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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. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.