RUSSIA 1855 - 1914

How effectively did the reforms of Alexander II solve the internal problems of Russia?

Timespan 1855 (death of Nikolas I) - 1881 (assassination of A II)

The reforms of Alexander II

REFORMS: · The abolition of serfdom - not immediate, the peasants still dependent of the commune. Econommically the serfs were worse off. · Local government reform - some powers distributed to the local community. · Reform of the judicial system - Russia one small step towards a state governed by law. · Economic and financial reforms · Education reforms · Reforms of the armed forces · The nationalities - liberalism towards the finns, russification of the poles.

Titel: nov 10-13:41 (Sida 1 av 128) Internal problems of Russia 1855-81:

Titel: nov 11-13:41 (Sida 2 av 128) How well were the problems solved:

Titel: nov 11-13:41 (Sida 3 av 128) The Crimean War made Alexander II realize that Russia was no longer a great military power. His advisers argued that Russia's serf-based economy could no longer compete with industrialized nations such as Britain and France.

"It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below.

In 1861 Alexander issued his Emancipation Manifesto that proposed 17 legislative acts that would free the serfs in Russia. Alexander announced that personal serfdom would be abolished and all peasants would be able to buy land from their landlords. The State would advance the money to the landlords and would recover it from the peasants in 49 annual sums known as redemption payments.

Titel: nov 10-19:14 (Sida 4 av 128) How far is it true to say that Russia was transformed into a modern country between 1855 and 1900?

Problems: the definition of modern. Transformation has to be discussed as it took place. In a conclusion the student has to decide if the result was a modern country. Timespan; The rule of Alexander II, Alexander III and start of Nicholas II.

Titel: dec 2-20:24 (Sida 5 av 128) Background: The humiliating defeat in the Crimean War. The war thought Russia a lesson. West European efficiency and industrialisation defeated the stagnated and old fashioned Russian Empire. This alarmed the Russian government and the new ruler. Russia had to be reformed in order to compete with the west. Social reform was also inevitable to prevent revolution by the peasantry.

Titel: nov 11-13:50 (Sida 6 av 128) Russian serfdom

By the end of the 16th century the Russian peasant came under the complete control of the landowner and during the middle of the 17th century serfdom became hereditary. Their situation became comparable to that of slaves and they could be sold to another landowner in families or singly.

By the 19th century it was estimated that about 50 per cent of the 40,000,000 Russian peasants were serfs. Most of these were the property of the nobility but large numbers were owned by the Tsar and religious foundations.

Titel: nov 7-17:21 (Sida 7 av 128) Titel: nov 7-21:10 (Sida 8 av 128) Rural Russia: Land tenure in Feudal Russia was arranged by cherespolositsa, where land on each fief was divided into long narrow strips. Serfs tended two strips side by side: one for the landlord, the other for themselves. After serfdom was abolished in 1861, the land serfs had once cultivated for themselves became owned by a peasant commune, the Obshchina , formed from those peasants on the same fief. The landlords retained the lands that were not used for maintaining the life of the serfs (eg. they kept the majority of the land), still in strips side to side with the communal land. The landlords also retained all of the forested and pastoral land. While the serfs had once been able to graze their animals (commonly a cow and horse) on pastoral land, now their animals had no where to graze. The newly "emancipated" peasants were also stranded from the most prized commodity of Russia throughout most of the year: firewood.

Titel: nov 8-1:36 PM (Sida 9 av 128) From this relationship between landowner and peasant was born the kulak ,

who imposed on the peasantry a tax to use their pasture. The communes

responded by lying fallow some of their land and turning it into pasture. Their

remained, however, the strips of the landlord's land throughout their community.

The kulak here established a system of tolls for each animal that crossed over their land (areas now called vavilony – "babylons"). In order to have wood for

winter, peasants had little choice but to work the kulak's land in return for a

payment fee that would allow them to cut timber from the kulak's forest.

The hated Kulaks as seen in Stalin's propaganda.

Titel: nov 8-1:45 PM (Sida 10 av 128) Titel: nov 7-21:11 (Sida 11 av 128) Titel: nov 7-21:12 (Sida 12 av 128) Titel: nov 7-18:20 (Sida 13 av 128) Distressed by the suffering of the serfs and the selfishness of the nobles Alexander II forbad landowners to move serfs to poor lands or to dispose of them by giving them to the army. The serfs on royal estates were liberated in 1858 and in 1861 Alexander II signed the EMANCIPATION ACT.

http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Eman.htm Here you can read the whole declaration l

Titel: nov 7-17:50 (Sida 14 av 128) · No intention of introducing a modern system of money relationship into the countryside or a class of capitalist farmers. · No equality before the law · No real economic freedom to develop individual lands. · The nobles remained priviliged increasing their share of the wealth from 1861-1914.

Titel: nov 7-17:52 (Sida 15 av 128) · 1864 - next major reform; the creation of the Zemstvos - elected local governments. · 3 categories of voters for councils chosen for 3 years. · Local assemblies · Provincial assemblies · Urban councils · Regional and provincial nobles of the highest rank chaired the rural assemblies. The wealthy and the titled had more voting power · Those who paid a higher tax had a greater representation · The councils main purpose were to make improvements.

Zemstvo building

Titel: nov 7-17:53 (Sida 16 av 128) · Army- and financial reforms; · Universal conscription 1874 - increase of the army, six years service with a vast reserve replaced the old serf army based on a 25-year service. · The Prussian army acted as a model for the new Russian army. · Economic reforms attempted to stabilise the currency and encourage foreign investments. · The Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 revealed the limitations of the new armies and caused a financial crisis and a loss of foreign confidence.

Titel: nov 7-17:56 (Sida 17 av 128) REFORMS IN FINLAND

REFORMPOLICY Alexander II assembled the diet in 1863 which resulted inn a period of development and reforms. · The Dietreform of 1869 -The diet had to assemble every 5, later every 3 year. -Expanded representation -Expanded powers

Titel: nov 9-19:29 (Sida 18 av 128) THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF FINLAND. Background; · the industrial revolution, late 18:th century (Britain, Belgium, Sweden) · liberalism of AlexanderII

Titel: nov 9-19:31 (Sida 19 av 128) The industrial breakthrough didn't take place before the 1860's. The transition was quite slow and concerned almost only the woodworking industry.

FORESTRY · Watermills (16:th century) · Tarproduction, the most important

product of export The Finnish pavillion in Paris · Steampower, restricted until 1857 1900. Gesellius, Lindgren and due to fear of efficiency Saarinen. · Paperproduction, 1842 (Frenckell) · Saima channel (1856) · Industrial towns, Kemi, Kotka · Government of forestry 1859 · Worldexhibitions from 1867, exhibition of industry and art in Helsinki 1876

Titel: nov 9-19:34 (Sida 20 av 128) THE RAILWAY · Helsinki-Hämeenlinna 1862 · Riihimäki-St:Petersburg 1870 · Trackwidth-russian

Titel: nov 9-19:35 (Sida 21 av 128) ECONOMIC REFORMS · Right to take initiative in legislative matters 1886 · Decentrilisation, the cities and municipilities received most of the clerical duties (education, healthcare, infra structure) but also the right of taxation · The language reform(1863) - Suomen Pankki (The central Bank) headquarters, Finnish an official language within 20 built 1882. years. · Stock companies (1864) · Law of free enterprice - the right to buy/sell everywhere (1879) · Law of banks (1864) -made it possible to start bankingactivity. Necessary to acumulate investments. · The Finnish National Bank -National currency 1860

Titel: nov 9-19:36 (Sida 22 av 128) Lev Bronstein, or Trotskij before the founding the socialist party, when he was considered a Narodnik.

Titel: nov 7-18:00 (Sida 23 av 128) Birth of Revolution: From this conflict in rural society, Russia's first revolutionary organisation formed in the 1860s: the Narodniks . These groups were mostly made up of students without a clear direction, save to overthrow the monarchy and landlords, and distribute land among the peasantry. In the spring of 1874, the conflict between the kulaks and peasantry brought turbulence to Russia's urban centres, and the Narodniks left the cities for the villages, going "among the people" (hence their name), attempting to "teach" the peasantry to revolt under their guidance. They found almost no support.

The policefile of Stalin

Titel: nov 8-1:41 PM (Sida 24 av 128) The Tsarist police (Okhrana) responded to the movement with steeled repression: political action was not an option for the "emancipated" peasantry. Revolutionaries and peasant sympathisers were beaten, imprisoned or exiled to Siberia. As peasants were arrest and exiled or imprisoned, kulaks gained their land, putting the peasant communes under increasingly heavy burdens. In 1877, the Narodniks came to their height with thousands of revolutionaries and peasants in support. The movement was again brutally crushed. Responding to brutal repression of the open, spontaneous forms of organisation thereto taken, Russia's first organised revolutionary party formed: People's Will ( Narodnaia Volia ), with a new revolutionary programme: terrorism. [...] Terrorism would be incorporated into the tactics of the Socialist- Revolutionary Party after the People's Will was dissolved in the early 1880s, and used throughout the following 40 years against the Monarchy and later the Soviet government

Titel: nov 8-1:41 PM (Sida 25 av 128) Opposition against Alexander II

THE DIVISION OF OPPOSITION · The division probably preserved the autocracy until 1905. · The only uniting element was the opposition against the regime. · Socially, geografically, economically divided. · 'Divide and rule'.

Titel: nov 7-18:02 (Sida 26 av 128) Execution of terrorists after the assassination of Alexander II.

Titel: nov 7-18:03 (Sida 27 av 128) Titel: nov 7-18:04 (Sida 28 av 128) Titel: nov 7-18:07 (Sida 29 av 128) · Serfdom vanished but the Russian agricultural traditions remained. · The Mir (commune) based on collective farming and common desicions. · The payments restricted the individual enterprise of the peasants. · Productivity and investment were low, famines a constant threat.

The situation of the Russian liberated serfs was very much like the liberated american slaves in the USA after the civil war.

Titel: nov 7-18:11 (Sida 30 av 128) PROBLEMS · The former Serfs bound by high taxes, low incomes and the annual payments to the former owners. · This hindered investments which would have been needed to modernize the farming. · The peasants were also hindered by the MIR (villagecommunity); · No chance to decide waht, when and how to farm (collective decisions). The Mir a collection of households, not individuals. · Movement restricted by a passport system. This stopped the industrial development as it hindered migration and therefore urbanisation.

Titel: nov 7-18:21 (Sida 31 av 128) Titel: nov 7-18:26 (Sida 32 av 128) Titel: nov 7-18:27 (Sida 33 av 128) Titel: nov 7-18:28 (Sida 34 av 128) 1877

The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 brought an economic recession which inflated the roubles and strengthened the central control of Russia's economy.

Titel: nov 7-19:14 (Sida 35 av 128) THE SITUATION FACING ALEXANDER III IN 1881

DEVELOPMENT SINCE 1855 NO CHANGES SINCE 1855 Serfdom abolished · · Autocracy dominated · The Zemstvos offered consultation · The powers of the traditional and political experience. institutions like nobility and church · Financial reforms and a Public budget as strong as ever. · Judicial independence and trial by jury indtroduced · Vaste estates dominated the · Military reforms, conscription agricultural sector. · The rich got richer and the poor poorer · Tradition and conservatism dominated, liberalism weak.

Titel: nov 10-19:19 (Sida 36 av 128) Titel: nov 10-19:21 (Sida 37 av 128) Alexander's dilemma: · Wanted a traditional Russia; no opposition, strict control over peasant communities, no democracy BUT · No return back to a pre-industrial past. Russia needed to be a great power. Towns, industries and communications had to grow AND · With growth came dangers as new ideas, which easily spread with efficient means of communication.

The Borki train disaster occurred on October 29 [O.S. October 17] 1888 when the imperial train carrying Tsar Alexander III of Russia and his family from Crimea to Saint Petersburg derailed at high speed. Twenty-one people died at the scene and two later. According to the official version of events, Alexander held the collapsed roof of the royal car on his shoulders while his family escaped the crash site uninjured. Alexander's death 1894 has partly been blamed on the injuries he received in the accident.

Titel: nov 10-19:21 (Sida 38 av 128) SIMILARITIES OF THE REIGNS OF ALEXANDER II AND ALEXANDER III · Both believed in autocracy but had different strategies to preserve it; A II by moderate reform, A III by repression. · Neither was consistent; The reforms of II were restricted while A III didn't entirely abandon concession and reform. · Both keen imperialists and expanded the Empire. · Both encouraged economic and military development and neither really came to terms with the possible concequences.

Titel: nov 10-19:22 (Sida 39 av 128) IMPROVEMENTS OF ALEXANDER III · Peasant payments to the State were reduced. · A peasant land bank was established, capital for improving investements. · Some taxes abolished · Working conditions for women and children regulated (the idea from Bismarck's Germany). · The first collection of Russian art founded.

The State Tretyakov Gallery is the national treasury of Russian fine art and one of the greatest museums in the world. The Gallery's collection consists entirely of Russian art and artists who have made а contribution to the history of Russian art or been closely connected with it. The collection contains more than 150 000 works of painting, sculpture and graphics, created throughout the centuries by successive generations of Russian artists.

Titel: nov 10-19:23 (Sida 40 av 128) SETBACKS · Anti-semitism ('Let us never forget that it was the Jews who crucified Jesus.' Banned from education and harrassed - emigration. · Russification - ethnic minorities threatened and rights restricted. · Press-cencorship · Control of the peasants increased by the appointments of land captains and giving the landlords more powers. · Increase of closed trials for political offences (terrorism) · The powers of the Zemstvos reduced · Religious tolerance reduced · Universities under stricter control.

Titel: nov 10-19:24 (Sida 41 av 128) Titel: nov 10-19:25 (Sida 42 av 128) OPPOSITION, 1881 - 1905 · Marxist ideas resulted in the establishment of different socialis groups; Thr Socialist Revolutionary Party 1900, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. · The political oppositional groups often quite small, led from abroad and divided on matters as use of violence. · Russification resulted in growing nationalism and opposition. · Industrialisation awoke urban opposition in the industrial centres

Lenin

E Schauman and Bobrikoff

Titel: nov 10-19:28 (Sida 43 av 128) Titel: nov 10-19:32 (Sida 44 av 128) Titel: nov 10-19:32 (Sida 45 av 128) Russian cartoon, showing how Rasputin dominated the Russian court in 1916.

Rasputin pt 3/3 Rasputin, pt 2/3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvTRh9C2GxY&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxAUQnh8-4o&feature=related

Titel: nov 10-19:33 (Sida 46 av 128) CHANGE OF RUSSIAN POLICY · 'The armed peace' · Growing German threat (1890) · Imperialism · Balkan-'the powder keg of Europe' · Russian nationalism · Growing opposition in Russia

Titel: nov 14-21:09 (Sida 47 av 128) Nicholas II wasn't prepared for his office when he inherited the crown from his father. But he had to face the same dilemma as his predecessors; how to balance the trditional political structure of Tsarist Russia with the massive socio- economic forces that were operating within the Russian Empire. The forces unleashed by the reforms of the 1860's were now making an increasing impact upon the economic and political life of the Empire. Russia's international status depended heavily upon continued industrial growth. The problems of the peasantry wasn't solved and new oppositional groups appeared and expanded.

Titel: nov 16-11:38 AM (Sida 48 av 128) Nicholas' ideal vision of Russia's future included a more modern and efficient economy, combined with a political system that retained the traditional features of autocracy. The revolution of 1905 was greatly the government's failure to adapt politically to the sustantial social and economic changes that had taken place.

Titel: nov 16-11:48 AM (Sida 49 av 128) THE 1905 REVOLUTION The threat of revolution inside Russia grew constantly since Nikolaj II became Tsar in 1894. Eventhough diaries and letters give us a picture of a loving and caring person he wasn't a very good ruler, especially when times were difficult and misery increasing. Nikolaj II continued his fathers policy of totalitarian rule. He remained determined to maintain the autocracy of his predecessors. The two ministers of Interior, Pobedonostsev and Plehve, both carried out a terrorizing policy against all possible enemies of the state. As both men were extremely reactionary they also stood against any attempts of liberalization or democratization of the Russian society.

Titel: nov 16-21:19 (Sida 50 av 128) In the countryside the powers and the inflence of the nobility incresed which resulted in rebellions and riots all over Russia. These protestacts were usually crushed with extreme brutality. In 1900 THE SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARIES was formed by a group of Narodniks. This party campaigned for the transfer of nobles' land to the peasants. Eventhough the party hadn't any official powers it became big and widely supported by Russian peasants all over Russia. At the same time liberal leaders formed THE LEAGUE OF LIBERATION, a party who worked out a programme for limiting the power of the Tsar with a parliament. In 1904 these two mentioned parties agreed to cooperate and try to overthrow the autocracy.

Titel: nov 16-21:20 (Sida 51 av 128) THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR Many reasons could explain why Russia didn't try to avoid an armed conflict with Japan; 1) Russia had big financial interests in the Far East to protect and many prominent Russians had they personal investments to guard. 2) The Tsar received considerable personal encouragement for adventures in the east from the German Emperor, happy to see Russian attention diverted from Eastern Europe to the Far East. 3) The domestic political tension made a foreign distraction welcome. The war was Plehve's idea. "to stem the tide of revolution, we need a succesful little war". He thought that a victorious war would stop the growing opposition and increase the authority of the Tsar. Most of the tsars advisers agreed with Plehve's idea.

Vyacheslav von Plehve

Titel: nov 16-21:20 (Sida 52 av 128) The background to the collision between Russia and Japan can be seen in the Trans-Siberian railway and the increasin Russian dominance in Manchuria. The building of the railway was started in 1890. In 1896 Russia persuaded the Chinese to allow a railway to cross Manchuria which saved 600 miles (1000km). Two years later they forced China to lease them Porth Arthur, a far better port than Vladivostok which was ice-bound in the winter. In 1901, China allowed Russia to continue the railway as far as Port Arthur and to station Russian troops on Chinese ground to guard the line. In this way Russia came dangerously close to Korea, which was then occupied by Japan. When the japanese tried to settle the dispute through a conference Russia delibaretely proveked Japan in to war. This resulted in the japanese attack on Russia in January 1904.

Titel: nov 16-21:20 (Sida 53 av 128) Russia wasn't prepared and the war was a disaster from the beginning. Japan enjoyed much easier access to the theatre of war. Russian communications were dependent upon the Trans-Siberian Railway, which operated on a single track for much of its length and which still had a gap of 150 km in it. The Russian fleet was destroyed in the same years autumn. Russia tried to come back with her Baltic fleet but it was immediately destroyed in march 1905. The Russian troops never fought with the nationalistic fanaticism as the japanese. This forced the Tsar to negotiate for peace and before this Plehve had been killed by a terrorist bomb in July 1904.

Titel: nov 16-21:21 (Sida 54 av 128) The americans mediated a peace settlement (August 1905). The treaty of Portsmouth, eventhough extremely lenient from a Russian perspective, nevertheless marked a turning point in the foreign policy of the Tsarist Russia. Russia's interests in the Far East were not ended but strict limitations were placed upon them. The result was that for the first time in nearly 25 years the foreign prestige of the Russian Empire depended predominantly upon developments in Europe. The greater effectiveness of Japan's modern equipment raised the question 'which of the two belligrents was western and which oriental'?

Titel: nov 16-21:21 (Sida 55 av 128) 'BLOODY SUNDAY' Military failure and humiliation added to the revolutionary pressure. Peasant unrest had recurred sporadically since 1902, industrial strikes had occured between 1902-04 in most cities, and several explosions of student unrest in bigger towns had taken place 1904. News from the front angered people already suffering from high prices and unemployment because of the war.

Titel: nov 16-21:24 (Sida 56 av 128) The spark that set them all off was provided by the 'Bloody Sunday' massacre of 22 January 1905. Shortly before his death Plehve had set up The Union of Russian Factory and Mill Workers to this way control oppositional elements. This concept was known as 'police socialism'. It consisted of official encouragement of moderate workers' organisations, aiming at genuine improvements in wages and working conditions, in the expectation that members would then refrain from more dangerous political demands. At the head of the union was Father Gapon, a priest who was also a police agent. He had some control over the movement at first but after a while the workers were not satisfied with only polite protests. A wave of strikes started in 1905.

Check in;

http://www.dipity.com/IBHhistoryE/Topic-3-Origins-and-nature-of-authoritarian-single-party-states_2/

Titel: nov 16-21:24 (Sida 57 av 128) The strikers forced Gapon to lead a procession to the Tsars Winter palace demanding the end of the war and a democratic government. The demonstration of more than 150 000 people in front of the Winter Palace was perhaps the last occasion on which the Russian people genuinly approached the Tsar in his traditional role as the 'little father' of his people. Eventhough the march was peaceful it was fired upon by the Tsars lifeguard - 1000 dead and thousands wounded - THE BLOODY SUNDAY. This incident killed police socialism, mortally wounded the reputation of the autocracy and triggered the 1905 revolution.

The Bloody Sunday from the series 'Nicholas and Alexandra'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7pGiaVsSBo&feature=related

The body of the murdered Gapon

http://castinet.castilleja.org/private/faculty/peggy_mckee/russianweb/lasttsar.html

Titel: nov 16-21:25 (Sida 58 av 128) This incident was the final spark that set Russia in flames. Every large city was paralyzed by strikes and in the countryside the Socialrevolutionaries urged the peasants to take up the fight. No strike had greater effect than that of the railway workers in October, as a result of which the Russian cities were in imminent danger of starvation and the Russian economy was brought to the verge of collapse. The revolt spread to the non-russian territories. Georgia declared itself independent and in Finland we had a general strike against Russification. In the autumn Russia signed the peace with Japan and when the terms were revealed the revolution grew stronger. A general strike paralyzed Russia completely. In most cities SOVIETS, or councils, of workers were elected by the workers in each factory (the most important in St:Petersburg led by Trotskij) - these took over the leadership of the strike - the gowernment was completely powerless.

Titel: nov 16-21:25 (Sida 59 av 128) The key to the success or failure of the revolution lay in the attitude of the armed forces. Sporadic outbreaks of mutiny n army units started in 1905. The most famous was the mutiny on board of the battleship POTEMKIN. The prospect of general mutiny posed a grave threat to the survival of the regime, but it never took place. In december the soldiers were promised a better pay and treatment. By clever use of non-Russian troops against Russian mutineers, and vice-versa, the government had largely restored military discipline by the end of the year. In this situation the Tsar turned to Witte, the man who had negotiated the peacetreaty. Witte adviced Nikolaj II that the only way to avoid a civil war was to grant the parliamentary government demanded by the liberals. The Tsar agreed and on 17 October an Manifesto declared that there was to be an elected parliament - DUMA - and the autocratic government of the Tsar was to be replaced by a council of ministers led by the Prime Minister.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS5kzTbNKjs

Titel: nov 16-21:26 (Sida 60 av 128) THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION 1906 Outwardly Russia entered 1906 with a radically, revised and modernised constitution. In effect, each element in that constitution was little more than a sham. The ministers were still entirely dependent upon the Tsar for their appointment, direction and dismissal, and thus only continued to serve the autocracy. The upper house of the assembly was half elected , by zemstvo, Church, noble and university bodies, but was also half appointed by the Tsar. The lower house, the state duma, was wholly elective but it was strongly tied by a series of limitations upon its powers. It didn't have control over military expenditure, nor over the Tsar's household finances.

The parliamentaryreform of 1906 in Finland introduced universal suffrage and the election of a popular parliament

Titel: nov 16-21:26 (Sida 61 av 128) The duma had no means in controlling ministers and whenever the assembly wasn't in session the Tsar had the right to govern by decree. As the government never wanted such an assembly it never received any truly representative or influential assembly. But by 1914 political parties were legally established and open political discussion was tolerated and was allowed to appear in the press. Witte was Russia's first P.M. He now splitted the liberals away from the socialists. When the socialists wanted to introduce an eight-hour working day it scared the liberals and the alliance was at an end. Eventhough the socialists tried to continue the general strike it failed and the more radical opposition was crushed by the russian police. After this the rising peasants and the Georgians were crushed and brought back into the Empire. In Finland we could see similar kind of development eventhough russification was put to an end, for a while, and Finland became one of the most liberal places in the World.

Titel: nov 16-21:28 (Sida 62 av 128) STOLYPIN Pyotr Stolypin was appointed next pm in 1906. Stolypin's plansto save the regime were based on a mixture of state terror and reforms. He waged a war against violent political opposition which was based on the idea of paralyzing enemies of the state with violence. The most used methods were deportition to Siberian prisoncamps and immediate executions. But Stolypin didn't imagine that terror alone could stabilise the Tsarist regime. Reform too was essential. The key to Stolypin's agrarian policy was his belief that the best basis for the regime was the support of a prosperous and contented peasantry. He started by renewing the legislation whereby any peasant had the right to withdraw himself and his land from the commune. Also a substantial part of the state land was transferred to the 'Peasant Bank' from where it could be bought against a loan with a very low interest rate. The result was a substantial growth of private peasant ownership. The greatest weakness in Stolypin's reforms was that they didn't enjoy the complete support of the Tsar. Strongly influenced by extreme right-wing factions recentful of any such changes. Nicholas was probably on the verge of dismissing Stolypin when he was assassinated in 1911

Titel: nov 16-21:28 (Sida 63 av 128) STOLYPIN

· Witte resigned (1906) and was replaced by Stolypin. · Stolypin ruled with reforms and terror; · Radical agrarian policies - peasants received the freedom to leave the communes, to divide or sell their land. · Rapid economic development continued. · Expansion of the railway network. · Expanded military budget (rebuilding of the Navy), modernisation of the army. · Social reforms to improve conditions of industrial workers BUT · Liberalism discredited · Russia remained autocratic · Expanded secret police with brutal policy (950 executions in ½year 1906). Counter-revolutionary propaganda encouraged.

The Gallows were nicknamed 'Stolypin's necktie

Titel: dec 7-09:05 (Sida 64 av 128) THE STOLYPIN AGRARIAN REFORM · The Mir abolished, peasants free to migrate and encouraged to develop farmingmethods. · Lenin considered Stolypin's reforms dangerous as success endangered the future of the revolution. He feared the appearence of a wealthier peasantry -Kulak which would support the Czar and the church. · The reform failed in 1915 - maybe due to the war. · The peasantry longed for a massive landreform, something Lenin realised and promised them when he returned to Russia in April 1917.

Titel: dec 7-09:02 (Sida 65 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:28 (Sida 66 av 128) Titel: dec 12-17:52 (Sida 67 av 128) Titel: dec 12-17:53 (Sida 68 av 128) Titel: dec 12-17:53 (Sida 69 av 128) Titel: dec 12-17:54 (Sida 70 av 128) Titel: dec 12-17:54 (Sida 71 av 128) Titel: dec 12-17:54 (Sida 72 av 128) Titel: dec 12-17:54 (Sida 73 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:28 (Sida 74 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:20 (Sida 75 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:23 (Sida 76 av 128) The February revolution

Titel: dec 7-09:16 (Sida 77 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:28 (Sida 78 av 128) · The suddenness of the fall of the monarchy meant that no ready-formed political group could step in. · The powers divided between the provisional government and the Soviets. · Lenin returned from Switzerland. The German government assisted Lenin and transported him in a sealed train to Sweden. · Immediately at his arrival Lenin adressed the people with an appeal to revolt against the provisional Government.

Titel: dec 7-09:17 (Sida 79 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:24 (Sida 80 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:24 (Sida 81 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:25 (Sida 82 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:29 (Sida 83 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:30 (Sida 84 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:31 (Sida 85 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:34 (Sida 86 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:35 (Sida 87 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:38 (Sida 88 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:38 (Sida 89 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:39 (Sida 90 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:42 (Sida 91 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:43 (Sida 92 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:43 (Sida 93 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:44 (Sida 94 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:44 (Sida 95 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:45 (Sida 96 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:45 (Sida 97 av 128) Titel: dec 7-09:46 (Sida 98 av 128) ASSESSMENT OF THE STOLYPIN YEARS The main question has been how far the work of Witte and Stolypin could have saved Tsarist Russia. According to the 'Soviet' interpretation Witte and Stolypin didn't do anything but worsened the situation which only further strengthened the necessity of a revolution. Other historians focus on Stolypin as a most positive reformer and as the brightest hope of the Tsarist regime. In the absence of war Russia could have continued on the road of progressive westernisation. Maybe the main explanation could be found in the fact that the Russian ruling class didn't show any understand at all towards change. This stagnated view (mainly by the Tsar himself) resulted in the collapse of the system. Eventhough Russia didn't develop politically this was a golden age for Russian science and arts.

Paintings by I Biblin

Titel: nov 16-21:30 (Sida 99 av 128) The outbreak of the Great War was greeted in Russia with a

spontaneous wave of patriotic hysteria. At the same time the

oppositional elements got the war they had waited on.

Russia was deeply vulnerable to the strains of a long, draining conflict.

Titel: nov 16-21:30 (Sida 100 av 128) THE FIRST RUSSIFICATION PERIOD The intention was to weed out the elements of "Finnish separatism" by depriving the country of its special status and absorbing it into the Empire. · Nikolaj II appointed the passionately pro-Russian General Nikolay Bobrikov as Governor-General of Finland in 1898. · Bobrikov's first move was to merg the Finnish military with the Russian army. · When this run into problems the russification started (The February Manifesto 1899) · Adoption of the Russian languaga for use in the senate, government offices and schools, the opening of all official posts in Finland to Russian citizens, and extension of the legal code of the Russian Empire to the Grand Duchy.

Titel: nov 14-21:10 (Sida 101 av 128) The Tsar issued a decree on the 15th February 1899 which the Finns saw as an attempt to seize power from the Diet. With the Febrarymanifesto the Russian Tsar and Duma gained the powers to the legislation of so called nation-wide laws and it was the Tsar who had the powers to decide which laws were to be interpreted as nation wide ones. The Februarymanifesto gave rise to a vast outcry. At the beginning majority of the Finns thought that the Grand Dutch had been fooled and the Finns raised a Great Petition (with more than ½ million names of a population on 2 million). The petition was submitted to the Tsar but he refused to accept accept it. The same happened to the Cultural petition.

Titel: nov 14-21:15 (Sida 102 av 128) THE DIVISION OF THE POPULATION

THE 'CONCILIATION LINE' THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS · Advocated tactical collaboration with · Urged resistance (legal) to Russia and wished of returned Russification measures autonomy as a reward of good · The 'Kagaal' behaviour · Boycott of conscription call- ups

ACTIVISM · As russification became harsher with Bobrikovs dictatorial powers 1903 and Cossack riots in Helsinki 1902 a group of radicals advocating violent resistance emerged (Nationalists and socialists)

Titel: nov 14-21:15 (Sida 103 av 128) 1900 - Through a postmanifesto Finland lost its own national stamps. A languagemanifesto introduced Russian as administrative language in higher offices and the teachinglessons in Russian in the schools increased. Censorship was tightened and newspapers and magazines were forced to close. 1901 - Through the conscriptionlaw the Finnish army was dissolved and military service in the Russian army became compulsory (passive resistance and increased emigration). 1903 - Bobrikov received dictatorial powers.

Titel: nov 14-21:16 (Sida 104 av 128) 1904 - Bobrikov assassinated by Eugen Schauman. 1904-05 - The Russo-Japanese war. The Russian defeat in the War resulted in the first revolutionary attempt in Russia. After the Bloody Sunday a general strike spread throughout Russia and to Finland were it became a protestmovement against the oppressive policies. During the year of 1904 the political situation changed drastically in Finland. The unrest and opposition increased. Russia dragged itself into a war with Japan and Bobrikov was assassinated by Schauman.

Titel: nov 14-21:16 (Sida 105 av 128) The Parliamentary reform 1906 This represented a major step towards democratization of the Finnish society.

● The outdated concept of the four estates was replaced with a unicameral Parliament with 200 members elected for 3 years.

● Suffrage was universal and equal and the minimum voting age was set at 24 years.

● The elections were secret and proportional (d'Hondt's principles) The outcome of this reform was that Finland developed a modern style partysystem in which the existing parties were joined by the Swedish People's Party and the Agrarian Party.

Titel: nov 14-21:18 (Sida 106 av 128) REPRESSION · Extension of police powers · Censorship · Limitation of peasant freedom · Modification of the freedom of the zemstvos and municipal dumas-the power of the wealthier classes increased. · Russification

Titel: dec 2-20:25 (Sida 107 av 128) INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION · Between 1893-1900 the industrial output doubled · Foreign investments (France after 1890) · S Witte increased state investments in industrial projects. · Railway expansion of astronomous dimensions

PROBLEMS · Agricultural stagnation and poverty · Industrial proletariat living in appalling conditions · A population growth (74-133, 1860-1900)

Titel: dec 2-20:26 (Sida 108 av 128) 'Repression and reaction were the particular marks of the rule of the last Tsar, Nicholas II'. Discuss the validity of this verdict on his reign to 1914.

Introduction; Nicholas II was in favour of preserving the Tsarist state intact as he had inherited it. He was prepared to repress any attempt to undermine the autocracy.

In personal terms: the statement has great validity, even greater if the record of his Tsarina and her adviser Rasputin is taken into account. Nicholas never realised how much he lost with the greatest act of repression in his reign, the massacre outside the Winter palace in 1905. Repression of the working class, etnic nationalities, political oppositionals and chrushing of rural uprisings.

Full story; Argue that this is not the full story of the reign, there were signs of change and development: · the Dumas, even if only a relctant experiment by the Tsar. · The 3 and the 4 Dumas had some achievements to their credit. · The economic progress under Witte and Stolypin also need to be acknowledged. · Finland and the reform of the Diet (Universal suffrage/democracy)

Conclusion: by 1914 the Russian society and economy had changed markedly despite the Tsar. This change might have continued without a revolutionary

outcome but for the war. Whether Nicholas II would personally have adapted to real political change remains more doubtful.

Titel: nov 17-17:12 (Sida 109 av 128) To what extent the system caused its own downfall. Nicholas II was in favour of preserving the Tsarist state intact as he had inherited it, he was prepared to repress any attempt to undermine the autocracy The role of his advisers The family tragedy with Michael (hemophelia), the Tsarina and Rasputin. Nicholas wasn't prepared to take over as a ruler when he had to. The Russo-Japanese war 1904-05 The Bloody Sunday, the greatest act of repressive stateterrorism on the own people.

Titel: nov 18-14:20 (Sida 110 av 128) But at least after 1905 one can easily find arguments against the statement as well: The democratic reforms which Nicholas was forced to carry out after the revolution of 1905 - universal male suffrage, the elected Dumas, the returned rights of the ethnic minoroties. The reform policy of Witte and Stolypin - boosted the economic development. The impact of the Great War

Titel: nov 18-14:25 (Sida 111 av 128) If Russia wouldn’t have been pulled in to the Great War would the system have survived. It wasn’t the strength and unity of the opposition which brought the downfall it was the defeats in the war and the unpopularity of the imperial house. Without a war there would probably not have been any revolution.

Titel: nov 18-14:28 (Sida 112 av 128) How extensive and how effective in promoting change was the opposition to the Tsarist system in Russia from c. 1881 to 1914?

Titel: nov 17-17:12 (Sida 113 av 128) Define ‘opposition’ The opposition which brought the downfall wasn’t organised, united or planned. The Russo- Japanese war 1904-05 had already clearly warned the rulers that a major conflict with defeat could shake the existing powerstructure of Russia. Opposition to the Tsar: a. Political groups Socialists - divided in - Social Revolutionaries - Mensjeviks - Bolsjeviks - Anarchists

- Liberals

- Cadets

Titel: nov 18-14:34 (Sida 114 av 128) b. Non-political groups -The farmers -The industrial workers -The Bourgeois -The landless peasants -The poor Nobility -The poor priests -The ethnic minorities

Titel: nov 18-14:43 (Sida 115 av 128) Most groups divided and unorganised. The political parties often small and with minimal resources to premote any change in practice. The secret police controlled most of the political groups. E.g. the socialists party which was founded in London and of which most leaders were forced to imprisonment or or activity in exile. The non-political groups were only united by their opposition towards the existing order or part of the rule carried out e.g. the russification policy.

Titel: nov 18-14:48 (Sida 116 av 128) THE EVENTS 1904-1905 The Russo-Japanese war and the Bloody Sunday had an enormous impact as these proved that the Empire could tremble. The events resulted in spontaneous protests so big that they paralysed the regime. The successes of the opposition weren’t longlasting as the oppositional groups were so divided but e.g. the events in Finland were revolutionary. All oppositional elements had been given a proof of possible change but this needed a major crises in which Russia was part of. When the First World War started this was the signal many of the oppositional elements had been waiting for.

Titel: nov 18-14:52 (Sida 117 av 128) Conclusion: Most of the oppositional groups were unsuccessful in promoting lasting change in Russia but those who aimed in replacing the old powerstructure with a new one would be successful. In the struggle againt the russification policy the successes of 1905-06 showed the non-russian elements that unity existed and change was possible. The only political groups which promoted change from within were the quite conservative cadets and ‘Octobrists’. These parties had minor successes in reforming e.g. the economic legislation of Russia (wexsternisation).

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