Answer:
Industrial Workers
The working population in Russia was different from other countries in Europe before 1917 in the following ways—
(i) Many workers had settled in cities permanently but many had strong links with the villages from which they came and continued to live in villages. They went to the towns to work daily and then returned to their villages in the evenings.
(ii) Workers were a divided social group. Workers were divided by skill. Divisions among workers was visible in their dress and manners also.
(iii) Metal workers considered themselves aristocrats among workers as their occupations demanded more training and skill.
(iv) Women made up 31 per cent of the labour force by 1914, but they were paid less then men.
(v) Some workers formed associations of help in times of unemployment or financial hardship.
(vi) The workers did unite to strike work when they disagreed with the employers about dismissals or about work conditions.
(vii) Workers got low wages and they had long working hours. They had very few political rights; in short, their life was miserable.
Agricultural Workers
(i) About 85 per cent of Russia's population earned their living from agriculture but most of them were landless farmers.
(ii) Most of the land was owned by the nobility, the crown and the orthodox church.
(iii) In France, during the French Revolution in Brittany, peasants respected and fought for the landowners, but in Russia peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them.
(iv) They refused to pay rent and even murdered landlords.
(v) Russian peasants were different from European peasants in another way. They pooled their land together periodically and their commune divided it according to the needs of individual families.
(vi) Like industrial workers, the condition of the agricultural workers or farmers was also very miserable because of low wages, doing free labour and paying high rent and revenue.
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