In the late 19th century, Russia was plagued by an immense amount of problems linking economic, political, and social stigmas. The evidence supporting economic problems as the primary cause of the 1881 dilemma is deeply rooted within a mixture of geographical and monetary problems, such as the high percentage of infertile land available for usage in agriculture or the stagnation of the economy due to the prevalence of subsistence farmers.
This is in turn counteracted by the prevalence of political problems which introduces the context of the nation as a primarily autocratic society with an extensive hierarchy system as the primary social system, leading to social stigma and discrimination between the levels of society. Last but not least, social problems were heavily rooted as one of the causes of the 1881 dilemma with the entire concept of "serfs" as the primary form of regulation within the country. While there is evidence supporting economic problems being the foremost cause of the conflict in 1881, there is an even greater amount of evidence showcasing the prevalence of social problems in 1881 as the root of the conflicts.
The economic problems of the Russian empire emerged due to the lack of resources readily available for usage in stimulation of the economy; this ultimately created a slow crawl into an "Industrial Revolution" for the empire. The country was mainly an agrarian society, placing a very large burden on the success of the serfs in agriculture. This resulted in social implications of serfdom and feudalism as the majority of the Russian empire was subsistence farmers. However, due to the immense growth in the nation from the years 1831-1881, whereby the country's population increased from 56 million to 98 million, the economy was crippled by the limited amount of exports of crops such as wheat that the farmers could produce to feed so many people and still create funds for large-scale industrial development.