Outburts of violence, 1894-1904 Flashcards
Examples of university violence
Violence in universities were met by the increased use of the Okhrana.
Students involved were expelled, miles or drafted into the army.
1901 the Cossacks were used, charging into a crowd of demonstrating students in St Petersburg, killing 13. 1,500 were imprisoned.
What happened in 1898-9 in Russia?
A famine in the central Volga region.
What happened after 1900? How did this affect Russia?
A international recession.
It caused a deep depression in Russia, workers were made unemployed or hit by falling wages.
Examples of rural violence
Workers returned to their villages to stir up revolts due to depression.
Rural areas were already angry due to taxes and high rent.
1902, in the Poltava province saw the first wave of peasant violence over the landlords’ treatment of the peasants.
1902-3, disturbances took place in the central Russian provinces and spread to Georgia, Ukraine and Poland.
The peasants set fire to landlords’ grain and seized woodland, pasture and attacked landlords and officials.
1903-4 known as the years of the ‘red cockerel’
When were the years of the ‘red cockerel’?
1903-1904
Examples of strikes
Despite being illegal, strikes increased due to the depression.
1894= 17,000 strikes 1904= 90,000 strikes
1901, a strike in St Petersburg saw violent clashes between armed police and whip-carrying Cossacks.
What was happening in terms of trade unions
Illegal trade unions were being set up.
1900, Moscow’s chief of Okhrana, ZUBATOV, organised police-sponsored trade unions. This was approved by the Governor-General of Moscow (the Tsar’s uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich) The aim of the trade unions was to provide official channels through which complaints could be heard. It also was hoped this would help prevent workers joining the radical socialists.
Experiment stopped in 1903 and Zubatov was dismissed and exiled as one of his unions were involved in a general strike in Odessa.
What trade union was modelled in 1904?
Assembly of St Petersburg Factory Workers, modelled on Zubatov’s idea.
It was led by Father Gapon and approved by Plehve (minister for Internal Affairs)
Also supported bby the Orthodox Church.
It soon had 12 branches and 8,000 members.
