ALEXANDER II and III SOCIETY Flashcards
1. social, condition of Russia in 1855
Socially, Russia was starkly divided between the privileged land-owning elite and the serf majority; the non-productive and the productive classes. The former consisted of the clergy, nobility, civil and military officials, army and naval officers and, at the very top, the royal court.
In addition to the serfs, there were some urban artisans, manufacturers and merchants within the ranks of the productive classes, but the striking feature of mid-nineteenth century Russian society was the
absence of any coherent ‘middle class, as was becoming increasingly dominant elsewhere in Europe.
1. social, condition of Russia in 1855
There were a small number of professionals (doctors, teachers and lawyers, for example) some of whom comprised an educated ‘intelligentsia, but these were often the sons of nobles.
The word ‘class’, with its connotation of economic status’ is actually a rather modern term to use of nineteenth-century Russian society, which was still based on birth, land and service. As in the past, in 1855 legal barriers still limited social mobility. Serfs were liable for dues, as demanded by past custom, to their masters (from whose bond it was almost impossible to escape). They also paid
direct and indirect taxes to the government. The nobility and clergy, however, were exempt from the payment of any direct monetary taxes.
1. social, condition of Russia in 1855
The main direct tax, paid by all except the merchants, was the poll tax.
It was levied, at the same rate, on every male peasant in the Empire, no matter what his circumstances. This, together with the obrok paid by state serfs in lieu of land and service dues, made up 25 per cent of ordinary’ government income.
Overall, the taxes hit hard at the peasantry who, together with the
urban workers and tradesmen, provided around 90 per cent of Imperial finance.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
As industrialisation spread, Russia’s traditional land-based society began to move towards one more focused on money, capital and wages. Of course, this was a slow procedure and until 1895 society was still strongly divided.
However, the period saw the beginnings of an emergent
new middle class and urban working class, which found themselves placed somewhere between the landowning elites and the mass of peasants. While still in their infancy in the period to 1895, these changes were eventually to have a profound impact on the stability of the State.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
THE LANDED ELITE
The landed elite was a small but diverse group, mostly of noble status. After the Emancipation, their personal landholdings had considerably declined, as some sold out to pay off debts and others abandoned farming in favour of more rewarding professional activities. Yet others saw the future in business and, by 1882, more than 700 nobles owned their own businesses in Moscow, while nearly 2500 were employed in commerce, transport or industry. State service was another option, while some found places in the zemstva and the provincial governorships.
Consequently, athough there were changes to their position, most former serf-owners
retained much of their previous wealth and status, and society remained highly stratified (arranged in layers, according to wealth).
6 . social developments: social divisions.
THE MIDDLE CLASS
With urban and industrial expansion and an increase in educational opportunities, Russia’s middle class began to grow. Bankers, doctors, teachers and administrators were in greater demand, although their numbers added up to no more than half a million in the 1897 census. Government contracts to build
railways, and state loans to set up factories, provided tremendous opportunities for those who were enterprising. At the lower end of the scale, there were more opportunities to take up management positions or set up as workshop owners and traders.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
THE URBAN WORKING CLASS
The expansion of industry was accompanied by a growth in the urban population. The number of urban workers was, however, still very small in this period - probably no more than two per cent of the population. Indeed, it was still relatively common for peasants to move to the towns to work temporarily, while returning to their villages to help out at peak times, such as harvest. However, some peasants sold up and left the countryside, either to join a migrant group building railways or to become urban workers. By 1864 one in three of the inhabitants of St Petersburg were peasants by birth, and the proportion continued to rise.
Conditions in the cities could be grim and the early factories paid little heed to their workers’ welfare, despite some reforming legislation. In 1882-90
regulation of child labour, a reduction in working hours (and in particular the hours worked by women at night), a reduction in excessive fines and payment in kind, and the appointment of inspectors with powers to check up on working and living conditions.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
THE URBAN WORKING CLASS
However, these contributed very little towards improving the lives of the growing working class.
Although peasants were attracted by the prospect of regular wages, payments were rarely generous. Unsurprisingly, although they were illegal, there were around
332 strikes per year between 1886 and 1894. However, nothing stopped the relentless drive from countryside to city
6 . social developments: social divisions.
THE POSITION OF THE PEASANTRY
Like the landed elites, the peasantry was also divided. At the top were the kulaks who bought up land, perhaps with the aid of loans from the Peasants’ Land Bank. They employed labour and sometimes acted as ‘pawn brokers’ to the less fortunate, buying their grain in the autumn to provide them with money to tide them over the winter, but selling it back at inflated prices in the spring. When their clients could not afford the repayments, the kulaks sometimes accepted land instead.
In contrast, the poorest peasants found
life getting harsher as they turned into landless labourers, dependent on others. According to a zemstvo survey in the 1880s, two out of every three of the former serfs in the Tambov region were unable to feed the household without falling into debt.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
Religious observance was a significant part of life in the Russian countryside. Every peasant hut held its icon and the mix of religion and superstition was an integral part of peasant culture. Priests had close ties with the village, as well as a role assigned by the State. They were expected to
read out Imperial manifestos and decrees, keep statistics (for example on births, marriages and deaths), root out opposition, and inform the police of any suspicious activity.
Priests were even encouraged to pass on statements given in Holy Confessions to the secular authorities, even though by Church law these should never be divulged.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
THE POSITION OF THE PEASANTRY
Living standards varied throughout the country. Areas of former state peasants tended to be better off than those of the emancipated privately owned serfs, because they had been granted more land. Despite improvements in health care, provided through the zemstva, a large proportion of the peasantry were turned down as unfit for military service and mortality rates were higher than those in any other European country. Average life expectancy was around 27 years for males and 29 years for women; in England the average age of death was 45 years. It would therefore be fair to say that economic change failed to
improve the lot of the peasantry and may even have affected them for the worse.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
THE CULTURAL INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH
The Orthodox Church, to which 70 per cent of the population subscribed, had a close bond with the tsarist regime. According to tradition, Russia was a Holy Land that had been chosen by God to save the world. The Tsar possessed not only a divine right to rule, but a holiness which made him a saint on Earth.
By the late-nineteenth century, Church administration had been moved to the Holy Synod and the Tsar’s position had become more secular. Nevertheless, Imperial Russia remained a strongly Orthodox State and the moral domination of the Orthodox Church over the superstitious and ill-educated peasantry was
hugely beneficial to the regime as a means of control.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
Alexander III’s policy of Russification enabled him to promote Orthodoxy throughout the Empire. It became an offence to convert from the Orthodox to another faith, or even to publish criticisms of it. Radical sects, which had broken away from true Orthodoxy - in particular the ‘Old Believers’ who had settled in remote parts of Siberia - were all persecuted by the State.
The Ukrainian Uniate Church and the Armenian Church were subject to persecution and in Central Asia and Siberia there was enforced baptism of pagans, accompanied by scenes of ritual humiliation. More than
forced conversions
8500 Muslims and 50,000 pagans were converted to Orthodoxy during Alexander Ill’s reign as well as around 40,000 Catholics and Lutherans in Poland and the Baltic provinces.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
After a report expressing concern about clerical poverty and behaviour in 1858, Valuev, the Minister of Internal Affairs, set up an Ecclesiastical Commission to look into the Church organisation and practice in 1862. In 1868, reforms were introduced to improve the education of priests.
Alexander III and his minsters were certainly conscious of the power of the Church and under Delyanov (Minister of Education) the Orthodox Church was given
increased control over primary education.
The Church also possessed strict censorship controls and the Church courts judged moral and social crimes, awarding punishments, such as a spell in a monastery, to those found guilty.
6 . social developments: social divisions.
THE INFLUENCE OF ORTHODOXY
Despite the dominance of the Orthodox Church, there is evidence to suggest that its control over the lives of the people was weakening:
(cities, countryside and liberal clergy vs pob)
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- The provision of Churches and priests had not kept pace with the growth of urbanisation, and, in any case, the Orthodox religion often seemed to have little relevance for the workers in the factories and tenement blocks, who were often more attracted by the teachings of the socialists.
- Even in the countryside, where faith and religious practices seemed stronger, superstition often held a stronger sway than the Orthodox priests who were often regarded a money-grasping and less than perfect role-models.
- Some liberal clergy expressed the wish to regenerate the Church and reform its relations with the tsarist state, but their calls were silenced by the senior conservatives and in particular by Pobedonostev, the Over-Procurator between 1880 and 1905.
