History 328

History of the Soviet Union since 1917

Society and Social Identities before the Revolution

I. Introduction

A. Concepts
B. Russian preference for binary distinctions
C. Alternative and multiple social classifications

II. A binary approach to Russian society ca. 1900

A. Rich and poor

1. Rich

a. aristocracy
b. merchants and manufacturers

1. Poor

a. peasants
b. workers

B. What about the middle?

1. clergy
2. urban middle class
3. intelligentsia
4. combinations

III. An Imperial approach to Russian society ca. 1900

A. "Slavic" core

1. "Great" Russians
2. Ukrainians
3. Belorussians (Belorusans)

B. Western borderlands

1. Poles
2. Lithuanians and Latvians
3. Finns and Estonians
4. Germans
5. Moldavians (Moldovans)
6. Jews

C. Turkic peoples

D. Caucasian peoples

1. mountain dwellers
2. Georgians
3. Armenians
4. Azerbaijanis

E. And many others

Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich	Water carrier ca. 1885	Metal workers ca. 1885