ABSTRACT
The number of enquiries into workers’ family budgets in Russia before the Revolution of 1917 was very small; such enquiries were conducted chiefly by trade unions, usually in most unfavourable conditions, and therefore presented very limited scope for a thorough investigation of the conditions of the working classes; moreover, they were confined to certain industries and towns. Such were, for instance, the budget enquiries made in St. Petersburg in 1908 and 1909, in Baku in 1910, and several others. These enquiries—supplemented by official statistics—are the only available sources for the study of the standard of living of Russian workers before the Revolution.
