2.10 Opposition: ideas and ideologies

Question 1

What did the Tver Zemstvo petition the Tsar for in 1895? How did he respond?

Answer 1

In 1895, the Tver Zemstvo petitioned Nicholas II to set up an advisory body.
He dismissed the request as a ‘senseless dream’

Question 2

What did the liberal Prince Lvov demand in the 1890s?

Answer 2

the creation of an all-class zemstvo at district (volost) level + a National Assembly

Question 3

What was the Beseda Symposium? When was it set up?

Answer 3

Set up in 1899. Secret meetings of the more radical liberals to discuss matters of liberal interest - judicial reform + universal education

Question 4

When did the government order the dismissal of hundreds of liberals from the elected boards of the zemstva? How did the Beseda Symposium react?

Answer 4

1900
Beseda Symposium assumed leadership of liberal movement - attracted support from public figures, town leaders, members of legal and teaching professions, industrialists

Question 5

In 1903, what organisation was founded under the inspiration of Pyotr Struve?

Answer 5

Union of Liberation - ‘peaceful evolution’ for Russia to adapt to new industrialising status - workers should be able to campaign legally to improve conditions

Question 6

What event cause ideas of ‘agrarian socialism’ to be revived

Answer 6

Great Famine of 1891-92

Question 7

What is agrarian socialism?

Answer 7

taking estates from landowners and dividing the land between the peasantry to be farmed communally

Question 7

When was the Social Revolutionary Party (SR) founded?

Answer 7

1901

Question 8

What was the central goal of the SRs? What were its ideas?

Answer 8

‘land socialisation’ + decentralised government

Members broadly accepted Marxist theory, combining with populist ideas - specifically Russian revolution
interests of the ‘labouring poor’ - peasantry + urban workers - the same

Question 9

membership of SRs

Answer 9

wide national base w/ large peasant membership, but 50% of its members were from the urban working class

Question 10

Between 1901 and 1905, how many political assassinations did the SRs carry out?

Answer 10

2000 (incl. 2 Ministers of Internal Affairs - Sipyagin 1902, von Plehve 1904)

Question 11

What event did the SRs play an active role in?

Answer 11

the 1905 Revolution

Question 12

What organisation killed Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin? When?

Answer 12

The Social Revolutionaries (SRs) in 1911

Question 13

Between 1905 and 1909, how many SRs were sentenced to death? How many were actually executed?

Answer 13

4579 sentenced to death, 2365 actually executed

Question 14

What group emerged in 1898 as an amalgamation of various Marxist groups?

Answer 14

Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SD)

Question 15

What happened at the First Congress of the SDs?

Answer 15

Broken up by Okhrana agents who arrested two of the newly created 3 man central committee

Question 16

What did Lenin argue in favour of at the Second Party Congress of the SDs?

Answer 16

strong disciplined organisation of professional revolutionaries to lead the proletariat
Only total dedication to revolution

Question 17

What did Martov argue in favour of at the Second Party Congress of the SDs?

Answer 17

developing a broad party with mass working-class membership + members ‘cooperating’ with liberal parties

Question 18

By 1906, what had happened within the Social Democratic Workers’ Party?

Answer 18

The divisions between Bolshevik and Menshevik had hardened so that by 1906, there were effectively 2 separate SD parties

Question 19

Between 1906 and 1910, how many TUs were closed down? How many were denied registration?
What TUs survived?

Answer 19

497 TUs closed down
604 denied registration

Those that survived were mainly unions of better-paid male skilled workers, particularly in the metal trades

Question 20

What reforms were there for the urban working class after 1905?

Answer 20

Only some reforms, such as the 1912 Insurance Law

Question 21

What reduced opportunity for union action from 1907?

Answer 21

Economic depression, rise in unemployment, combined with a political clampdown

Question 22

What event provided a new impetus for union action? When?

Answer 22

The shooting of unarmed demonstrators at the Lena goldfields in April 1912

Question 23

What from 1911 gave skilled labour more bargaining power in the marketplace?

Answer 23

Beginnings of economic recovery in 1911

Question 24

Where was the TU activity after 1912 mostly confined to?

Answer 24

3/4 of the strikes took place in St Petersburg and the surrounding area (half in the metal trades)

Question 25

What danger did the pre-war strike movement actually pose to the autocracy?

Answer 25

less than it seemed.
as well as being geographically limited, only 12% of enterprises experienced a strike + even the General Strike in St Petersburg in the first half of July 1914 only brought out a quarter of the manufacturing labour force

Question 26

in the pre-war strike movement, what percentage of enterprises experienced a strike?

Answer 26

only 12%

Question 27

When was the General Strike in St Petersburg in the pre-war strike movement?

Answer 27

in the first half of July 1914

Question 28

How much of the manufacturing labour force did the St Petersburg General Strike in the first half of July 1914 bring out?

Answer 28

only a quarter

Question 29

opposition among the national minorities after 1905?

Answer 29

After 1905, no single strong opposition among the nationalities + apart from the Poles and Finns, none wanted outright independence

Question 30

Why were the revolutionary SR and SD parties weakened after 1905?

Answer 30

The exile of their leaders after 1905
The spilt within the SDs + rivalry between the SDs and SRs

-> membership declined + neither SDs nor SRs achieved in creating national, regional or even all-city organisations

Question 31

In the Ukraine + Moscow, falling membership of the SDs from 1906 to 1912

Answer 31

Ukraine:
1906 - 20,000
1912 - 200

Moscow:
1906 - 7500
1912 - 40

Question 32

Apparent revival in Bolshevik fortunes 1912-1914? What was the reality?

Answer 32

Gained six workers’ deputies in Fourth Duma
Newspaper Pravda launched in April 1912 - much higher circulation than Menshevik newspaper.

In reality, growing support for Bolshevik ideals was quite limited + had been helped in Fourth Duma election by SR boycott

Question 33

Opposition in Russia before 1914?

Answer 33

weakened, demoralised, most workers politically apathetic, labour protest contained by repression + minimal consessions.
Coming of war only further diminished opposition as patriotic fervour swept through all, except Bolsheviks (Lenin believed defeat would bring Russia closer to revolution)