Living & Working Conditions

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Living Conditions in Russian Cities

Industrialisation and urbanisation often worsened living conditions for people working in cities.

Results of industrialisation

Count Witte's policy of industrialisation meant that lots of workers moved to cities for work. People often lived in cramped houses, but this was probably a better existence than living as a serf.
Trade unions only became legal in 1905.

Recession of 1899-1902

Between 1899 and 1902 the Russian economy contracted and industry struggled.
There were bad harvests, which meant there was not enough food.
Foreign investors stopped investing money in Russia (as happened in Germany in the 1920s after the Great Depression).
Unemployment rose and as living standards fell, workers became more open to the ideas of communism.

Overpopulation

A quarter of a million people moved to St. Petersburg between 1890 and 1900.
With not enough housing being built, more and more people lived in a fixed number of houses and living conditions fell.

Conditions in the Countryside

The 1890s were a challenging time for peasants, following the 1891 famine.

Famines

The 1891 famine led to revolts against landlords.
Bad harvests are often associated with rebellions and revolutions.
There was a very high birth rate in rural Russia. Contraception was not commonly used back then.

Urbanisation

Urbanisation means that the number of people living in cities compared to the countryside increases.
Many peasants were landless and moved to the cities during the 1890s to escape the famine and find work. However, cities could not absorb this number of people.

1The End of Tsardom

1.1Russia's Economy & Society

1.1.1Industrialisation

1.1.2Living & Working Conditions

1.2Nicholas II's Autocracy & the Court

1.2.1Growth of Revolutionary Opposition

1.2.2The 1905 Revolution & the October Manifesto

1.2.3Reforming Russia Before 1914 - Stolypin

1.2.4The Duma & Political Stalemate

1.3The First World War

1.3.1The Impact of Military Defeats

1.3.2Social & Economic Effects of WW1

1.3.3Romanov Unpopularity

1.3.4The Tsar's Abdication

1.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - The End of Tsardom

2Lenin's New Society

2.1The Provisional Government

2.1.1The Failure of the Government

2.1.2Social & Economic Problems

2.1.3Lenin & Trotsky

2.1.4The Growth of the Bolsheviks

2.1.5The October / November Revolution

2.1.6Top Grade AO2/3 - The Provisional Government

2.2The Impact of Lenin's Dictatorship

2.2.1The End of the First World War

2.2.2The Cheka

2.2.3Red Terror & Centralisation

2.2.4The Civil War & The Red Army

2.2.5Propaganda

2.2.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Early Bolshevism & the Civil War

2.3Social & Economic Developments

2.3.1War Communism

2.3.2The Kronstadt Rising

2.3.3The New Economic Policy (NEP)

2.3.4The Achievements of Lenin & Trotsky

2.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Social & Economic Developments

3Stalin's USSR

3.1Stalin the Dictator

3.1.1The Power Struggle to Succeed Lenin

3.1.2The Communist Party & Government

3.1.3The Terror & the Purges

3.1.4The Secret Police

3.1.5Cult of Personality

3.1.6Propaganda & Censorship under Stalin

3.1.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Stalin's Dictatorship

3.2Stalin's Modernisation of the USSR

3.2.1Collectivisation

3.2.2Five Year Plans

3.2.3Social & Economic Consequences

3.2.4Social & Economic Consequences 2

3.2.5The Extent of Modernisation

3.3Impact of the Second World War

3.3.1Stalin's Wartime Leadership

3.3.2Political, Economic & Social Consequences of War

3.3.3Top Grade AO2/3 - Modernisation of the USSR

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