The industrialization of in the back end of the 19th century and early 1900s lead to many peasants looking for work in cities and towns to improve their lives, aiming to supplement the meagre money they earned farming the land. These peasants made up 80 percent of the Russian population in 1900, and although they had been freed from serfdom and allowed to own their own land, redemption payments over 49 years and shrinking of plot sizes meant that the lives of the peasants was incredibly hard and poverty stricken. Due to this, nearly a million people came to the capital St Petersburg to search for work despite the abject conditions in which they lived and worked. Miserable wages were given, so to support themselves and families, many had to work up to 14 or 15 hours a day, and when they returned from the factories, it was common for 10 or more people to be living in one room. A new class of the rich, the capitalists, took advantage grants given by the government and made easy profits from the exploitation of the workers, doing little to rectify the situation. The paltry pay, the over crowdedness, extensive hours and destitute working conditions took its toll on the laborers, establishing discontent and leaving the door open for political opposition to form.
Two major political parties posed a direct threat to the Tsar's autocratic leadership through revolution. The first, the Social Revolutionary Party, wanted all land in Russia to be given to the peasants and would go to any lengths to achieve them, making them outright Terrorists. Millions of peasants who could not keep up with the redemption payments and wanted their own land supported the Social Revolutionists. The second was the Social Democratic party, who wanted revolution to overthrow the Tsar and to share out wealth equally according to the needs of each individual. These political parties garnered support from a huge proportion of the Russian population through the working class and peasants and this civil unrest was further intensified from the disastrous performance on the battlefield.