Chapter 5-The Growth of opposition to tsarist rule Flashcards
What opposition was faced from moderate liberals?
They were a group consisting of few literate Russians. They usually fell into two categories: Westernisers and Slavophiles. Slavophiles wanted to preserve the Russian culture whereas Westernisers wanted to adopt modern values and undergo industrialisation. Westernising liberal opposition could be found in the Zemstva as they wanted to make the Tsar listen and rule more democratically.
What radical opposition did Alexander II face?
A group of students called young Russia proposed that a revolution was the only way forward. In June 1862 a series of fires destroyed over 2000 shops and Young Russia was blamed. Chernyshevsky was the author of a radical journal and What is to be done? which suggested peasants must be responsible for revolutionary change. Marx’s Communist Manifesto had been translated into Russian in 1869, spreading Marxist ideas.
What was the Tchaikovsky circle?
It was a literary society to print, publish and distribute revolutionary literature, including Marx’s books. It was a small group of around 100 people but it sought social revolution.
Who were the noradniks and what did they do?
Their ideas were based on populism and they encouraged 2000 young men and women to travel the countryside to persuade the peasantry that they were important in helping the future of Russia. They tried dressing and talking like peasants but peasants often reported them to the authorities. Around 1600 of them were arrested.
Who were Land and Liberty?
They continued the populist traditions and members sought work within peasant communes. Some carried out political assassinations and they tried to put pressure on the autocracy for constitutional reform. In 1879, it split into Black repartition and the People’s Will. The Black repartition wanted to share black soil province among the peasants but it was very weak by 1881 and leaders turned to Marxism. The People’s Will was a bigger, more violent group and they successfully planted a spy within the Third Section. In 1881 they successfully assassinated Tsar Alexander II.
What was the Tsarist reaction?
Security was stepped up to the new Tsar after his father’s assassination and he moved to a castle.
