Research of the production activities of young children and adolescents of the Ural region in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries

In the 1880s in Russia the paradigms of socioeconomic and cultural development began to change, and changes occurred in the sphere of production. The quantitative increase in the number of workers was accompanied by qualitative changes in their composition. In the last quarter of the 19th century, largely thanks to the development of machine production, the active involvement of young people of different age groups in industry increased. The share of children’s participation in various industries was uneven. Thus, the specifics of the mining industry did not allow the widespread use of the labor of children and adolescents directly in the extraction of minerals. The situation with the involvement of child and teenage labor in the factory and handicraft industries was somewhat different. The most common were pimy-making, pottery, stone-cutting, shoemaking, cooperage, etc. The peculiarity of these industries was primarily their family nature, as a result of which there was an even earlier and wider involvement of children and adolescents in labor than in other industries of the Urals. The length of the working day is a special issue in the study of working conditions for young people. Minors began to work on an equal basis with adults, i.e. 9 hours a day. The average working day varied depending on the type of production and the number of work shifts per day. In most large and small mines in Russia, where child labor was often used illegally, the working day reached 12 hours a day. In the carriage and blacksmith trades, the working day of a minor lasted more than 11 hours, and for young lapidaries, tanners and leather workers it ranged from 13 to 18 hours a day. The wages of the working youth of the country and the Urals also fluctuated depending on the nature of the work performed. Various types of deductions, which were not always legal, had a significant impact on the earnings of working youth. In some cases they amounted to more than a half of what they earned. A negative role in this phenomenon was played by foremen and overseers, who were the closest superiors for young workers, capable of execution and mercy. Taking advantage of their position, they often cheated workers and extorted food and money. This situation led to the fact that the state was forced to take measures to limit the cruel exploitation of children and adolescents in industry. This is proven by the adoption of a number of legislative acts (1882, 1884, and 1885). At the same time, the work of minors saved them from a half-starved existence; the child had the role of the family breadwinner. How urgent the need was to get the child to work early was determined by the ratio of working and non-working children in the family. But the insecurity of working families meant that even small earnings of children and adolescents significantly improved the financial situation of all its members.