From workhouses to the Morozov strike: How ordinary people in tsarist Russia first looked for work, and then defended their rights

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The labor of commoners in pre-revolutionary Russia was, as a rule, exhausting and unbearable, the mortality rate in production was high. This is due to the fact that until the end of the 19th century, there were no labor protection standards and workers' rights. In relation to the criminals who worked hard to atone for their misdeeds, this can still be justified, but children worked in almost the same conditions. But still, driven to despair, people managed to turn the tide by changing the attitude towards their work throughout the country.

Compulsory Workhouses

The first labor associations organized by the authorities appeared in Russia at the expense of criminals and beggars. The authorities decided in one fell swoop to isolate the asocial class from society and force the "obscene" to work in workhouses. Ideally, such institutions were considered charitable organizations where vagrants could live, eat and work for money.

The idea of opening these institutions is attributed to Tsar Fyodor III Alekseevich Romanov, who took care of the fate of the victims of the fire after the fire in Moscow in 1676, built houses for the poor, and participated in the life of the prisoners. Before him, vagabonds and the poor were occupied by monasteries. Peter 1 also paid attention to this issue, who, by his decree, established restraining houses. He declared the beggars a social evil, forbade alms under the threat of a 10-ruble fine, and ordered the alms itself to be regarded as complicity in a crime.

Under Catherine II, young unemployed people were placed in workhouses, who were forced to earn their own food. One of the most famous of these establishments is the first Moscow workhouse, divided into male and female departments. Men were engaged in heavy earthwork here, worked in brick factories, procured stone and firewood for government construction and private demand. The women were mainly engaged in spinning, weaving sails for the navy. Later, the Matrosskaya Tishina prison appeared on the basis of the first Moscow workhouse.

Under Nicholas I, workhouses began to be classified as places for serving sentences. Imprisonment in such a house deprived a person of his rights and lasted from 2 months to 2 years. The workhouse routine included getting up early on command, roll call, a meager breakfast, and a working day until the evening with a lunch break. After - supper and lights out. Escaping from the workhouse was severely punished.

Harsh everyday life at the Morozov factory

The Tver textile factory of the Morozovs was considered the largest in the province and occupied an entire urban area. At its gates, adults and children constantly crowded, dreaming of getting even a penny job. From dawn until late at night, the boys, for 2 rubles a month, took apart pieces of yarn, interrupting for sleep in transport boxes for the final product. Children cleared complex machines, squeezing into such cracks where adults could not get through.

From hard work, poor food, dust and dirt, they were constantly sick and did not grow well. The working conditions of the adults were not the best either. In the shearing shop, I had to breathe flying pile. And because of the dust, it was impossible to see the neighbor on the machine. Consumption and loss of sight were common ailments of the factory workers. By unbearably exploiting the workers, the Morozov factory owners amassed substantial capital. In 1915, the Tver factory earned over 10 million rubles. The personal income share of one of the Morozovs was about 196 thousand.

First laws through strikes and strikes

The factory owners at that time felt an urgent need to streamline the working regime, but officials were in no hurry to bother the factory owners. Strikes were massively marked in the 70s of the 19th century. The first law of 1882 concerned the prohibition of the labor of children under 12 years of age. Teenagers aged 12-15 were allowed to work no more than 8 hours a day, excluding night and Sunday shifts.

In addition, children could no longer be employed in hazardous industries - match, glass, porcelain factories. Several years later, the night shifts in factories and factories for women and minors were canceled. The exploitation of child labor was finally banned with the adoption of the first Labor Code of 1917, which guaranteed an 8-hour workday and a ban on hard work.

In 1885, the Morozov strike made a special impression on the authorities. And, despite the fact that the instigators and coordinators of the strike were condemned, on June 3, 1887, a law appeared regulating the relationship between an employee and an employer. The document prescribed the conditions of hiring and dismissal, maintaining pay books, the responsibility of the administrations of enterprises, and penalties in relation to negligent employees.

According to the new law, from now on it was forbidden to charge manufacturers for medical assistance and lighting workshops. It was allowed to impose payments on employees for the use of an apartment, a bathhouse, a canteen, but according to the tax approved by the inspection. The working day was limited to 11, 5 hours, and night and holiday shifts - ten. Sunday work was allowed only instead of weekday work, 14 holidays were guaranteed (in 1900, 3 more days were added to them).

Fines occupied a special place in the work process. There were hundreds of points where workers were punished with money. Often in the settlement books, out of 15 rubles accrued per month, 10 were subtracted in favor of penalties. They were fined for everything, even for frequent visits to the toilet. At the Tomsk factory of the Kukhterins, where children stuffed matchboxes, a penalty was imposed on every fallen match. They tried to solve this problem by the law "On fines" of 1896. Under the new rules, they were not canceled, but their total amount from now on could not exceed a third of the monthly salary. And the penalty capital was allowed to be spent only for production purposes.

Salaries in pre-revolutionary Russia

By the beginning of the 20th century, the average salary was 24 rubles. The lowest paid wage class was the servant with a monthly income of 3-5 rubles for women and 5-10 rubles for men. But in addition to monetary income, the employer provided free accommodation with meals. The highest salaries for workers were at metallurgical plants in Moscow and St. Petersburg - 25-35 rubles. Professional foremen, turners, locksmiths and foremen had a much higher income - 50-80 rubles. per month.

As for the salaries of junior government officials, salaries here started at 20 rubles. The same amount was paid to postmen, orderlies, librarians, apothecaries, etc. Doctors and gymnasium teachers earned about 80 rubles. The salaries of the heads of railway and post offices were 150-300 rubles. The governors lived for a thousand, and the highest ministerial officials were paid one and a half. Officers' salaries after being raised in 1909 were equal to: 80 rubles for a second lieutenant, 90-120 for a staff captain, and up to 200 rubles for a lieutenant colonel. A general as a corps commander earned at least 700 rubles a month.

To get an idea of what could be bought with this money at that time, you can here.