Russian Politics Today Stability and Fragility

This chapter introduces the reader to the economic conditions and challenges of citizens who live in Russia outside metropolitan areas, regional capitals, or rich oil- and gas-producing regions. In the Soviet era, life in villages and small towns was organized around large and often powerful state-run factories and collective farms, which were responsible for providing many public services. The privatization of these enterprises left towns and villages uncertain not only about jobs, but also about who would take over the provision of basic services and duties. As the 1990s wrought havoc on local economies, Russian citizens in these smaller towns and villages sought ways to survive. They tried to rely on subsistence farming and occasional local incomes, and to find new ways to make a living as entrepreneurs or farmers. They worked without salaries to keep their jobs or took advantage of opportunities for labor migration to more prosperous places in Russia.