Industrialisation helps the organisation of discontent

• From 1880 onwards, the Russian government encouraged industrial growth
• Many peasants began to leave the countryside


  In the hope of a better life in towns and cities
• In Russia’s capital, St Petersburg, the population increased by 55% between 1881 and 1900
• By 1900 Russia had about 2.5 million urban workers
• Urban workers lived in unhygienic and overcrowded factory dormitories
• The two-shift system often meant that two workers shared rights to a bunk bed
• In smaller factories, families lived next to their workbenches
• Less than half of those who lived in houses had running water or sewerage systems
• It wasn’t unusual for apartments to have mould and mildew on the walls and rats crossing their floors
• A 1904 survey revealed that an average of 16 people lived in one apartment with six people per room
• These people worked a 12 hour day for poor wages and had no trade unions to fight for them
• Trade unions were illegal
• Some laws encouraged worker protection but the provision of it depended mainly on the goodwill of the individual employer
• Revolutionary activists from illegal parties such as the Social democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries had a willing audience
• Workers increasingly went on strike


  To demand improved working and living conditions
• The Russian nobility comprised just over 1% of the population and controlled 25% of Russia’s land
• By the early 20th century, the nobility’s poor economic management had led to a decline in its landholdings
• Nobles increasingly relied on government salaries to maintain their extravagant lifestyles
• Many nobles served as officials in Russia’s government and abused their positions by taking bribes and misappropriating government funds
• The nobility generally spent more than it earned and blamed the government for its declining wealth and influence
• The middle class and Russia’s educated aristocracy criticised the Tsar’s system of government
• They resented the limits placed on their freedom of expression and on their involvement in the decision-making process