Alexander IIIs Reaction

Question 1

What was the thinking behind the New Conservatism (Johnathan Bromley sheet)

Answer 1

• completely rejected creeping liberalism
• not prepared to reserve reforms like emancipation as it would be ludicrous
• were they ‘counter-reforms’ , ‘a reaction’ or ‘conservative amendments’ ?
• Pob regarded reforms as a grave error but the fact he could not reverse them shows how the autocracy has limited power
• Bromley sees that “the monarchy was painfully weak” and “all the weaker for its refusal to countenance further western-style reform after 1881
• ‘only absolute power can safeguard Russia’ - Alexander III

Question 2

What was the Safeguard System?

Answer 2

• 1881- a series of government instructions that amounted to two stages of a statute of a state of emergency giving the governors-general and police extraordinary powers and remained until the end of the Tsarist regime
• Had 2 levels: lower Reinforced Safeguard (RS) and the higher Extraordinary Safeguard (ES)
• They could now: arrest and imprison suspects for three months, close down and fine local press, close down zemstva and dumy (ES), dismiss any officials in state service below the first three ranks
• RS was immediately applied to ten provinces including St Petersburg and Moscow and during 1905 ES was used selectively
• After 1906 RS applied universally by Pyotr Stolypin
• After 1881 it was kind of a ‘police state’
• revealed state of mind of conservatives surrounding new tsar that only by reasserting traditional Russian autocratic values could be the Russian states future be secured

Question 3

What were the changes to the Okhrana?

Answer 3

• effectively the Tsar’s personal police force and was strengthened and numbers were increased
• began to keep detailed records on people opposed to tsarist rule
• more spies, counter-spies and ‘agents provocateurs’ (people who would act as secret agents and help to plan rebellion and then be caught)
• any part of the empire could be declared an ‘area of subversion’ where police has special powers
• arrested people who committed crimes, thought likely to have committed crimes or people related to criminals - these then had no access to lawyers

Question 4

What were the reform on courts?

Answer 4

• 1885 - Minister of Justice was given greater controls e.g. he could sack judges
• 1887 - closed court sessions introduced - trials could not be held in secret which opened it to corruption
• 1887 - rules for who could be jurors were tightened and only people with higher qualifications and property could be jurors
• 1889 - Volost (peasant courts) put under control of Land Captains in the countryside and judges in towns which gave peasants less say in matters of justice

Question 5

What changed about censorship?

Answer 5

• government issued ‘temporary regulations’ in 1882
• newspapers could be closed down
• editors and publishers could receive life bans
• all publications had to be approved
• libraries faced restrictions on which books they could stock
• theatre, art and culture were subject to Russification and any work which didn’t promote Russian values faced censorship or ban

Question 6

What were the changes to the local government?

Answer 6

• July 1889 - ‘Land Captains’ created
• responsible for law enforcement and government in rural areas
• they could overturn court decisions, ignore the decisions of the zemstva and override their elections
• 1890 - zemstva came under central government control
• the election system was also changed to give peasant less say in choosing zemstva members
• 1892 - voters in towns restricted to those owning property above a value
• changes did lead to tax collection being more efficient

Question 7

What changes were made to education?

Answer 7

• DID NOT fall under the Safeguard System
• control of education was tightened to stop the growth of any Western influence in Russia
• the 1884 University Law - universities lost most of the the freedoms gained under Alexander II, censorship was tightened and only approved subjects could be taught
• students were banned from gathering in groups larger than 5 to provide uprisings
• university for women shut down
• 1887 University Law - entrance fees to universities were quadrupled - only children from wealthy background could afford to attend
• 1887 - minister of public education (Ivan Delyanov) issued a circular restricting access of poorer children to just primary schools and specifying that those that did attend would only get the same education as their parents
• those receiving some education did increase but only 21% were literate by 1897

Question 8

What was positive about these reforms?

Answer 8

• 1881- law passed reducing the level of redemption payments
• 1885- poll tax scrapped and inheritance tax was introduced- this helped poor a little and penalised the rich
• a right to appeal to a higher court in cases heard by a Land Captain was introduced