NATURE OF GOVERNMENT Flashcards
Ideology, Gov structure, Repression
Alexander II Ideology
Autocratic – belief of being father of people, accountable for their welfare, appointed and answerable only to God.
Looked as though diluting autocracy with intro of reformedZemstvas (only local councils however, and never altered central gov and his own autocratic position)
Emancipation of the Serfs 1861 arguably did not impact autocracy at all! (49 years redemption payments revealed this reform was not as liberal as it was initially believed to be. Ensured it kept favour of nobility)
Alexander II Ideology STATS
Emancipation of the Serfs 1861 set 23 million peasants free
49 year redemption payments with a life expectancy of 35 years
Nobility lost 40% of their land
Alexander II Government Structure
Changed little centrally
Local gov change as introduced Zemstvas in 1864 which were regionalcouncilsincharge of education andco-ordinatingfamine relief, elected by landowners, peasants and urban dwellers. Peasants could vote for their representative (clear elements of representation that had never existed for peasants before)- had a say on who governed Russia.
HOWEVER had to have land qualification to sit on Zemstva(74% nobility) so arguably little change to nobility ruling over peasantry as before- only wealthy can govern
But had the challenge of the ThirdElement (doctors, lawyers,teachers) who demanded central gov reworked in style of Zemstvas.
Less of a change than the Dumas as the zemstvas were regional as opposed to be national. Change to previous Mir (village elders)
Alexander II Gov Structure STATS
74% of Zemstva members were nobility
Judiciary reformed with no more show trials in 1864
Alexander II Repression
-‘glasnost’ (openness) for first time. 1865 Censorship relaxed but gov could remove publications of a ‘dangerous orientation’.
Increase in newspapers, periodicals (1855 1020 books published, 1894 10,691 published including revolutionary texts)
Replaces Third Section with softer Okhrana in 1880, wants less oppression to be used- Liberal, reformist
However, as assassination attempts rose, after 1864 gave Okhrana more power - methods used were arrest, imprisonment and exile
Okhrana is ineffective; fails to intimidate population and protect Tsar (assassinated March 1881)- attempted repression not enough
Alexander II repression STATS
Trial of the 193: a series of trials from 1877-8 of 193 students and other “revolutionaries” charged with populist “unrest” saw a number of arrests
Massive rise of intelligentsia enthralled in utopian ideas of Socialism and Communism shows how lax he was.
Massively repressive in Empire with Ukraine seeing their university clamped down on.
Alexander III Ideology
Autocract – Reactionary due to seeing father assassinated 1881 and believed this was due to reforms.
Introduced Manifesto of Unshakeable Autocracy 1881 declaring him God ordained right to rule.
Very repressive with 1881 Russification (crushing/repressing national minorities’ cultural independence)
Alexander III Ideology STATS
Very repressive with 1881 Russification with pogroms of Jews
Alexander III and the zemstvas Gov Structure
Little change to central gov. AIII abolished the Council of Ministers (an advisory body appointed by him that advised him)
1864 Zemstvas introduced as regional councils elected by landowners, peasants and urban dwellers provided important services such as education, public health and transport.
Introduced Land Captains 1889 to managelocal gov problems became the primary judicial body for local government. Repressive.
Alexander III Repression
Reactionary leader killing 8 members of the peoples will. Extending of the powers of the secret police (Okhrana) after AII had relaxed them.
14 newspapers critical of govt were closed down- censored the opposition
1sttime Secret Police killed opposition over method of exiling to Siberiaset the tone for the next Tsar and the Commissars.
Nicholas II Ideology
Movement towards constitutional monarchy (monarchy and parliament) w/ October Manifesto (1905) This introduced the duma
BUT FundamentalLaws (1906) reinforced supreme authority and showed true ideology of asserting to autocracy- undermined decomcracy previously introduced (power to disband Duma)
Nicholas II and Dumas Gov structure
To appease liberals and end 1905 Rev Nicholas II introduced the OctoberManifesto in 1905, a Duma with politicalpartieslegalised for first time. But tsarstill had total central gov control.
Duma introduced which was a central government body who could discuss and block tsarist policy BUT could not propose any policy.Tsar could disband the Duma whenever and rule by himself when they were not in session (fundamental laws)
Duma favoured those with property and discriminated against workers or peasant representation.
4thDuma opposed dissolution and opposed the Tsar and half the members became the P.G.
Fundamental laws 1906 reasserted Tsar’s autocratic rights to disband the Duma
Nicholas II Gov Structure STATS
Duma 1905 October Mainfesto with political paties legal for first time
But only lasted 12 years and tsar still had total control
Couldn’t pass legislation and “electoral college” system discriminating those without property.
Nicholas II Repression
Reverted to ‘glasnost’ (like AII) led to expansion of the press 1894, periodicals in circulation increased 3 fold between 1900-1914
Publishers could still be fined, closed down if producing subversive material
Political matters in Duma began to be reported on and ‘penny papers’ created for ordinary man to read/buy.
Bloody Sunday 1905 saw over 200 killedshowed repressive force HOWEVER army defected and joined 1917 rev showing little effective control
Used system of exile significantly more 1905 6,000 were penal labourers 1910 30,000 penal labourer. Throughout the 1880s and 90s hundreds of prisoners died on their way to Siberia.
PG Ideology
Pseudo-democracy (quasi-democratic). No elections in 6 months and govt formed from last Duma, not elected. Kept postponing them.
Seen as illegitimate and continued to postpone Constituent Assembly (held in Jan 1918 under Bolsheviks) because of this made little changes to gov.
Issued 3rd March Statement which showed Liberal ideology and gave a number of reforms including freeing of all political prisoners.
Had difficult power balance with Petrograd Soviet.
PG Gov Structure
Govt structure was decentralised for the first time with Petrograd Soviet and P.G and no single autocrat. DUAL POWER STRUCTURE
Petrograd Soviet represented workers, soldiers, sailors, interests and order no.1 meant they controlled armed forces so arguably the most representative form of gov across the whole period. Several political parties.
Members= old conservative 4th Duma therefore continuation of
similar form of gov as Tsarism in many ways (some members of PG had been appointed by the Tsar)
First time politcal parties legalised
Very short lived due to order no. 1
PG repression
Abolished censorship and had no support from army due todisastrous lack of land reforms.
Kornilov rebellion wasn’t even controlledby the P.G but by freed Bolshevik radical prisoners, instead showing little control.
Fighting WWI meant army was away and had disbanded Okhrana – secret police. Only had voluntary militia so was not effective.
Had little control over repressive forces. The MRC and Red Guard helped Bolsheviks seize power. They encountered next to no military opposition.
Lenin ideology
Marxist-Leninist ideology. Believed that the dialectical phase could be sped up and revolution could occur in a backwards country like Russia.
Also the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (Marx’s idea that a single ruler may need to govern on behalf of the workers for a time). In reality Leninstayed the sole rulerfor well after Marx intended- autocratic
1stcommunist state the world had ever seen. In theory, equality for all. First time in Russia that the working class had had their need represented.
Lenin Gov structure
Total restructure of gov under Lenin.
Local representation w/ Village Soviets -> District Soviets -> Provincial Soviet- in theory a chain of elections that reached the very top.
Reality - the Council of People’s Commissars/ the Sovnarkom filled with old Bolsheviks and Politburo chosen by Lenin.
Many ordinary men did find opportunities as part of the ‘nomenclatura’ as officer and administrators for the Bolshevik regime.
At all levels, this gov structure dominated by Bolsheviks so not truly representative. One party state for first time ban on factions made it illegal (One Party Unity 1921, solidified control)
Lenin Repression
Cheka established in December 1917. Increase in use of secret police- Terror; enforced grain requisitioning. Cheka used based on who you are, not what you’ve done, so political opposition were targeted heavily.
Propaganda: Slogan - ‘Peace, land and bread’ came to power during WWI. Decree on Peace 1918 and Decree on Land 1918 helped to fulfil promises in propaganda and property and land were redistributed not based on class.
Civil War 1917-1922 Cheka eradicated opposition through army removal or fear.
Abolished freedom of the press with any national publication coming from either Pravda or approval of the Association of Proletarian Writers.
Stalin ideology
Marxism-Leninism- Stalinism
Complete power and authority. Belief in rapid industrialisation through5yr plans and lots of state planning, socialism had to stay in one country did this to consolidate power and avoid war, a totalitarian state and the cult of personality.
But ideology still derived from Marxism-Leninism (LENIN) so other than greater centralisation around authority of Stalin (totalitarian) rule. Many tenets had been established by Lenin.
Stalin Gov structure
Morecentralisedthan ever with all government bodies controlled and answerable to Stalin – did this through purging leading Party Members like Zinoviev, Kamenev and expelling Trotsky from the Party
Collectivisation- the commune by 1931 11 million families had joined collective farms
1936 Constitution – created the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Parliament), the Soviet of the Union (1 for 30,000 people), the Soviet of Nationalities (a bit like US Senate)
The Supreme Soviet met twice a year.
The Supreme Soviet could only debate and approve of new laws.
The Communist Party basically had total power.
Stalin repression
Cult of personality used to the extreme (all country’s media, propaganda utilised to propel image of god-like status of the country’s leader).
NKVD created in 1934
Implemented purges within Stalin’s own party. Used based on Stalin’s paranoia; against anyone considered a threat to Stalin. Escalation in use of the Secret police. Mass killings. First time use ofsuchmass terrorespagainst own party. Inter-party purges w/ 30 prominent Bolsheviksremoved e.g. Kamenev, Trotsky andZinoviev. Permanentstate of terror w/ 26m killed. 40% of army upper echelons removed come end of WWII
Censorship increased, by 1932 all literary groups closed down any writers had to belong to the Union of Soviet writers (USW)
1934 all members of USW had to produce material on ‘Socialist Realism’ depicting struggle of ordinary people to overcome oppression focus on peasants/workers. Any writers that rebelled were sent to gulags/killed.
High censorship during WIII, raid distorted, news fictionalised, restrictions on arts.
Khrushchev ideology
DestalinizationSecret Speech 1956 20th Party Congress - tried to remove vestiges of Stalin. Critical of Stalin’s brutality to members of the party. When not ‘necessary’.
Continuation of Marxism-Leninism (reverted to former) by referring to Lenin’s use of repression only through ‘necessity’. Move towards Collective Leadership.
Millions of prisoners released from gulags. Rehabilitation of peoples.
Khrushchev Gov structure
Largely the same decentralised control over industry and agriculture but mostly same
TU’s wielded more powerthanever
structure virtually the same up to1964despite
de-stalinisation
changed NKVD to KGB and used it less
Khrushchev repression
Reorganisation of Secret Police. MVD in charge of criminal acts and civil disorder
KGB focus on counter-espionage
Both under the party rather then the leader himself. Major de-escalation of secret police use.
Released political prisoners and no.of political arrests plummeted following re-organised secret police / decreased army size (from 3.6 million to 2.4 million) BUT continued using a ⅓ of Stalin’s Gulags to maintain power / authority
Used repression externally on Soviet Union -Army used1956Hungarian uprising- 4,000hungarianskilled due to Nagyannouncing intention to leave sovietunion
relaxed censorship (1959145 films made)
10x more libraries than 1913- 135,000 libraries
February revolution ideolody
- Overthrow of Tsar NII (supposedly anointed by God) with the P.G. who were pseudo-democratic as they offered the hope of election but did not realise this whilst in office.
- Why a change? Overthrow of 456 years of continuous autocratic rule to a state ruled by a governing body of voices
- Not a great change because… many of the members of the P.G. were ex-Duma members so part of a wealthy educated elite and failed to ever be truly democratic so maintained some continuity with the past.
- Also only lasted 6 months limiting the ideological impact it could have had
Whereas… oct rev supposedly gave a voice to the workers and overthrew the wealthy elite
De-stalinisation ideology
- At the Twentieth Party Congress in 1956 Khrushchev condemned Stalin’s purging of the party and declared his purges as ‘excessive’ at a time when the Rev was already victorious. Instead said Lenin used violence with ‘necessity’.
- Ideologically therefore, showed a desire to move away from repressive era under Stalin and only to use repression when necessary
- GREAT CHANGE – previous to this Stalin sending many to the gulags based on suspicion of sabotage in a paranoid drive for success of 5YPs
- COMPARE TO OCT REV – Not the introduction of a whole new ideology like Lenin achieved in Oct Rev with introduction of Communism and instead was a reversion back to existing policy Marxism-Leninism.
- Meanwhile using repression in Hungary in 1956 showed that in dealing with internal problems Khrushchev would use repression despite his advocating of De-Stalinisation so was closer to Stalin than initially implied.
October revolution Gov structure
- As a result of revolution the Sovnarkom introduced – people’s commissars now had government responsibilities NOT individuals.
- Cheka created as part of government to stem any counter revolutionary activity
- A change? For years tsars had appointed based on birth, rank whereas now promotion based on party loyalty. More to collective leadership rather than one man governing.
- Soviets formed gov in the country – people could now vote for the formation of a soviet to represent their interests supposedly to lead to regional then national elections – real representation of the people.
- Not a great change to gov structure?
Similar level of nepotism to the tsars with Bolshevik party members dominating the Sovnarkom. Trotsky Minister of Foreign Affairs - Use of Cheka carried on repression used by tsars
- Still a sense of hierarchy in gov, although this was meant to be temporary this lasted the entire period. (Communism more a great change in ideology rather than gov structure)
