Industrialization in both Japan and Russia between 1850 and 1914 was state sponsored. However, the treatment of factory workers in Russia compared to Japan was considerably poorer.
What fueled Industrialization in Japan and Russia was the invention of new technologies and machnery that were used in factories. Machines such as the power loom would allow for factories to mass produce goods in the West and would also in turn be used in places like Japan.
Industrialization in Japan and Russia was sponsored by the state and not a result of private entrepreneurship, such as the Industrial Revolution in West. In document 1, Sergey Witte, a Russian finance minister is writinga secret letter to the Tsar. Since the author of this letter would not…
Workers were more satisfied with how they were treated in Japan while Russia dealt with strikes because of poor working conditions. In document 4, S. I. Somov, a Russian socialist, recalls his participation in a strike. Being a socialist, it is easy to comprehend why Somov would sympathize with the workers and strike and even join them. He describes how the workers stated various phrases over and over again. The workers were on strike because they ran out of patience, and that their suffering was worse than death. These factory workers must have been treated extremely poorly for them to go on strike. In document 5, Yamamoto Shigemi, a historian, interviews elderly Japanese women who worked in silk factories. In Shigemi’s survey, most workers voted favorably when asked about their food or pay and not a single one regretted going to work in a silk factory. A survey pool of 580 is enough to justify the notion that these conditions were similar throughout multiple factories in Japan, and that most factory workers were conent in how they were treated at the time. In document 7, M. I. Pokzocskaya, a Russian physicion, published an article about the treatment of womem in Russian factories. Women were required to work extremely long hours, up to 18 on some days. Actual physical force was also used to make children continue working. Women factory workers were treated as if they…
