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the
continuing industrialization accelerated the growth of the class of
urban wageworkers. so novel was the class of factory workers to
russia that there was no legal provision to define its place in
russia抯 social structure: in their passports the workers were
referred to by the traditional labels as peasants or town dwellers.
at the beginning of the twentieth century the russian working class
represented an excellent example of a destitute and exploited labor
force, characteristic of the early stages of capitalist development
described so powerfully by marx in
capital. |
workers?wages were a
quarter to a third of those in western europe; the proportion of
well-paid workers was very small. the majority of russian workers
worked and lived in squalid conditions; hours of work were long,
accident rates were high, and discipline was harsh. not
surprisingly, the russian workers began to organize to better their
lot. this restricted even further the bourgeoisie抯 freedom of maneuver and made it even more predisposed to political compromise.
it saw the autocracy as less of a threat to itself than the
revolutionary-minded working class.
despite russia抯 impressive economic growth, its per capita
industrial production and per capita national income were still far
behind the leading group of industrialized nations. huge newly built
modern industrial plants coexisted with thousands of small archaic
mills. the agrarian sector remained dominant, and capitalist
relations in agriculture developed at a slower pace due to the
numerous vestiges of the old serfdom system. in 1913 only 18 percent
of the population lived in towns, and industry still produced only
20 percent of national income. russia was still a mainly
agricultural, underdeveloped country.
ultimately, it was the social and economic backwardness of the
countryside that was to have the most fatal consequences. the pace
of the development of capitalist relations in agriculture lagged far
behind the rapid growth of industrial production. after 1907, the
stolypin plan authorized the destruction of the commune. the
intention was to create a new class of independent, economically
viable proprietors in the countryside attached to the principle of
private property. this step, desirable as it was, was far too little
and too late. the reform added new problems to the old by helping to
stratify the peasant masses and creating hostility between different
groups of peasants.
the
government抯 inability to regulate the relations between different
social groups and to curb the excessive exploitation of wage labor
forced the working masses to adopt a radical, revolutionary course
of struggle for their legitimate demands. russia抯 peasants and
workers lent a ready ear to the bolshevik call 揈xpropriate the
expropriators!?as for the middle class, it was too small to serve
as a counterweight to radical, extremist slogans. the social
explosion of february 1917 culminated in the inglorious collapse of
the tsarist government and the end to the three-century-old rule of
the romanovs.
the romanovs.
