The year 1900 was approaching, he had a heavy burden on his shoulders - he was the last in the nineteenth century, who had almost outlived his life, having not yet solved the most urgent tasks - neither present nor future.
People in Russia were looking forward to this temporary milestone, as if the year 1900 could answer all these burning questions of our time and clarify the uncertainties of the future. They could not know, but they probably felt that it was our country that would become the very world power in which many peoples would see equality and justice. The year 1900 was coming. The palaces were celebrated with carnivals and fireworks. In the huts they drank, cried and prayed.
Late nineteenth century
Meeting the year 1900, in the Russian Empire, people tried to rejoice. On the one hand, mankind has evolved, and the airships are about to fly, and the first planes soared in the sky, a tram drove around St. Petersburg, and the cars on city streets were no longer so dumbfounded. Luminous windows opened up new stores. Residents of cities were fascinated to watch silent films in cinemas.
And people in cities became more and more. Russia in 1900 has already begun the process of the outflow of the rural population to more bread places, which is still ongoing. As now, adult men went to work - most often to artisans. Women found places in service. Even the kids were given "to the people."
St. Petersburg in 1900 was already a millionaire city. Moscow and all other more or less industrial cities grew rapidly. One million and two hundred thousand was the population of 1900 only in St. Petersburg.
Confrontation
From the mid-nineteenth century, a state of hostility continued between the government and the opposition, which, despite the crushing actions of the tsarist secret police, still gravitated toward terror. Russia in 1900 did not allow this half-century conflict to fade. On the contrary, the wind of time turned into a storm. However, the events of 1990 indicate that there was more than one radical opposition in the country. There was also a liberal one.
She was much more loyal to the government. And the masses did not yet understand too well who was drinking the blood of commoners. The peasantry, the people of Posad, the Cossacks of the tsar-priest loved. But the proletariat - no. And it became more and more. Industry developed at an exceptionally fast pace. At manufactories, the working day lasted up to twelve hours. Workers were crushed by fines, not paying what was required for their work. But it is better to talk about all these conditions in detail and in order.
Study
There are works by the first Russian sociologists written at the end of the nineteenth century, containing accurate figures and facts about the conditions in which Russia in 1900 found itself. Statistical compendiums were published, codes of reports of factory inspectors were examined. And all this information was included in the writings of S. G. Strumilin and S. N. Prokopovich.
The first was the most famous pre-revolutionary statistician and economist, in 1931 he became an academician, and died in 1974. The second - a social democrat and populist, a freemason, Minister of Food of the Provisional Government, expelled from the country in 1921, died in Geneva in 1955. The tsarist regime, however, was harshly criticized by both. These completely different people painted the same Russian Empire in 1900. They didn’t embellish anything. They were silent about nothing. These dry numbers can be trusted.
Working day and salary
In St. Petersburg and the province, the worker’s salary (average monthly) was 16 rubles 17.5 kopecks. But the penny of 1900 can in no way equal even the modern hundred rubles. If we multiply this amount by 1046, we get the equivalent of the amount that a worker would receive in 2010. It turns out about seventeen thousand rubles. After the revolution of 1905, in some categories of workers, wages grew slightly. However, after paying incredible fines, most often the worker did not receive half the amount. And it was necessary to rent an apartment for the family, eat, dress ...
In 1897, a special decree established a working day for the proletariat engaged in industry. The legislative norm prescribed that workers not be occupied for more than 11.5 hours a day. It should be noted that the states bordering Russia in 1900, as well as those located farther away, did not indulge their own workers with free time either. Only distant Australians worked in factories for eight hours. Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium - eleven each, Norway, Denmark, USA - ten each.
Events
The year 1900 turned out to be extremely significant. Not only in its calendar value. Indeed, the era of a certain number of light years was nearing (please forgive me for a free quote). In May 1900, the New Admiralty plant in St. Petersburg launched a new cruiser. He still bears the same name familiar to every person - “Aurora”.
This year, great unrest was not noted. But this entire period (1900-1917) turned out to be extremely rich in them. Already in 1901 this process began. In 1902, the peasant provinces of Kharkov and Poltava were excited, mass strikes of workers began with demonstrations in Kiev, Odessa, Zlatoust and two dozen big cities across the country. Further, in 1905, after the Battle of Tsushima, the people were furious at the actions of their own government, which had ruined the country and, nevertheless, shamefully lost the Russo-Japanese War. Fermentation intensified and was already beginning to take the form of organized struggle.
Split society
The political opposition was divided into dozens of parties of different directions. There was almost no unity in this movement at that time, each party defended its own narrowly targeted platforms, but it was the opposition that became the engine that directed the country along the path to revolution. The largest parties at the beginning of the twentieth century were the Socialist-Revolutionary ( SR) parties , the Cadets (constitutional democrats), the RSDLP (social democrats), the Octobrists, and the NRC (members of the Union of the Russian People).
And there were popular socialists, progressives, anarchists, the Ukrainian people's party and a great many others. The ideological constructs and practical activities of all Russian parties at that time did not differ too much from each other, moreover, ideology was often mixed so much that it could not be made out: either it was right or left. The composition of the parties was also everywhere motley: peasants, workers, and educated intelligentsia gathered in one cell. It was there that strikes and demonstrations were being prepared, and it was from there that agitators came to the people.
Return to Terror
The defeat in the Russo-Japanese war coincided with the deepest crisis experienced by Russian society. There were almost no positive-minded people either in the capitals or in the provinces. The flaws of the existing government were too obvious, and state power and power were too much undermined. The mood in Russia in 1905 was so revolutionary that even the new 1900 was met with hope. Time passed, but the situation did not improve, mistakes multiplied, and the government and the tsar-father were incredibly far from the people.
Almost daily killings of statesmen began to happen. The attacks were carried out more and more sophisticatedly and often ended successfully. However, the same thing happened in the rest of the world. The people no longer called the leaders of numerous parties rebels, they sympathized with them, helped them. Even very smart and wealthy people supported future revolutionaries (recall the industrialist Mamontov, and he was far from the only philanthropist of the opposition movements).
Bloody sunday
On January 9, 1905, a huge procession of workers decided to speak briefly with the tsar-father about their problems. After all, they do not inform him of national troubles! He is kind, he will help, you just need to tell him the truth. So naive were the people who until now had not known revolutions! The king did not go out to meet them, but the army came out. A mass shooting of demonstrators with a petition took place.
And this treacherous and extremely short-sighted decision made the people explode in the first Russian revolution. Everyone was indignant - from the last peasant to the first intellectual. What can we say about the workers who quickly armed themselves, built barricades in both capitals and many other cities.
At the same time, peasant riots swept through the hinterland - treasury forests and manor estates were burning, the shops of the local rich were ruined. The king hastily published his October manifesto, but it was already impossible to change the situation. Accumulated grievances needed a way out. This is not to say that "all the steam went off the whistle." In any case, not only the Socialist Revolutionaries, but also the Bolsheviks who appeared in 1903, did a great deal of work on the mistakes subsequently.
Calm before the storm
By 1907, the nuts in public freedoms had to be tightened to the very end. In 1906, an assassination attempt was made on Prime Minister Stolypin, who was forced to take, as today's liberals put it mildly, "the most stringent measures." The security guards really raged. The revolutionaries gradually flowed abroad, but there they continued their activities. One newspaper Iskra is worth it! It was from it that the flames of a perfectly prepared and successfully completed revolution flared up. By the way, the newspaper was born all in the same 1900, as the cruiser Aurora.
And in the country, the revolutionary moods did not subside, they hid deep underground. The industry continued to develop, and after the events of 1905, the owners of the enterprises were already afraid to still mock the workers. Even wages have risen everywhere. Several lean years ended, and there was so much bread in the empire that they began to sell it.
As always happens before big events (and during big events), a particularly sensitive part of the population began to react adequately: the silver age of poetry came, the Russian ballet rose high (Diaghilev conquered the whole world), the theater received exceptional popularity, and a completely different sound began to sound music, and painters surprised with a new and not entirely understandable style.
World War I
The country did not flourish for long, in 1914 a war broke out in the summer, the first among the worst. I had to fight against Germany and Austria-Hungary. The people even then hated everything German, even the capital was renamed Petrograd. The war was not very smooth, more and more often the unfortunate Tsushima was recalled. Riots resumed, reproaches to the government and the emperor personally multiplied more and more. And there were reasons. The tsar was amusing himself by shooting cats on walks, who did not hesitate to dance at the ball immediately after Khodynka and Bloody Sunday, and brought the "holy elder" Rasputin closer to himself and no one liked him at that moment.
Rasputin "steered" military operations, appointed and dismissed ministers and military leaders. He was not even afraid of the other Romanovs. Thus, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich was removed, and Nikolai II, who took the place of the commander in chief, suffered one defeat after another. And the army is good, but the commander is bad. Again a series of lean years came, and even the country got bogged down in the war. Famine returned to the cities, and with it riots. The financial system of the state tried to survive this collapse. But never survived it.
February 1917
It all started with a general strike in February 1917. Residents of cities actively rallied. In St. Petersburg, such a rally was shot on Znamenskaya Square, killing more than forty thousand people at once. As many later died of wounds. After such a country reared up. Nicholas II was no longer able to change at least something in this life. Future white Civil War officers forced the sovereign to sign abdication, after which he was arrested with his family and taken to Tsarskoye Selo.
The country was headed by the Provisional Government, which also did not quite know what to do with this country. Just in case, criminals were released from prisons. Robbery and murder began everywhere. On the fronts it was even worse. The soldiers were already very tired of losing the war and no less wanted to go home. Officers were disarmed, shoulder straps were torn from them, they fled. They “fraternized” with the Germans.
And in Petersburg, meanwhile, a workers' council was organized, where there were both peasants and many soldiers. Strong advice was received from abroad regarding his activities. And after some time, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin illegally returned to the country.
"Temporary? Slime!"
Already in July 1917, it became clear to everyone that the Great October Socialist Revolution - to be. When the demonstration was shot by the Provisional Government, everything was already decided. "All power to the Soviets!" shouted her slogans. The Leninist party was banned, and he had to live in a Finnish hut, where he matured a plan to overthrow the Provisional Government, which was incapable of action - neither peaceful nor military.
On October 25, St. Petersburg banks and telegraphs were seized, and the Council of People's Commissars and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin became the head of power. The interim government was arrested. Winter Palace taken. But the First World War in our country continued the Civil War, because white officers brought with them the troops of fourteen occupying states. And only two years later, finally, peace came. Not too long either.