صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

CHAPTER IX.

WORKMEN'S INSURANCE IN RUSSIA.

INTRODUCTION.

The industrial development of the Russian Empire dates practically from the day of the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Prior to that date manufacturing was conducted mainly in artisans' shops, and the few factories and mills then existing mostly employed serf labor. The problems of workmen's insurance could not have arisen in Russia until a comparatively recent date. Russia is primarily an agricultural country. The rural population, according to the census of 1897, constituted 108,811,626 out of a total of 125,640,021, or 86.6 per cent. Of the 33,201,495 persons gainfully employed, 18,245,287, or 55 per cent, were engaged in agriculture. Together with their dependents they constituted 93,701,564, or 74.6 per cent of the entire population.

But within the last thirty years the growth of Russian industry. has been quite rapid. The urban population increased from 7,293,161, or 10 per cent of the total population, in 1858, to 16,828,395, or 13.4 per cent, in 1897.

According to the later census, the total number of persons employed in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits in 1897 was 5,169,919 and in transportation 714,745, making a total of 5,884,664 for the industrial army, or 17.7 per cent of those gainfully employed.

The table following shows the number and per cent of persons engaged in the various industries, according to the census of 1897:

NUMBER AND PER CENT OF PERSONS ENGAGED IN THE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN 1897.

[Source: Premier Recensement General de la Population de l'Empire de Russie, 1897.]

[blocks in formation]

Total...

26,940, 528 100.0 6, 260, 967 100.0 33, 201, 495 100. 0 92, 438, 526 125, 640,021 100.0

67725°-VOL 2-11--38

2087

The industrial development of Russia, as of any other country, manifested itself not only in the increase of the number of persons employed in industrial occupations, but also in the substitution of large manufacturing establishments for small, independent undertakings and the consequent growth of the wage-earning classes.

The problem of workmen's insurance concerns itself mainly with the wage-earner and not with the independent producer. For this reason the report published in 1906 by the Russian Government concerning the number of wage-earners in Russia, though based upon the data of the census of 1897, is of great importance. In the following table are shown the total number of persons employed as wageearners in various branches of mining, manufacturing, transportation, commerce, agriculture, and unskilled labor and service.

NUMBER AND PER CENT OF WAGE-EARNERS OF EACH SEX, BY INDUSTRIES, 1897. [Source: Ministerstvo vnutrennykh diel. Chislennost i Sostav rabochikh v Rossii na osnovanii dannykh pervoi vseobshchei perepisi naselenia Rossiiskol Imperii 1897 goda. St. Petersburg, 1906.]

[blocks in formation]

NUMBER AND PER CENT OF WAGE-EARNERS OF EACH SEX, BY INDUSTRIES,

1897-Concluded.

[blocks in formation]

According to these census figures the wage-earners in Russia numbered over 9,000,000, of whom about 2,400,000 were employed in manufacturing, 200,000 in mining, and 370,000 in transportation, giving a total of nearly 3,000,000 for wage-earners in industry, in the narrower sense of the word. Agricultural laborers numbered over 2,700,000, the servant class over 2,100,000, unskilled labor nearly 1,100,000, and wage-earners in commercial pursuits (not including salaried employees) over 250,000.

As a matter of fact this number is not as great as it would be but for the limitation put in Russia upon the designation "wage-earner" (zabochi). A great many persons who would be so designated in this country are classed with salaried employees in Russia, as, for instance, many railway employees.

On the other hand, a comparison between the number of wageearners and the total number of persons employed in various occupations demonstrates the existence of a very large number of small independent producers in various branches of industry, as, for instance, in textile, woodworking, metal working, clothing, etc. This comparison, as made in the following table, shows that in manufactures in general only 48.3 per cent of the persons occupied were wage-earners, and more than one-half were independent producers.

PROPORTION OF WAGE-EARNERS TO TOTAL NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED, BY INDUSTRIES, 1897.

[Source: Premier Recensement General de la Population de l'Empire de Russie, 1897. Relevé Géneral, St. Petersburg, 1905, Vol. II. Chislennost i Sostav Rabochikh v Rossii, St. Petersburg, 1906, Vol. 1.]

[blocks in formation]

a Because of differences in classification this item could not be obtained; it is therefore assumed to be the same as the number of wage-earners.

« السابقةمتابعة »