The nature of government: Alexander III

Question 1

When was alexander III tsar?

Answer 1

1881-1894

Question 2

On which three principles did Alexander base his rule?

Answer 2

Autocracy, orthodoxy and nationality, as encouraged by pobedenostev.

Question 3

What was the ‘reaction?’

Answer 3

Alexander III took steps he thought would preserve the autocracy, he blamed his father’s reforms for his assassination and sought to increase the power of the autocracy and crush any opposition.

Question 4

What were the terms of 1881’s statute of state security?

Answer 4

1. Increased powers given to the okhrana, they could search, arrest and imprisonment anyone they suspected as likely to commit a crime.
2. New courts for political offenders set up outside of the legal system.
3. All judges sympathetic to liberal ideas were removed from office.

Question 5

What happened to the zemstva in 1890?

Answer 5

Under the zemstva act,
- their effectiveness and power were reduced,
- peasant members were now appointed, not elected,
- provincial governors were introduced to oversee the zemstva
- land captains were introduced with the power to overrule any zemstva decision.

Question 6

What happened to censorship under Alexander III?

Answer 6

It was reintroduced with a clampdown on publications with officials censoring written material before it was published.

Question 7

How successful was the populist movement under Alexander III?

Answer 7

They failed to overthrow the tsarist system and under Alexander they were clamped down upon, with many of their members executed including Lenin’s brother.

Question 8

Where did the social Democratic movement come from?

Answer 8

It came from the emancipation of labor movement which was formed by Marxist georgi plekhanov in 1883, they smuggled Marxist texts into Russia.

Question 9

Why did the social Democrats have limited success under Alexander III?

Answer 9

They would not really have much impact until the great spurt got underway in the 1890s and brought with it more industrialization.

Question 10

Give four reasons why opposition to Alexander III was so unsuccessful.

Answer 10

1. The extreme methods of the okhrana.
2. Strict censorship.
3. A lack of development in the working class.
4. Reduction in zemstva powers.