Chapter 5

Question 1

How did Alexander II’s censorship reforms affect opposition?

Answer 1

It encouraged the spread of radical literature and higher education encouraged independently minded students

Question 2

How did the creation of the zemstva affect opposition?

Answer 2

It provided a platform for intellectuals to challenge Tsarist policies

Question 3

Why did the liberal intelligentsia grow with the reforms in the later nineteenth century?

Answer 3

The benefits of education, wealth, time and interest, national travel

Question 4

What philosophical ideas was the intelligentsia influenced most broadly by?

Answer 4

Nihilism and anarchism

Question 5

What were the two broad categories of liberal opposition?

Answer 5

Westernisers and Slavophiles

Question 6

What did Westernisers aspire to?

Answer 6

They wanted to ‘catch up with the west’ by copying Western ways and abandoning Slavic traditions

Question 7

What did Slavophiles aspire to?

Answer 7

They favoured a superior Russian path to a better future - its culture should be preserved as the country modernised

Question 8

What are the most notable examples of Westernisers and Slavophiles

Answer 8

Ivan Turgenev was a Westerniser, whilst Leo Tolstoy was a Slavophile

Question 9

What were the hopes of the members of the zemstva?

Answer 9

To reform the autocracy so that the Tsar would listen to and rule in conjuction with his subjects

Question 10

How did the rise of socialism affect the intelligentsia?

Answer 10

Some were attracted to Marxist theory and were drawn to socialism whilst others maintained a more moderate liberal stance

Question 11

What major political event increased convictions that the Tsarist government had to change?

Answer 11

The Great Famine 1891-92

Question 12

What radical group was established by students following fires in 1863?

Answer 12

‘The Organisation’

Question 13

Who is the initial author of ‘What is to be done’?

Answer 13

Nikolai Chernyshevsky

Question 14

Who was the editor of radical journal ‘The Bell’?

Answer 14

Aleksandr Herzen

Question 15

How did Mikhail Bakunin contribute to radical political circles?

Answer 15

By introducing a translation of Marx’s ‘The Communist Manifesto’ in 1869

Question 16

What was Bakunin and Nechaev’s manifesto that called for a revolution?

Answer 16

Catechism of a Revolutionary

Question 17

When was the Tchaikovsky Circle established and what were its functions?

Answer 17

1868-69 and it organised the printing, publishing and distribution of scientific and revolutionary literature

Question 18

What was the idea of ‘going to the people’ known as?

Answer 18

Narodynism

Question 19

What did Pyotr Lavrov encourage in 1874?

Answer 19

A group of 2000 to travel to the countryside to persuade the peasantry that the country was dependent on their labour

Question 20

Why were the Narodniks extremely unsuccessful?

Answer 20

The peasants’ ignorance, superstition and deep-rooted loyalty to the Tsar led to them being reported

Question 21

How many Narodniks were eventually arrested?

Answer 21

1600

Question 22

What radical group followed the Populist tradition?

Answer 22

Land and Liberty, established in 1877

Question 23

Which notable political assassination did ‘Land and Liberty’ carry out?

Answer 23

General Mezemtsev, head of the Third Section (secret police)

Question 24

What other role did Land and Liberty have to carry out Populist teachings?

Answer 24

Its members sought work within peasant communes and rallied these communes

Question 25

What was Black Repartition?

Answer 25

A radical group, split from Land and Liberty, that developed ties with students and workers as well as creating radical materials in order to cause social change without violence

Question 26

What was The People’s Will?

Answer 26

A radical group that advocated violent methods undermining government officials through political assassinations. Responsible for the assassination of Alexander II in 1881

Question 27

What did ‘Self-education’ circles attempt to achieve?

Answer 27

They translated and reproduced the writings of foreign socialists, and also kept contacts with radicals in exile

Question 28

Which group did Georgi Plekhanov establish and what was their purpose?

Answer 28

‘Emancipation of Labour’ which translated and smuggled in Marxist tracts

Question 29

What is Georgi Plekhanov often referred to as?

Answer 29

The Father of Russian Marxism