The Urban Working Class

• The urban working class (proletariat) grew as Russia industrialised.
• At first, movement to the cities was temporary and seasonal such as people returning home to harvest among other reasons.
• Later in the century, increasing numbers of peasants moved permanently to towns and cities.

  
  

  Moscow and St Petersburg both had population of over 1 million by 1900.
• A significant proportion of the new urban working class was female.

  
  

  Women made up 20% of the industrial workforce in 1885 but a third by 1914.
• Conditions for urban workers were often shocking.
• Peasants who moved to a town or city often found themselves housed in overcrowded barracks with inadequate sanitation provided for them by their employer.
• Workers ate in canteens and washed in communal bath-houses.
• For those who found private housing, conditions were little better with 40% lacking running water and sewers.
• Despite the low quality of housing, rents were often expensive because of the high demand.