Opposition To Tsarism Flashcards
The economic reforms carried out in this period STRENGTHENED the Russian economy.
In 1881 Russia had the world’s 11th largest economy & by 1914 the world’s…
5th largest
Industrialisation was good for Russia’s economy but bad for…
Russians
Industrialisation didn’t make for a happy society
The gap between rich and poor increased and society became…
Divided between the countryside and the town
Most peasants were still paying the…
Redemption payments imposed in return for the land they were given when they became free
The peasants now farmed…
Smaller landholdings than they’d had before emancipation, and had poor soil, as nobles kept the best land for themselves
Farming practices hadn’t…
Evolved much since the Middle Ages
Old-fashioned crop rotation was still common
Peasants couldn’t leave their village without the permission of the…
Mir
So they weren’t really free
The gap between rich and poor peasants grew. Richer peasants (kulaks) gained...
More land and ran local businesses
Many peasants migrated to the towns to earn…
Extra money when they weren’t needed for sowing & harvesting
Many town workers earned…
Barely enough to survive from one week to the next
Factory hours were not regulated by the state until witte introduced an 11.5 working day in 1897, however this law was often…
Ignored
Factories were meant to be regularly inspected but…
Safety rules usually weren’t followed
The rapid growth of towns meant that workers lived in…
Overcrowded and insanitary tenements
Health & education services were poor…
Creating more social inequality
Poor conditions led to…
Social unrest
Social unrest in the countryside resulted in…
1) Unrest amongst the peasants grew as their needs were put after the need to industrialise
2) Peasants resented the higher taxes and were bitter about the lack of government support during famines
Social unrest in the towns resulted in…
1) Industrial labourers suffering the most under witte’s industrialisation of Russia
2) They weren’t allowed to form trade unions and there were no legal political parties to represent their needs
3) Although town dwellers only accounted for 20% of the population, they became an increasingly radical force
Middle-class reformists formed the…
Liberals
The economic reforms led to the growth of a new, educated middle class, many of the politically active members of this class became…
Liberals
Liberals weren’t completely opposed to Tsarism, but they wanted the autocracy of the Tsars to be replaced with a…
Constitutional government
In 1903 liberals formed the…
League of Liberation
The League of Liberation wanted…
Shorter working day
More land for the peasants
Elected parliament
The middle class gained political experience through the…
Zemstva
Middle class organised…
Health & education services
Built roads and bridges
Middle class provided food for starving peasants during famines as government support was…
Inadequate
The socialist revolutionaries grew out of…
Populists
SR’s believed that revolution would begin in the…
Countryside
SR’s tried unsuccessfully to…
Convert peasants into revolutionaries
In 1901 populist groups joined to form the…
Socialist Revolutionary Party(for both urban labourers & peasants)
Socialist revolutionary party aimed to:
Redistribute land to the peasants
Improve living & working conditions
Overthrow tsarism by force
The SRs used terrorism to advance their political aims. Between 1901 & 1905 SR terrorists assassinated…
Several leading politicians
The social democrats were…
Marxists
The SDs followed the political beliefs of…
Karl Marx
In 1898 the SDs brought together a number of Russian Marxist groups to form the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party, this included members who would later split off to become…
Bolsheviks & Mensheviks
Bolsheviks supported…
Lenin & his ideas
Mensheviks preferred a less…
Disciplined, more democratic form of communism
The okhrana kept a close the on the SDs as he Tsars feared Marxism because of its…
Revolutionary principles
In 1899 several leading SD members were arrested including…
Lenin (exiled to central Russia)
The opposition parties didnt get very far, although many political parties emerged in Russia in the early 20th century, they were all..
Too small and ineffective to achieve their sims
The opposition parties didn’t get very far as there were also…
Major divisions between the parties (made them less effective at opposing government)
Also faced constant harassment & violence from the okhrana
