ECONOMY AND SOCIETY- Society (peasants)

Question 1

Alexander III food/famine

Answer 1

• AIII there was the famine of 1891
• Vynshegradskii was blamed as he had raised consumer taxes, meaning ordinary people had to pay more for everyday items and had sold their spare grain leaving them with nothing.
• AIII responded by banning grain exports and setting up a special committee for Famine Relief but he was too late

Limitations:
* Despite the work of Zemstvas, poor weather led to a severe famine which was made worse by a typhus epidemic. 350,000 died
* AIII responded by banning grain exports and setting up a special committee for Famine Relief but he was too late

Question 2

Lenin food/ famine

Answer 2

• In 1918 Valuable land was lost in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (pulling Russia out of the war, simultaneously taking away land that a quater of the russian population farmed on).
• Food crisis in getting grain to troops so Lenin introduced grain requisition using the Cheka to seize supplies from peasants. 1921 droughts followed after a severe winter and the railway had to be shut down due to the civil war, resulting in poor transportation of grain.
• Over 5 million died of famine with rumours of bodysnatching and cannibalism.

Limitations:
* Lenin was very reluctant to accept aid from American Relief Administration
* Russia’s econom agriculturally dependent but agricultural reforms are ineffective and preventing development or properly feeding the population

Question 3

Stalin food/ Famine

Answer 3

• 1932-1934 the worst famine of the period was caused due to collectivisation, with repressive measures.
• 5 million died
• Discussion of grain crisis was banned, any peasants who ate their own corn were shot, death penalty imposed for any stealing of grain.
• Many peasants rebelled by killing their animals instead of handing them over. By 1935 things improved but diet was worse under the communists than the Tsars. By late 1930s meat and fish consumption had fallen by 80%. Another famine in 1947

Limitations:
* famine completely man made, Stalin not addressing ahricultural issues before they happen
* Stalin unwill to appease peasants and enforces more terror instead

Question 4

Nicholas II Religion

Answer 4

• Orthodox Church was used as a form of social control.
• The church relied on the gov for money.
• NII introduced a law in 1905 which allowed orthodox believers to convert to other Christian denominations but was restricted again to orthodox in 1910

Limitations:
* Nicholas wasn’t that involved in religion, he could have used to better to his advantage
* Controlled it but not a lot, allowed peasants to continue believing, kind of

Question 5

Lenin religion

Answer 5

• Saw religion as the ‘opiate of the people’
• Bolsheviks introduced the ‘Decree on the separation of Church from the state and School from the Church’. 1918
• Which took away the churches right to own property and monetary support from the govt.
• During the civil war many churches were closed and their property confiscated.
• League of the militant Godless created in 1925 to promote atheism. Lenin did not appoint a church spokesman but Stalin ensured many of the clergy suffered in the Great Terror. By 1938 clergy had been reduced by 60%.

Limitations:
* Lenin didn’t substitute religion with anything, Stalin put himself in the place of God but Lenin just rejected anything resembling religion. Could have had more control over the people

Question 6

Khrushchev religion

Answer 6

• Khrushchev saw a new ‘moral code’ introduced in 1961 to substitute the bible.
• Launched an anti-religious campaign which meant all religious activity was ‘under scrutiny’
• Population happier as they have more freedom of religion (although still limited)

Limitations:
* Allowed people to have a belief system even if it was heavily regulated
* Re-introduced religion into everyday life, sacrificing complete autonomy over population

Question 7

Alexander II Education

Answer 7

• Both AII and NII attempted to expand educational ops for ordinary people but this was limited success (Zemstvas helped WWI stopped)
• limited to primary

Limitations:
* uneductaed workforce meant Russia lacked positions like engineers and technological advancing roles, meaning cannot industrialise or modernise

Question 8

Alexander III education

Answer 8

• Stopped ordinary students going to secondary
• Allowed greater autonomy and revolution was less likely
• More likely to agree with Tsar because they don’t know better

Limitations:
* Tsar underestimated population, although revolution was less likely menat that country could not advance
* Russian economy behind other countries and uneducated workforce would only exacerbate this

Question 9

Stalin education

Answer 9

• Stalin and K allowed much more oppurtunities for ordinary people and transformed education system to become more practical.
• Most increase under Stalin. By 1932, 6.9 mil attending secondary schools.
• Allowed russian agriculture to develop therefore developing
• Russia seemed more advanced as a country’s development level often taken from litracy rate and educated percentage

Limitations:
* higher chance of revolution as population more educated (although terror regime would prevent this)