Essay on The Industrial Revolution in Russia

Russia was very agriculturally based and did not have the sufficient technology to industrialize. States could industrialize when an efficient agricultural system was implemented to provide sufficient food for the factory workers that did not have land to farm. It is the trend seen from the beginning of civilization. Trade specialization can only occur with a surplus of food. Therefore, the first step for Russia, on its way to industrialization, was to become more efficient at farming.

Russia struggled to provide food for its populations. Citizens took control into their own hands, Ludovic Naudeau wrote in October 1917, “One morning recently I was awakened by the cries of my neighbor in the next room. His boots had been stolen. The same day the manager of a newspaper office told me that he had been robbed six of pairs of pantaloons, … “Four hundred thefts every night!” he cried; that is the average for the last two weeks,”(One Aspect of Bolshevist Liberty). Russia could not even uphold itself because the economy was not successful compared to other countries. This led people to desire a change in the government; therefore this led to the Russian Revolution. People went to different maters to get what they wanted such as stealing since they were not getting the aid that they needed and they needed financial support. This caused them to protest against their government because many people from the lower class could not take care of their families. This cause led to a greater impact compared to Tsarist weak authority.

Russia's overthrows and shortage caused revolutionary upheaval and massive inflation, which led to deprived infrastructure. During World War I, Russian society naturally caused great dissatisfaction among the serfs. As the revolution wore on, numerous reform and Tsar Nicholas II, a ruler, tried to change Russia's social structure and government. Among the masses, there was discontentment with Russia's social system and living conditions. Laborers worked and lived in horrendous conditions, which played a crucial role in aggravating the condition of workers and peasants. As a result, peasants starved and Russia’s armies were overpowered on the battlefield because much of its terrain was occupied by enemies. Hence, Imperial Russia was a

The Industrial Revolution brought about great changes in how goods were produced and consumed, but it also brought about social and political changes. Some were positive, such as machines relieving much of the toil previously placed on worker’s muscles. But there were also negative changes.

The industrial revolution began in England in the 1770s and expanded to areas in Prussia and Bohemia by the 1840s. The scope of industrialization was huge and forever changed the landscape of modern society by increasing production, national wealth, and technological advancement. However, it also resulted

During the 1900’s the Russian Government made it extremely hard for the Bolsheviks to progress which made them revolt against the government making this a prime matter for the start of the Revolution. The Czarist government was ostracized by the common people of Russia so Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the Provisional Government, whom later on were overthrown by Lenin and shortly after the Bolsheviks took control over Russia. Russia was hard to develop because of the major leaders who had control; Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky. Almost overnight an entire society was destroyed and replaced with one of the most radical social experiments ever seen. Poverty, crime, privileged and class-divisions were to be eliminated, a new era of socialism

Economically, Russia was in a lot of danger. Thus they took out a loan from France. In one respect in indicated instability in that they now relied on another country which was risky. However simultaneously it depicted how Russia was trying to overcome the backwardness. Nevertheless; linking back to Stolypins social reforms, it as well had knock on affects on agricultural affairs. As now, they were becoming more reliant and independent in their farming. As well it encouraged them to get jobs; in turn improving Russia’s industry. By 1914 only 17.8% of factories had less than 100 workers and 41.4% had more than a 1000 workers. In this respect indicating stability with Russia or at least Russia was stabilising.

The entire economic structure of Russia appeared to be fully dependent on industrialization. In Document 1, a Russian finance minister presents the facts that the Russian empire is making a great transformation and that the industrial and commercial systems must be carried strongly in order for Russia to catch up with other countries economically. The details of how the production and trading of goods are so imperative makes you understand how hard the people of the industry have to work to make all of this possible. Further confirming this observation, Russian workers claimed they would rather die than live the kind of life they lived in Document 4. In Document 4, a Russian socialist witnessed a workers’ meeting during a strike. Quotes from workers like “our suffering has gone beyond all measure,” demonstrated the horrible conditions employees worked in. Another piece of evidence comes from Document 7. In Document 7, a Russian physicist analyzes the women employment in factories. It is said that they worked insane hours and were paid unjust amounts. Women who asked for a raise were just laughed at and disregarded. Within this same document it is revealed that there were children being physically forced into performing intense labor. In proving this unfair treatment, a document from an emperor or prominent political leader could be very beneficial in explaining how things were truly run in factories. However, in the end these documents serve as sufficient evidence that industrial work in Russia was not

Industrialization in the late 19th century was commencing across the globe. Japan's industrialization was a fast one, completing what took Europe a century, in a single decade. With a highly advanced military and government stability, Japan to control of territory in modern day Korea. Russia was one of the countries that began to industrialize after losing to Japan in a war. The embarrassment Russia held for losing to what they considered an inferior country, sparked the government to industrialize, to avoid further humiliation. Impeding industrialization in both areas, took a toll on the lower class, and forced ex-farmers to become factory workers. This caused urbanization, as people were required to live near factories, located in cities. Although Japan and Russia differed in their sources of income for the process

There were also many problems in Russia after they had an Industrial Revolution. Russia had many government problems. The Russian government was a type of government that did not listen to the people. The government did as it pleased without consent from the people. The people had no say in the governing process as in the United States. Due to this there were poor working and living conditions, overpopulation, poor sanitation, not many jobs and many people were starving. The majority of the people in Russia (about ninety percent) were poor and only about ten percent were rich and they controlled the nation. This meant the majority of the nation was not being listened to.

The people saw a time of unification and of increased economic profits.  For about 175 years, the Russian Empire experienced a little bit of everything, from Industrialization to revolutions, to social changes, to numerous wars. At the beginning of this time period, the Russians found themselves struggling with some of the most basic things the rest of Europe had--roads.  Russia had been lacking the infrastructure to connect its' large territory, and help bridge the gaps between the people in the empire.  Not only that, but after all of the famines and other difficulties Russia was having, there was a large migration into urban areas, leaving many places along the countryside to fend for themselves.  And the peasants in these areas were often burdened with such heavy taxes, they could not afford to feed their own family, let alone get to a market in an attempt to make a

Russia was a country rich in raw materials that had been undisturbed by modern extraction and refining techniques until then, however, the majority of the countries resource rich areas were nowhere near any railways, with the bulk of the heavy materials such as steel, iron, coal and copper being in the Urals, almost 1,000km away from the nearest railway system in 1860. Oil, another key ingredient in industrialisation was almost 1,500km away to the south, in the Caucasus area3. This lack of transportation in a period when steam powered machines were producing the goods and steam powered trains were delivering them and leading the industrialisation in other countries like Britain, the USA and a future foe in Germany is an indicator of the distance that Russia was behind its rivals under the leadership of the Tsar. So the Tsar’s Russia was largely an agrarian one, but even in the agricultural sector Russia was lagging far behind the rest of the West in terms of the methods employed by farmers, little fertiliser was used and the labour saving machines used in countries with enormous agricultural output like the US were nowhere near as widespread in Russia. The weaknesses of the Tsar’s management of the agricultural sector were highlighted in 1891 when famine hit. Due to the heavy tax on consumer goods, peasants had been forced to sell more of their

Overcrowding, terrible food, disease and alcoholism were everyday happenings. Peasants began to realise that working in the factories was no better than working on the land. As a result of this industrialisation, a new class of people called the Capitalists began to emerge in Russia. These were the new middle class, which Russia had only seen as shopkeepers and university lecturers, but landowners, bankers, industrialists and businessmen flourished.

The Russian Revolution is a widely studied and seemingly well understood time in modern, European history, boasting a vast wealth of texts and information from those of the likes of Robert Service, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Allan Bullock, Robert Conquest and Jonathan Reed, to name a few, but none is so widely sourced and so heavily relied upon than that of the account of Leon Trotsky, his book “History of the Russian Revolution” a somewhat firsthand account of the events leading up to the formation of the Soviet Union. There is no doubt that Trotsky’s book, among others, has played a pivotal role in shaping our understanding of the events of The Revolution; but have his personal predilections altered how he portrayed such paramount

The Bolsheviks believed they had to industrialise to achieve national strength and maintain independence. This was a shared view of non-Bolshevik predecessors such as Count Sergei Witte a former Russian minister. The Soviet Union needed a modern industry, especially a heavy industry, as there was the idea that they had to defend the revolution. They believed the Russian revolution was in constant danger from capitalist countries, which were militarily and technically far stronger than them. Then there was the belief that the building of socialism or communism involved industrialisation, and that a proletarian dictatorship was insecure so long as it ruled in an overwhelmingly peasant environment . Industrialisation was introduced to eradicate the backwardness that had plagued the country for so long so they could rise and defeat capitalism. In his speech in 1931 Stalin stated ‘we are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or we shall go under’ and that ‘it is the jungle law of capitalism. You are backward, you are weak - therefore you are wrong; hence you can be beaten and enslaved. You are mighty - therefore you are right; hence we must be wary of you. This is why we must no longer lag behind’ . These show the need for the Soviet Union to advance and become stronger than capitalist countries. Industrialisation also allowed the Soviet