1.4-6 Trying to preserve autocracy, 1855-1894 Flashcards
What proportion of the population in Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia were Slavs?
2/3
what was the Muslim population by 1900? why?
10 million, due to imperial expansion in Asia in the second half of the 19th century
when had Polish nationalism brought rebellion?
1830 + 1863
How many Poles had created an underground government in Poland? When? What happened to them?
More than 200,000 Poles, to create the underground National Government for Poland, guerilla warfare, crushed in 1864
Alexander II’s policy with racial minorities, first half of reign.
Did not engage in systematic persecution of racial minorities, used concessions to keep control (decrees 1864+ 1875 - allowed Latvians and Estonians to revert to Lutheranism), allowed Finns to have their own diet (parliament)
Alexander II’s policy with racial minorities, in later 1870s
prohibition on use of Ukrainian language in publications or performances in 1876.
what cultural policy did Alexander III and his ministers follow? who particularly?
‘cultural Russification’ - sought to merge empire into a single nation w/ feeling of shared identity
Russification in Finland
Finnish diet reorganised in 1892 to weaken its political influence, use of Russian increasingly demanded, independent postal service abolished, Russian coinage replaced local currency
Russification in Poland
Polish National Bank was closed in 1885, schools and unis, teaching of almost all subjects in Russian, administration of Poland changed
Russification of Baltic Germans
Loyal Baltic Germans - had enjoyed special protection of Tsar predecessors. Between 1885 and 1889, measures to enforce use of German in all state offices, schools, police, judicial system
Russification in other provinces (the Ukraine, Belorussia, Georgia)
further laws limited use of Ukrainian - 1883
1884 - all theatres in 5 Ukrainian provinces closed
Military service extended to areas previously exempt, conscripts from national areas dispersed to prevent national groupings
How many Lutherans converted to Orthodoxy in the Baltic region? Why?
37,000 Lutherans converted, in order to take advantage of the special measures of support
Rule regarding building of non-Orthodox places of worship? when?
From 1883, non-Orthodox believers were not able to build places of worship, wear religious dress except from within meeting place, or spread any religious propaganda. Any attempt to convert Orthodox Church member punishable by Siberian exile.
Results of Russification
June 1888 - Police estimated 332 case of mass disturbance in 61 of Russia’s 91 provinces and districts. In 51 of these cases, military employed.
How did the wealthy minority nationalities react to Russification?
educated + wealthy Finns, Poles and Baltic Germans in west of Empire - constantly petitioned Tsars for more liberties + secret publication of local language books
what was the intended effect of Russification? What really happened?
the goal was to unite the country, to improve administration, allow for modernisation, reassert Russian strength.
intensified national feeling among the non-Russians of the Empire - drove the wealthier to emigrate, the others to join political opposition groups
Anti-Semitism in the Russification of Alexander III
suffered the most during.
around 5 million Jews in the empire, and since 1836 most had been confined to the Pale of Settlement in Western Russia
When were the Jewish Pogroms?
April 1881-1884
Highly probable they were encouraged by the Okhrana using link to Alexander II assassination. Authorities did little to curb violence + ‘Holy League’ organisation, which helped to coordinate the early attacks, was supported by Pobodonostev (banned 1882).
Riots spread, many Jews fled to western Europe. Around 16 major cities affected
What were the anti-Jewish laws called? when were they created?
The May Laws, 1882
What did the May Laws do?
Effectively condemned the Jews to living in ghettos in cities and towns.
A separate decree of 1882 also decreased the number of Jewish doctors permitted in army (doctors possessed rights of officers, otherwise unattainable for Jews)
The impact of anti-Semitism of Alexander III
From 1890, foreign Jews began to be deported, as well as Russia Jews outside the Pale of Settlement.
In Winter of 1891-92, around 10,000 Jewish artisans expelled from Moscow.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (Tsar’s brother) made Governer-General in 1892, forced 20,000 Jews from city during Passover.
How did Alexander II’s reforms stimulate opposition to the tsarist regime?
- initial relaxation in censorship encouraged spread of radical literature
- relaxation of controls on higher education - increased independently minded students
- creation of zemstva + duma - platform for intellectuals to challenge tsarist policies
- reform to judicial system - produced professionally trained lawyers skilled in persuasion + ready to question and challenge
types of intelligentsia
some anarchists, some nihilists.
most in one of two broad categories: Westernisers (abandon Slavic traditions + adopt Western values) + Slavophiles (unique culture + heritage centred around peasant society + Orthodox Church - should be preserved during modernisation)
When was Slavophile peak, when did they start to decline?
1881, diminished in the 1890s, as country moved towards industrialisation (spilt between those attracted to socialism/ those who hoped for reform of tsardom)
when was the famine that left zemstva largely responsible for relief work? what effect?
1891-92 - increased convictions tsarist system had to change + provided needed confidence –> in mid 1890s, renewed calls for national body to advise government
Nikolai Chernyshevsky
author of radical 1862 book ‘What is to be done?’ - suggested that the peasants had to be leaders of revolutionary change
Mikhail Bakunin
anarchist + socialist - in exile, translated The Communist Manifesto into Russian, 1869 + Das Kapital, 1872
Tchaikovsky Circle
set up in 1868-69 - organised printing, publishing, and distribution of scientific + revolutionary literature (incl first volume Das Kapital)
Never large, probably no more than 100 people across major cities
From 1871, organising workers to send among peasants in countryside
The Narodniks + Narodnyism
Narodnyism = Populism - idea of ‘going to the people’
in 1874, Pyotr Lavrov encouraged group of around 2000 young men + women to travel to country to persuade the peasants. The deep-rooted ignorance, superstition, prejudice and loyalty to Tsar - incomers reported to authorities –> around 1600 arrested. Second attempt in 1876 - no more successful + show trials held in 1877-78
‘Land and Liberty’
Set up in 1877, continued populist tradition. Members sought work in communes (less obtrusive manner than Lavrov’s Narodniks.
Some carried out political assassinations, incl. General Mezemtsev, head of Third Section in 1878
Even talks between zemstva and Land and Liberty to place more pressure for constitutional reform.
What two groups did Land and Liberty split into? When?
1879
- Black Repartition (organised from St Petersburg by Georgi Plekhanov)
- The People’s Will (led by Aleksandr Mikhailov)
Black Repartition
- Georgi Plekhanov, St Petersburg
- wanted to share/partition black soil provinces of Russia between the peasants
- continued to work peacefully among the peasantry
- however, severely weakened by arrests in 1880-81, and it ceased to exist as a separate organisation
- Plekhanov + some of early leaders turned instead to Marxism
The People’s Will
- ably led by Aleksandr Mikhailov
- successfully planted a spy in Third Section - able to keep group informed of Secret Police’s activities - could avoid arrest
- bigger group than Black Repartition
- violent methods, assassinating officials
- in 1879, declared that Tsar himself had to be removed, offered to withdraw threat if Tsar agreed to constitution.
- after a number of attempts, succeeded in March 1881
Tsarist reaction to Alexander II’s assassination
Security stepped up, Alexander III retired to fortified castle of Gatchina
Continuing radical opposition after 1881
- Muscovite Society of Translators and Publishers continued underground, reproducing foreign socialist writing
- From Switzerland, Georgi Plekhanov established the ‘Emancipation of Labour’ group in 1883 - sought to demonstrate that Marxism was fully applicable to Russia - development of ‘two-stage revolutionary theory’ vital in advancing Marxism in Russia
Reformation of The People’s Will?
In 1886, students in St Petersburg tried to reform the group, + in March 1887, a group, with bombs to kill Alexander III, arrested - 5 hanged, including Lenin’s elder brother.
what meant that these small beginnings of socialism began to grow after the 1890s?
As industrialisation sped up, workers’ organisations, illegal trade unions, discussion circles developed, spreading Marxist ideas more widely.
Who was Alexander II’s Minister of Finance from 1862-78?
Mikhail von Reutern - German from Russian Baltic landowning class. Believed that state money + control should direct economic change
Reforms designed to boost economy + provide funds to drive industrial growth
Mikhail von Reutern reforms, + when?
1862-78
- Treasury reformed - audits of gov accounts + publishing budgets
- Tax-farming abolished - tax reformed, more indirect tax
- establishment of state bank in 1860, municipal banks 1862, savings bank 1869
- reduction of import duties from 1863 (trade promoted)
- Gov subsidies to enable private entrepreneurs to develop railways
- foreign investment in Russia encouraged w/ annual dividend
- gov support for development of cotton + mining
successes of von Reutern’s reforms
- forced former tax-farmers to invest
- gov subsidies + trade treaties -> encouraged enterprise
- use of foreign technical expertise + capital -> supported industrial expansion - railway network significant expansion
- average growth rate during his office - 6%
new developments during von Reutern’s office
- textiles remained the dominant industry BUT
- oil extraction began in Caspian Sea port 1871
- ironworks set up in Donetsk 1872
- Naptha Extraction Company established by Nobel brothers - credited with creating Russian oil industry + became one of world’s richest
limitations/ failures of von Reutern’s office
- Russia’s economy remained comparatively weak.
- 1/3 gov expenditure went on repayment of debts
- rouble subject to wild variations in value
- limitations of Emancipation Edict + taxation system (66% of gov revenue from indirect taxation) - kept peasantry poor + domestic market small
- tariff reductions meant decline in gov revenue (raised again 1878)
who took over as Minister of Finance after von Reutern? when?
Ivan Vyshnegradsky, 1887
What tariff policy did Vyshnegradsky pursue? why?
30% prohibitive import tax on raw materials
- boost home production
(considerably helped the iron industry of Russia, as well as dev. of industrial machinery)
how did Vyshnegradsky balance the budget, while financing enterprise?
- negotiated valuable loans (e.g. from French in 1888)
- increased indirect taxes
- mounted drive to swell grain exports)
(on the surface) successes of Vyshnegradsky’s balancing of the budget
- between 1881 and 1891, grain exports increased by 18% as a percentage of total exports
- by 1892, budget in surplus
limitations of the remarkable export drive of Vyshnegradsky’s office
achieved at expense of peasants - paid taxes + saw grain requisitioned by the State - many left with no reserve stores for winter
‘We ourselves shall not eat, but we shall export’
1891-92 - widespread famine, worsened by policy + Vyshnegradsky dismissed in 1892
Great Famine of 189-
1891-92, affected 17 of Russia’s 39 provinces
early winter + long dry summer - ruined crops, population susceptible to disease - over 350,000 died from starvation or disease - gov failed to organise adequate relief, left to volunteer groups
Vyshnegradsky’s successor
Sergei Witte - totally committed to economic modernisation as means to curbing revolutionary activity.
Policies of Witte
only way forward was to continue with:
- protective tariffs
- heavy taxation
- forced exports to generate capital
- additional loans from abroad
foreign investment increase 1880, 1890, 1895
1880 - 98 million roubles
1890 - 215 million roubles
1895 - 280 million roubles
Where did the increased foreign investments of Witte go?
- mining, metal trades, banking
+ Witte encouraged engineers, managers, workers from Europe to oversee industrial developments + advise on planning + techniques (with their help, huge expansion of railways network)
what was Russia’s world ranking in size of industrial economy, when
1897, 4th largest industrial economy
- this growth helped to increase Russian exports and foreign trade, although bulk of export trade still in grain
by mid 1890s, what percentage of whole Russian railway system was state owned
60%
After emancipation, how much land did the average peasant receive?
only a little less than 4 hectares
What limited agricultural change?
High taxes, grain requisitions, redemption payments + traditional farming practices perpetuated by mir elders
What did the government establish, in order to facilitate land purchase?
what happened really?
the Peasants’ Land Bank (1883)
the Nobles’ Land Bank (1885)
In reality, the loans they offered often merely increased debts.
Why, largely, was there an increase in agricultural production in the 1870s and 1880s?
efforts of the kulaks to respond positively to Vyshnegradsky’s export drive.
What basic economic problem did the 1891-92 famine show?
the average Russian peasant had too little land to become prosperous
(the emancipation had been expected to solve this problem)
Grain production (Russia vs UK+Germany)
R 45 puds per desiatin
vs
146 puds per desiatin
Rye production (Russia vs France+USA)
R 54 puds per desiatin
vs
68 puds per desiatin
As industrialisation spread, what happened to Russian society in period through to 1895?
from traditional land-based society –> one more focused on money, capital and wages
emergent middle class + urban working class - only in infancy in this period, but would eventually have profound impact on stability of state
The landed elite
small but diverse group - mostly noble status
after Emancipation, personal landholdings significantly declined - some sold out to pay off debts, + others abandoned farming for more rewarding professions (university professors, businessmen, state service)
Therefore, most former serf-owners retained much of previous wealth + status - society remained highly stratified
How much of the money that nobles gained through land sales went to pay off mortgages with the Nobles’ Land Bank?
1/8
what fraction of university professors in 1880 came from hereditary nobility?
nearly 1/5
numbers of nobility as businessmen by 1882?
by 1882, more than 700 nobles owned their own businesses in Moscow, while nearly 2500 were employed in commerce, transport or industry
How did the Land Banks work?
Peasants’ Land Bank - held funds + reserves of land. Set up to assist peasants who wanted to acquire land directly/ purchase from nobles.
Nobles’ Land Bank - designed to help nobles w/ legal costs involved in land transfer + land improvement schemes.
Interest rates on the loans from these banks - kept deliberately low.
With help from the Land Banks, how many hectares passed into peasant hands from —- to —-?
Between 1877 and 1905, over 26 million hectares passed into peasant hands
What was one negative about the Land Banks?
They helped to prop up some inefficient farms, which continued in traditional ways
why did the middle class begin to grow
Urban + industrial expansion, increase in educational opportunities
Bankers, doctors, teachers, and administrators in greater demand
Gov contracts to build railways + state loans to set up factories –> huge opportunities for those who were enterprising
at lower end of the scale, more opportunities of management positions
By 1894, what percentage of population were urban workers?
estimated no more than 2% of the population
By 1864, what proportion of inhabitants of St Petersburg were peasants by birth
1 in 3 - proportion continued to rise
what reforming legislation to workers’ welfare was there 1882-90?
regulation of child labour, reduction in working hours, reduction in excessive fines and payment in kind, appointment of inspectors to check up on working/ living conditions
However, these reforms in reality improved the lives of growing working class
How many strikes were there between 1886 and 1894 (despite being illegal)?
around 33 per year - shows poor payment of the urban working class
Position of the kulaks
at the top of the peasantry, bought up land (perhaps with aid from Land Bank).
Employed labour, sometimes acted as ‘pawn brokers’ to the poorer (buying grain in autumn to provide money in winter, selling back at inflated prices in spring)
what did zemstvo survey in 1880s find (Tambov region, former serfs)
2 out of every 3former serfs in Tambov region were unable to feed family w/o falling into debt?
Health among peasantry
Despite improvements in health care provided through zemstva, large proportion turned down as unfit for military service + mortality rates higher than those in any other European country
What was the average life expectancy for men + women in comparison to in England
27 years old men
29 years old women
In England, average age of death - 45 years old
what percentage of the population subscribed to the Orthodox Church?
70%
