Russian Society
Assess the view that nothing changed
in Russian society between 1855-1964
Aims
1. To examine changes in Russian society
between 1855-1964.
2. To compare reactions from Tsars and
Commissars.
3. To establish change and continuity for
different groups within society.
Social Aspects
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Population (growth and makeup)
Education
Living conditions
Food vs. Famine
Rural vs. urban work
Civil rights
Religion
Population Growth
Population Growth
Year
Population
in millions
Urban %
1858
74
6%
1870
86
11%
1913
166
18%
1920
137
15%
1939
191
32%
• First census 1897,
before was guess work.
• Biggest growth between
1870 and 1914.
• Urbanisation saw
Moscow and St.
Petersburg rocketed.
• Living standards and
housing suffered.
Social
Structure
Up until 1917…
• Mostly rural population, 80% dependent on
agriculture, hence backward economy.
• Industrial worker and peasant distinction
blurred, led to “aristocracy of labour”.
• Middle class began to rise, commercial vs.
professional.
• Nobility in decline, many had lived beyond
means = amount of land owned decreased,
but hardcore remained.
Government policies
• 1861 saw freedom to
marry for peasants.
• Civil Marriage for
peasants not allowed
until October 1917.
• Stalin also encouraged
people to have children,
i.e. “Distinctions of
Mother Heroines” = 10+
kids. Ouch.
• Official divorce also
became an option.
• 1926 abortion legalised,
revised after fall in birth
rate, then only allowed if
risk was present.
• Stalin ordered financial
incentives to maintain
marital unit.
• Restrictions lifted in 1955.
Communist structure
• Meant to be no class-based society, should be
governed by workers.
• Soviet Communism had hierarchical structure with
small elite at the top.
• Even workers had status rankings with technical
experts valued, especially if they towed Party line.
• Continuity or change?
Education
Education, Education, Education!
Primary Schools
• Pre-1864, provision through wealthy
individuals or Church.
• Reform post ’64 – Zemstva
responsible for ed., Church still
heavily involved.
• From 1870, central gov. had more
say over education, Dmitri Tolstoy
reduced power of Zemstva.
• Nic II annouced plans for “universal
primary education” by 1922.
• Primary attendance by 1930 was
compulsory until 12.
• 1929 – 8m kids in Primary school.
• 1930 – 18m kids in Primary school.
• “War on literacy” – extra course =
revolution and religion disappeared.
Secondary Schools
• Grammar schools vs. institutions
for vocations and academia.
• Al II allowed “real gymnasia” with
modern languages, science and
maths (fear of revolution), and
“traditional gymnasia” with
classics and P.E.
• No of students in secondary ed.
Doubled between 1855-1865,
mainly Middle Class.
• Tolstoy manipulated ed. to only
allow noble kids into uni., MC
were cut out.
• Al III banned LC from SS!!
Bolshevik reaction
• Scrapped gymnasia, replaced with polytechnics.
• Emphasis on skills.
• 1930s saw return to mix of vocational institutions
and grammar schools.
• Stalin saw 2.5m kids in 1931 in SS to 6.9m in
1932. Also scrapped school fees in 1939.
• Also re-wrote History! Putin anyone?!
• Khrushchev went back to polytechnics.
Universities – “potential breeding
grounds for opposition”
• Fear shown in 1861, St Petersburg students accused of
sedition, privileges withdrawn.
• 1863 saw new freedoms, more autonomy but Ministry
for Education had last say.
• Al III restricted autonomy, elections to university
councils scrapped and appointments used instead.
• 16,500 universities by 1900.
• Women limited.
• Stolypin saw repression increase even more, non
academic meetings in all universities made illegal.
Assess the view that economic
change in Russia was more
successful under Stalin than any
other ruler in the period from 1855
to 1964.
Housing
Basic points
• By 1900 only 15% of Russians lived in urban
areas.
• 19 cities had 100,000+ inhabitants, Petrograd
1.25m and Moscow 1m.
• Urbanisation soared from 1897 = public health
problems – cholera, dysentery and typhoid.
• Housing conditions were poor and this led to
increase in domestic abuse.
Level of Tsarist development
• Housing thrown up
quickly, mostly wooden
buildings.
• 74 towns had electricity,
35 had access to gas and
only 38 had a sewage
system.
• 100,000 died of cholera in
St. Petersburg in 1910,
sewage system fitted in
1911.
Workers’ Housing
Tsarist period
Commissars Period
• Workers lived in barracks.
• Small scale workshops saw
workers sleep on the floor.
• Skilled workers had better
conditions but generally
speaking conditions were
poor.
• In 1917, the Bolsheviks
wrested housing away from
landlords and shared it out
amongst proletariat under the
oversight of the soviets.
• Stalin saw living conditions
deteriorate.
• Overcrowding common, mid
30s Moscow saw 25% of the
population living in one room.
• 5% lived in a bathroom or
corridor!
• Stalinist policy only allocated
space to individuals.
• Sacrifices needed for utopia.
Post WWII
• Post WWII 25m people
homeless.
• Khrushchev main
response, housing
doubled between 19551964, communal living
abandoned.
• Housing cooperatives
damaged some,
employees organisations
were given first choice
over housing, benefitted
young professionals with
deposits.
Rural Housing
• Stays the same for most of
the period.
• Wooden hut (izbas) heated
by an oven.
• Animals housed in huts,
often over crowded.
• Stalin constructed “special
housing” blocks near
collective farms.
• Khrushchev aimed to create
agro-towns, often build
quickly and of poor quality.
• Kulaks often displaced and
were left in barracks or tents!
Food and Famine
Agricultural problems
• Over reliance on grain
production
(monoculture).
• Role of the mir –
insistence on growing
certain crops.
• Severe weather
conditions.
• Government insisted on
grain requisitioning.
Famines
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1891
Alexander II put Zemstva in
charge of famine response.
Adverse weather hit 50% of
provinces.
Cholera and typhus also hit.
350,000 died and central
government blamed.
Vyshnergradsky raised tax on
consumer goods, so peasants
sold excess grain, which led to
more food shortages.
Al III tried to ban grain exports,
set up two lotteries and set up
Committee on Famine Relief.
Too little too late.
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World War I/Provisional Gov.
1914-17 saw good harvests.,
but little seen in towns, still
had bread queues.
Peasants hoarded grain and
poor transport meant grain
difficult to move anyway.
1918 saw continuation of food
crisis.
Brest-Litovsk saw agricultural
land disappear so Bolsheviks
introduced grain
requisitioning.
Saw violent protest and the
Cheka used to seize grain. By
1921, situation was chaotic.
Sadly, famines continued
Famine of 1921
Ukrainian Famine
• Droughts followed by severe
winters continued to bite.
• Ukrainian food production fell
by 20% by 1921.
• 5m died in the ensuing famine,
which was compounded by
transport issues.
• Lenin, eventually, allowed
American Relief
Administration in.
• Mid 1920s continued to see
requisitioning at times of need
and blame placed on kulaks.
• Death penalty imposed for
stealing grain.
• Peasants shot if they ate their
own grain.
• Discussion of grain crisis
banned.
• Movement restricted.
• Animals slaughtered, including
farm animals, which continued
crisis.
• By WWII consumption of meat
and fish had fallen by 80%.
Rural vs. Urban work
Rural vs. Urban work
Rural Work
Urban Work
• Hard labour, but before 1917
peasants could dictate tempo.
• Peasants worked hard in
Tsarist times to make excess
crops.
• Nature of work changed under
Communists.
• Methods and quotas decided
by central government.
• Collectivisation targets set and
rarely achieved.
• Tractors heralded as great
success but in practice rarely
used.
• Worst conditions in factories or
heavy industry.
• No factory inspectorate until
1882 – even then hard to enforce.
• Rabkrin introduction in 1920 only
a talking shop.
• Workers fined 10% of wages for
wrong doing or even purged as
wreckers in 1930s.
• 1903 saw Workers’ insurance
system and bonus schemes under
Communists.
• 1928-32 real wages fell by 50%
and didn’t recover until 1954.
Civic Freedoms
Freedoms
Political Freedoms
• Variable and you all know it.
Personal Freedoms
• Variable and you know it.
So what do we now know?
Read over your notes and highlight sections you
knew before today, sections you only discovered
today and sections you want to read up on
further.