Nikulin Valeriy N.,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Institute of Humanities of Baltic Federal University named after I. Kant, Kaliningrad, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Agriculture and Non-Farm Works in the Peasant Economy of the North-Western Village in the Late 19th – early 20th Centuries (Based on the Materials of the Luga District of St. Petersburg Governorate)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2019-5-1
The article examines the state of the peasant farms of the Luga district of the capital’s governorate at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries; determines the correlation between agricultural occupations and rural non-farm works in the economy of peasant households. The author points out specific features of the use of male and female labor in agriculture and non-farm works. While male peasants were predominantly engaged in various non-farm works, the female peasants for the most part were engaged in household and agricultural field work; raises the issue of territorial distribution of rural non-farm works; shows dependence of this process on the natural environment and the state of the transportation infrastructure in the county. It turned out that the majority of peasants engaged into rural industrial works were active in their provinces, within the administrative boundaries of their volosts or districts. The economic life of the peasants in the Luga District was influenced by climatic conditions, proximity of St. Petersburg, changes in the transportation system of the North-West. It is concluded that households combining the non-farming works with crop farming prevailed over peasant households, where people were engaged only in agriculture or only in non-farming works. While writing this article, the author used mainly zemstvo materials and, in particular, the data of a statistical and economic survey of the Luga District’s peasant population of working age, carried out in 1898–1899.
Publishing: 31/10/2019
How to cite: Nikulin V.N. Agriculture and Non-Farm Works in the Peasant Economy of the North-Western Village in the Late 19th – early 20th Centuries (Based on the Materials of the Luga District of St. Petersburg Governorate) // Historical Courier, 2019, No 5 (7), pp. 4–18. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-5-01.pdf
Links: Issue 5 2019
Keywords: peasantry; agriculture; crop farming; peasant non-farming works; peasant household; St. Peterburg Governorate; Luga district