Question

right on the position of working class Prior to Russian Revolution

Answer 1

When Tsarist Russia entered the First World War in July 1914, very few people would have guessed that the whole regime would collapse less than three years later. Russia was seen as a stable power. The economy was growing fast, sustained by “unending” reserves of cheap moujik (peasant) labour power streaming into the industrial centres of Petersburg and Moscow from the provinces. The army had been reformed and the autocracy, which had been shaken only a few years earlier, regained confidence and a certain degree of stability after having defeated the 1905 revolution. Tsarism was envied among many layers of Europe’s elite. Power over all institutions and the major economic entities was concentrated in the hands of one man who could personally guarantee investments and deal with any trouble from the trade union and Social Democratic movements.