THE CONDITIONS OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITY IN RUSSIA

its organisation on new foundations could be undertaken. But in comparison with the whole economic life of the country, manufacturing industry was still very weak. By far the greater part of the population of Russia is not urban but rural. At the census of 1897, the town population comprised 16,000,000 and the country population comprised 101,000,000 (this includes Siberia, etc., but excludes Finland). In 1918, according to Oganovsky’s estimate, the urban population of Russia was, in round figures, 30,000,000, and the rural population 140,000,000. At that date, therefore, the urban population was a little less than 18 per cent. of the whole. Moreover, of the town dwellers, by no means all belong to the proletariat. The urban population includes the commercial class, the manufacturers, the petty bourgeoisie, and the professional classes. In all, these strata number millions. It is true, of course, that in the country districts we find ex-workmen, semi-proletarians, and the poor peasants. These elements support the workers. But they are less class-conscious than the urban workers, and are not so well organised.