NICHOLAS II OPPOSITION Flashcards
THE GROWTH OF LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO 1905
Liberals had long pressed for changes in the governmental structure of the country:
The spread of education, and the emergence of a stronger middle class as a result of industrialisation, added to the numbers
favouring more representation and the rule of law.
THE GROWTH OF LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO 1905
In 1903, the Union of Liberation was founded under the inspiration of Pyotr Struve. Struve had defected from the Marxist movement, opposing its commitment to violent revolution, and had begun a journal, published in Germany, to escape censorship. Struve believed that what Russia needed was a period of ‘peaceful evolution’ in which to adapt to its new industrialising status. He wanted to see a
constitutional system put in place through which the urban workers could campaign legally to improve their conditions.
THE GROWTH OF LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO 1905
Liberalism was particularly strong in the zemstva: their reputation was enhanced by the actions taken in the face of government incompetence during the years of the Great Famine of 1891-92, and their resentments were galvanised by
the reduction in zemstva powers under Alexander III.
THE GROWTH OF LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO 1905
In 1895, the Zemstvo petitioned Nicholas II to set up an advisory body.
The Tsar dismissed the request as a senseless dream. This did not, however, deter liberal nobles, like
Prince Lvov, who continued to demand the creation of an all-class zemstvo at district (volost) level and a National Assembly.
THE GROWTH OF LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO 1905
when Shipov tried to set up an ‘All-Zemstvo Organisation’ in 1896, it was immediately banned.
This encouraged some of the more radical liberals to establish the
Bessada Symposium in 1899 and to meet in secret to discuss matters of liberal interest such as judicial reform and universal education.
THE GROWTH OF LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO 1905
In 1904, the union held a grand meeting to which representatives of the zemstva and other professional societies were invited. Members declared their intention to work for the establishment of a constitutional government and arranged a series of
about 50 society banquets during the winter of 1904, which were attended by members of the liberal elite.
THE GROWTH OF LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO 1905
When, in 1900, the government ordered the dismissal of hundreds of liberals from the elected boards of the zemstva, the Bessada Symposium assumed the
leadership of the liberal movement, attracting a wide range of support from public figures, town leaders, members of the legal and teaching professions and industrialists.
THE GROWTH OF LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO 1905
The liberals, whether moderate campaigners within the zemstva or more radical members of the liberal unions, had limited political influence before 1905. Indeed, the liberals were fortunate to escape the closer attention of the police, which was only achieved because the latter were over-worked, coping with the activities of the radical opposition as well as urban and rural unrest.
Nevertheless, the liberals contributed to
the momentum that was building up within the country for political change and were the main beneficiaries of the revolution in that year when one of their aims was achieved - a representative national body, the state Duma, was established.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM, EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
By 1891, the Slavophile and populist idea of a ‘new Russia, based on the peasants, looked increasingly unlikely. However, ideas of agrarian socialism were revived after the Great Famine of 1891-92, which highlighted the need reform the rural economy. Students began to champion a
Their activities culminated in
new-style Populism taking inspiration from the defunct The Peoples Will and favouring violent protest.
Their activities culminated in the assassination of the Minister of Education, Bogolepov, by a student named Karpovich in 1901
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM, EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
THE MURDER OF BOGOLEPOV, 1901
Karpovich was a student rebel who had twice been expelled from Kazan University. His revenge killing won support from fellow students and as Bogolepov lay dying, several thousand people gathered in front of Kazan Cathedral in Karpovich’s support. Although broken up by the police, with 60 injured and around 800 arrests, it provoked
demonstrations in Moscow and an attempt on Pobedonostev life a month later by another student.
On that occasion, the attempt failed.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM, EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
the Social Revolutionary Party (SR) was founded in 1901 as a rallying point for those who wished to appeal to the peasantry through a commitment to land socialisation’ and decentralised government. Its most influential theorist was Chernov, the editor of the party journal, Revolutionary Russia, but it was a fairly loose organisation comprising groups with a wide variety of views. Although the party never held a congress until 1906, its members broadly accepted
Marxist teaching but combined this with populist ideas, thus favouring a specifically ‘Russian’ revolutionary programme.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM, EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
THE ACTIVITIES OF YEVNO AZEF
was a double agent working for the SRs and the Secret Police. He became involved in Marxism and was forced to live in exile in Germany, where he was recruited as an informer by the Okhrana.
In 1899 he returned to Russia and became a member of the Social Revolutionary Party. He organised the arrest of the previous leader of its combat organisation and took the position himself, using his influence to betray comrades and mastermind
the murder of Plehve. He was exposed as a tsarist spy in 1908 and fled to Germany where he died in 1918.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM, EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
The party played an active part in the 1905 Revolution, developing a full programme in November 1905 and forming a separate combat organisation, which attracted many students, to carry out assassinations.
Among their more spectacular ‘successes’ was
the assassination of Prime Minister Stolypin in 1911.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM, EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
The SRs put forward the view that the interests of peasants and workers were identical, and that they should therefore work together to destroy autocracy and bring about land redistribution. This emphasis on the peasantry and the concept of land socialisation’ rather than land nationalisation’ set them apart from the pure Marxists. Not surprisingly, they developed
a wide national base, with a large peasant membership, but despite this, 50 per cent of their supporters were from the urban working class.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM, EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
The tactics of the Social Revolutionary Party were similar to the earlier populist organisation. They tried to stir up discontent in the countryside and strikes in the towns, and to disrupt government by political assassinations.
In this they were quite successful, promoting a wave of political terrorism in the early years of the twentieth century. They carried out
how many assasinations? These included the assassinations of??
2000 political assassinations between 1901 and 1905.
two Ministers of Internal Affairs: Dmitri Sipyagin in 1902 and Vyacheslav von Plehve in 1904. The latter survived an attack in 1903 and two in 1904 before being killed by a bomb thrown into his carriage.
