The nature of autocratic rule: Orthodoxy, anti-Semitism and the Okhrana

Question 1

What did Konstantin Pobedonostsev advise the Tsar to do?

Answer 1

Promote Orthodoxy as an essential part of Russian identity.

Question 2

What measures between 1894 and 1905 did Nicholas II introduce to promote Orthodoxy?

Answer 2

• The number of parish clergy increased by around 600%
• There was a tenfold increase in church schools, the number of students they educated increased around 15 times
• Orthodox missionaries were sent to establish new churches in the Baltic states where Protestantism was popular

Question 3

What happened as a result of the promotion of Orthodoxy?

Answer 3

Between 1881 and 1902, the number of people converting to Orthodoxy doubled - but in urban areas, there was a decline in Orthodox Church attendance.

Question 4

How did Nicholas II persecute other faiths?

Answer 4

• No Christian Churches other than the Orthodox Church were allowed to proselytise (convert people)
• Catholic, Protestant and Islamic schools were closed down and replaced by schools run by the Russian government
• The Russian government confiscated the property of the Armenian Church

Question 5

What else did aggressive Russification and the promoting of Orthodoxy lead to, in terms of religion?

Answer 5

Anti-Semitism.

Question 6

How were educational opportunities for Jewish students limited by the enforcement of quotas?

Answer 6

Jews could make up no more than:

• 10% of students at universities within the Pale of Jewish Settlement
• 3% in Russia’s major cities, Moscow and St Petersburg

Question 7

What were the limitations on Jews, in terms of residency?

Answer 7

• The May Laws, introduced in 1882, banned Jews from living in Russia’s rural areas - the law was repealed in 1905
• In some cities, such as Moscow and Kiev, campaigns were organised to expel Jews from cities

Question 8

What increased, in terms of violence, in 1903 and 1904? And how many were there?

Answer 8

The number of pogroms - in 1903-04 there were 49 pogroms in Russia.

Question 9

What did the increase in anti-Semitic violence Jews lead to?

Answer 9

Emigration - Jews left Russia in large numbers - most went to the US but a significant minority headed for Latin America, particularly Argentina and Peru.

Question 10

What was the government’s view in Jewish emigration?

Answer 10

They viewed it as a good solution to the ‘Jewish problem’.

Question 11

Who were the Okhrana?

Answer 11

The secret-police force of Russia that had a reputation for being ‘all powerful, all-knowing and all-capable’ - its goal was to destroy subversive organisations.

Question 12

How did the Okhrana destroy subversive organisations?

Answer 12

• It had extensive powers to arrest and infiltrate opposition groups
• In reality it was small, but it was effective and before 1905 it had infiltrated the leadership of the Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries

Question 13

How many Okhrana agents were there in 1900?

Answer 13

2,500

Question 14

Who Sergei Zubatov?

Answer 14

• Became head of the Moscow Okhrana in 1896

Question 15

What did Zubatov do, besides repression?

Answer 15

Introduced ‘Police Socialism’ - consequently, the Okhrana:
- investigated workers’ complaints about abuses in factories
- attempted to take control of emerging unions
- provided sick pay and unemployment benefit
It spread to other Russian cities.

Question 16

What did Zubatov’s experiment result in?

Answer 16

He was sacked by the government in 1903

Question 17

How were the Okhrana involved in policing Russia’s universities?

Answer 17

The University Statute of 1884:

• banned clubs and societies on university campuses
• emphasises that students should study traditional subject
• banned women form higher education

Question 18

How did the Okhrana engage in widespread surveillance?

Answer 18

• By 1900 they had records on 55,000 people, collections of 5,000 publications by revolutionary groups and 20,000 photographs of suspected radicals