Discontent Among the Masses

Life for Factory Workers:

"For the Russian workman to live meant simply not to die."

- French Historian Marc Ferro

At the beginning of the 20th century the Russian factory worker worked on average an 11 hour day (10 hours on Saturday). Conditions in the factories were extremely harsh and little concern was shown for the workers' health and safety. Attempts by workers to form trade unions* were resisted by the factory owners and in 1903, a priest, Father George Gapon, formed the Assembly of Russian Workers. Within a year it had over 9,000 members.

*Trade Union: an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals such as achieving higher pay and better working conditions.

The working class in Russian became known as the "proletariat," the poorest class of working people. 1904 was a particularly bad year for the proletariat. Prices of essential goods rose so quickly that real wages declined by 20 per cent. When four members of the Assembly of Russian Workers were dismissed at the Putilov Iron Works, Gapon called for industrial action. Over the next few days over 110,000 workers in St. Petersburg went out on strike.

In an attempt to settle the dispute, George Gapon, decided to make a personal appeal to Tsar Nicholas II. He drew up a petition outlining the workers' sufferings and demands.

George Gapon:

The demands made by George Gapon and the Assembly of Factory Workers:

(1) An 8-hour day and freedom to organize trade unions.

(2) Improved working conditions, free medical aid, higher wages for women workers.

(3) Elections to be held for a constituent assembly by universal, equal and secret suffrage.

(4) Freedom of speech, press, association and religion.

(5) An end to the war with Japan*

*Russo-Japanese War: a war between Russia and Japan over land and resources in far east Asia. The defeats suffered by the Russians in the Russo-Japanese war made the war (and Tsar Nicholas II) extremely unpopular at home.

Russian Factory Workers protesting in 1905:

Life for Russian Jews:

Pogrom is Russian for "devastation". During the 19th century Russia there were attacks by mobs against the Jews, these attacks were called "Jewish pogroms." These were often approved or condoned by those in authority. In the late 1800s, there was a wave of pogroms in southern Russia against the Jewish community. Because of their consistent mistreatment, a significant number of Jews played leading roles in the 1917 Russian Revolution.

A 19th century engraving depicting a Jewish pogrom:

Read the primary sources below, which describe what life was like for Jews living in Russia:

Source: Reverend W. C. Stiles was in Russia during the pogroms of 1903.

"Under every kind of outrage they died, mostly at the door of their homes. They were babes, butchered at the breasts of their mothers. They were old men beaten down in the presence of their sons. They were delicate women violated and murdered in the sight of their own children."

Source: In her book Promised Land, Mary Antin described what it was like to be Jewish in Russia during the 1880s.

"I remember a time when I thought a pogrom had broken out in our street, and I wonder that I did not die of fear. It was some Christian holiday, and we had been warned by the police to keep indoors. Gates were locked; shutters were barred. Fearful and yet curious, we looked through the cracks in the shutters. We saw a procession of peasants and townspeople, led by priests, carrying crosses and banners and images. We lived in fear till the end of the day, knowing that the least disturbance might start a riot, and a riot led to a pogrom."