the extent and the effectiveness of opposition under the tsars, communists and the PG Flashcards
opposition under Alexander II
Political: Social, legal, governmental reforms introduced after the Crimean War, and so there was a wider freedom to discuss things ie intelligentsia. 1866, Karakozov attempts to assassinate AII, by 70s the Narodniks emerged, who believed ‘going back to the people’. Persecuted by the Ohkrana, some fled and set up ‘Land and Liberty’. Some extremist members evolved into ‘People’s Will’.
Rural: Intense disappointment about the Emancipation lead to the most extensive revolts in Pezna and Kazan provinces since the 18th century, and there was a peasant land army formed under Petrov in Bezna. Total of 647 peasant riots, 449 of which used troops. However they were easily crushed due to their lack of direction and failure to unite.
Urban: industrial unrest was limited during his reign due to the limited nature of the industrial working population, and the New Work Discipline policy which banned trade unions and strikes.
opposition under Alexander III
Political: Due to increased censorship and lack of political representation, there was more support for radical. politics. A. Ulyanov, joined the PW and tried to assassinate AIII in 1887. Marx also influenced revolutionaries at the time, ‘Liberation of Labour’, the first Marxist group, was set up in 1883. However most revolutionaries lacked support from public due to censorship, and there was insufficient funding to become terror groups, as the Ohkrana was very capable.
Rural: 1891 famine affected 17/89 provinces, and shortages were made worse by cholera and typhus. Land Captains helped to quell unrest however, as did belated actions of the government and intelligentsia.
opposition under Nicholas II
Political: During the 1890s-1900s lots of political groups emerged despite being banned. SRs: sub-group of the PW. Responsible for 2000 killings, like the Grand Duke Sergei. SDs, focused on worker’s class consciousness.
1905: October Manifesto, legalised parties and strikes and the State Duma. Effectively split opposition and made it less effective. Octobrists who supported the Manifest, and Kadets who wanted further concessions. Subsequent reform of the Duma made it hard for groups to gain representation, ie SRs and SDs only achieved 13 seats between them in the 4th Duma. Radical groups were internally divided and therefore lost support, ie membership of the SDs dropped from 150k to under 10k. In WW1, the Progressive Bloc created more opposition as they were critical of the deteriorating condition of Russia. Feb 1917 the president of the Duma refuses to abdicate when the tsar orders him to.
Rural: 1905-7 series of peasant revolts in the Black Earth region, had to be dealt with by the Russian Army. Stolypin’s reforms strengthened support for the tsars by creating the Kulaks, and helped quieten opposition in rural areas. WW1 ignited another phase of peasant unrest at high food prices and demand form the cities, peasants began to horde their grain. Some engaged in riots and destruction, aided by army deserters who formed peasant soviets.
Urban: Bloody Sunday in 1905 led to a wave of strikes and mass protests in St Petersburg, forcing the Tsar to publish the Oct. Manifesto. Workers formed the first worker’s soviets, and gvmn used secret police and the military to crush urban opponents, as shown by the fate of the Moscow Soviet and Lena Goldfields massacre. Post 1905, industrial reforms improved some conditions - number of strikes dropped from 2.8mill strikers to 47k in 1910, although in 1914 this increased to 1.3 again. As a result of rocketing food prices during WW1, strikes increased dramatically, ie Putilov Steelworks which had over half a million protestors and when the Petrograd Garrison joined pressure on the Tsar to abdicate was increased. 27th feb, PS was formed and they passed Order No.1 to take control of the Russian Army.
opposition under the PG:
Political: Struggled to deal with their political opponents, especially the Bolsheviks. Suffered from a lack of legitimacy as they were undermined by the Petrograd Soviet, such as Order No.1, and criticism over fighting WW1. Abolition of censorship and the amnesty for political exiles led to a return of revolutionaries such as Stalin and Lenin, who condemned the PG and called for seizure of power by the Soviet which was increasingly dominated by Bolsheviks. Kerensky was forced to turn to many leading Bolsheviks who had been imprisioned during the July Days, due to the threat of Kornilov. During the October Revolution, members of the Petrograd Garrison and Red Guard were able to take control of Petrograd and the Winter Palace with no resistance, as no soldiers were willing to support the PG. All members except Kerensky were arrested.
Rural: With the total collapse in authority in the countryside, peasants began seizing land and attacking estates owned by the nobility, and were supported by ex-soldiers.
Urban: number of strikes in Petrograd continues to increase as urban workers reject the PG and supported the PS. Workers were easily recruited by the Bolsheviks due to freedom of the press, association and speech led to an explosion in revolutionary language and ideas.
