Each of the social classes in pre-revolutionary Russia all endured extremely different lifestyles, some living prosperously and contently, but a majority living in horrible circumstances, deprived of basic human rights. For this reason, the proposition “Hardship and misery prevailed in pre-revolutionary societies” is accurate to a high extent, as prior to the revolution, most of the population, particularly the peasants and urban workers, suffered immensely due to the embedded inequality of the autocratic system. The peasants and urban workers often lived in inhumane conditions where food was limited, work was difficult and laborious, and taxes were extremely high. The comparison of peasants and urban workers to the nobility, a very small portion of the entire population, further exposes the inequality of most Russian citizens under Tsarism, showing that despite a small amount of the population living with less hardship and misery, overall these aspects prevailed throughout pre-revolutionary Russia.
Despite living an often lavish life free from hardship and misery, the nobility and aristocracy accounted for only 2% of the population (Fiehn,1996, pg. 6), so cannot be used to accurately determine whether hardship and misery prevailed in pre-revolutionary Russian society. The peasants however, accounted for the largest portion of the population, and lived in horrible conditions where misery and hardship were extremely prevalent. Peasants often had little to eat, especially when harvests were bad, as the only way they could afford to farm at all was to engage in strip farming. Each family usually had around 20 to 30 strips, (Fiehn, 1996, pg. 6) which costed so much that they could usually not afford proper tools or animals to plou...
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Fiehn, T. 2014. Russia & The USSR 1905-1941. London: John Murray.
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Malone, R. 2014. Analysing the Russian Revolution. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Morcombe, M. and Fielding, M. 2014. The Spirit of Change: Russia In Revolution. New South Wales: McGraw-Hill.
Davis addresses various important factors in a peasant’s life. She highlights many components of peasant society, including their social classes and how their society values property in different ways. Davis also includes the peasants’ culture. She elaborates on the importance of children and the consequences of not being able to produce children. She also explains typical marriage procedures and customs. Lastly, Davis talks about some of the laws and common uses of the judicial system by peasants. By incorporating these factors into her book Davis is successful at recreating life for peasants in France during the sixteenth century.
In the years leading up to World War I, social unrest among the Russian people was spreading rapidly. There was a huge social gulf between the peasants who were former serfs and the landowners. The peasants regarded anyone who did not work as a parasite. They had always regarded as all land belonging to them. They regarded any land retained by the landowners at the time serfs were freed as stolen and only force could prevent them from taking it back. By the time Russia entered the war, one peasant rebellion had already been suppressed and several socialist revolutionary movements were developing.
Moss, W., 2014. A History of Russia Volume 2: Since 1855. 1st ed. London, England: Anthem Press London, pp.112-113.
After the emancipation of the Russian Peasantry, land was given to the peasants. This was between 1861 and 1866, but because the nobility had lost their land when the peasants were given land, the peasants had to pay a tax until 1905. As the years passed, the land allotted to each person decreased from 13.8 acres to 7.3 acres as the population increased. Due to this increase in population and decrease in land, a series of famines struck the rural areas. As the peasants mainly occupied the rural areas, they were perceived to be living in poor conditions by the Russian people, and as response to their conditions, peasants started taking a stand, and voicing their opinions; change was proposed in the end when peasants were given more freedom,
The abolition of serfdom in Russia was an aided that transformed Russia from a predominantly agricultural society to a more industrial. The industrial revolution was the transition to manufacturing processes, which led to the modern capitalist economy. During this time railroad was a success, the mileage of railroad double. The newly freed peasants looked toward the cities for jobs, which led to Urbanization. According to Cracraft, “industrialization was clearly the most important of the major economic economic and social development occurring the last decades of the Imperial regime in Russia” (Cracraft, 441). So industrialization encouraged urbanization and the growth of new social classes-- an industrial proletariat and a new class of
Malozemoff, Andrew. Russian Far Eastern Policy 1881-1904. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1958.
The Russian revolution of February 1917 was a momentous event in the course of Russian history. The causes of the revolution were very critical and even today historians debate on what was the primary cause of the revolution. The revolution began in Petrograd as “a workers’ revolt” in response to bread shortages. It removed Russia from the war and brought about the transformation of the Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, replacing Russia’s monarchy with the world’s first Communist state. The revolution opened the door for Russia to fully enter the industrial age. Before 1917, Russia was a mostly agrarian nation. The Russian working class had been for many years fed up with the ways they had to live and work and it was only a matter of time before they had to take a stand. Peasants worked many hours for low wages and no land, which caused many families to lose their lives. Some would argue that World War I led to the intense downfall of Russia, while others believe that the main cause was the peasant unrest because of harsh living conditions. Although World War I cost Russia many resources and much land, the primary cause of the Russian Revolution was the peasant unrest due to living conditions because even before the war began in Russia there were outbreaks from peasants due to the lack of food and land that were only going to get worse with time.
The Bolsheviks physically mistreated them in several ways; however, their excuse was that it was always for their own good and protection, even though the family knew otherwise. A perfect example of this is the ridiculous conditions they were told to live in. They cannot even open a single window even though it is stuffy and smells. “For two weeks the former Emperor has been asking- just a single window, just a little fresh air…” (Alexander 8). Not being allowed to have single window open in the middle of summer with sweaty and smelly armed guards makes living conditions very unbearable for the family. They cannot even open a window to relieve themselves in the slightest, even though no harm could have come to them. The Romanovs were not permitted any contact with the outside world at all. They have no idea about and were unaware of what was happening in their country, with their friends, or even the weather. “Weeks earlier, the Bolsheviki had painted the thermometer with lime as well…” (63). The Bolsheviks are so cruel and demanding that the family could not even know what the weather was directly outside of them. They have almost none of their original ...
The Extent to Which Sources Agree that Russian Government Policy on Agriculture Constantly Fails and Peasants Resisted it Under the Tsarist
Wood, A. (1986). The Russian Revolution. Seminar Studies in History. (2) Longman, p 1-98. ISBSN 0582355591, 9780582355590
8Sites Richard, ‘The Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, 1900-1945’, in Michael Howard and William Roger Louis, The Oxford history of the twentieth century, New York, 1998, p. 117-27.
Bitis, Alexander. RUSSIA AND THE EASTERN QUESTION Army, Government, and Society 1815-1833. New York City, NY: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2006.
Platt, Kevin M. F. and David Brandenberger, eds. Epic Revisionism: Russian History and Literature as Stalinist Propaganda. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 2006.
Riasanovsky, Nicholas V., and Mark D. Steinberg. A History of Russia. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford, 2005. Print.
The whole past life of the peasantry had taught it to hate the landowner and the official, but it did not, and could not, teach it where to seek an answer to all these questions. In our revolution a minor part of the peasantry really did fight, did organise to some extent for this purpose; and a very small part indeed rose up in arms to exterminate its enemies, to destroy the tsar’s servants and protectors of the landlords.