The use of women's' and minors' labor in the chemical industry of the Russian Empire (1884–1894)

• Published in: Исторический журнал: научные исследования no. 4; pp. 75 - 99
• Main Author: Umanskii, Leonid Alekseevich
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.04.2025
• ISSN: 2454-0609; 2454-0609
• DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2025.4.74598

The article is dedicated to the employment of women and minors in the chemical industry of the Russian Empire during the 1880s and 1890s, using the example of three provinces – Vladimir, Moscow, and St. Petersburg – in the context of the emergence of factory legislation aimed at regulating, among other things, the use of labor from the specified age and gender cohorts. Based on the factory and plant directories from 1884 and 1894, the article analyzes the factors influencing the dynamics of the share of adult men among all workers in chemical establishments – the level of mechanization, their age, specialization, location, etc. The selected provinces represent two industrial regions, the old (Moscow) and the new (St. Petersburg), which historians often contrast concerning the use of female labor, and the article examines the relevance of such an approach concerning the chemical industry. From a methodological perspective, the study relies on historical-genetic, comparative (diachronic), and systemic methods. The main conclusions of the article can be summarized as follows. The chemical industry of the Russian Empire in the 1880s and 1890s resorted to the use of cheap labor in significant amounts, regardless of which specific group of productions was concerned (there were exceptions, but they are overshadowed by key industries) and the level of mechanization of the establishments, which, according to several researchers, was supposed to decrease manufacturers' interest in it. One cannot speak of the effectiveness of factory legislation concerning the chemical industry, as both analyzed chronological cuts show an increase in both the number and share. Regarding several industrial sectors, historians consider this package of regulations as an element of the rivalry between the Moscow and St. Petersburg industrial regions, but in the case of the chemical industry, there can be no talk of serious competition, as the St. Petersburg province leaves Moscow far behind in key indicators – and, unlike the textile productions, for which the adopted regulatory acts were originally directed, it actively employs the labor of women and children.