Question

What were t he condition of the workers in Russia in the beginning of 20 th century

Answer 1

Forced off the land, millions of peasants came into the towns, or worked in rural factories and mines. In the last half-century of the old regime the Empire's urban population grew from 7 to 28 million people.

Factory conditions were terrible. According to Count Witte, the Finance Minister in charge of Russia's industrialization until 1905, the worker 'raised on the frugal habits of rural life' was 'much more easily satisfied' than his counterpart in Europe or North America, so that 'low wages appeared as a fortunate gift to Russian enterprise'.

There was little factory legislation to protect labour. The two most important factory laws - one in 1885 prohibiting the night-time employment of women and children, and the other in 1897 restricting the working day to eleven and a half hours - had to be wrenched from the government. Small workshops were excluded from the legislation, although they probably employed the majority of the country's workforce, and certainly most of its female contingent.