Main Problems Facing Industrial Workers in Russia in 1905

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Main Problems Facing Industrial Workers in Russia in 1905

By 1905, cities were flooded with workers. Life was extremely

difficult for the working class. In the main cities, living conditions

were very poor and the accommodation for the workers was very cramped,

usually having only enough floor space for people to walk in. When

working, the workers who worked in the factories were at a constant

risk because of the dangerous, heavy and unguarded machinery. The

workers usually worked for fifteen to sixteen hours a day and earning

next to nothing for the amount of time they worked. This caused a low

morale in factories and led to avoidable accidents happening on the

factory floor due to tiredness.

The grievances that the workers wanted to change were that they wanted

their hours of work reduced and there pay increased to a rouble a day.

The workers also wanted better living and working conditions. The

workers wanted to change the law as the workers couldn't go on strikes

because trade unions were prohibited. The workers couldn't be

represented in parliament, because parliament had not been created by

then.

A grievance that the workers, peasants and the middle class suffered

from was that the government's policies to develop industry had

disastrous effects on the people. Even though oil and coil production

trebled, and the iron production quadrupled, the peasants that moved

to the major cities realised that they would have found themselves

better off staying in the countryside as their conditions hardly

improved. The workers couldn't change their conditions, as trade

unions were banned.

In Russia, there was this organisation called the Okhrana, this was

the Tsar's secret police whose job was too seek out opponents to the

Tsar and imprison them. The workers found it hard to order a strike or

a march, as they didn't know if a member of the Okhrana was about as

well as there not being trade unions.

During the spring and summer, peasants moved into the city to earn

more money for the family before the harvest.

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