Living Conditions in Towns - 1894-1914

• There was a huge growth of the urban population in Russia from 7 million in 1867 to 28 million in 1917.

  • There was also a threefold increase in the number of people working in factories.
  • With such dramatic growth in such a short period of time, there was bound to be a significant impact.
• There simply wasn't the accommodation.

  • Many lived in barracks, ate in communal canteens and washed in communal bath houses.
• There was "private" accommodation but conditions were poor.

  • Less than half of houses had basic running water or sewage.
  • 30,000 people died of cholera in St Petersburg in 1908-09.
• About 75% of St Petersburg and Moscow were peasant born and tended to bring the countryside with them including livestock and peasant markets.