Opposition 1894-1914

Question 1

Aims of liberalism

Answer 1

Welfare, education, liberty, rule of law, reform autocracy (Tsar listening to the people), Tsar’s rule in conjunction with people

Question 2

Differing liberal views

Answer 2

Slavophiles; opposed oppression, injustice; eg Tolstoy
Westernisers; from the growing middle-class; aired views through the zemstva; eg Turgenev

Question 3

Reasons for liberal growth

Answer 3

Spread of education; emergence of a middle class as a result of modernisation; more people favouring representation and the rule of law; zemstva competence during the Great Famine of 1891-92; growing resentment under Alexander II’s reductions

Question 4

Key liberal organisations

Answer 4

• Beseda, from 1899 - discussed matters of liberal interest, eg judicial reform and universal education; assumes leadership of liberal movement in 1900
• Union of Liberation, from 1903 - founded by Pyotr Struve, who opposed the violent nature of Marxism and published a journal promoting a constitutional system through which workers could campaign legally; grand meeting held in 1904, to which zemstva representatives were invited —> 50 society banquets during just the winter of 1904

Question 5

Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), reason for revival of populist ideas

Answer 5

The populist idea looked increasingly unlikely in 1894, however ‘agrarian socialism’ was revived after the Great Famine 1891-92, highlighting the need to reform the rural economy
Mainly run by students; culmination - assassination of the Minister of Education, Nikolay Bogolepov, by student Pyotr Karpovich (1901)

Question 6

Beliefs and key leaders of the SRs

Answer 6

• Appealed to peasantry through a commitment to ‘land socialism’ and decentralised government; members broadly accepted Marxism but combined it with populism; put forward the idea of peasants’ and workers’ interests being the same (‘laboring poor’), which set them apart from Marxists
• key leader - Viktor Chernov, a law graduate from Moscow and editor of party journal ‘Revolutionary Russia’

Question 7

SR tactics

Answer 7

Similarly to populists, stirred up discontent in the countryside and held strikes in towns, along with political assassinations

Question 8

SR successes

Answer 8

Many successful political assassinations (2000 during 1901-05), including two Ministers of Internal Affairs (Sipyagin in 1902 and Plevhe in 1904), as well as Prime Minister Stolypin in 1911
Developed a full Programme for 1905 revolution and formed a separate combat organisation to carry out assassinations (which attracted many students)

Question 9

SR failures

Answer 9

The Secret Police foiled some of their activities and was successful at infiltrating the movement at its highest levels
Some 4579 SRs were sentenced to death between 1905-09, and 2365 were actually executed

Question 10

Emergence of Marxism

Answer 10

1880s and 1890s
Mixture of former Populists and younger intellectuals attracted to Marx’s ideas: their explanatory power, certainty and comprehensiveness
Those in the 1880s saw that Russia could look like what Marx described, and those in the 1890s witnessed the beginnings of it during the Great Spurt

Question 11

Georgi Plekhanov was…

Answer 11

An early Marxist; founded the Emancipation of Labour in 1883 - Russia’s first openly Marxist group; this was done in exile in Switzerland and then smuggled into Russia

Question 12

Limitations of Marxist ideas, as they emerged?

Answer 12

The vast majority did not know who he was and the theory looked overwhelmingly to workers, not peasants - Russia was still 80% a peasant society

Question 13

Social Democratic Party (SDs) emergence

Answer 13

1898
Joined soon by Vladimir Lenin (Ulyanov)

Question 14

SD split

Answer 14

1903
Mensheviks (one of its leaders - Julius Martov)
Bolsheviks (led by Vladimir Lenin)
Until 1917, the Mensheviks were the larger party

Question 15

Bolshevik conceptions

Answer 15

• a dedicated party could lead a small working class into power; capitalism in Russia is well-developed; the bourgeois and proletarian revolutions could be combined
• exclusive membership to genuine, reliable Marxists and revolutionaries
• decisions made after open debate and vote, and all must abide by this completely (‘democratic centralism’); Lenin: “freedom of discussion, unity of action”
• total commitment to revolution; ‘vanguard (leaders) of the proletariat’; should seize power on behalf of the workers

Question 16

Menshevik conceptions

Answer 16

• time for revolution was way off - economic conditions not right and working class too small
• membership open to as many as possible
• decisions made after open debate and free vote
• party’s role is to educate the workers about socialism and support all forms of workers’ protest

Question 17

General comparison of Bols vs Mens ideology

Answer 17

• Mens - pertain to Marxist values more, less demanding, emphasising gradual revolution and importance of education, believe in revolution led by workers
• Bols - pertain to Marxist values less, more demanding, emphasising organisation and discipline, revolution to be led by party, not actual workers (Leninist rather than Marxist)

Question 18

SD success and failure

Answer 18

+ First Congress took place in 1898 in Minsk - nine delegates present and three-man Central Committee
- two of the newly elected committee were Okhrana agents, who broke up the congress

Question 19

Trade Union successes

Answer 19

Made legal from 1905
Economic recovery from 1911, which gave skilled labour more bargaining power in the marketplace

Question 20

Trade Union failures

Answer 20

The state continued to fear independent working class activity
Between 1906-10, 497 closed down and 604 denied registration
Economic depression and rise in unemployment reduced opportunity for action
No major threat to autocracy
Geographic limitation + only 12% of enterprises experienced a strike and St Petersburg General Strike (July 1914) only brought out a quarter of the labour force

Question 21

State of opposition overall from 1906-14

Answer 21

• liberals mainly appeased and tried to work with the Duma
• no strong opposition forces in the national minorities
• SRs and SDs weakened by the exile of their leaders after 1905 (and split of SDs)
• the Secret Police was effective in eliminating opposition
• SRs and SDs remained mainly underground

Question 22

State of opposition overall from 1906-14 (part 2)

Answer 22

• revival of Bolshevik fortunes 1912-14 (took over many legal labour institutions in St P and Moscow), but still had limited support, and no support from army or navy
• most workers are politically apathetic before 1914
• the coming war in 1914 diminished support for action due to patriotic fervour (although Bols such as Lenin hoped for defeat as it would bring Russia closer to revolution)

Question 23

What were the five stages of country development history according to Marx and Engels?

Answer 23

Primitive Communism —>
Feudalism (kings, nobles, knights and peasants) - Russia in 1900s —>
Capitalism (rise of the middle class, money to businesses) - Britain in 1900s —>
Socialism (inevitable) —>
Communism

Question 24

Beliefs of Marxism

Answer 24

• capitalism leads to social inequality
• Marx sees a capitalist society as a split society
• those who control or have power are called the bourgeoisie
• those who don’t (and have to sell their labour for minimal pay) are called the proletariat

Question 25

Marx on alienation

Answer 25

* he saw the workers as alienated from the product of their own labour and work itself (= no joy in work) * this was because, since the product belongs to the capitalist, his work is ‘forced labour’ = not his own but someone else’s

Question 26

Marx on class consciousness

Answer 26

* the communist revolution - the end of history - will only come through after the attainment of class consciousness * this is the ‘awakening’ that comes when we overcome our false consciousness and recognise our oppression * religion facilitates ‘false consciousness’ through blind respect for authority; “religion is the opiate (drug) of the people” (keeps people unconscious) * Marx was clearly atheist

Question 27

Revolution stages according to Marx

Answer 27

1) individual members of the proletariat become angry and May clash with individual bourgeois members (or destroy the means of production) 2) proletariat develop class consciousness and come together as a class to realise their shared interest in overthrowing capitalism 3) proletariat overthrow the bourgeoisie in a **violent** and **inevitable** revolution leading to the creation of a communist society

Question 28

Revolution aftermath according to Marx

Answer 28

* there will be a period during which a small group will be in charge to prevent counter-revolution * known as the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ * eventually there will be no need for this dictatorship as all counter-revolutionaries will have been removed or converted to communism

Question 29

Final stage: communism

Answer 29

* once everyone has become committed communists, there will be no need for the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ anymore * the state will ‘wither away’ * what is left will be a fully communist society - stateless, classless, atheist and equal *This is an overly optimistic view + undermines people’s desire for power*

Question 30

Key figures of opposition: Vladimir Lenin (Bols)

Answer 30

* (upper) middle class family; hated his father (liberal) but loved grandpa (ex-serf) * his brother was executed by AIII for involvement in assassination attempt * read much radical literature * missed most of 1905 revolution (in exile until Nov) * exiled in Switzerland until 1917, with good conditions due to health issues * saw WWI as a result of capitalism (Marxist)

Question 31

Key figures of opposition: Joseph Stalin (Bols)

Answer 31

* working class background (peasant family from Georgia) * came into contact with a radical group of Georgians, read Marxist literature * in exile in Siberia during 1905 revolution * escapes from exile (marked as outlaw by Okhrana), gains money by robbery, is henchman (loyal to a criminal organisation) of the Bols * constantly in exile or trying to get out of it * wanted to be a priest in youth; ‘Stalin’ is a pseudonym

Question 32

Key figures of opposition: Nadezhda Krupskaya (Bols)

Answer 32

* poor noble family background * meets with radical groups and is highly educated (studied Marx) * secretary of the Bols party, but is in exile during 1905 revolution * moved around Europe with Lenin after 1905 (incl Switzerland) * was Lenin’s wife and accompanied him in exile, but he wasn’t faithful to her

Question 33

Key figures of opposition: Leon Trotsky (Mens, then Bols)

Answer 33

* from family of prosperous Jewish farmers in Ukraine * became a revolutionary due to anti-Semitism and Russification + student ideas * went to Russia in 1905 to support revolution, became St P Soviet leader but arrested and sent to Siberia; escaped exile after 2 years * advocated revolutionary ideas and wrote journals abroad during 1914 * had two wives (and children), one of whom met during exile

Question 34

Key figures of opposition: Lev Kamenev (Bols)

Answer 34

* skilled working class family (engine driver father), Jewish; parents associated with revolutionaries * became revolutionary due to parents and being involved in radical student groups * organised railway strikes in St P and wrote for the Bols (*Pravda* and *Iskra*) in 1905 * campaigned against Duma’s limited power and moved to Switzerland in 1908 * was still in exile during 1914 * married Trotsky’s sister Olga

Question 35

Key figures of opposition: Alexandra Kollontai (Bols)

Answer 35

* from privileged liberal family * opposed the restrictive position of women + horrified by textile factory conditions * joined the SDs and worked for the Bols in 1905 revolution, along with Trotsky * left the Bols temporarily due to their refusal to partake in Duma after 1905 + wrote radical literature * was abroad in Germany / Sweden in 1914 * insisted on own education —> moved to Europe as a teenager for education

Question 36

Key figures of opposition: Julius Martov (Mens)

Answer 36

* middle class family * sympathised with the working class (formed the *Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Classes* in 1895) * edited *Iskra* 1903-5 (revolutionary journal, slightly less known than *Pravda*) * initiated the split into Bols and Mens after disputes with Lenin * was in exile in Switzerland on 1914 * wanted to base Russian politics on the British Labour Party - Lenin argued this could not be achievable under Russia’s autocracy

Question 37

Key figures of opposition: Grigory Zinoviev (Bols)

Answer 37

* son of Jewish dairy farmers in Ukraine * became a revolutionary due to anti-Semitism * joined the SDs and then Bols in 1905, helped organise St P strikes * became seriously ill after 1905; was in Russia in 1906, but in exile later * moved to Switzerland in 1914