Emergence - weakness of political system Flashcards
what kind of rule was there in Russia?
absolutist monarchy
autocracy
what wasn’t there? [5]
no national elections
no parliament
no political parties
no trade unions
no free press
what did the Tsar believe to be best?
what did he believe in?
Autocracy - key to maintaining order
believed in Divine Right of Kings
define: Divine Right of Kings
appointed by and accountable to God
doesn’t share power
political opposition - Liberals
why were they angry?
what did they want?
educated classes hoping for change after abolishment of serfdom were disappointed
zemstva reform (1864) - introduced local self-government - Alexander II then removed it
wanted to pressurise monarchy into conceding an elected assembly
political opposition - Revolutionaries
who?
what did they want?
Populists & Social Revolutionaries (SR)
Marxists
wanted to overthrow the monarchy entirely
Populists / SR - date?
aim?
when was SR founded? - led by?
aims?
19th century / 20th century
aimed at a peasant revolution - transfer of land from monarchy/nobility to peasant masses
1901 - Victor Chernov
campaigned for universal suffrage & peasant revolution
Marxists - date
aims
when was the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party formed
1883 onwards
sought to transform Russia by means of a revolution of the proletariat
1898 - Lenin was one of the founders
were the Marxists a united party?
No - very argumentative
split between economists [better conditions for workers]
and revolutionaries [social revolution]
how did the Marxist party split
when?
how popular were they?
between Bolsheviks - led by Lenin
and Mensheviks - led by Julius Martov
1903 - at a congress in Brussels & London
both of them remained tiny until outbreak of WWI
Peasants rising - March 1902
scale?
location
how many were affected?
duration?
resolution?
SR were involved
large-scale peasant revolt
in Poltava and Kharkov provinces (now part of Ukraine)
174 communes with 38,000 peasants
lasted about two weeks
suppressed only with the help of several army detachments