1848 and Impact Flashcards
What were the revolutions? Why didn’t revolution take off in Russia as part of the 1848 Revolutions?
In West:
- Wave of revolts
- Italy, France, Prussia, Austria
- Formed out of established POLITICAL PARTIES (somewhat mainstream) alongside / in conjunction with radical socialist people and groups
- Led by democrats, established leaders -> had SUPPORT OF LIBERAL BOURGEOSIE AND PEASANTS
In Russia:
- Only critiques of regime come from Kruzhki. Individual basis.
- NO WIDE AUDIENCE, Aesopian language
- NO mass political movements or parties because of Nick’s consolidation of autocratic control and censorship
- NO industrial working class because no industry. Therefore no complaints / problems like in west (no industrial revolution)
- NO middle class (who ultimately side w/old powers in west)
- NO connections/support with peasantry
- Russians ALREADY living under (perceived) restricted civil rights
Berlin posits:
- All this happened AFTER industrialization in 1905 -> 1905 as Russia’s 1848
Explain what effect the widespread failure of 1848 in the west had on Russians and the Revolutionary Movement
Widespread disillusionment and crushing of liberal hopes and dreams in West. Middle class had proved not revolutionary enough. AND OF POPULAR MOVEMENTS BASED ON LIBERALISM
Because Russians shielded from rising up like this, they see the failure of western style political movements
Overall cessation of constant comparisons to the west. Slavophilism thrives in this period.
Stop trying to apply “ready-made” band-aids from west to Russian problems. Instead turn intellectual discourse to solving and examining unique Russian issues.
OVERALL:
- STATE GETS MORE ASSERTIVE -> SOLIDIFIES OPINION YOU CAN’T WORK WITH THEM
- ALSO BECAUSE OF FAILURE OF POPULAR MOVEMENTS
“hardening of mindsets” -> Intelligentsia affirm they can’t work WITH regime because of liberal disillusionment and regime becoming stricter
- hift to CELL STRUCTURE OF EDUCATED ELITE REVOLUTIONARIES -> ready to strike and stage a small scale revolt / coup when the hour was ripe (kinda like decs I guess then)
- This was the only practical means of establishing a revolutionary movement in Russia because of repression
EVIDENCED BY:
- PETRA ACTIONS
What immediate impacts did 1848 have on Nick’s reign?
Fears of Polish uprisings:
- sends army to Polish border to quell another potential uprising
- Inspired by 1831 overtook Warsaw. Polish sympathy in Europe. Took months to recapture, harsh retribution for officers.
Interventions:
- 400,000 men in Austria to aid Emperor Franz Joseph and PROTECT AUTOCRACY ABROAD
General paranoia:
- overreaction to Petra circle -> mock execution despite only intent
Nick’s abandonment of reform
- because of 1848 Sense of autocracy needing to persist
- Funding for state peasant initiatives dries up.
Second of April Committee/BUTURLIN COMMITTEE
- > silences intellectual dissent ->
- RETROACTIVE censorship laws -> stifling even further of Intelligentsia and public debate
- Purge of philosophy or “threatening” disciplines/professors at universities
Give a general overview (brief) of what the Petrashevsky circle was and who was in it.
INSTEAD OF MASS MOVEMENT / REFORM WITH STATE (FAILURE OF 1848), REPRESSION -> CONSOLIDATED AGAINST STATE IN CELL STRUCTURE
Petrashevsky:
- son of doctor, studied law, worked as a translator in bureaucracy -> ACCESS TO FORBBIDDEN EURO WRITINGS
Shared these with friends. Doestoevsky, others
Group:
- small, no ideological unity
- NO FIRM PLANS, but criticism (serfs, censorship) Discussed HOW to revolt, but no plan of action
DID NOT SEE THEMSELVES AS A REV GROUP
What they did:
Not a very revolutionary act
Create a pocket dictionary of foreign words which had entered Russian vocab
Use entries here to explain the political and social ideas behind these new words (Materialism, natural rights. Way of getting around censorship because its just defining these laws -> pass first rounds)
2nd banned a month after publication
OFFSHOOT group had printing press to print anti-regime propaganda but this was disposed of before evidence was uncovered
Revolutionary?
- According to Doestoevsky’s descriptions, Bakunin was a legit revolutionary with plans to overthrow state
- Emphasis on concrete statistical analysis of Rusian population, etc. evidence of Berlin’s assertions that there was a shift from “liberal patter” to concrete Russian-focuses actions and decisions.
Explain the process through which the Petrashevsky circle was cracked down upon and arrested
Nick shifts from PLACATING population by BETTERING CONDITIONS UNDER AUTOCRACY (Serfs, state p’s, legal reforms) to DIRECT ACTION IN PRESERVATION AGAINST REVOLUTION
1849 aressted after informants /infiltration by MoI and 3rd dept-> net cast very widely LIKE DECS -> 252 people questioned, 24 arrested.
- P/P fortress. 2 died in horrid conditions.
- State discovers very little evidence, certainly none of a mass popular movement
- GOES THROUGH MILITARY COURTS TO VHARGE THEM WITH INTENT WHICH WAS CRIME FOR DEATH THERE > LACK OF EVIDENCE
Evidence -> Dostoevsky charged with reading Chaadaev’s forbidden texts, but also intent to overthrow / spread propaganda (had capacity to become threat)
AUTOCRAT IS GENEROUS BY ALLOWING THEM TO LIVE > BUT CAN FUCK YOU UP SO DONT REVOLT
How did the Petrashevsky Circle differ from past revolutionary groups? (Decs, Int), what is some evidence of this?
Revolutionary?
- MORE revolutionary than Intelligentsia -> smaller cell structure (not advocating for mass popular movement), discussions (theoretical) on how to overthrow state, members like Bakunin who are openly revolutionary, some subversive activity
- Going to print anti-govt flyers -> revolutionary according to military court standards
- CONDUCTED SURVEYS OF INTERNAL RUSSIAN ISSUES -> SHOWCASED PIVOT TO MORE DIRECT ACTION FOLLOWING LIBERAL/REFORMIST DISILLUSIONMENT IN WAKE OF 1848
- EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENTSIA
- LESS revolutionary than decs -> no formal plans to overthrow state, more of a literary discussion group
- No ability to raise military support.
MORE PROFESSIONAL THAN BOTH:
- Resisted interrogations, all on same page (never revealed printing press)
- contrast to Decs who balked and explained motives/admitted crimes (example)
Makeup:
- Mostly nobles but also bureaucrats and writers/drifters
- NO IDEOLOGICAL UNITY though MOSTLY OPPOSED TO REGIME/Absolutism
- Many Utopian Socialists
- Some members just along for the ride (Doestoevsky)
Contextualize Nick’s reaction to the Petrashevsky group’s downfall. Explain what measures he took against them
1848 -> paranoia evidenced by stationing of troops in Poland, interventions on behalf of monarchies, committees looking at retroactively censoring authors/lit circles
Massive commission into group -> 252 people questioned like decs. 24 housed in Peter Paul prison/ inquisition led by tsar himself
Again, paranoid about uprisings so clamps down on security of state/autocracy -> finds NO EVIDENCE that this group was plotting a revolution OR DISTRIBUTING ANTI-STATE PROP but wants to make an example -> even INTENT is labelled a crime by USING MILITARY COURTS
Accuses Dostoevsky of intent to distribute anti govt flyers (though again, NO EVIDENCE) and for reading Gogol’s banned letter.
OVERALL:
- terrified of autocracy’s / Official Nationality’s “sacred institutions” being compromised by revolutionary ideals -> therefore wants to scare away even more strongly any groups like this.
RESULT:
- most Russians horrified at barbarity of Nick here. This and tightened restrictions lead to hardened resolve against Russian state
- Overall cements impression that you can’t work WITH Russian state for reform ->
Real quick, what was Dostoevsky’s role in the Petrashevsky circle?
Was a writer, not a committed Utopian socialist. Many different ideas in group, etc.
Knew what he was getting himself into, admitted PARTICIPATION in group but DENIED any wrong doing
Denial/assertiveness evidence that these revs are more hardened INT and more professional than DEC
