Conclusion

Abstract

The evidence presented thus far suggests that a working-class community existed in St Petersburg during the pre-war period. Since these arguments have not yet been tested for their accuracy against existing data, they do not constitute proof that this was indeed the case. Such a demonstration a fortiori requires analysis of systematically collected quantitative evidence. We noted earlier that the 1910 St Petersburg city census cannot on its own tell us anything about the nature and composition of the St Petersburg’s industrial working class, since it does not contain occupational data, but merely provides information on the estate to which the city’s inhabitants belonged. Scholars agree that the main source of the St Petersburg industrial work-force were peasants. We have also seen that no evidence exists to suggest an equal proportionality between the capital’s peasant-estate inhabitants on the one hand, and the city’s industrial workers on the other.