Labourers

Categories / Population/Professional Groups
LABOURERS, a social group forming a part of the St. Petersburg population - hired personnel for factories and plants, engaged in physical labour, and also individuals engaged in building and transport. At the early 18th century, city workers were brought in for construction work, shipbuilding from the Olonetskaya and Arkhangelsk wharfs and also for producing arms and powder. By the start of the 19th century in St. Petersburg there were up to 115 textile mills, which employed 5,000 people. A rapid growth in the numbers of workers occurred in the mid-19th century on account of peasants (among them seasonal workers). In 1900 there were 222,000 labourers in St. Petersburg, out of which 42,000 were involved in the production of clothes and footwear, 36,000 - in the metal-working industry, 30,000 - in construction, 22,000 - in the food industry, 20,000 - spinning or weaving. The peculiarity of St. Petersburg was the high concentration of the work force. By 1917 on average in 1 enterprise there were 409 people (whereas the rest of Russia had an average of 223 people). The numbers of labourers grew in the period of industrialisation in the 1930s (including organized recruitment). In 1939 there were 622,700 labourers in St. Petersburg, from these approximately 50% worked in machine-building and metalworking industries (by the mid 1960s from 856,000 industrial workers, there were 54-55% engaged in this sphere). The decline in production in the 1990s led to a reduction in the number of labourers and a growth in unemployment (both official and hidden). In 1994 there were 458,000 industrial workers, in 1997 - approximately 350,000, included in this number is also individuals involved in small business. By the beginning of 2001 this number reached 627,500 people.

Reference: История рабочих Ленинграда, 1703-1965: В 2 т. Л., 1972.

A. Y. Chistyakov. История рабочих Ленинграда, 1703-1965: В 2 т. Л., 1972