Theme- Nature Of Rule

Question 1

methods of repression in russia

Answer 1

· Secret Police – to investigate, arrest, imprison, execute, exile, monitor opposition

· Army – to deal with riots, revolts, mobs, strikes

· Propaganda – Manipulating ideas, values and beliefs by distorting information

· Censorship – Controlling access to information which might influence ideas, values and beliefs

Question 2

the secret police defenition

Answer 2

The secret police are a police force working in secret against a government’s political opponents. They use extra-legal methods which go beyond the normal powers of a police force and are typically used in authoritarian regimes to crush political opposition. All Russian rulers through 1855-1964 used a secret police, but the nature of it the secret police and the effectiveness of it changed over time.

Question 3

how effective were the secret police
third section 1827-1880

Answer 3

introduced by Alexander II’s father, Nicholas I in 1825 in response to the Decembrist Uprising that same year ( attempt to take his throne)
The propose, then, of the Third Section was to clamp down on political radicals and potential threats to the autocracy. This involved monitoring of known radicals, identifying plots, arresting threats. During Nicholas I’s reign, the Third Section was a busy but rather ineffective institution. In 1849 it was monitoring 2,000 people annually, at a time when major revolutions were breaking out across Europe.

Question 4

secret police

the third section under alexander II’s reign

Answer 4

exposed the incompetence of the Third Section as a busy but ineffective institution. After the 1866 failed assassination attempt on Alexander II, repression increased and Alexander’s great reforming agenda ground to a halt. The 1870s, the height of Alexander II’s repression, became known as the ‘Shuvalov Era’ after the minister responsible for implementing repression. 1611 revolutionaries were arrested between 1873-1877, and two major show trials [The Trial of the 50 and the Trial of the 193] show the Third Section was acting. However, the ineffectiveness of the Third Section can be illustrated by the fact that despite the Trials bringing some high-profile revolutionaries, both ended with mass acquittals, and only a small percentage were sent on exile to Siberia.

Question 5

secret police

faliure of the third section

Answer 5

the failure of the Third Section can be seen by the fact that Alexander II suffered 6 assassination attempts through his reign, the final one being successful in 1881.

Question 6

secret police- okhrana 1880-feb 1917

Answer 6

The Okhrana was introduced seven months before Alexander II’s assassination, but it was under Alexander III where the Okhrana made its mark.
. Alexander III came to the throne because of the assassination of his father and his primary aim was both to punish the revolutionaries and ensure the autocracy remained firm. In order to achieve this, Alexander III introduced the Statute of State Security, 1881, which was designed to increase the powers of the Okhrana. The Okhrana gained the power to arbitrarily arrest individuals without having to prove any wrong-doings for up to 5 years. Anyone involved in the People’s Will, the organisation that had been involved in Alexander II’s assassination was arrested in this manner and the People’s Will never again appeared as an organisation.

Question 7

secret police- nicholas II and the okhrana

Answer 7

Successes can be seen in the extent to which revolutionaries were forced into exile. Through most of 1896-1917, leading members of the Bolshevik party were in exile in Western Europe. Furthermore, most of the party adopted pseudonyms in attempts to avoid detection. Lenin’s real name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, Stalin’s real name was Joseph Jughashvili, and Trotsky’s real name was Lev Bronstein. These names illustrate the culture of fear that professional revolutionaries experienced. Furthermore, within Russia, thousands of political prisoners were forced into exile in Siberian labour camps.

Question 8

okhrana effectiveness through the army of informers

Answer 8

both ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. Insiders were Okhrana double-agents who infiltrated revolutionary groups and reported on their activities. Three of the seven members of the 1914 Bolshevik Central Committee meeting in St. Petersburg were Okhrana agents. Many Okhrana agents had to go to great lengths to convince the groups they were joining they were loyal to them. For instance, Yevno Azev infiltrated the Socialist Revolutionaries Combat Organisation, it’s violent revolutionary wing, by actively planning assassinations of state officials. That is, a Tsarist Okhrana agent actively helping a terrorist organisation assassinate Tsarist officials! Outsiders, on the other hand, were your more typical ‘spies’ – eavesdropping conversations, etc.

Question 9

secret police under the provisional government

Answer 9

The Provisional Government is the only government to have no secret police after abolishing the Okhrana in March 1917. The Provisional Government did this to represent the new liberal nature of the government and introduced a political amnesty on all prisoners. Unfortunately for the Provisional Government, a secret police was probably needed more now than ever before. By disbanding the okhrana and introducing an amnesty. This allowed the Bolsheviks to operate and saw the return of Lenin to Russia in April, paving way for the October revolution.

Question 10

secret police- communists. cheka
dec 1917-1924

Answer 10

The Cheka [the all-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Espionage] had what was probably the most challenging task of any of the secret police organisations throughout this period: to deal with counter-revolutionary groups who opposed the Communist Revolution. The Cheka acted in a different manner to the Tsarist organisations in that it used ‘terror’ as a conscious policy.

Question 11

secret police

lenin-red terror

Answer 11

Between late 1918 and 1921 Lenin instituted a ruthlessly effective policy of ‘Red Terror’ in order to reinforce communist authority and eradicate opposition. In essence Red Terror was a policy of mass repression in order to rule by fear. It sought to quash revolutionary activities by creating a culture of violence against anyone who opposed the Bolsheviks. The aim of the policy was to force opposition to comply with Communist rule.

Question 12

secret police

red terror, involves…

Answer 12

• Mass execution. Between 500,000-1,000,000 executions for bourgeois activity (for instance, withholding grain, selling private goods, involvement in non-communist parties, working as merchants, having aristocratic titles, refusing to give up land, refusing communist orders, etc).

The most well-known example of executions was the execution of the Tsar and his family at Ekaterinburg in 1918.

• Gulags. Suspicious people arrested and put in gulags (forced labour camps) where they were required to conduct hard labour.
• Torture. Gruesome stories spread throughout Russia of the Communist use of torture. For instance, in Kharkov there are stories of the Cheka putting victim’s hands in boiling water until the skin peeled off. In Kiev, victims were tied down whilst heated cages of rats were placed around their body. Once the rats cages became hot they would begin to eat their way through the victim’s body.
• The Cheka targeted people not just for what they had done, but who they were [i.e. their social class or association with people]. Felix Dzerzhinsky, the head of the Cheka instructed members that ‘your first duty is to ask him what are his origins, his education, and his occupation. These questions should decide the fate of the prisoner’.

Question 13

secret police

why was the secret police abolished
secret

Answer 13

The Cheka was abolished in 1922 after the Civil War came to an end, but the secret police did not disappear. The use of terror after 1922 reduced because, simply, it had been utterly successful in eliminating legitimate threats to the new regime. Red Terror had crushed the counter-revolutionaries.

Question 14

stalins secret police. NKVD 1934-1943

Answer 14

During the 1930s the extent of external, formal opposition to the Communist Party was extremely limited. By the end of the Civil War in 1922, the Communist Party had all but eliminated opposition parties and movements. However, by the 1930s Stalin had developed a personal dictatorship in which his authority was becoming absolute. By 1936 Stalin was extremely paranoid of threats from within the Party to his own authority and, like Lenin before him, unleashed a wave of terror known as the Great Terror between 1936-38. One major difference, though, between the Red Terror and the Great Terror was Stalin’s willingness to target Communists.

Question 15

secret police

features of stalins great terror
the great purge of the communist party

Answer 15

. The Power Struggle of the 1920s and the events surrounding Kirov in 1934 showed that there was some opposition to Stalin within the Communist Party, even if the extent and nature of that opposition was exaggerated by Stalin. Party Members in these years were accused of taking part in ‘rightist plots’ to overthrow Communism. A large number of high-profile Communists were arrested under such charges including Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Bukharin. These individuals were then forced to undergo Show Trials where, after considerable torture the accused person would ‘admit’ their crimes to the public and then be executed. The Show Trials were important because they had ‘legal’ confessions which ‘proved’ the victims’ guilt. Furthermore, they did actually convince a lot of people that not only were there plotters everywhere, but that these dangerous people were being dealt with by Stalin, thus saving the USSR and justifying his actions. Approximately 1 million people were killed between 1936-38.

After the Great Purge, those bureaucrats Stalin had appointed to conduct it were themselves purged. 1939 Yezhov, the former head of the NKVD who had been responsible for most of the events above, was now the target of a Stalinist purge himself and accused an ‘enemy of the people’. After torture and ‘admitting’ his guilt, Yezhov was executed along with around 20,000 of his NKVD comrades.

Question 16

secret police

features of the great terror (stalin)
arbitary imprisonments and gulag labour

Answer 16

Arbitrary imprisonment was an everyday feature of the Stalinist Terror. NKVD Order No. 00447 gave regional quotas for the number of people to be purged in each region. These people would mostly, then, be sent to conduct forced labour in Gulag camps, often in the far East in Siberia. In 1938 the Gulags had a population of 8 million, by Stalin’s death in 1953 there were 12 million. Conditions were so poor on these sights that approximately 25% died each year. This army of slave labourers played an important economic role for the Soviet Union in producing raw minerals and contributing to massive infrastructure projects like the white sea canal. A total of 40 million people went to the Gulag through the entire Stalinist era.

Question 17

what did repression ensure under stalins control

Answer 17

n ensured that there were no real threats to Stalin’s control. The period 1936-38 was an ‘epidemic’ of repression where repression reached its peak and effected millions of lives; but repression in the form of purges, show trials, arbitrary imprisonments, and gulag labour continued through Stalin’s entire rule.

Question 18

khrushchevs secret police
mvd/kgb 1954-64. why was it changed

Answer 18

Khrushchev’s de-Stalinisation agenda sought to curb the excesses of StalinismStalin’s arbitrary, repressive legal system was allowed to operate because there was an acceptance of violence and few rules preventing repressive actions. Stalin had used the concept of ‘revolutionary justice’ to administer the legal system – which created a whole new class of political crimes (as well as the usual ones of murder etc). All crime thus became the province of the political security apparatus (secret police and camps). Khrushchev wanted to replace ‘revolutionary justice’ with something new.

Question 19

khrushchevs secret police
mvd/kgb 1954-64, what was it

Answer 19

In 1960 new legal codes were introduced. They stated that: The MVD (Interior Ministry) could not send people to camps without legal evidence. The KGB ran the secret police, according to the law (!). I.e. officials could be prosecuted if they closed their eyes to malpractice.

Question 20

secret police

khrushchev, overseeing gulag prisioners

Answer 20

Khrushchev also oversaw an enormous political amnesty of gulag prisoners with around 8-9 million people being released from the camps. By 1960 there were only about 11,000 prisoners in the camps, a significant shift from the 1930s. This is perhaps the most significant aspect of De-Stalinisation.

Question 21

secret police

what was the significance of K losing control of the secret police

Answer 21

The loosening of control over the secret police helped to allow a party coup to remove Khrushchev from power in 1964.

Question 22

secret police

secret police conclusion. how did it stay the same over time

Answer 22

The use of a form of secret police with arbitrary powers to deal with political opponents remains consistent throughout the period. Both the Tsars and the Communists created powerful secret police organisations who monitored and dealt with opposition group. They both restricted freedoms and deal harshly with political opposition. The Provisional government acts as the only brief period where there is no secret police operating.

Question 23

secret police

secret police conclusion. how did it change over time

terror

Answer 23

the use of ‘terror’ changes over time. Whilst the Communists (specifically Lenin and Stalin) were willing to use terror – a strategy designed to instil fear through violence; the Tsars were more targeted in their use of the secret police. The Okhrana and Third Section largely focused their efforts on infiltrating and breaking up genuine opposition, rather than ruling through fear.

Question 24

secret police

secret police conclusion. how did it change over time

scale and effectiveness

Answer 24

the scale and effectiveness of the secret police changed over time. During Lenin, Alexander III, and Stalin’s time the secret police was at its harshest and most effective. These leaders did successfully deal with all significant political opposition. On the other hand, during Khrushchev, Alexander II, and Nicholas II’s time the secret police was less harsh and much less effective. It is noteworthy that all three of these leaders were removed from power by opposition.

Question 25

secret police

secret police conclusion. how did it change over time

context/techniques

Answer 25

it is worth highlighting a difference between the Tsars and the Communists in relation to their context. Tsarist secret police working in a 19th century context using old techniques and modes. On the other hand the Soviet 20th century model of repression can be deemed to be more effective in that they were able to use more modern technology to monitor opposition. Stalin, for instance, benefited from being able to tap phone lines and monitor the population using modern totalitarian methods.

Question 26

the army

how was the army used

Answer 26

Throughout the period, the military played a role in keeping order during both Tsarist and Communist periods. Three themes are noteworthy when it comes to the army:

· Army being used for implementation of policies – AIII + Lenin + Stalin

· Army being used for repression – AII + NII + Lenin + Khrushchev

· Army as a threat to authority – Nicholas + Lenin + Stalin + Khrushchev

Question 27

army

russias military, size

Answer 27

The Russian military was always large. In 1855 Russia spent 50% of its budget on maintaining an army of around 1.4 million. By 1964 the army was 2.4 million. Naturally the size of the military

increased during Russia’s many wars throughout the period and contracted somewhat during peacetime, but regardless the army remained large in peacetime. This large army allowed Russia’s rulers from time-to-time to use the military to help implement their policies, should they require boots on the ground and brute force. In particular we see Alexander III used the military to implement Russification and Stalin used the military to implement Collectivisation.

Question 28

army

alexander III use of the army

russiafication

Answer 28

Alexander III showed a willingness to use the military when it came to the implementation of Russification. The policy of Russification was an attempt to make the many different ethnicities in Russia conform to a Russia way of life. Non-Russian cultural practices, non-Russian languages, etc were banned with Russian being put in their place. The purpose of the policy was to ‘Russify’ the Empire in the hope that this would curb separatist or nationalist agendas in regions such as Poland or Ukraine where some separatist movements had been growing. The use of the army, and the policy more broadly, was something that actually had a negative consequence in most of the regions implemented in the long-term.

Question 29

army

lenins use of the army

red army in the civil war

Answer 29

, Lenin used the Red Army in the Civil War, not only to fight the opposition – the Whites – but to implement the policy of War Communism. War Communism required the total mobilisation of the Russian economy for the Civil War effort, requiring the use of brute force to meet the aim of winning the war. The main use of the Red Army here was to force peasants to hand over their grain as part of the requisitioning policy.

Question 30

army

use of secret police

collectivisation

Answer 30

Stalin showed a willingness to use the military when it came to the implementation of Collectivisation. Collectivisation was a policy which sought to end atomised capitalist farming and move peasants into large, state-run, collective farms. Many peasants, particularly the Kulaks – a group of rich peasants – reacted negatively to collectivisation since it raised the prospect of them losing much of their possessions. Stalin’s use of the army was an attempt to force these resistant Kulaks to join collective farms, often brutally. Kulak resisters were placed in three categories: 1. Counter-revolutionaries to be shot [21,000 in 1931], 2. active opponents of the policy to be deported to Gulags [390,000 in 1931], and 3. Collectivisation resisters who were forced into collective farms [400,000 in 1931].

Question 31

army

army being used for repression

Answer 31

Throughout the period the army was the main force used to suppress large-scale popular revolts and popular disorder. The army was deployed when the masses became uncontrollable and order needed to be restored.

· 1863 – Polish Revolt

· 1905 – Revolution suppressed [eventually]

· 1918-21 – Civil War, victory by Red Army over the Whites

· 1956 – Hungarian Uprising

Question 32

army

army as a threat

Answer 32

hroughout most of the period 1855-1964, the army was indeed firmly under control. Despite the warnings given to the Tsars by the Decembrist Uprising during Nicholas I reign
Alexander II and Alexander III remained firmly in control of a loyal army. However, for both Nicholas, Stalin, and to a lesser extent Khrushchev, the army was a threat

Question 33

military posing a threat towords nicholas II

Answer 33

The military posed a threat to Nicholas in both 1905 and in 1917. In 1905 there were some mutinies, the most noteworthy example being on the Battleship Potemkin, but these were crushed and control was re-asserted. However, in February 1917 150,000 members of the Petrograd Garrison placed themselves under the control of the Soviet, effectively marking the end of the Tsarist regime.

Question 34

army

the army posing a threat to lenins rule

Answer 34

In 1921 Russian sailors at the Kronstadt naval base staged a revolt. The sailors had been keen backers of the October revolution in 1917, but believed that Lenin’s harsh authoritarian nature of rule [e.g. red terror, the one-party state, war communism] had let down the revolution. The sailors attempted to seize power from the Bolsheviks, but failed to do so as loyal Red army soldiers were sent in to crush the revolt. This uprising frightened the regime into introducing reforms, most notably the 1921 New Economic Policy.

Question 35

army

the army posing a threat to stalin

Answer 35

Stalin viewed the army as a potential threat to his authority on two occasions. Firstly, in the 1930s Great Terror, Stalin purged the military of a number of high-ranking officers. Marshall Tukhachevsky had been the commander of the Red Army through the Civil War but was the target of a significant purge of leading military officials, around 20,000 in 1936-38.

Secondly, after the Second World War Stalin viewed Marshall Zhukov – Russia’s leading second world war general – as a potential threat to his authority. Stalin had him removed from the party and exiled from Moscow.

Question 36

censorship

what is censorship

Answer 36

Censorship refers to the way in which regimes seek to limit access to information. Usually this is information that in come way undermined the regimes in control. Whilst all leaders used censorship, the extent of censorship throughout the period went through peaks and troughs with the two more ‘reforming’ leaders loosening censorship, whilst the more repressive leaders more harshly enforced it.

Question 37

censorship

alexander II, Nicholas II, Khrushchev.
aims to reduce the extent of censorship

Answer 37

Alexander II, Nicholas II, and Khrushchev were leaders which tended to reduce the extent of censorship, even if they still used it as a policy. Alexander II, as part of his broader reforming programme, reduced the extent of censorship in 1865, but retained the regime’s control to ban ‘dangerous’ material [i.e. anything they deemed to threaten the regime]. As a result of this reform, Marx’s Das Kapital was published in 1872. At the time officials deemed it too long and tedious to have any ‘dangerous’ impact for the regime – they couldn’t have been more wrong in hindsight! Under Nicholas, similarly, pre-publication censorship disappeared and the period 1894-1914 saw an increase in the overall quantity of books and newspapers being published.

Question 38

censorship

alexander III, lenin, stalin.
harsh increases to the extent of censorship

Answer 38

By contrast, the rules of Alexander III, Lenin and Stalin oversaw harsh increases in the extent of censorship. Each of these rulers felt particularly threatened by opposition groups and so viewed

censorship as a way of maintaining control over Russia. Lenin in particular had the challenge of convincing the Russian people of the Communist project and therefore believed restricting access to damaging information would help the regime. Lenin created a propaganda department called AGITPRROP whose responsibility was to promote communist and restrict access to counter-revolutionary beliefs.

Question 39

prapaganda

what is propaganda

Answer 39

All regimes, to varying degrees, use propaganda to promote a political cause – but the nature and the extent of this changed dramatically over the 109-years

Question 40

propaganda

propaganda under the tsars

the influence of the church

Answer 40

Initially, Tsarist propaganda was very traditional in form. Without modern media – imagery, radio, mass-readership newspapers, etc – the Tsars relied predominantly on the influence of the Orthodox Church to promote their regime. Every village / community in Russia had an Orthodox Church at its heart and this is where most ordinary Russians would hear information, not only about religion but about wider Russia. Churches where a means by which social control could be maintained [that is, ensuring a strict moral code and ensuring obedience to the Tsar’s authority]. The successfulness of this propaganda can be seen by the extensive influence of Orthodox Christianity throughout Russia. Most peasant homes in the 19th Century contained what were know as ‘Red Corners’ – shrines decorated with religious icons [religious paintings, often on wood. They acted as a altar in the home to be the centre for prayer, etc].

Question 41

propaganda

tsars and propaganda
1905 as a turning point

Answer 41

The revolution of 1905 shook Nicholas II. It highlighted the popular and historic myth of the Tsar being the ‘little father’ of his people was not necessarily held by all. After 1905, Nicholas used propaganda more consciously.

The best example of the increase in propaganda is the Romanov Tercentenary Celebrations of 1913. The were a series of national celebrations marking the 300-year rule of the Romanov Dynasty. The Romanovs underwent a royal tour, following the route on Mikhail I, the first Romanov Tsar, who was elected in 1613 The tercentenary celebrations across Russia were extravagant and well attended by the masses, in spite of Nicholas II’s unpopularity since the 1905 Russian Revolution. While traveling the country, Nicholas and Alexandra were so well received by the people that it seemed as if public opinion had turned in their favour. This experience coloured Alexandra’s perspective throughout the next four years when the monarchy began to crumble during World War I.

Question 42

propaganda

commonist use of propaganda

Answer 42

The nature of propaganda changed significantly in the Communist era. This can partly be explained by the availability of new technologies – the radio, film, etc – as well as the more literate population. Yet, the communists were also trying to justify their ideological pursuit of Communism. They

believed that propaganda – in the form of posters, art, statues, film, books etc – could be deployed to encourage people to believe in the socialist project they were pursuing and encourage the development of ‘class consciousness’.

Question 43

propaganda

communist use of propaganda
the use of propaganda posters

Answer 43

During the Civil War (1918-1921), Lenin took control of artistic production under the Commissariat of Popular Enlightenment and ended freedom of expression. The primary aim of this institution was to create ‘agitational art’ (termed Agitprop), art which mobilised support for the communist war effort. Art during this period was under strict state control and freedom of expression was banned. Art was only permitted where it served a purpose for the state.

The Commissariat of Popular Enlightenment was particularly keen to use posters to spread the communist message to the streets. Considering the fact that literacy levels were low in the early part of communist rule, posters were able to convey visual messages in a digestible form for the masses. The following poster is known as ‘ROSTA’ posters and were displayed in Petrograd during the Civil War. More than 1,000 of these types of posters were produced between 1919-1921. They intended to convey a message to illiterate people using imagery, like modern comics.

The purpose of the imagery was to convey an ideological message – in this case: the inevitability of the working class revolution.

Question 44

propaganda

use of propaganda under the communists
use of film and cinema

Answer 44

Film and cinema grew significantly in the Communist period. In 1917 there were 1,000 cinemas in Russia. By 1958 there were 59,000. Cinemas became one of the primary means of accessing information [i.e. newsreel] and a key aspect of popular entertainment. However, film was always restricted by the requirement to conform to political ideology.

Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent film, Battleship Potemkin, is one example of this. The film told the story of a mutiny in the 1905 Revolution and exaggerated the harshness of Tsarism, thereby justifying the revolution

Question 45

propaganda

communist use of propaganda
newspapers

Answer 45

The CPSU newspaper Pravda [transl. truth] and Izvestia [transl. the news] promoted the achievements of the CPSU

a popular saying was “there’s no truth in Pravda and no news in Izvestia”.

Popular – millions read each day

Question 46

propaganda

communist use of peopaganda
stakhanovie/ hero worship 1930-onwards

Answer 46

In the Soviet Union, celebrities were not the rich, wealthy, and glamorous, but instead ordinary members of the working class. The Stakhanovite movement, was propaganda intended to encourage workers to meet and exceed their production targets during the Five-Year Plans. Workers were encouraged to follow in the lead of Stakhanov, a coal miner who extracted extraordinary quantities of coal - far exceeding his colleagues. It is likely that the statistics were manufactured, nevertheless, Stakhanov was celebrated as a working class hero. Propag

went to, and celebrated him as the ideal proletariat worker whose hard work was moving Russia towards the ideal communist future celebrated in the socialist realist artwork below. Stakhanov was an ideal Soviet citizen and a model for all to follow.

Question 47

propaganda

distinctive aspects of stalinist propaganda
cult of personaloty

Answer 47

The cult of personality was purposefully encouraged by Stalin, but not other Communist leaders. Stalin constructed an image of himself as the all-knowing, great leader of the Soviet Union. The image conveyed the notion that Stalin was pursuing what was best for the Russian people and that he deserved unquestioning loyalty. In this sense, Stalin was consciously promoting himself as the ‘father of his people’, just like the Tsars had done.

By contrast, Khrushchev criticised the ‘cult of personality’ as a lie in his ‘Secret Speech’ of 1956.

Question 48

nature of reforms

contionuity of nature of reforms

Answer 48

All Russian rulers used reform to deal with opponents and controlling the behaviour of the masses. Both regimes, Tsars and Communists, implemented reforms when the regime were under threat in order to deal with opposition – i.e. to appease opponents. The best examples of this type of reform come during the reigns of Alexander II, Nicholas II, and Lenin. Alexander II introduced Emancipation of the Serfs, at least in part because of the idea that ‘reform from above might prevent a revolution from below’. Likewise, Nicholas’ introduction of the Duma after the 1905 Revolution was certainly a concession. Furthermore, Lenin used reform in 1921 by reforming economic policy – replacing War Communism with the NEP - to deal with both the economic crisis and the Kronstadt sailors revolt.

Question 49

nature of reforms

tsarist reform

use of appease and preserve

Answer 49

, their motivation tended to be a sense that failure to reform would cause greater problems. The Tsars instinctively ran a conservative, backward-looking regime which sought most fundamentally to preserve the system as it was – the very opposite of reform. Hence, the Tsars in general only reformed when they believed that a failure to reform would threaten the system more. This type of reactive reform can be applied to both Alexander II and Nicholas II. With Alexander II, the Emancipation of the serfs was introduced partly out of the belief that reform from above would prevent a revolution from below. He was concerned that the longer serfdom existed, the more likely a peasant revolution was. Hence, by reforming he sought to preserve Tsarism. Equally, another motivation for Emancipation was a sense that Russia was being left behind by its rivals abroad, as exemplified by the failures in the Crimean War. If this was allowed to continue, rivals could threaten Tsarism. Again, then, by reforming Alexander II sought to preserve.

Similarly, Nicholas’ attempts at reforms – although more limited – were motivated by similar ideas. The October Manifesto of 1905 – which promised a Duma and civil liberties - was designed to placate the revolutionary atmosphere around Russia and prevent an overthrow of Tsarism. In both these examples, the Tsarist regime illustrated its fundamental weakness: although change was occurring both to society, economy, and ideas, the Tsars did not seek to guide change but were merely reactive to the consequences of it. Neither reform went far enough to satisfy the groups they sought to appease. This failure to guide change would ultimately doom the regime.

Question 50

nature of reform

what was the inpact/extent of tsarist reform

Answer 50

Tsarist reforms tended to be limited in nature: reforms which limited the extent of change. For instance, Emancipation of the Serfs disappointed the peasanty. Despite gaining new legal freedoms – such as to marry, travel, and access the legal system – peasants were generally unhappy with the terms.

A consequence of this is that Tsarist reforms tended to generate greater opposition: their limited nature always failed to satisfy opponents of the regime. Hence, following Alexander II’s reforms there was a period of heightened populist activity in the 1870s. Similarly, following Nicholas II’s reforms, the Dumas were unhappy.

Question 51

nature of reform

what was the aims of communist reforms
use of reform to implement change

Answer 51

the Communists sought, through reforms, to guide change and implement their ideology. For the Communists, change was something that they more actively sought to achieve. Unlike the timeless ideology of the Tsars; fundamental to Marxism was a sense of economic, political and social progress over time. The Communists sought to mould this change actively through a variety of policies.

Most fundamental to Marxism was a sense of economic determinism. Marxists believe that the economy [see notes 1.1. Ideology for more] Shapes and moulds a society’s culture, ideas, political and social systems. Consequently, it was essential that the economy was transformed. Policies such

as War Communism, Collectivisation, the Five-Year Plans [more on these in the economy topics] are illustrative of this agenda and did radically transform the economy of Russia both by eliminating most capitalist practices and through rapid industrialisation.

Question 52

nature of reform

what was the inpact/extent of communist reform

Answer 52

Communist reforms tended to be combined with very harsh methods of repression to ensure compliance. The result was that reforms were absolute: opposition was not tolerated and the population was forced into obedience. Rather than generating opposition like the Tsarist reforms, Communist reforms tended to wipe out opposition and have a transforming impact on the lives of Soviet citizens. As an example, the total Collectivisation of Russia’s agricultural system was achieved in the space of just 10 years from 1930-1940.