The term “migrants” appeared long before this mass phenomenon became common in the vast Russian Empire. Temporary, most often seasonal work, provided peasants with a rare opportunity to improve their financial situation and achieve more for themselves and their families.
Wastemen. Definition
Compared to ordinary peasants who lived from their own land, they called outworkers people who were engaged in craft labor or who sold their labor on the side. This is a separate social stratum that arose already in the middle of the 17th century, quickly increased the number of its members, and by the first half of the 19th century this phenomenon had become widespread. The peasant migrants are people who left villages and villages and went to cities where industry had just begun to develop and there was an opportunity to earn money in various sectors of the economy.
Who are the migrants?
The first migrants were peasants who went to other places for seasonal work. Unknown master craftsmen went to the cities with their unpretentious tools and created wonderful masterpieces of stone and wooden architecture in ancient cities.
The expansion of the borders of the Russian state required the constant strengthening of cordons and the construction of new cities and fortified points. Such work required a constant influx of labor, which only peasant expatriates could give. This phenomenon was especially evident during the construction of new cities in the north-west of our country, including the new capital of the empire - St. Petersburg.
Wreckers in the XVII-XVIII century
The legal prerequisite for the mass withdrawal of peasants from their homes was the decree of 1718, which replaced the household taxation with income tax (per capita tax). All males were considered to be taxable. Natural requisitions were replaced by financial obligations, and it was rather difficult to make any amount in the native village. There was practically no opportunity to earn money at local factories - industry was just beginning to develop, and the influx of foreign capital was the main impetus to economic development. The equipment for Russian plants and factories was mainly imported, the main transport routes were the seas, rivers, and proven trade routes, so large enterprises initially appeared only in big cities.
Work of migrants was seasonal and was regulated by internal documents - passports. Usually such a passport was given to the peasant for a year, but there were other certificates, the validity of which was shorter. Usually, in the early spring, the migrant left for the city. I had to travel for many thousands of kilometers, often the otkhodnik traveled all the way on foot. On the way, these peasants often had to beg. In the city, a peasant-worker was employed by a worker in a private house, in an enterprise, or performed one-time work for a lump sum payment.
Background of rejection in the 19th century
In the second half of the XIX century, peasant reform was carried out , according to which the peasants received personal freedom. But the land on which they worked, still remained in the possession of the landowners. The proportion of landless peasants who could no longer feed either themselves or their families increased. On the other hand, the growth of capitalist relations gave impetus to the development of industry, which traditionally was concentrated in large cities of Russia. Thus, the only possibility of earning remained the city.
Attempts to Limit Departure
By the middle of the 19th century, a huge number of peasants who chose an urban lifestyle were called migrants. In some provinces, the number of people who preferred otkhodnichestvo reached a quarter of the adult male population. The decrease in the number of peasants cultivating the land forced the government to accept restrictions. In order to obtain an internal document authorizing movement around the country, the peasant had to be in a rural community, the right to leave the land was bought off from the landlord by paying a levy. But control measures yielded only a partial result. For example, after legislative innovations in 1901, only 849 peasants returned to the village out of 12,715 people leaving the village in the Lyubimsky district of the Yaroslavl province.
Stratification of society among workers
The economic recovery of the Russian state in the second half of the XIX century launched the process of property stratification of all social layers of the population. The richest migrants are the owners of real estate, hotels and restaurants, shops and wholesale stores. Such representatives of the big commercial bourgeoisie occupied about 5% of the total number of workers.
Up to 70% were representatives of the new urban philistinism employed in industry, manufacturing, construction and other sectors of the economy. Finally, about a quarter of the total number of this category of the population were hired laborers. Such peasants combined seasonal earnings with the cultivation of their own land.
New life
News of possible earnings was brought to the village by migrants. This event was significant in the life of every village. Returning to their native village from distant cities, peasant migrants changed both their lives and the lives of their families. The way of life in the countryside was changing, the arrangement of one's own home was more modern. The influence of the city broke the usual foundations of the village. Unlike the rest of the peasants, the otkhodnik is a practically non-drinking master and craftsman who perfectly owns his skills. The migrants from their big cities brought amazing household items and even luxuries to their house - kerosene lamps, samovars, furniture, fashionable clothes, gramophones. All this was associated among local peasants with a carefree city life. For girls from forgotten villages, it was an enviable party. Associating her life with such a husband, the representative of the fair sex could hope for a settled life and high social status.