The composition and structure of the population of the Tyumen District
based on the materials of the 1926 census

Fedotova Dar'ya Yur'evna ORCID: 0000-0002-9832-8914 PhD in Philology Researcher, TKNS UrO RAS 626152, Russia, Tyumenskaya Oblast' oblast', g. Tobol'sk, ul. Ak. Yu. Osipova, 15, kab. 3 dashulya-23@bk.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The first attempts to study the demographic development of Siberia were made already in the second half of the XIX century by Yu. A. Gagemeister and E. N. Anuchin ^{[1, 2]}. Their work was mainly of a practical nature and pursued mainly administrative and managerial goals.

In 1914, the fundamental work "Asian Russia" was published, which presented the dynamics of the population The Siberian region in 1897-1911 ^[3].  

The First General Census of 1897 served as a serious impetus for further demographic research in Siberia. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the most important event in this regard was the All-Union Census of 1926. In the second half of the 1920s - 1930s, a whole group of talented statisticians worked in Siberia: A. I. Petrov, I. A. Yakushev, A. R. Schneider, and others ^{[4, 5, 6]}.  

Numerous works of modern researchers A.A. Burmatov, V.A. Skubnevsky, Yu. M. Goncharov, V. A. Zverev, Z. A. Tychinsky, D. A. Alisov and others are devoted to the study of demographic processes in Western Siberia. ^{[7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}.

One of the most significant works characterizing demographic processes in Western Siberian society at the end of the XIX–XX centuries is the monograph by V. A. Isupov. For the first time, the book examines demographic changes in the population of Siberia in the twentieth century as a single multifaceted process of its development ^[12].

At the same time, it should be noted that there is a need to study the situation in specific districts to identify the features of their development. The data of demographic statistics of individual territories allow us to study the peculiarities in the number and social composition of the population, as well as to study their impact on the socio-economic development of the region as a certain territory and the region as a whole. The relevance of this study is determined by the fact that the question of the composition and structure of the population of the Tyumen District based on the materials of the 1926 census has not been considered in historical science before.

The object of the study is the population of the Tyumen district. The subject of the study is the composition and structure of the population of the Tyumen district.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the socio–demographic situation in the Tyumen district, recorded by the materials of the All-Russian Census of 1926. The census materials give an idea of the composition of the population, characteristics of the population by age and gender, urbanization processes, contain data on literacy and basic occupations of citizens.

The methodological basis of the research is the principles of historicism, integrity, objectivity, and comprehensiveness. Both general scientific and traditional methods for historical research are used: systematic, historical-comparative, problem-historical. In addition to traditional historical methods, the method of statistical analysis was used in the work, which allows an assessment of quantitative indicators to identify the level of urbanization of the population and the dynamics of changes in gender, age, social, and professional composition.

The source base of the work was the materials of the First General Population Census of the Russian Empire in 1897 and the All-Union Population Census of 1926.

The main part

The All-Union population census of 1926 was conducted starting on December 17 using the survey method and lasted 14 days in rural areas and 7 days in cities. The census was led by statistical demographers V. G. Mikhailovsky and O. A. Kvitkin. During the first All-Union Population Census of 1926, for the first time, the entire available population of the country was taken into account, and information about the permanent population was collected in cities. The census program included 14 items with sub-items: gender, age, nationality, native language, place of birth, length of residence at the census site, marital status, literacy, physical disabilities, mental health, occupation and industry, duration of unemployment and previous occupation (only for the unemployed), source of livelihood (only for those who have no occupation). In addition, the family chart noted the composition of the family, the duration of marriage and housing conditions. Thus, the census was distinguished by the detail of its development and the completeness of the data obtained on families and the social composition of the population. The census materials were published in 56 volumes in 1928-1933. The methodological principles underlying the 1926 census were largely used in all subsequent censuses of the USSR (1937, 1939, 1959, 1970, 1979 years).

 In the 1920s, there were serious changes in the administrative and territorial division of the country. By the decree of the Central Executive Committee on November 3 and 12, 1923, the Ural Region of the RSFSR was formed, which included the Tyumen District. The population of the Ural region was 6,786,339 people.

The Tyumen district was formed from the territory of Tyumen County, Yalutorovsky County (without Mokrousovskaya parish), part of the territory of Tobolsk County of Tyumen province and 6 volosts of Kamyshlovsky county of Yekaterinburg province ^{[13, p. 65]}.

According to the materials of the 1926 census, the total population of 13 districts of the Tyumen district (Ermulinsky, Ievlevsky, Isetsky, Lipchinsky, Nizhnetavdinsky, Novozaimsky, Pokrovsky, Suersky, Talitsky, Tyumen, Shatrovsky, Yurginsky, Yalutorovsky) was 504,900 people. According to the materials of the 1926 census, there were 1,321 rural settlements in the Tyumen district.

Table 1

The population of the Tyumen and Yalutorovsky districts of the Tobolsk province according to the census of 1897.

Calculated by: The first general population census of 1897...Issue 1 ...p. 24

Urban and rural population of the Tyumen district according to the census of 1926

Table 2

Calculated according to: The All-Union Population Census of 1926... Vol. 4. p. 228

When comparing the data in Tables 1 and 2, we see that the urban population of the Tyumen District is slowly but steadily increasing in number.

At the time of the 1897 census, Tyumen and Yalutorovsky districts were separate administrative units. The 1897 census shows 9% of the urban population and 91% of the rural population in these two districts. When, according to the materials of the 1926 census, we see that this ratio is changing towards an increase in the urban population to 13.3%. The results of the census reflected an increased influx of people into the city. I.V. Skipina notes that this situation is not typical in all territories of the Ural region. For example, in the neighboring Tobolsk district, the population of Tobolsk decreased according to the previous census of 1987 compared to the census of 1926. So, if in 1897 20,425 people lived in the city, then according to the results of the 1926 census the population decreased by 2,071 people and amounted to 18,354. These phenomena were related to the fact that Tobolsk, unlike Tyumen, did not have a large factory industry ^{[14, p. 81]}.

The permanent population of the six urban settlements of the district was 67,357 people, which is 13.3% of the total population, 86.7% (437,543 people) lived in rural areas. In the neighboring Tobolsk district, a similar pattern is observed: the urban population was no more than 11% of the entire district.

Many settlements in Siberia were considered urban only conditionally. In total, there were six urban settlements in the Tyumen district, recorded by the census of 1926 (Yertarsky Plant, Petrovsky Plant, Talitsky plant, Peklevskaya, Yalutorovsk).  Of these, the largest urban settlement in the district was Tyumen, where 50,340 people lived, which accounted for 75% of the total population of urban settlements.  According to the 1987 census, the population of Tyumen was 29,544 people at the end of the 19th century. We see that the population of Tyumen has grown significantly by as much as 58% compared to the data of the 1987 census ^{[15, p. 12]}. The All-Russian census of 1926 showed that in the mid-1920s the majority of Siberians lived in rural areas. According to her data, the rural population of Western Siberia formed the bulk of the inhabitants - 88.1%. natural population growth.

The Russian population made up the absolute majority of the entire population of the country: 77,760 thousand people or 52.9% by nationality. According to the materials of the 1926 census, the Russian population made up the largest group of the Tyumen District - 91%; the second group in terms of number was 5.7% Tatars; 0.8% - Zyryans, 0.4% - Chuvash, other 2.1%; relatively small groups of Belarusians, Jews, Czechs, Poles, Bulgarians, etc. lived in the district. Thus, the census recorded the predominance of the Russian population both in the whole country, Western Siberia and in the Tyumen district ^{[16, p. 5]}.  

One of the most important socio-demographic characteristics is the grouping of the population by age and gender.

The 1926 census contains reliable information not only on the number, but also on the gender and age composition of the population.

Table 3

The sex and age composition of the population of the Tyumen district according to the census of 1926

Calculated by: The All-Union Population Census of 1926... Vol. 4. p. 224

The data in Table 3. show that the population of the Tyumen district was quite young. Proportion of children, adolescents and youth (under 29 years of age) In 1926, it made up about 50% of the district's residents. The proportion of people over the age of 60 did not exceed 8%. The same age groups accounted for about 69% of the region's residents throughout Western Siberia. The proportion of people over the age of 60 in Siberia was 6.6% ^{[17, p. 224]}.  

According to the Materials of the 1926 census, it is significantly noticeable that the number of women exceeded the number of men in general for all age groups by almost half and is 48%.

The gender and age structure recorded by the census clearly reflected the consequences associated with the period of the Revolution and the Civil War. That is why the biggest difference was observed in two age groups of 20-24 (5,217 people) and 25-29 (5,373 people) years. In these age groups, there were 1,330 - 1,300 women per 1,000 men. On average, there were 1,130 women per 1,000 men in the entire district.

The census also gives an idea of the social structure of the population. The socio-professional composition of the population of the Tyumen district was directly related to the occupations of the population. Agriculture was the main occupation in all 13 districts. Sheepskin-fur, pimokat, saddlery, and leather handicrafts were developed in the district, which are directly related to agriculture. Others related to the processing of wood, these included: the production of wooden tableware, cart, sleigh, etc. The main types of large-scale industry were milling, leather, stationery and woodworking. The Tyumen region was considered the most industrially developed. There was the Assumption stationery factory of the Tyumen industrial Plant. The city of Tyumen was of great economic importance, over 3,600 people were employed in censorship and small-scale industry. The city had an iron foundry, mechanical, alcohol-vodka, sheepskin-fur factories, as well as a pimokatnaya, match factory, ship repair workshops, etc. ^{[18, p.10]}.  

By the decree of the Central Executive Committee "On the Destruction of estates and civil ranks", which came into force on November 12, 1917, after the October Revolution, all estates in the RSFSR were liquidated. The society began to be divided into social groups by spheres of activity.

According to the 1926 census, the social composition of the country's population is divided into groups of workers, employees, people of liberal professions, owners with hired workers, working owners with family members and members of the artel, single owners, family members who help in occupation, people who do not have jobs, the unemployed and military personnel.  

Table 4

Socio-professional composition of the population of the Tyumen district

according to the census of 1926

Calculated by: The All-Union Population Census of 1926... Vol. 23. pp.2-3

The largest social group in the Tyumen District, as table 4 shows, were owners and members of artels working with family members. The total number of members of peasant family farms numbered 376,001 people. this is 74% of the population of the entire district. Independent producers-peasants who did not hire workers, but made do with workers from their family were the basis of the social composition of the Tyumen district.

The next largest social group, according to the 1926 census, were workers. Their stratum made up 35% of the urban population and 4.8% of the rural population. A greater number of them were traced in the factory industry and transport.

V. A. Isupov analyzed the social composition of the population of the entire Western Siberia and revealed the quantitative predominance of the same social groups as in the Tyumen district. The share of the largest social groups in Siberia according to the population census during the NEP period were owners and members of artels working with family members amounted to 42.6% of the total population. Workers in Western Siberia, who ranked second according to the census, made up 32% of the city. They worked mainly in the factory industry. ^{[14, pp. 59-60]}.

The third place in the Tyumen district was taken by a group of single hosts

 and made up 6.3% of the population of the Tyumen district. The group of single owners consisted of artisans and artisans who carried out the fishery with their own personal labor, without anyone's help. This category also included small traders who were engaged in sole trade, made by hand or from small trays, from baskets, bags, buckets, jugs, that is, engaged in manual trade ^{[19, pp. 59-60]}.  

          According to the materials of the All-Russian Census of 1926, the category of employees included the population involved in agriculture, factory, handicraft industry, construction, railway transport, institutions and amounted to 5.5%.

Owners with hired workers made up 1.9%. The proportion of this group in cities was approximately 0.9%, in rural areas 1%. In agriculture, the relatively high weight of this group is revealed due to the fact that the bulk of the owners concentrated in the agricultural sector, they used hired labor of farmhands.

The organizers of the census included intelligent labor in the category of persons of liberal professions: free-practicing doctors, engineers, teachers, artists, writers, those specialties that were not affected by the process of nationalization of occupations. They made up 0.2% of the population of the Tyumen district.

Persons who did not indicate and did not have jobs, including a group of unemployed and military personnel, made up a total of 2.4%.

An important indicator of the level of development of the state is the literacy of citizens. The census also showed significant changes in the cultural and educational aspect. The All-Union population Census of 1926 was supposed to sum up the first objective results of the grandiose work on the implementation of the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of December 26, 1919. "On the elimination of illiteracy among the population of the RSFSR." In accordance with this normative legal act, the entire population of the republic aged from 8 to 50 years old, who could not read and write, was obliged to study ^{[20, p. 210]}.

The 1926 census revealed that the level of education in the Tyumen district turned out to be quite low 31% of the total population of the district (21% men and 10% women). There were more literate men than women. Thus, the number of literates in the Tyumen district was 66% of men (105047 people) and 44% of women (53617 people) from all residents of the district. The census showed that the largest number of literate people were young people aged 15-30. - 40% of the total population.

In rural areas, the population was less literate. Among the rural population in the school age group of 8-9 and 10-14 years, literacy was 34% and 42% of the total number of these ages. In cities, these age groups showed a higher literacy rate. In Tyumen - 70.3% and 95%, in other urban settlements 40.2% and 72.6%.

Relatively low literacy rates were due to the overwhelming predominance of the rural population, as well as the predominance of higher literacy rates among younger age groups.

Conclusion

The materials of the All-Russian Census of 1926 are the most important source for studying the social structure of the Tyumen district in the mid-1920s. The majority of residents lived in rural areas and accounted for 86.7% (437,543 people) of the total population of the district. Nevertheless, in comparison with the materials of the previous All-Russian census of 1987, the urban population increased by 4.3%.

When analyzing the census materials, it was concluded that the population of the Tyumen district was quite young. Proportion of children, adolescents and youth (under 29 years of age) In 1926, it made up about 50% of the district's residents. The proportion of people over the age of 60 did not exceed 8%. The number of women prevails over the male sex by 48%. The biggest difference was observed in two age groups of 20-24 (5,217 people) and 25-29 (5,373 people) years, which allows us to conclude that the gender and age structure clearly reflected the consequences of previous socio-political cataclysms.

The census also gave an idea of the social structure of the population. The census recorded the owners and members of artels working with family members as the largest social group in the Tyumen district. A stratum of workers stood out in second place and accounted for 35% of the urban population and 4.8% of the rural population.

The census showed that the largest number of literate people were young people aged 15-30. - 40% of the total population. The number of literates in the Tyumen district was 66% of men (105047 people) and 44% of women (53617 people) from all residents of the district. In rural areas, the population was less literate.

Thus, the All-Russian Population Census allows us to see changes in the social structure in comparison with pre-revolutionary times. In terms of completeness and diversity, the published materials of the 1926 census have no analogues for the entire period of the USSR's existence and give an objective idea of the socio-demographic composition and professional and sectoral differentiation of Soviet society in the mid-1920s.