1.1-3 - Trying to preserve autocracy, 1855-1894 Flashcards
Ratio of village to town dwellers in 1855 (+ compared to britain)
11:1, (2:1 in Britain)
How much of Russia’s territory lay north of the 5oth parallel north
2/3 (pretty much inhospitable)
what role did cottage industries have on the economy in 1855?
Serfs just about managed to survive on the produce they grew for themselves + ‘cottage industries’ provided cash for taxes + special purchases
what were the serf communes called?
mirs
what did the systems of land management in the serf communes (mirs) mean?
individual serf families worked scattered strips and were obliged to follow communal pattern of farming > little incentive for them to develop into wage earners
Rules of serfdom
- classed as the property of their owners, not citizens
-could be bought + sold
-liable for conscription into the army
Types of serfs
Little over half privately owned (of these: around 30% paying rent (obrok), 70% providing labour)
The remainder were ‘state serfs’ - paid taxes + rent.
Most worked in mirs run by strict rules
How did taxes work in 1855?
- Poll tax on every male peasant (+obrok from state serfs = 25% of ‘ordinary’ gov income)
- Income tax, incl. on salt + vodka, = 30% of ordinary gov income by 1855
- peasantry, urban workers and tradesman provided 90% of imperial finance
When was the Crimean War?
1853-56
How was the Crimean War, 1853-56, disastrous?
Trade had been disrupted, peasant uprisings escalated, and intelligentsia renewed cries to close gap between Russia and West. Treaty of Paris 1856 - final humiliation - preventing Russian warships using Black Sea in times of peace
When was the emancipation of the serfs? How many emancipated?
1861 - 51 million serfs emancipated
what were the political circle of progressive nobles in Alexander II’s court called
Party of St Petersburg Progress
What other factors/figures had a role in A II’s decision to reform?
- his Romantic poet tutor Zhukovsky
- his travels around Empire
- Party of St Petersnburg Progress
- his brother the Grand Duke Konstantin
- his aunt the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovma
-‘enlightened bureaucrats’ (e.g. Milyutin brothers)
How many 1840 and 1844, how many outbreaks of disorder on privately owned estates? how did it change over the following 15 years?
fewer than 30 - doubled over the next 15 years
Why did disorder increase in the 1850s?
- Landowners pushing peasants to produce more/ pay higher rents - in order to maintain their own incomes
- Protests against military conscription during Crimean War
Dmitry Milyutin quote in favour of reform - what are his reasons
in order to ‘strengthen the State and restore dignity’
A II’s first reforms
- pardoned Decembrists (involved in plot to kill father)
- relaxed censorship
- lessened restrictions on foreign travel + university entrance
- restored rights of Poland + Catholic Church
Terms of emancipation
1861 - private serfs, 1866 - state serfs
Granted them an allotment of land, landowners received gov compensation
‘redemption payments’ for 49 years’ + had to remain in mir until had been paid
mir responsible over the serfs - from 1863 volosts ran own courts replacing landlords jurisdiction
how long did the 2 year ‘temporary obligation’ actually take for some?
around 15% remained ‘temporarily obligated’ until 1881 - when redemption made compulsory
positive effects of emancipation
- kulaks did well from land allocations (bought extra land, could produce surplus grain)
- others raised their living standard (sold land/ obtained passport to leave mir), finding work in industrialising cities
- some landowners used compensation to get out of debt - could make profits through investments in industry
negative effects of emancipation
- many peasants felt cheated w/ land allocations - too small to adopt new farming methods, increasingly divided as land divided between inheriting sons
- mir system was highly traditional (subsistence farming and backwardness persisted) - in 1878, only 50% peasantry capable of producing surplus
- loss of former benefits, restrictions on travel (required internal passport), redemption payments, resentment of kulaks - violence
- landowners resented loss of influence - newspapers + student riots + protests in M + St.P + Kazan
what percentage of peasantry was capable of producing a surplus in 1878?
only 50%
Who made reforms to the military, when?
Minister of War, Dmitry Milyutin, 1874-75
Main aims of military reforms under Alexander II
to create smaller, more professional, more efficient, less expensive army
Reforms made to the military 1874-75
- Conscription for all classes from 21yo, service length reduced from 25 -> 15 years active service, 10 years in reserves
- punishments less severe, military colonies abandoned
- better provisioning + medical care established
- modern weaponry intro’d
- new command structure
- military colleges set up to provide better training to non-noble officer corps
- literacy in army improved, mass army-education campaigns 1870s-90s
when was the war against Turkey? winner?
1877-78, russia struggling, won
when were local government reforms made?
1864-70
what were the reforms to local government?
system of elected local councils - zemstva, at district and provincial levels - chosen through ‘electoral college’ system - separate colleges for nobles, townspeople, Church, peasants - allowed nobility to dominate
what powers were the zemstva given?
power to improve public services (roads, schools, public health, prisons), develop industrial projects and administer poor relief
when were local government reforms extended to towns? Through what system?
1870, elected town councils - dumas
effects of local government reform
- raised hopes of intelligentsia, who wanted representative National Assembly
- however, power of zemstva strictly limited - no control over state and local laws
- provincial governers continued to appoint officals, took responsibility for law and order, and could even overturn zemstvo decisions
positives/ negatives of zemstva for the regime
+ provided valuable addition to local government - composed of men who understood the locality and its needs
- attracted the educated who used meeting as an opportunity to debate political issues and criticise central government
When were Alexander II’s reforms to the judiciary introduced?
1864
How had the judiciary system previously looked?
No jury system, no lawyers, and no examination of witnesses
- in hands of judge examining written evidence, prepared by landowner + police
- guilty until proven innocent
- judge’s decision final
How did the new judiciary of Russia look?
1864
- equality before the law established with a single system of courts (however volost courts dealt with exclusively peasant cases)
- innocent until proven guilty - could employ a lawyer
- heard before barristers + a jury (selected from lists of landowners)
- Judges appointed by Tsar, given improved training + pay
- Local Justices of the Peace elected every 3 years by the zemstva - independent from political control
- Courts open to public, proceedings freely reported, national trials reported in gov newspaper the Russian Courier
effect of judiciary reforms of 1864
- new opportunity arose for the articulate lawyers of intelligentsia to criticise the regime, becoming ‘celebrities’
limitations of judiciary reforms (positive for regime)
- sometimes new juries acquitted guilty, because sympathised (therefore decree issued to permit political crimes to be tried by special procedure)
- trial by jury never established in Poland, the western provinces, the Causasus
- ecclesiastical and military courts exempt from the reforms
- peasantry in the volost courts treated differently
when were Alexander II’s reforms on education made?
1863-64
Who made the reforms of education, when?
1863-64 - Minister of Education, Alexander Golovnin
education reforms made 1863 by Alexander Golovnin
- universities given opportunities to govern themselves + appoint their own staff
- responsibility for schooling Church –> Zemstva
- primary + secondary education extended, ‘modern schools’ at secondary for those who didn’t want education at gimnazii
- schools ‘open to all’ regardless of class and sex - allowing women for non voational education from 1870
growth of number of students in universities
3600 (in 1856?) –> 10,000 by the 1870s
Censorship reform
initial relaxation of press censorship (under Nich I, had covered all books + newspapers) - restrictions on publishers reduced, foreign publications permitted with gov approval, press allowed to comment on gov policy
number of books published (1855: 1020 –> 1864: 1836)
Growth in critical writing brought re-tightening of gov control in the 1870s
number of books published 1855, 1864, 1894
1855: 1020
1864: 1836
1894: 10,691
When were attempted assassinations on Alexander II? Who carried them out?
1866, former noble student
1867, polish immigrant
1879, former student
1879, bomb under wrong train
Feb 1880, mine under dining room
Why was Alexander II distanced from reforming elements in his own party - who?
1865 - his eldest son + heir died + his wife withdrew from public w/ tuberculosis - found consolation in mistress Yekaterina Mikhailovna.
Distanced from brother Grand Duke Konstantin + Grand Duchess Elena
What new appointments did Alexander make in 1866?
Minister for Education - Dmitry Tolstoy
Minister of Internal Affairs - Timashev
Head of Third Section - Shuvalov
Minister of Justice - Pahlen
Alex II reaction in terms of education
Dmitry Tolstoy - staunch Orthodox believer - eradicate Western liberal ideas
- zemstva’s powers over education reduced
- Church regained authority over rural schools
- higher gimnazii schools to abandon teaching natural science
- from 1871, only gimnazii students could go to uni
- in unis, subjects of critical thought forced out, censorship tightened
Alex II reaction in terms of police, law and control
Shuvalov:
- strengthened police, 3rd Section, increased persecution of ethnic/religious minorities
Pahlen:
- ensured judicial system made example
- often held show trials - but backfired, and political crimes transferred to secret courts in 1878
When were governer-generals established - what could they do?
1879 - had emergency power to prosecute in military courts and exile political offenders
Events that show the political crisis of Russia in the late 1870s
- Russo-Turkish War (1877-78)
- famine in countryside (1879-80)
- industrial recession
- attempts on Tsar’s life in 1879 and 1880
Who was made Minister for Internal Affairs in 1880? What did he do?
Count Mikhail Loris-Melikov
- released political prisoners
- relaxed censorship
- removed the salt-tax
- lifted restrictions on zemstva
- 3rd Section abolished - powers transferred to regular police (new section - Okhrana created)
What did the Loris-Melikov Constitution, produced in 1880, propose?
- inclusion of elected representatives of nobility, zemstva, + town governments, in debating the drafts of some state decrees
When did Alexander II accept and sign the Loris-Melikov report (and die)?
13 March 1881
What did Alexander III do at start of reign?
- 1881 ‘Manifesto of Unshakable Autocracy’
- Law on Exceptional Measures - Commander-in-Chief could be appointed to take control of locality w/ military police courts + powers of imprisonment
- Abandoned Loris-Melikov proposals
- reforming ministers resigned - Dmitry Tolstoy back 1882, now as Internal Minister
Alexander III - Changes in local gov
1889 - state appointed office of ‘Land Captain’ - power to override elections to zemstvo assemblies + disregard zemstva decisions
act in 1890
- changed election system to zemstva - reduced peasants’ vote
- placed zemstva under central gov control - channelled discussion away from political -> social services
what percentage of population were peasants in time of Alexander III?
85%
Alexander III - Changes in policing
Dep of Police (incl. Okhrana) - led by von Plehve 1881-84, from 84 by Pyotr Durnovo
- 1882, Statute of Police Surveillance - ‘area of subversion’ - police could arrest, imprison, exile anyone likely to commit crimes/ knew someone who had - no right to legal representation
Alexander III - Changes in the judicial system
Reforms of A II partially reversed.
1885 - decree allowed Minister of Justice greater control (eg in dismissal of judges)
Ministry:
- granted powers of closed court sessions 1887
- responsible for appointment of town judges 1889
1887 - qualifications needed by jurors lifted
1889 - volost courts under Land Captains in countryside, judges in towns
Alexander III - Changes in education
university charter 1884 - appointment of professors subject to Education Minostry based on ‘religious, moral and patriotic’ grounds
students forbidden from groups of >5
lowest classes restricted to primary education (run by Church)
why are educational reforms under Alexander III of dubious value?
counter to govs attempts to promote economic modernisation (only 21% of population literate by time of first census in 1897)
failed to prevent student involvement in illegal political movements (particularly 1890s)
Alexander III - Changes in censorship
Tolstoy - gov committee 1882 - ‘temporary regulations’ - allowed newspapers to be closed down + life ban to be placed on editors/ publishers
all publications officially approved + censorship extended to thetatre, art and culture
What of Alexander II’s reforms did Alexander III keep? + any further liberalisation
May 1881 - reduced redemption fees + cancelled arrears of ex-serfs in 37 central provinces of the Empire
May 1885 - poll tax abolished + introduction of inheritance tax
1883 - establishment of Peasants’ Land Bank
