Topic: Analyze the changes and continuities in labor systems between 1750 and 1914 in RUSSIA.
Beginning Middle End
|1750-1860 |1860-1914 |1900-1914 |
|1762-1796: Catherine II the Great |1855-1881: Alexander II |1894-1917: Nicholas II |
|• Continuation of serfdom from 11th century. |• Abolition …show more content…
of serfdom under the Emancipation Manifesto (Great Reforms) |• Expansion of industrialization. |
|• Expansion of serfdom into Russia’s new territories.
|• Enlarge the labor pool for industrialization |• Increase in size of industrial class. |
|• Industrialization with new Western methods and recruiting of a larger working class. |• Strengthen the bonds between the monarchy and the people. |• Creation of factory laws to solve the |
|• Increase in number of factories and forming of new industries. |• Peasants had rights but were still impoverished. |new industrial problems. |
|1796-1801: Paul I |1881-1894: Alexander III |• Tried to move forward from |
|• Repealed some of Catherine II’s harsh policies on serfdom. |• Program of Industrialization |agriculture. |
|• Tried to give the peasantry more rights |• Money and skills provided by foreign investors allowed modernization of |• Tried to relieve the peasants of
their|
|• Called for better treatment of serfs on agricultural estates. |existing industries and the building of new factories and mines. |restrictions by allowing them to leave |
|1801-1825: Alexander I |• Important industries: iron, coal, and oil. |their mirs and become independent |
|• Tried to improve conditions of serfdom. |• Formation of small, but growing industrial class. |farmers. |
|1825-1855: Nicholas |• Horrible working conditions in factories. | |
|• Worsening of conditions under serfdom. |• Program’s high costs burdened the poor peasants with taxes. | |
|• Imported industrial goods and paid for them with exports. | | |
|• First railroad built in St. Petersburg in 1837. | | |
Changes: • Russia went from an agricultural state to an industrial one. • Russia went from serfdom to the abolition of serfdom. • The small industrial working class grew into a much larger one.
Continuities:
• Both serfs in agriculture and workers in industry faced horrible working conditions. • The labor force mostly remained unskilled and uneducated throughout the time period
THESIS: From 1750 to 1914, Russia progressed from an agricultural state to a more industrial one, with the abolition of serfdom as a turning point. However, the slow transformation can be accounted for by certain continuities: whether agricultural or industrial, labor conditions were oppressive and exploitative, resulting in an unskilled and uneducated labor force.