The meshchane of Kama-Vyatka region in XIX - early XX centuries: historical and demographical features

The Great Reforms opened a new stage of socio-economic development of Russia. Cities began to actively de­velop into trading, industrial, and cultural centres. The estate of Meshchanstvo, the basis of urban population, became the core of this phenomenon. During the second half of the XIX century the Meshchanstvo's population had been growing, yet its percentage in town population in current numbers went down from 50.7% to 39.9%. These numbers were greatly influenced by various social effects both in terms of rise and decline. The reason of the growth of the Meshchanstvo's population was the inflow of: peasants, the meshchane from neighboring towns, bankrupt mer­chants, military retirees and clergy. At the same time, the meshchane themselves tended to move to countryside, par­ticipate in interurban immigration, acquire merchant status, honored citizenry or clergy status or to get an official appointment or graduation. All those situations caused the decline of the Meshchanstvo's population. The meshchane remained a significant component of urban society until the very abrogation of estate system on November 24th, 1918. As its integral part, they were in constant contact with urban elite as well as marginalized elements. Another specific factor of the analyzed region was moving of former workmen to factory settlements after the abolition of 33 А. В. Ушаков serfdom which led to a new wave of migration to towns. In general, Kama-Vyatka region was affected by the 1860-70s legislation in a way of shifting social structure into devaluation of estate status.