Russian Working Conditions in the 19th Century

Russian Working Conditions in the 19th Century

Karl Marx drafted The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels in the mid-19th century after living in Moscow and seeing the strife of laborers there. The document was a reflection on the two men’s belief that the wealthier members of society were exploiting the working class. From his experience in Russian society, Marx became concerned with the way that the majority of the “proletariat” class was living. The filthy and inhumane working conditions, the negligible wages, and the way that the employers disrespected their employees, all led to Marx penning The Communist Manifesto. The theme of humans and nature is shown by the ideas that Marx and Engels wrote about in their proclamation. They believed that all humans should have complete equality and that the situation in 19th century Moscow was in violation of each person’s natural rights.

A realist point of view is that humans by their very nature are greedy and driven by selfish interests. Idealists, who state that basic human interests are good, oppose this view. Marx, however, argued that economic class determined actions, and that society as a whole was completely driven by the different social/economic classes. This argument was fairly new in the mid-1800s. Marx focused on social class driving the inner-workings of society because of what was happening in Moscow at the time. It was apparent that the upper class was living a very different lifestyle than the working-class, and a major reason for this was the way that the laborers were being exploited for the benefit of their employers. Marx took this example as a basis for his ideals of radicalism, which was quite in contrary to the basic ideas of idealism or re...

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...and the nation became Communist. The drastic measure taken by Russia (afterwards called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) all stemmed from Marx’s arguments, which had been formed as he watched the Industrial Revolution take over the country and its citizens.

[i] Paul Brians, “Introduction to 19th Century Socialism” (thesis, Washington State

University, 1998), 3

[ii] Victoria E. Bonnell, Roots of Rebellion (Berkley: University of California Press,

1983), 20

[iii] Brians, 3

[iv] Jo Ann Ruckman, The Moscow Business Elite: A Social and Cultural Portrait of Two

Generations, 1840-1905 (DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press,

1984), 63

[v] Mark Steinberg, Moral Communities (Berkley: University of California Press, 1992),

18

[vi] Steinberg, 18

[vii] Bonnell, 67

[viii] Bonnell, 68