Migration and the household: Urban living arrangements in late 19th- to early 20th-century Russia

Examining population census data for the late 19th and early 20th century, this article examines the impact of rural-urban migration during the first wave of Russia's industrialization on urban living arrangements. The author finds effects that echo the experience of other industrializing nations, notably the proliferation of board and lodging arrangements, and phenomena that are more peculiar to the Russian situation. Notably, the system of landholding and associated legal and fiscal constraints complicated migrants' separation from the village and put a premium on cyclical and return migration rather than outright urbanization. These conditions were conducive to the formation of collective non-family households of labour migrants, artely, which were an important mechanism for cutting living expenses and increasing the share of earnings remitted to the village and the family household back home.