Russian Society

• Peasant Class

  • 80% of Russia's population
  • Until 1861 - Serfs:
  • Owned by the nobility
  • No rights
  • Forced to work the land
• Peasant Class

  • 1861 Emancipation Act:
  • Still worked nobility's land;
  • Given small piece of land to sustain family;
  • Had to be paid over 49 years before ownership
• Peasant Class

  • Some left to cities to work in factories, creating new working class
  • Life in cities:
  • Overcrowded;
  • Unhygienic;
  • Poor, cheap diet
  • Trade unions and striking illegal:
  • Impossible to get better conditions
• Middle Class

  • Made up of lawyers, doctors, teachers
  • Educated, lived comfortably
  • Called 'intelligentsia'
  • Knew about democracy
• Capitalists

  • Started to appear in 1900
  • Made up of bankers, and factory owners
  • Became rich from the profits of the industrial growth
  • Did little to improve factory workers' working and living conditions
• Nobility

  • Less than 2% of the population
  • Owned 25% of Russia's land