social divisions in the 1890s

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  • social divisions in the 1890s
    • the landed elite
      • small, diverse group
      • mostly of noble status
      • personal landholdings declined since emancipation
      • possible jobs
        • professional activities, e.g. uni professors
        • business
        • commerce
        • transport
        • industry
        • state service
        • zemstva
        • provincial governorships
      • often retained much of previous wealth and status
    • the middle class
      • growing class
      • resulted from urban/industrial expansion and education
      • included bankers, doctors, teachers and administrators
      • enterprises included building railways or starting factories
      • lower middle class could become managers or workshop owners and traders
    • the urban working class
      • around 2% of the population by the 1890s
        • some peasants temporarily worked in towns
          • returned to the villages at peak farming times
        • others became urban workers or worked in migrant groups building railways
      • growing class
        • by 1864 one in three of the inhabitants in St Petersburg were peasants by birth
      • suffered poor living and working conditions
        • this was despite some reforming welfare legislation in 1882-1890
    • the peasantry
      • kulaks
        • did well out of emancipation
        • bought up land and employed labour
        • might buy grain from poorer peasants in autumn
          • sold it back at a profit in spring
      • poorer peasants
        • suffered more after emancipation
        • became landless labourers
        • often in debt
        • experienced varying but generally poor living standards
        • experienced poor health and low life expectancy

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