The economic and social impact of the Russian Civil War: Life in the cities

The workers

• Appalling living conditions:  very little fuel, bad sanitation, water only available from pumps, electricity rarely available and widespread disease
• Poverty:  wages were at 2% of 1913 levels and workers spent two-thirds of their income on food
• Growth of a black market: only one-third of a worker's diet came from rations (the rest came from the black market), workers took goods to the countryside to exchange for food and there was…