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Tsarist and Communist Russia 1855-1964 > 1.1-3 - Trying to preserve autocracy, 1855-1894 > Flashcards

1.1-3 - Trying to preserve autocracy, 1855-1894 Flashcards

1
Q

Ratio of village to town dwellers in 1855 (+ compared to britain)

A

11:1, (2:1 in Britain)

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2
Q

How much of Russia’s territory lay north of the 5oth parallel north

A

2/3 (pretty much inhospitable)

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3
Q

what role did cottage industries have on the economy in 1855?

A

Serfs just about managed to survive on the produce they grew for themselves + ‘cottage industries’ provided cash for taxes + special purchases

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4
Q

what were the serf communes called?

A

mirs

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5
Q

what did the systems of land management in the serf communes (mirs) mean?

A

individual serf families worked scattered strips and were obliged to follow communal pattern of farming > little incentive for them to develop into wage earners

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6
Q

Rules of serfdom

A
  • classed as the property of their owners, not citizens
    -could be bought + sold
    -liable for conscription into the army
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7
Q

Types of serfs

A

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

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8
Q

How did taxes work in 1855?

A
  • 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
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9
Q

When was the Crimean War?

A

1853-56

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10
Q

How was the Crimean War, 1853-56, disastrous?

A

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

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11
Q

When was the emancipation of the serfs? How many emancipated?

A

1861 - 51 million serfs emancipated

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12
Q

what were the political circle of progressive nobles in Alexander II’s court called

A

Party of St Petersburg Progress

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13
Q

What other factors/figures had a role in A II’s decision to reform?

A
  • 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)
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14
Q

How many 1840 and 1844, how many outbreaks of disorder on privately owned estates? how did it change over the following 15 years?

A

fewer than 30 - doubled over the next 15 years

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15
Q

Why did disorder increase in the 1850s?

A
  • Landowners pushing peasants to produce more/ pay higher rents - in order to maintain their own incomes
  • Protests against military conscription during Crimean War
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16
Q

Dmitry Milyutin quote in favour of reform - what are his reasons

A

in order to ‘strengthen the State and restore dignity’

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17
Q

A II’s first reforms

A
  • pardoned Decembrists (involved in plot to kill father)
  • relaxed censorship
  • lessened restrictions on foreign travel + university entrance
  • restored rights of Poland + Catholic Church
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18
Q

Terms of emancipation

A

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

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19
Q

how long did the 2 year ‘temporary obligation’ actually take for some?

A

around 15% remained ‘temporarily obligated’ until 1881 - when redemption made compulsory

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20
Q

positive effects of emancipation

A
  • 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
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21
Q

negative effects of emancipation

A
  • 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
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22
Q

what percentage of peasantry was capable of producing a surplus in 1878?

A

only 50%

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23
Q

Who made reforms to the military, when?

A

Minister of War, Dmitry Milyutin, 1874-75

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24
Q

Main aims of military reforms under Alexander II

A

to create smaller, more professional, more efficient, less expensive army

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25
Q

Reforms made to the military 1874-75

A
  • 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
26
Q

when was the war against Turkey? winner?

A

1877-78, russia struggling, won

27
Q

when were local government reforms made?

A

1864-70

28
Q

what were the reforms to local government?

A

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

29
Q

what powers were the zemstva given?

A

power to improve public services (roads, schools, public health, prisons), develop industrial projects and administer poor relief

30
Q

when were local government reforms extended to towns? Through what system?

A

1870, elected town councils - dumas

31
Q

effects of local government reform

A
  • 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
32
Q

positives/ negatives of zemstva for the regime

A

+ 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

33
Q

When were Alexander II’s reforms to the judiciary introduced?

A

1864

34
Q

How had the judiciary system previously looked?

A

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

35
Q

How did the new judiciary of Russia look?

A

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

36
Q

effect of judiciary reforms of 1864

A
  • new opportunity arose for the articulate lawyers of intelligentsia to criticise the regime, becoming ‘celebrities’
37
Q

limitations of judiciary reforms (positive for regime)

A
  • 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
38
Q

when were Alexander II’s reforms on education made?

A

1863-64

39
Q

Who made the reforms of education, when?

A

1863-64 - Minister of Education, Alexander Golovnin

40
Q

education reforms made 1863 by Alexander Golovnin

A
  • 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
41
Q

growth of number of students in universities

A

3600 (in 1856?) –> 10,000 by the 1870s

42
Q

Censorship reform

A

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

43
Q

number of books published 1855, 1864, 1894

A

1855: 1020
1864: 1836
1894: 10,691

44
Q

When were attempted assassinations on Alexander II? Who carried them out?

A

1866, former noble student
1867, polish immigrant
1879, former student
1879, bomb under wrong train
Feb 1880, mine under dining room

45
Q

Why was Alexander II distanced from reforming elements in his own party - who?

A

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

46
Q

What new appointments did Alexander make in 1866?

A

Minister for Education - Dmitry Tolstoy
Minister of Internal Affairs - Timashev
Head of Third Section - Shuvalov
Minister of Justice - Pahlen

47
Q

Alex II reaction in terms of education

A

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

48
Q

Alex II reaction in terms of police, law and control

A

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

49
Q

When were governer-generals established - what could they do?

A

1879 - had emergency power to prosecute in military courts and exile political offenders

50
Q

Events that show the political crisis of Russia in the late 1870s

A
  • Russo-Turkish War (1877-78)
  • famine in countryside (1879-80)
  • industrial recession
  • attempts on Tsar’s life in 1879 and 1880
51
Q

Who was made Minister for Internal Affairs in 1880? What did he do?

A

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)

52
Q

What did the Loris-Melikov Constitution, produced in 1880, propose?

A
  • inclusion of elected representatives of nobility, zemstva, + town governments, in debating the drafts of some state decrees
53
Q

When did Alexander II accept and sign the Loris-Melikov report (and die)?

A

13 March 1881

54
Q

What did Alexander III do at start of reign?

A
  • 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
55
Q

Alexander III - Changes in local gov

A

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

56
Q

what percentage of population were peasants in time of Alexander III?

A

85%

57
Q

Alexander III - Changes in policing

A

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
58
Q

Alexander III - Changes in the judicial system

A

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

59
Q

Alexander III - Changes in education

A

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)

60
Q

why are educational reforms under Alexander III of dubious value?

A

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)

61
Q

Alexander III - Changes in censorship

A

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

62
Q

What of Alexander II’s reforms did Alexander III keep? + any further liberalisation

A

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

Tsarist and Communist Russia 1855-1964 (7 decks)

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