How did child labour affect the industry in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
Section 1: Identification and evaluation of sources:
The research question being investigated is: “How did child labour affect the industry in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?”. In the Russian Empire of the late 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, there is plenty of evidence of child labour. This led to a huge increase in the industry across the empire. Child labour was not just a one-off occurrence, it was normal practice at the time. Two sources relevant to this investigation are Gvozdev S. Memoirs of a factory inspector, from observations and practices in the period 1894 - 1908), which offers insight into the Russian Empire factory itself, and the book by Goncharov Y.M and Faronov V.N. “Labor of children and adolescents in production in Western Siberia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries”, which gives a professional academic analysis of child labour in the more deep context of Western Siberian factories.
The value of Gvozdev’s memoirs as a factory inspector gives first-hand information, that can be considered one of the very few primary resources regarding child labour in factories. A value of the date when these memoirs were published, 1911 is that this text reveals a unique perspective on how kids were used to increasing the productivity of the factory. A value of the purpose is that it is a book written by an inspector himself, which gives an insight into multiple aspects of the inspector’s life in this factory. The reader can see everything that the inspector saw during the 15 years of his work. The content is showing disagreement with the established norms on the work of minors. The author in his work doesn’t agree with the parents that want children to work more and gain money for the family, he is trying to prove to them that kids can not work as adults. A limitation of this content is that it is very specific material regarding only one factory where the author worked, it is not showing the whole perspective on the situation. Also, it does not suggest any ways of solving this problem.
The value of Goncharov’s and Faronov’s book is that it gives the reader expert academic analysis of the child labour problem in Siberia during the time of industrialization in the Russian Empire. It was written by two Russian historians from the city of Barnaul, which, is located in Siberia. This resource was published a lot later than when the Russian Empire even existed. It was published in 2015. Therefore, it is not first-hand information, it is an analysis of this type of information. The purpose of this book is to educate people interested in child labour specifically in Siberia, in the harshest and toughest conditions. A limitation of this book as I already said, is that it was written a lot later than when child labour was used as much as it was. Also, it talks specifically about Siberia, not giving information about the general situation in Russia.
Section 2: Investigation:
The main feature of the Industrial Revolution was the replacement of human labor with machines, and the creation of large factories to house more equipment and personnel to service it (Miriam Webster). The man was no longer the primary source of production; the value of his labor plummeted, and the potential for exploitation multiplied. The first prerequisites for an Industrial Revolution in the Russian Empire were laid by Peter the Great. By that time, the gap in industrial development between Russia and Europe was wide. In Europe, industrialization had begun earlier and, consequently, was already well underway by the time Russia realized the problem (Industrial revolution in Russia). Because of this problem, the need for industrial development in Russia increased dramatically. Peter the Great was very determined to find a solution to this problem. At that time he started to exploit the labor of conscript peasants, and prisoners and also the construction of factories that were sponsored by the state (Grand Russian Encyclopedia). Further technological progress made it possible to use women and children in the place of men. Machines were brought to the factories. Machines did not need the brute strength of men and consequently, women and children, who were more dexterous and worked in some cases much faster, were able to work on the machines. Before this period, child labor was also used, but to a much lesser extent (Oronovskiy). Child labor was used everywhere in all factories and contributed greatly to the development of industry in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Children mainly helped out in family and farm households. But later, industrialists took up the use of child labor. It was not difficult to see the economic value in children. Children operated machines as well as adults, but their main advantage was that they could be paid much less than adult men or women.
There were several different ways in which children could get to work in a factory. One of the most common ways was for desperate parents to send their children to factories to somehow feed their families. This was also a way of destroying their physical health since the factories at the time did not have any health and safety standards for workers (Gvozdev 48). In some cases, factory owners employed whole families with many children at once. In such cases, the owner had more workers and therefore made their labor cheaper. Another method of employing minors was simply buying a child from a desperate parent. People who were involved in such cases were called "rowdies"(Goncharov and Faronov 54) The parents were paid 2 to 5 roubles for the child, depending on his or her physical condition (Child labour in tsarist Russia). Their only hope for a normal future was that they would end up as apprentices in a decent shop or a small workshop where they could be taught a trade. Couriers, on the other hand, earned comparatively more than a child's parents. Couriers were paid between 5 and 10 roubles per child, again depending on the health and physical condition of the "goods"(Child labour in tsarist Russia). The main place where couriers picked up their goods was the orphanages (Goncharov and Faronov 55). Orphans were taken away en masse and of course, they were paid a pittance. Also, some of the children were taken directly from the streets.
"Here I met young children whose appearance made a terrible impression. You won't find such emaciated, wax-colored faces with deeply sunken eyes and completely blue under-eyes anywhere else. " This is how Inspector Gvozdev described his impression of the children he met at one of the factories on his patch where he worked between 1894 and 1908 (Gvozdev 52).
For the most part, in large and medium-sized industrial enterprises, working conditions were frankly terrible (Oronovskiy). Under such conditions, the health of adults, not to mention children, went downhill. Sickness, the general state of a child, and banal fatigue were of no interest to the owners of the factories. sickness, very poor nutrition, and lack of any moral and mental development revealed the complete degradation of the children.
In the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th century, machine production was very much on the rise. This type of production hit the smaller enterprises that could not use machines as much as the bigger ones. One of the factors that allowed such enterprises to stay afloat was children. The harsh and immoral exploitation of children allowed the craft industries to compete in any way with the large manufacturers. Many children at that time were taken directly to these factories to study (Child labour in Tsarist Russia). Children were taught both crafts and, in some cases, even the sciences, which at that time was still quite rare (Child labour in Tsarist Russia). Children were selected according to their age. But by the time of the increasing growth of machine production, the owners of the factories stopped looking at the age of their students. They began to take whomever they could as long as it was cheap for the company.
The inspection that checked the conditions of training, accommodation, and labor did not affect the small industries and, therefore, gave the owners of these enterprises a free hand. At that time there already existed Law "On minors working in plants, factories and manufacturers" of 01.06.1882, which was written in black and white "to teach their pupils diligently, to treat them humanely and meekly, not to punish them without guilt, and to occupy the time due to science, not forcing them to domestic service and works" (Сomplete collection of laws of the Russian Empire). But in practice, no one followed these laws. All laws were easily circumvented by ordinary human cunning. Here is how Inspector Gvozdev describes the circumvention of laws by industrialists: ”Officially, minors do not work in these factories, and the inspector if he does not take special measures, will never find minors in the factory: before he arrives, all the minors disappear from the factory.” (Gvozdev 52). Also, the factory inspectorate was not only to report violations and accidents involving children but also to investigate them. But as mentioned in the summary of factory inspectors' reports, only 1/10th of all violations were investigated, and the number of successful investigations was much less than 1/10th. Here is how inspector Gvozdev describes compliance with these regulations: “... even after the law on work of minors was issued, there were many cases of entering a factory at the age when work was forbidden by law" (Gvozdev 47). With the introduction of the law on the length and distribution of working hours, adults were allowed to work 18 hours a day, a seemingly improved situation for adults, but at the same time, minors were allowed to work 9 hours a day, which was 3 hours more than the previous working hours (Gvozdev 48).
The widespread use of child labor indicates a low level of industrial sophistication. As production technology became more complex, more professionalism was required of personnel, which meant that such personnel required much longer training. Russia at the end of the 19th century, characterized by the industrial revolution in all sectors of the state economy and the birth of industrialization, did not have the necessary level of development to abolish child labor in industrial enterprises. In addition, even later than this period during World War I, the situation in the economy as a result of the total absence of men in industries contributed even more to the increased use of child labor. Thus, in the Russian Empire, there was a tendency to involve children in productive activities, the reason for which was a mainly acute material need. And although, as described above, children's earnings were extremely small compared to those of adults, they accounted for a fairly large part of the family's total income. During this relatively short period in Russia, a great number of legislative acts were passed that provided the basis for the regulation of the length of the working day, the obligations of industrialists concerning the payment of wages, the working conditions for children and women, and the minimum insurance. During this period the foundation for the regulation of labor relations was laid. This contributed to the introduction of new standards and working conditions for workers.