more land

tambov region

1880s: 2 out of 3 former serfs in tambov region unable to feed household without falling into debt

average life expectancy

males: 27

females:29

England: 45

agricultural schools

1883: govt decree to establish lower agricultural schools

1888: 13 established (400 students)

1890: 43 established (2715 students)

peasant conscipts

1890: 64% of peasants conscripts rejected as unfit

peasant consumption of weat

1883-1896: peasant consumption of wheat fell 20%

death rate

death rose from 24 per 1000 to 35 per 1000 by late 19th century

illiterate rate

1897 census: 37% of males 25-29 were illiterate

the landed elite

• personal landholding declined

• some in state service

• some in zemstva

• nobles sold land

• made income from military/ civil service

• some investors in lands, bonds, shares in new companies

how many professors were nobility?

1880: neary 1/5 of university professors from nobility

number of nobility in business

1882: more than 700 in business in Moscow

2500 employed in commerce, transport, industry

1897:1000 of highest ranking civil servants were nobles

nolbity owning land

1861: owned 80% of land

1905: owned 40% of land

middle class

• government contracts to build railways, and state loans to set up factories to provide opportunities

• 1895: merchant mayors who emsured that msocow had an electirc tram system

number of middle class

• 2 million

• 1987 census: bankers, doctors, teachers, administrators added up to less than half a million

• tretyakovs, marmotovs, morozovs made money from banking, railways, textiles, industries

professions

1914- 1 million

1892: first all- russian teachers congress met

1881: pirogov medical society set up- ended badly 1904 with demands for a parliament

urban working class

• less than 2%

• 1864: 1 in 3 inhabitants of st petersburg were peasants

• 1900: urban workers- 3 million (2.5% of population)

• 1907: 90% sent money back to relatives

working and living conditions

• grim conditions

• long hours- 11 hours a day

• high rate of accidents

• high disease

• 1980: employment not stable/ secure

• some factories had dormitory accomidation- living conditions dirty/ unsanitary

• cities has poor sanitation and unhealthy

• 1911- stolypin talked of problems of typhus, smallpox and cholera

workers support and association

• informal organisations of workers rented appartments

• museum of assistance to labour ogranised free lectures and discussions for workers

workers literacty rate

1897: 5.8% could read

among skilled workers ¾ were literate