Tsarist Rule in Russia

Question 1

How was Russia governed?

Answer 1

The Tsar ruled Russia himself with the help of ministers he chose
There was no democracy or parliament and local government was in the hands of officials appointed by the tsar
In many ways, Russia in 1894 was like England in the Middle Ages
Russia was deeply religious and subscribed to the deeply conservative Russian Orthodox Church

Question 2

Who was Tsar Nicholas II

Answer 2

Came to the throne in 1894
He was indecisive, not particularly intelligent, inflexible, not able to respond to great pressure and ruled repressively
He had been tutored by Konstantin Pobedonostev (‘Grand Inquisitor’) who hated democracy and had repressive attitudes.
Nicholas ruled in an autocracy

Question 3

Who were the upper and middle classes

Answer 3

The aristocracy made up 1% of the population but owned 25% of the land.
Peasants resented these rich landowners
Many at the top of society were appointed by the Tsar to run government departments
With growing industrialisation, a middle class emerged made up of bankers and rich capitalists who owned the industrial works.
They lived in luxury compared to the peasants and industrial workers

Question 4

How big was Russia

Answer 4

Russia had a population of 160 million people and covered one sixth of the world’s surface

Question 5

The discontent of the peasants

Answer 5

Over 80% of those people lived in the countryside as labourers.
The Russian aristocracy made up only 1% but owned 25% of the land
Until 1861, the peasants had been serfs, owned by the aristocracy as their personal property
The wealth gap between the rich and peasants was immense and peasant unrest was always bubbling below the surface
There were famines in the 1890s - the word ‘famine’ was banned from newspapers and the government dealt with them poorly

Question 6

The discontent of industrial workers

Answer 6

Industrialisation was limited to major cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow. Working conditions were appalling even by the standards of the time. Hours were long, pay was low and conditions were dangerous
Trade unions were illegal which meant there was no push for improvements.
Industrial workers had little control over their own lives

Question 7

The discontent amongst the middle classes

Answer 7

Most of Russia’s middle classes were liberals
They wanted change in Russia but at a gradual pace and they were scared of revolutionary radicals
They wanted a constitutional monarchy and a fair legal system

Question 8

The discontent amongst national minorities

Answer 8

Russifications: this restricted the influence of the non-Russian national minorities by emphasising the superiority of all things Russian
56% of the population were not actually of Russian nationality - the country was huge and so had many different nationalities including groups like Baltic Germans, Armenians and Ukrainians
This led to these groups facing serious discrimination and government interference

Question 9

Who were the SR’s

Answer 9

SRs wanted to gain recruits from the growing urban workforce
They remained most popular with the peasantry as they focused on land based issues like giving land back to the peasants for free
SRs were the most popular party in Russia until they were banned in 1917
They were involved in assassinations of key supporters of Tsarist rule

Question 10

Who were the SD’s

Answer 10

SDs wanted to achieve revolution by following the ideas of Karl Marx
They wanted to support the workers rather than the peasants and so were never as popular as the SRs
After talk of revolution but not actually going through with it, Lenin pushed the party into a split in 1903

Question 11

Who were the Bolsheviks

Answer 11

Believed the party should be a small and secret group of professional revolutionaries who would seize power when the time was right
They felt a large party could be infiltrated by police spies
Their leader in exile was Lenin

Question 12

Who were the Mensheviks

Answer 12

Believed that the party should be a mass organisation to which all the workers could belong
The party could grow until it was powerful enough to take over
It would work with other groups such as trade unions
Their leader Trotsky was also in exile following the 1905 revolution

Question 13

How was Russia policed

Answer 13

Police State
Censorship - books and newspapers were prevented from publishing radical ideas
Exiled - people suspected of working against the Tsar were imprisoned or exiled to Siberia
Okhrana (Secret Police) - kept watch on people suspected of being revolutionaries

Question 14

Short term triggers of the 1905 revolution

Answer 14

Russo-Japanese War

Bloody Sunday

Question 15

What was the Russo-Japanese War

Answer 15

In 1904, war broke out with Japan over land in Manchuria (valuable land)
Russia faced a series of disastrous defeats using out-dated military tactics
After the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905 forced Russia to make peace which was a shock for the Russian people as they thought Japan would be an easy target
The war also exacerbated economic problems including food shortages and unemployment. Liberal opposition grew as the situation worsened

Question 16

What was Bloody Sunday

Answer 16

Bloody Sunday was a massacre of unarmed protestors in St. Petersburg on the 22nd January
Protestors, led by Father Gapon, were fired upon by the Mounted Cossacks
Over 100 protestors were killed and hundreds injured
The people of Russia united in anger and strikes broke out in St Petersburg and other cities

Question 17

What events happened during the 1905 revolution

Answer 17

The Potemkin Mutiny
Other military rebellions
Peasant Rebellions
Strikes in the cities
The St Petersburg Soviet
National minorities

Question 18

What was the Potemkin Mutiny

Answer 18

The Russian navy endured harsh conditions and brutal punishments
The crew had revolutionary ideas
On the 14th June, the cooks complained the meat was riddled with maggots - the doctors decided that the maggots were only flies eggs and the meat was fine
Valenchuk, went to Commander Gilyarovsky to complain. Gilyarovsky shot him. Others seized Gilyarovsky and threw him overboard
The Potemkin raised a red flag and a ‘people’s committee’ was chosen to take charge
The ship made for Odessa
An attempt to spread the mutiny to the rest of the Black Sea Fleet failed

Question 19

what were the Peasant Rebellions

Answer 19

Peasants organised rent strikes and tried to force landowners to increase their wages
By summer 1905, the harvest had failed again
3,000 manors were destroyed (15% of the total)
The peasants created communes by taking the land their parents and grandparents had worked on

Question 20

What were the strikes on Cities

Answer 20

Waves of strikes spread across Russia
In January 1905, 400,000 workers went on strike including the most important industries, including the railway.
Socialist leaders returned from exile and workers began to rally to left-wing parties in 1906

Question 21

What was the St Petersburg Soviet

Answer 21

Set up in October 1905 to organise the strikes
Only lasted from September to early December
The idea of Soviets became important later in 1917

Question 22

Why did Nicholas survive the 1905 Revolution?

Answer 22

The October Manifesto

Question 23

What was the October Manifesto

Answer 23

Created a legislative Duma to approve laws
Freedom of speech, assembly and worship
Political parties can exist
Legalise trade unions
It was met with celebration and the general strike was called off
However, it did nothing to improve conditions for workers, peasants or the armed forces
It did: split those wanting reform and those wanting wider revolution

Question 24

What repressive measures did the Tsar use

Answer 24

In December 1905, the leaders of the St Petersburg Soviet were arrested and troops crushed the Moscow uprising. This followed with mass arrests
The work of Stolypin:
He was the Prime Minister elected in 1906
He set up military courts which could sentence and hang offenders on the spot.
Everyone in Russia was forced to carry internal passports and travellers had to be registered with police
Freedom of the press had been promised by the Tsar but the press still had little freedom
The Okhrana still rooted out anyone they considered a threat

Question 25

What were The Fundamental Laws - April 1906

Answer 25

In 1905, Nicholas issued the October Manifesto which offered political change through the creation of a duma (parliament)
In 1906, the Fundamental Laws gave Nicholas II considerable power to control the duma
The duma’s power was matched by an upper house which would always vote the way the Tsar wanted
The Tsar kept control over the armed forces and foreign policy
The Tsar would choose all government ministers who could veto any duma legislation
The Tsar could dissolve the duma at any time
The Tsar could pass any laws while the duma were not sitting (article 87)
Only the Tsar could make changes to article 87

Question 26

Nicholas’ attitude to the duma

Answer 26

He did not trust the Russian people to have a say in how Russia was run
He wanted the duma to support him
However, he did like the fact that the dumas brought him popularity

Question 27

The first duma - April-July 1906 (10 weeks)

Answer 27

Central parties have a lot of seats
Left-wing revolutionary parties boycotted the elections to the duma
Main demand was land reform and wanted the State Council abolished
The Tsar did not like their push to appease the peasants and dissolved the duma

Question 28

The second duma - February-June 1907 (4 months)

Answer 28

Trudoviks (very left-wing) are the biggest party but not a majority
There were over 200 left-wing deputies and was much more radical than the first duma
‘The Duma of National Anger’
The prime minister Stolypin realised that the second Duma was more radical and dissolved it

Question 29

The third duma - November 1907-June 1912 (4 and a half years)

Answer 29

The electoral system changed so only 1 in 6 peasants/working class could vote
Right wing parties dominated - Octobrists have 154 deputies
Conservatives had a majority
Stolypin worked with the third duma and managed to pass land reforms
A law on universal education was passed at a minimum of four years education
Steps taken to modernise the army

Question 30

The fourth duma - November 1912-August 1914 (met in 1915 and 1916)

Answer 30

Similar political composition to the third duma
Met infrequently
Did attempt to reform the Orthodox Church and supported the law of 1908 to provide universal education

Question 31

Stolypin’s land reform

Answer 31

He wanted to modernise farming
He wanted to create a class of peasant landowners who would give up their revolutionary aspirations
So - ‘the wager on the strong’:
Peasants were allowed to leave the Mir (commune) to consolidate their strips of land to a single unit and build a farmhouse
Land bank was set up to help peasants by the land
Schemes to resettle the peasants in Siberia

Question 32

Were the reforms successful?

Answer 32

Between 1905-1907, 3.5 million peasants moved to Siberia
By 1914, only 10% of households in European Russia lived on farms separated from the commune
Those who left the Mir (‘Stolypin separators’) were seen as traitors
The reform was more successful in the west (e.g. Ukraine and Belorussia)
By 1917, peasant unrest was sweeping through Russia
The ‘wager on the strong’ benefitted Kulaks (wealthy peasants) but did little to alleviate the distress of poorer villagers

Question 33

1912 Lena Goldfields Strike - Siberia

Answer 33

Striking workers protested about degrading working conditions, low wages and a 14 hour day
Protests about rotten horsemeat they were expected to eat sparked the strikes
They clashed with troops, over 200 people were killed and many injured
The Okhrana appears to have acted as agents to identify the leaders
Kerensky led an investigation into the massacre

Question 34

1914 General Strike

Answer 34

July 1914 saw a general strike in St. Petersburg
Many progressive members of the duma supported the strike
Entry into WWI later that month stopped it getting out of hand
Only ¼ of the workforce were involved (compared to ⅘ in February 1917)