Opposition to Alexander III Flashcards
Narodniks - who and how?
- their name stems from Narodnysim which means ‘going to the people’
- in 1874 Pyotr Lvrov assembled a group of 2000 intelligentsia and nobility who tried to educate the peasants
- they went to the countryside and tried to persuade the peasants that the future of Russia relied on the development of peasant communes
- aimed to exploit the resentment felt since the emancipation
Narodniks - result
- whilst they tried to act as peasants the illusions of the young were soon shattered by the hostile peasants
- ignorance, superstition, prejudice and deep-rooted loyalty to the Tsar resulted in around 1600 of the Narodniks being arrested
- Narodnyism helped take radical opposition away from underground meetings and to the peasants
Moderate liberal opposition - who and how?
- a relatively small group since there were few literate and educated Russians
- they had travelled abroad and had lots of wealth and time to look into politics and mainly split into the Westernisers or the Slavophiles
- they wanted to reform the autocracy so that the Tsar would rule in conjunction with his subjects
Moderate Liberal Opposition - result
- Alexander II had created the Zemstva but he was not prepared to give them national influence
- when A3 became the Tsar those who were campaigning mainly lost hope or switched to other methods (some focussed on Marxist beliefs)
Slavophiles
-Slavophiles believed Russia had a unique culture and heritage centred on the prevailing peasant society and principles of the orthodox church, which should be preserved as the country modernises
Westernisers
- Westernisers thought that Russia should abandon Slavic traditions and adopt modern Western values, this not only included economic and military reforms but also reforms to ‘civilise’ society by providing representative assemblies, reducing authority of Orthodox Church and establishing civil liberties
Marxist theory’s
Karl Marx believes all history was composed of class struggles between the proletariat and the bourgeoise. His idea was that the perfect communist society would have all people equal and whilst attractive intellectuality it failed to work in rural Russia in the 1870s
Tchaikovsky circle
named after its most prominent member Nikolai Tchaikovsky and set up in 1868-69 in St Petersburg. primarily a literacy society that organised the printing, publishing and distribution of scientific and revolutionary literature, including the first volume of Karl Marx ‘Das Kapital’. No more than 100 people and simply spread literature.
Land and Liberty - who and how?
set up in 1877, continued the populist tradition
- its members sought work within the peasants communes such as doctors, teachers or workmen
- some carried out political assassinations including that of the General Mezemtsev, head of the Third section in 1878
- there were some talks between the Zemstva and the Land and Liberty organisation to put more pressure on the autocracy for constitutional reform
Land and Liberty - result
- the Tsarist government failed to respond
- although Dmitry Milyutin, minister of war, saw all too clearly the state of the country, none within court circles seemed willing to listen to the growing pressure for change.
Radical thinkers - Chernyshevsky
the author of a radical journal ‘the contemporary’ which he wrote in 1862 while confined the Peter and Paul fortress in St Petersburg.
- his writings suggested that peasant had to be made leaders of revolutionary change
Radical thinkers - Herzen
the editor of the radical journal ‘The Bell’ which was produced abroad and smuggled into Russia illegally. In this he advocated a new peasant-based social structure. In 1869 he called on his followers to “go to the people”
Radical thinkers - Bakunin
an anarchist and a socialist, he put forward the view that private ownership of land should be replaced with collective ownership and that income should be based on the number of hours worked.
