The development of living standards in Russia before the First World War and the relationship of this to the interpretation of the cause(s) of the 1917 Russian Revolution are controversial. This paper analyses one piece of evidence which has been cited in support of the ‘optimistic’ interpretation. This is the anthropometric data. The paper investigates the anthropometric data showing that it is more complicated, less easy to compare over time, and less free from reporting error, than has been argued previously. This weakens the ‘optimistic’ interpretation of living standards and the related interpretation of the cause(s) of the Russian Revolution.

中文翻译：

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第一次世界大战前俄罗斯生活水平的发展：人体测量数据的检验

第一次世界大战前俄罗斯生活水平的发展及其与 1917 年俄国革命原因的解释之间的关系是有争议的。本文分析了一项被引用以支持“乐观”解释的证据。这是人体测量数据。该论文对人体测量数据进行了调查，结果表明，与之前的争论相比，人体测量数据更复杂，随着时间的推移更不容易进行比较，并且报告错误更少。这削弱了对生活水平的“乐观”解释以及对俄国革命原因的相关解释。