Stolypin - Repression and Reform

Question 1

Stolypin was a…

Answer 1

governor

Question 2

He used the police and the army to…

Answer 2

suppress unrest and keep a firm grip on his people

Question 3

1906 appointed…

Answer 3

prime minister

Question 4

Introduced a new court system where…

Answer 4

offenders were rapidly tried and sentence

1000s of rebels were tried, 100s executed, and many were sentenced to hard labour or exile

Question 5

His strong measures were effective. By 1908 order had been restored, but Stolypin had made Tsarism even more…

Answer 5

unpopular

Question 6

The Russian agricultural system was inefficient…

Answer 6

Serfdom had been abolished but peasants remained under control of the mir
Each mir had their share of land in DIFFERENT FIELDS rather than working a single, more efficient landholding (strip farming)
Farming techniques were outdated

Question 7

The consequences of the problems with Russian farming were…

Answer 7

• Yields were low compared with other European countries
• Famines were WIDESPREAD and FREQUENT
• Most peasants couldn’t make a PROFIT
• The only peasants who were doing well were the KULAKS (minority)

Question 8

Stolypin proposed agricutural reforms. Stolypin had 4 main aims in resolving the agricultural problems:

Answer 8

1) Increase the prosperity of peasants to develop a class of WELL-OFF agricultural workers
2) Increase crop yields
3) Have fewer famines
4) Make the peasants more content and less likely to rebel against autocracy

Question 9

He proposed a series of reforms:

Answer 9

Land reforms
Emigration to Siberia
Other…

Question 10

His land reforms include 4 points:

Answer 10

1) 1906 Tsar decreed that each peasant had an UNCONDITIONAL RIGHT TO LAND
2) They could DEMAND their own LANDHOLDING and farm it without interference from the mir
3) Stolypin brought in agricultural education to train peasants in more advanced farming techniques to INCREASE YIELDS
4) He also sold vast areas of CROWN LAND to the Peasant Land Bank for RESALE to the peasants, to increase available farming land

Question 11

Emigration to siberia had 4 points:

Answer 11

1) Certain rural areas were OVERCROWDED. Stolypin encouraged MIGRATION to Siberia where land was less densely populated to try to INCREASE PRODUCTION
2) The completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway helped migrants move to Siberia
3) Stolypin offered INCENTIVES to peasants who wanted to settle in the eastern regions of Russia, e.g. CHEAP LAND and some TAX EXEMPTIONS
4) c.3mil peasants relocated to Siberia between 1908 and 1913

Question 12

Other reforms were…

Answer 12

1) Redemption payments finally ended 1907
2) Internal passports were abolished, so people had more freedom
3) The unpopular Land Captains were replaced with elected Justices of the Peace

Question 13

The results of Stolypin’s Reforms were patchy…

Answer 13

• Reality, few peasants could afford to separate from the mir and set up their own landholdings (only 25% had done so by 1914)
• Stolypin hadn’t addressed the problem that there was still MILLIONS of HECTARES owned by the Tsar and the nobility
• There was little change in farming techniques and not much increase in farming output

Question 14

Could be argued that they weren’t given enough time…

Answer 14

• Stolypin knew that his agricultural reforms would need to be developed and established over many years
• But he was assassinated in 1911
• Then war broke out in 1914, meaning that the long-term effects of his reforms were never realised