History and English Literature A-Level Notes

Problems of governing Russia

Economic Situation

Social Context

Socio-Economic Evaluation

Crimean War

Impact of the Crimean War

Reassertion of Authority

Problems Posed by Ethnic Minorities

Diversity posed a threat to Tsarist autocracy as the development of national ideology provoked ethnic groups who weren't 'Russian' and Russians were determined to assert their national superiority

Alexander II's response to ethnic minorities

• Alexander II was more concerned with control rather than racial superiority
• He used concessions as a means of keeping control
• E.g. Allowed for Jews to live outside the Pale of Settlement and allowed for Finns to have their own parliament in order to maintain good relations with the Finnish

• Unlike his father, he was quite anti-Semitic, he wanted to ensure 'Russification' took place and wished to suppress all manifestations of 'non-Russian' identity and to rush any non-Orthodox religious practices

• Alexander III believed that by making the Russian empire into a Russia nation (a return to Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationhood), it would unify the country and ensure loyalty
• 1892, Alexander III reorganised the Finnish parliament to weaken its political influence
• From 1883, members of non-Orthodox Churches were not allowed to build new places of worship or spread any religious propaganda
• 1885, Polish National bank closed and all subjects taught in Poland had to be taught in Russian

• Wasn't accepted without resistance
• Estimated that in 1888, 332 cases of mass disturbance, 51 of which the military was employed to control the masses
• Russification caused resentment among the wealthy and educated Finns, Poles etc. and gave incentive to the wealthier to emigrate and persuade others to join political opposition groups

• Right-wing Russian press helped encourage the belief that Jews had orchestrated Alexander II's assassination and created real fear of Jewish involvement in the growing opposition movements
• Led to pogroms where the authorities did little to prevent it
• Jewish Pogroms 1881-84, violent attacks on property and individuals broke out
• Particularly in Yelizavetgrad (Ukraine), it eventually spread to Kiev, Odessa and more
• Jewish property burnt, shops and businesses destroyed and looted
• Sporadic pogroms as seen in Odessa 1886 (could be said as an opportunity for the poor to abuse the situation and to loot the wealthier Jews)
• May Laws 1882, added to discrimination against the Jews
• Article 1, forbid Jews to settle outside the Pale of Settlement
• Article 3, Jews are forbidden to do business on Sunday and Christian holidays

• Many Jews left the country due to fear of their lives, some were exiled
• Foreign Jews were deported from Russia
• Jews had limited access to education - limited by quotas, as in the Pale of Settlement, only 10% of school children could come from Jewish families
• 1893, made illegal for Jews to adopt a 'Christian' name
• Inevitable that radical revolutionary groups found it easy to recruit young Jewish men to their ranks after 1870s like Trotsky, Martov and Zinoviev

Growth of opposition to Tsarist Rule

How did opposition come about?

• Creation of zemstvo and dumas provided a platform for the educated intellectuals to challenge Tsarist policies
• Initial relaxation in censorship (under Alexander II) encouraged the spread of radical literature
• Many of the 'intelligentsia' and radical students and social groups demanded for change
• Main opposition groups were Liberals, Socialist Revolutionaries and Social Democrats

Moderate Liberal Opposition

• 'The Westernisers' wanted to copy Western ideas
• The 'Slavophiles' rejected western values and favoured a superior 'Russian' path to a better future
• Restriction of Zemstvo powers upset the liberals
• They hoped to reform autocracy so that Tsar would rule in conjunction with his subjects
• Middle-class professionals employed by he Zemstva known as the 'Third Element' had a real desire to improve social conditions

Radical Opposition

• 1862, Group of students, 'Young Russia' published a manifesto, agreeing that revolution was the only way forward
• June 1862, a series of fires in St Petersburg destroyed over 2,000 shops
• 1863, 'The Organisation' set up by students at Moscow University called for more reform

Radical Thinkers

• Nikolai Chernyshevsky, wrote 'What is to be done?', suggesting that peasants had to be made leaders of revolutionary change
• Mikhail Bakunin, put forward the idea that private ownership of land should be replaced by collective ownership and that income should be based on number of hours worked
• 1869, Bakunin and Sergei Nechaev wrote a manifesto 'Catechism of a Revolutionary' which was secretly smuggled into Russia
• Persuaded opponents of autocracy to be merciless in heir pursuit of revolution
• Lenin later wrote a novel containing his own ideas about revolution in his 'What is to be done?'

Tchaikovsky Circle

• Nikolai Tschaikovsky set up the Tchaikovsk Circle in 1868-69
• A literary society that organised the illegal printing, publishing and distribution of scientific and revolutionary literature 
• Also conducted propaganda among workers and peasants with the intent of fomenting a social revolution

Narodniks (Populists)

• Idea of 'Going to the People' became known as Populism or 'Narodnyism'
• 1874, Pyotr Lavrov encouraged around 2,000 young men and women from the nobility and 'intelligentsia' to travel to the countryside to persuade the ignorant peasants that the future of Russia depended on them
• Some tried talking and dressing like peasants BUT ignorant peasants loyal to Tsar reported this to the authorities and 1,600 were arrested
• Populism helped opposition flourish within the countryside despite the movement failing
• To make government aware of potential threats
• Mikhail Romas set up a co-operative store selling fruit and vegetables at a cheap price in attempt to help the peasants BUT peasants distrusted him
• Murdered his peasant assistant and burnt his shop down (who would reject such cheap goods...)

'Land and Liberty'

• Group that continued populist tradition, seeking to work within peasant communes
• Some carried out political assassinations including the head of the Third Section in 1878
• Group later split into two groups: 'Black Partition' and 'The People's Will'

'Black Partition'

• Led by Georgi Plekhanov, wished to continue with propaganda and agitation, working with the peasants peacefully in hope to stimulate social change without the use of violence
• BUT group was weakened by arrests in 1880-81
• Led Plekhanov and others to turn to Marxism

'People's Will'

• Led by Aleksandr Mikhailov, wanted to use terrorism to stage a political coup
• Attempts to assassinate the Tsar as a means of achieving social transformation
• Succeeded in March 1881, Tsar Alexander II assassinated
• BUT, response to assassination included anti-Semitic pogroms (because one of the guys who contributed in the assassination happened to be Jewish and the press were trying to turn it on the Jews... AWFUL people) in Ukraine
• Led to regime adopting more repressive policies

Emergence of Marxism

• Karl Marx's 'The Communist Manifesto'
• Basically the idea of class struggle, where the bourgeoisie would exploit the proletariat, whom will then feel isolated and oppressed - they would eventually overthrow the bourgeoise bringing about an egalitarian communist society
• Georgi Plkhanov, the 'Father of Russian Marxism' established the 'Emancipation of Labour' in 1883, who translated Marxist texts and smuggled them in; sought to demonstrate that Marxism was applicable to Russia

• Government failures and assassinations suggest the Tsarist regime lacked authority
• Demands for reform increased as well as an increase in opposition
• Many were introduced to revolutionary and radical ideas

• Alexander II's regime overestimated the security threats
• Peasants could avoid paying taxes to the state
• Illegal revolutionary texts were produced
• 1878, Vera Zasulich release undermined regime's authority
• Several attempts on Alexander II's life
• Alexander III's attitude towards opposition was more hostile
• Reinstated secret police, the 'Okhrana'
• 'Okhrana' agents placed in every building to report suspected illegal activities
• BUT were corrupt and dishonest
• 1886-94, an average of 33 strikes per year
• By 1903, increased to 550 strikes, involved 138,877 workers
• 1891 famine increased revolutionary activity as peasants demanded for land redistribution

Alexander III died of kidney complaint in November 1894

His repressive policies were proven ineffectual and there was an increase in hostility towards the regime among radical circles

Economic and Social Developments

Background
In 1860s, Russia was the lowest economically developed country in the European powers
Russia was also industrially backward and needed to develop in order to compete with the powers
By 1857, State debt at 566 million roubles

Economic Change (under multiple Ministers of Finance)
Mikhail von Reutern (1862-78)

• Wanted to boost economy and drive industrial growth
• Reutern saw the possibility of Russia's traditional agriculturalist economy becoming more industrialised
• Treasury reformed and published budgets
• To ensure balanced budget and a stable currency (but never managed to stabilise the currency in the end)
• Tax-farming abolished (i.e. of Vodka)
• So that there would be more indirect taxation
• 1862, introduced a system of accounting and book-keeping to gain trust from foreign investors
• Investment in railways by private entrepreneurs and state
• 1883, Common-carrier railways covered 14,700 miles compared to 3,000 in 1866
• Textiles and metallurgy industry expanded due to British investment
• Cotton industry and mining expanded
• Some improvement in agriculture due to the development of railways which contributed to the international grain market BUT overall little was done