Peasants’ inequality and stratification: evidence from pre-revolutionary Russia

ABSTRACT

The article analyses Russian peasants’ differentiation in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, addressing issues related to transformation of the peasantry's socio-economic standing during the market economy formation period. Combining statistical data analysis and using a multilevel model on peasants’ welfare in the province of Simbirsk, we find that a high level of inequality existed in the region at the time of the census; that inequality within a county contributes more toward income inequality than inequality between counties. Based on different statistical resources, we also plot the graphs and calculate the Gini indices for provinces for which data on the distribution of land, horses, and cows by individual farms are available. Our results do not support Chayanov's hypothesis on the correlation between the number of peasant family members and the amount of land in their possession. Our results indicate that communes were losing their ‘equalising’ function. For most provinces, the Gini index had been rising over time, indicating increasing inequality. Most importantly, this increase occurred in a relatively short period—much faster than in other countries—thereby making Russia more socially and politically vulnerable.

KEYWORDS:

• Agrarian sector
• differentiation of peasants
• cluster analysis
• Gini index
• multilevel model

SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION CODES:

• B4
• C02
• N01
• N10

Acknowledgements

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Collective responsibility was abolished in 1903

2 One dessyatina is approximately equal to 2,7 acres or roughly 1 ha

3 Here, we consider provinces in the European part of Russia and exclude the Baltic land where they already had farms at the time.

Additional information

Funding

This study did not receive financial assistance from any agencies, for profit, or not for profit organisations.