Question

Give an account of the Russian society and it's economy.

Answer 1

Economy:
1. About 85% of the Russian empire's population earned their living from agriculture.
2. Cultivators produced for the market as well as for their own needs and Russia was a major exporter of grain.
3. Industry was found in pockets. Prominent industrial areas were St. Petersburg and Moscow.
4. Craftsmen undertook much of the production, but large factories exited alongside craft workshops.
5. Coal production doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled.

Society :
1. In craft units and small workshops, the working day was sometimes 15 hrs, as compared with 10 or 12 hrs in factories.
2. Workers were divided by skill in factories.
3. Women made up 31% of the factory labour, but they were paid less than men.
4. Some workers formed associations to help members in times of unemployment.
5. In the country side, peasants cultivated most of the land. But the nobility, the crown and the Orthodox Church owned large properties.
6. Like workers, peasants too were divided. They were also deeply religious.


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