G - National minorities and Sattelite states

Question 1

Alexander II - political autonomy and independence

Answer 1

• Finns got their own currency and parliament as they didn’t revolt
  -> shows Alexander’s reactive treatment compared to AlexIII’s and Stalin’s pre-emptive & cautious
• before the Polish revolt, increased autonomy (Warsaw uni) but after the revolt: Catholic church lands were confiscated, made Russia the official language, Polish provinces were reorganised
  -> Polish revolt set the precedent of how rulers dealt with minorities
• Civic strategy: liberal phase

Question 2

Alexander II - personal and economic freedom

Answer 2

• less rigid policy of Russification
  -> compared to tsars and Stalin
• applied flexibly according to local circumstances

Question 3

Alexander II - culture (religion and language)

Answer 3

• Valuev Circular 1863: publications in Ukrainian were forbidden due to suspicion
  -> different to Lenin’s approach of encouraging culture (eg indigenisation)

Question 4

Alexander III - political autonomy and independence

Answer 4

• policy of Russification became the official policy
  -> similar to Nicholas I, different to Alex II

Question 5

Alexander III - personal and political freedom

Answer 5

• continuation and intensification of Russification (both Poland and Ukraine)
  -> similar to Nicholas II
• reversal of all of Alexander II’s Jewish policies, eg expulsion of Jews from St Petersburg back to the Pale of Settlement
  -> different to Alexander II, similar to commissars

Question 6

Alexander III - personal and economic freedom AND culture

Answer 6

• Provisional rules 1882 banned Jew from settling in rural areas, holding administrative roles, running schools or printing books in Hebrew

Question 7

Nicholas II - personal and political freedom

Answer 7

• continued the severe Russification, expanded onto Finland (appointment of Bobrikov) -> fully integrated into the Russian Empire (Russia as the main language and Finnish State Secretary was abolished)
  -> similar to Alexander III and Stalin’s centralised control
• Dumas stimulate nationalist sentiment following October Manifesto -> 18% of seats won by non-Russian political parties
  -> reduced after 1907 Electoral law, temporary

Question 8

Nicholas II - personal and economic freedom

Answer 8

• Stolyopin’s russification policy intensified in Finland

Question 9

Nicholas II - culture (religion and language)

Answer 9

• less strict censorship following 1905 revolution: daily newspapers appeared in Yiddish, Ukrainian and Lithuanian
  -> but this was temporary as under Stolyopin, policy became more pro-Russian

Question 10

Prov Gov - personal and political freedom

Answer 10

• increased festivals of self-assertions in the Baltic states

Question 11

Prov gov - culture (religion and language)

Answer 11

• censorship became less strict

Question 12

Lenin - personal and political freedom

Answer 12

• socialist revolution as the forefront, everything viewed from the POV of whether it serves or hindered revolution
  -> same with all communists
• Indigenisation: aimed to bring soviet power to non-Russians, using incentives
  1924 constitution granted republics their own government
• nationalist movements lacked popular support
• promised liberation on all fronts: national and political
• internationalism was at the heart of policy
• Declaration of the Rights of the people of Russia: equality and sovereignty, independent state and mutual trust
  -> different to Stalin and tsars, similar to Khrushchev
• but repression: Tatar Communist Galiev arrested for ‘national deviance’, Russo-Polish war
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Georgia under German protectorate
  -> temporary but highest positive experience for nationalities, Poland, Baltic states and Finland remained independent

Question 13

Lenin - economic freedom

Answer 13

• Indigenisation: speed up the cultural, economic and political development of non-Russian people
• differences in socio-economic developments
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Georgia under German protectorate
  -> temporary but highest positive experience for nationalities, Poland, Baltic states and Finland remained independent

Question 14

Lenin - culture (religion and language)

Answer 14

• Indigenisation: speed up the cultural, economic and political development of non-Russian people

Question 15

Stalin - personal and political freedom

Answer 15

• policies were dictated by developments stemming from his economic initiatives of increased centralisation & two more Great Russian economic dominance
  -> different from other rulers due to his overall/general approach of control rather than nationalities themselves
• political autonomy ended during the Great Terror
  -> different to indigenisation
• june 1940, Pro-Soviet governments were imposed in the Baltic states following the Treaty of Assistance -> defensive barrier & strategic position
  -> different to the treaty of Brest Litovsk
• 1936 constitution on the surface seemed favourable to minorities (more recognised as non-Russian units) but it actually weakened some powers (rights in legal codes & legislation)
• rigged elections in Poland and Hungary, used intimidation
  -> similar to Khrushchev’s way of dealing with minorities
• population transfers

Question 16

Stalin - economic freedom

Answer 16

• economic autonomy ended, all republics subservient to central government as industrialisation drive -> collectivisation in the Ukraine
  -> serious effect, eg: Holodomor

Question 17

Stalin - cultural and religious freedom

Answer 17

• some cultural autonomy: education in minority languages
  -> less than Lenin but also dissimilar to Russification
• although stress of the Russian language, making a Soviet culture that would unite the Soviet people
  -> not like Russification as not driven by ideology

Question 18

Khrushchev - personal and political freedom

Answer 18

• 1958 & 1961, indigenous elites purged and Russian in-migration
• reversed Stalin’s population transfers
  -> but short term due to in-migration
• counter measures against Baltic nationalism
• 5 autonomous territories restored - decentralisation
  -> shows his more relaxed approach

Question 19

Khrushchev - economic freedom

Answer 19

• Ukraine and Kazakhstan were granted economic councils of their own
  -> different to most rulers

Question 20

Khrushchev - cultural and religious freedom

Answer 20

• increased festivals of self-assertions in the Baltic states following