The workers of the Donbas coal mines in the post reform period

Abstract

The article deals with the problems of providing labor in the coalmines of the Donets Basin in the post reform period. Attention is drawn to the use of female and child labor in the production process, and the conditions under which this happened are being ascertained. It is noted that the intensive development of the coal industry in the 1880-1890s led, on the one hand, to a high growth rate in the number of workers employed in coal mining, and on the other, it exacerbated the deficit of this category of workers. Gradually, with the development of industry in the region, a constant contingent of miners took shape. As a result, the so-called mining families began to form in the coal industry of Donbass, which later became a tangible source of replenishing the ranks of workers.