1. Social classes in pre-revolutionary Russia…
A brief overview

2. By the turn of the 19th century, Russia was a population of more than 130 million people with great diversity of ethnicity, language and culture
Under the Old Regime, Russian society was strictly hierarchical
Tsarist political structures, religious and social values, rules governing land ownership and Russia’s legal code all reinforced the nation’s social hierarchy, defining position and status and restricting social mobility (movement between the classes)
A snapshot

3. Imperial Russian society has been described as feudal –a medieval social system whereby privileged nobles control and are reliant upon the labour of peasants
Ruling class: Tsar and royal family, 0.5 per cent
Upper classes: Nobility, higher clergy: 12 per cent.
Middle classes: Merchants, bureaucrats, professionals: 1.5 per cent.
Working classes: Factory workers, artisans, soldiers, sailors: 4 per cent
Peasants: Kulaks, landed and landless farmers: 82 per cent.
Social classes

4. The Tsar and the royal family were at the top of the social pyramid
0.5% of the population
The Tsar owned a significant amount of land --holding the title of as much as ten per cent of arable land in western Russia
The Ruling class

5. ‘Gentry’ or ‘nobility’ are alternative names for this privileged class
Included landowning nobles, wealthy merchants, higher clergy, the aristocracy, leaders in the bureaucracy and high-ranking military officers
The abolition of serfdom in 1861 allowed many land-owners to increase their holdings, largely at the expense of the state and emancipated serfs
Protective of their wealth and privilege, Russia’s landed aristocracy were arguably the most conservative force in the empire
Many of the tsar’s ministerial advisors were drawn directly from their ranks and worked to block or shout down suggested reforms
Comprised 12% of the population
The Upper classes

6. Russia’s middle-classes worked both for the state (usually in the higher ranks of the bureaucracy) or the private sector, either as small business owners or trained professionals (such as doctors, lawyers and managers)
Industrial growth in the 1890s helped to expand the middle-classes by increasing the ranks of factory owners, businessmen and entrepreneurs.
The middle-classes tended to be educated, worldly and receptive to liberal, democratic and reformist ideas
Members of the middle-class were prominent in political groups like the Kadets (Constitutional Democrats) and, later, in the Duma.
Relatively small, comprising 1.5% of the population
The Middle classes

7. The industrial working class
As a result of Witte’s reforms in the late nineteenth century, an industrial working class grew in Russia
They were comprised of factory and urban workers. Karl Marx, a revolutionary theorist, called them the proletariat
Working conditions were often poor with low wages, irregular or insecure unemployment, long hours (often 12 hour days) and by 1914, an average of 60 hours per week
Working conditions: inadequate rest breaks, unsafe equipment, women and children working underground
Insufficient housing in the cities and low wages meant that families were forced to live in overcrowded conditions (eg: 1904 survey reveals an average of 16 people per apartment with 6 people per room)
4% of the population
The industrial working class

8. The peasantry Comprised 82% of the population
Farmers, agrarian workers
Before 1861 most peasants had been serfs, with no legal status or rights as free men. Alexander II’s emancipation edict gave them legal freedom
With the land redistribution that followed often thousands of peasants worse off than before. The best tracts of farmland were usually allocated to land-owning nobles, who kept it for themselves or leased it for high rents. The former serfs were left with whatever remained – but they were obliged to make annual redemption payments to the government. These redemption payments were often higher than the rent or land taxes they paid before emancipation.
The mir: village commune run by peasants which controlled and allocated common land in some villages and was in charge of administrative duties, such as the collection of taxes
The peasantry

9. The small size of these peasant communes (most villages contained between people), as well as their scattered distribution, affected the worldview of Russian peasants.
There was little or no formal education so the majority of peasants were illiterate; few peasants travelled and returned, so not much was known about the world beyond their village. Few peasants had any understanding about government, politics or economics.
A sizeable proportion of the peasantry was loyal to the tsar; a similar number knew little of him and cared even less.
They hated the bureaucracy for its taxes, regulations and impositions; they feared the army for taking away their sons; they trusted few other than their own.
The peasantry was occasionally roused to action – particularly by changes that affected them directly, such as food shortages or new taxes.
The peasantry