The number of freely hired factory workers in Russia expanded considerably in the 1830s and the decades that followed, though mainly in the growing textile sector. With the abolition of serfdom, the way was open in Russia to new spurts of industrial growth, a modest one in the 1870s and early 1880s, and a major one in the 1890s. Labour unrest among industrial workers began to be taken more seriously by Russian officials, publicists, and political activists of all stripes only in the 1870s. From 1872 until the fall of the tsarist regime some forty-five years later, the interaction between workers and members of the radical intelligentsia would be a central element in the evolution of the revolutionary movement in Russia. By the early twentieth century a fierce and sometimes agonising competition for worker allegiance had begun between radicals of various persuasions, liberals, social and religious organisations, and the government, for working-class political support.

Towns are often presented as market centres, but mainly as places for the buying and selling of goods, or for financial transactions. This chapter examines several of the most important sectors of the labour market, following the paths taken by individuals over their lives. It then explores the development of each of these sectors, developing an account of the changing nature of life-paths and career structures, and their implications for the developing urban system. The chapter discusses casual trades, skilled artisans, factory workers, miners, domestic service and white-collar work. Finally, it scrutinizes the interactions between the labour market processes and the form of the urban system, concentrating on spatial divisions of labour and the ways in which economic fluctuations altered the relationships between different sectors of the labour market and transformed the geography of towns and cities.