Many farmers lost their land to the “evils” of the “mortgage system” (Doc. B). As mortgage foreclosures increased, so did the number of farmers forced into tenancy. By 1900, the majority of Midwest farmers were tenants—unable to afford their own land. However, Midwest farmers were faced with other, more severe atrocities that eventually impacted national politics.
Why did opposition to the Tsarist Regime increase between 1881 and 1904? Opposition to the Tsarist regime increased between 1881 and 1904 due to a mix of the effects of industrialisation, which lowered the quality of life for the peasants and the workers in Russia, and government policies such as Russification and upholding the autocracy. Industrialisation, which both Alexander the third and Nicholas the second prioritized in the 1880s and 1890s, caused a lot of problems for the peasants, which mad them oppose the autocracy. Land hunger was a massive problem throughout this time period and only 5% of Russia’s land could be used for farming. So this meant peasants didn’t get a lot of land, which became more of a problem because to aid industrialisation, a policy of export and starve was introduced.
Prior to 1901 DuBois was a supporter of Booker T. Washington’s ideals. During this time they both believed that Blacks were responsible for the bad conditions they were living under. They both believed in Black self-help, and moral development. They both believed that with economic growth from the black community voting rights would come. They both also urged blacks to support black businesses and to receive industrial training.
In the middle of the crisis, several social classes experienced a harsh time. For instance, some of The Poor White of the Southern States, who relied on their agricultural for living, abandoned their farm and moved out of state because of debts and the rejection of banks to lend them money to run their farms. Other worked in farm of rich and gave a part of the harvest to the owners of the land to compensate the rent. Other lived on street having no places to go. To sum up,
This caused the division of society between the countryside and towns. In the countryside peasants were still paying for land given to them when they became free. The richer peasants (known as the kulaks) gained more land and ran small local businesses which widened the gap between rich and poor peasants even more. In the towns and cities workers very little and barely enough to survive and there working hours were too long, however Sergei Witte eventually introduced the 11 ½ hour working day in 1897 but this was usually ignored by employers. The Russo-Japanese War was another factor that caused opposition and unrest in Russia and it lasted from 1904 to 1905.
However, agriculture was changing, landowners had begun to enclose their land so they could make a profit from selling food and improve farming methods. As a direct consequence of this ordinary workers lost their jobs. The effect was that workers began to move to cities to look for work to avoid starvation, as a result of this there was a huge growth in the size of cities and a great change in where people lived. This major change did not necessarily have a positive effect on the ordinary person’s life. Families were forced to live in horrendous conditions, houses had no ventilation, were ill drained and Dr James Kay-Shuttleworth in 1832 reported 1 toilet for 380 people.
Firstly the Russian empire’s economy was largely focused on agriculture; which was also essential for feeding their vast empire. At the start of the First World War agricultural workers and horses were drafted to the army causing a reduction in food production. This meant contentment on the home front was low as there weren’t enough people to do the work and people weren’t getting enough food; this is a direct cause of the war and is a prime example of how the First World War was responsible for the fall of the Romanovs. Combined with the lack of workers was the army takeover of the railway, this meant that there were further food shortages in towns and cities as there was very poor internal communication; the lack of workers caused by the war affected the people’s faith in the Czar and the war and contributed to the eventual downfall of the Czarist regime. To add to this rationing was introduced and each person was entitled to 50 grams of bread a day.
From 1865 to 1900, American farmers experienced a wide list of problems in their way of life and abilities to thrive. The potential to survive significantly decreased to almost none, the profits earned by Farmers were insufficient. Two major influences that played a part in these problems was big business and government policy, also the decisions of the farmers themselves. All factors played an equal, but significant, role in the depression and misery of the farmers. Big business had the greatest impact on the ability farmers had access to make a living.
Farmers had an especially hard time during the Great Depression because many of them had taken out loans to pay for more equipment. Agriculture was great in the beginning of the Great Depression. So great, that farmers bought more land and equipment on credit to support the growing sales. They overproduced and used bad practices, which resulted in topsoil that was exhausted and eroded, unable to sustain
The Midwest was turned into the largest desert in the United States due to drought like conditions brought on by over farming of the Plains and lack of rain. The tractor was invented which led to a cut in manpower on farms. Millions of people, who called the Midwest home, migrated to California or headed east to areas of New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania looking for a more financially stable life for their families. Many of these families faced hard times even after moving to the West Coast and were subjected to being treated like other racial minority groups.