Russia

GIKPKC7 94107 Russia Page 1
Introduction
27/5/98
Terms:
Tsar Supreme Ruler.
Autocracy All power was concentrated in the hands of one person. The theory
of the Divine Right of Kings.
Bureaucracy Governed by state officials not by elected representatives.
Revolution A significant change in the nature of affairs.
Democracy A belief in the power of the ordinary people and their right to
make decisions.
Socialists Production should be owned by the state, which in turn will
distribute the goods and services to citizens according to their
needs. Socialists aim to create an equal society in which all people
are guaranteed equal opportunities for fair living and
employment.
Trade Unionism A group of workers who are paid a wage and come together to
take action against what they see to be unacceptable economic,
social and political decisions.
Reign To rule, be supreme.
Clergy Men who have been ordained as priests or ministers of the
Christian Church.
Judiciary The whole body of judges in a country.
Aristocracy The Hereditary upper classes of people in a country.
Noble Belonging to the aristocracy by birth or rank.
Serf A farm labourer.
Chinovniks Acted primarily as the administration of the empire.
The Tsarist system:
• In 1613 Michael Romanov came to the throne. He established the dynasty, which was
to govern Russia for the next 300 years.
Autocracy
• The first Tsar in the nineteenth century was Alexander I, who came to power in 1801.
• Few dared to criticise the Tsars actions for fear of losing their positions.
• Alexander’s autocracy came about because the first Tsars had exercised firm control
over powerful landowners, people who might be tempted to challenge their position.
Bureaucracy
• Most civil servants were unwilling to make decisions because they feared punishment
if those decisions were wrong.
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• The whole system was highly inefficient, and was resented by almost everybody.
• Many Russians considered the post of a civil servant to be desirable, as the work was
not difficult, and there were many opportunities to extort bribes from members of the
public.
The church
• The bishops and priests taught the peasants to accept their difficulties, and not to try
to change things.
• The Tsar granted the church many privileges.
• There were few schools for the poor, because it was believed that an education would
make the peasants even more discontented with their lot, and perhaps lead to social
disruption.
The Organisation of Agriculture:
• At the start of the 19th century, most of Russia’s people were involved in agriculture
rather than in manufacturing industry or commerce.
• Serf worked for wealthy landowners.
1800 – 1914:
Social and economic change
This means a change in the social and economic systems of a nation and thus the living
and working conditions of the people of that nation. During the 19th Century in Europe
the following happened:
• The spread of the Economic Revolution changed the economies of Europe from
agriculture to industry, commerce and trade.
• To accommodate these major portions of populations changed.
• Rural villagers to new cities
• Occupations – rural to factory workers, servant, clerks, miners.
• Industrialization led to changes in class structure including:
• The rise of a bourgeoisie (commercial and intellectual middle class).
• Proletariat – industrial working class.
• Industrialisation led initially to shocking living and working conditions for
workers in the cities.
Russia before Emancipation (Russia in 1800):
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Russia was a country with about 40 million
inhabitants, only 40% of who spoke Russian.
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Social System
At the beginning of Alexander I’s reign, most of the population were agricultural serfs,
virtual slaves bound to the land and at the mercy of their aristocratic landlords.
They were either privately owned by the landlords or they were state peasants and owned
by the Tsar.
• They bore most of the tax burden.
• They paid rent for this land as either barschina or obrok, or both.
• Barschina was a form of rent whereby peasants were required to provide free
labour for the landlord in return for the privilege of farming a section of the
landlord’s estate.
• Obrok was a different form of taxation whereby peasants paid rent for the
privilege of farming the landlord’s land based on the composition and number in
a peasant’s family – in short, obrok was a form of poll tax paid to the landlord, in
addition to a separate poll tax which peasants also had to pay to the Tsarist
government.
• During the nineteenth century, the peasants became increasingly frustrated.
• Less than 10% of the population were members of the privileged classes and less
than 2% were members of the nobility and clergy. These two sectors bore the fewest
• There was no commercial/industrial middle class to speak of.
Nature of Russian Government to 1800
• The Tsar was an absolute ruler restricted only by the opinion of the upper classes,
who dominated the clergy, bureaucracy and judiciary.
• Autocratic methods of a government which strongly resisted the impact of more
modern ideas from Western Europe.
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Map, 1801:
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The Romanov dynasty from 16131918:
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Time Line:
1801 Assassination of Paul I
Accession of Alexander I
1802 Creation of eight new government departments and strengthening of the
bureaucracy.
Abolition of secret police
1803 Golitsyn appointed Over Procurator of Holy Synod
1804 Education Statute
1805 Russia declares war on Napoleonic France and loses Battle of Austerlirz
1807 Treaty of Tilsit and alliance with Napoleon
Speransky appointed special advisor to Alexander
1808 Arakcheyev appointed Minister of War
Reestablishment of secret police
1809 Draft constitution presented to and rejected by Alexander
Formation of State Council
1810 Arakcheyev leaves War Ministry
1811 Formation of National Advisory Council
1812 War of 1812
Dismissal of Speransky
1805 Defeat of Napoleon
Formation of Holy Alliance
1816 Foundation of first revolutionary societies
1817 Arakcheyev appointed chief advisor to Alexander
Golitsyn appointed Minister of Spiritual Affairs and Education
1819 Second draft constitution presented to and rejected by Alexander
1820 Rebellion among St Petersburg regiments
1822 Edict dissolving all secret societies
1823 Dismissal of Golitsyn
1825 Death of Alexander I
Decembrist Revolt
Accession of Nicholas I
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The Reign of Alexander I (18011825):
• Alexander I was the grandson of Catherine the Great,
and she meant him to succeed her on her death.
• She disapproved of her own son, the Grand Duke
Pavel, and wished to disinherit him because of his
unstable nature.
The challenge
When Alexander became Tsar, Russia was facing
some fearful problems. The worst of these was the
problem of the serfs, and the untold misery they all
endured.
The wealthy clung to their privileges by resorting to
military force, and there was no strong middle class
who might press for reforms, it was felt that any
changes to the system had to come from Alexander himself.
Early attempts at reform
He gathered a group of four young aristocrats about him as advisors people with similar
views.
The first thing he did as a result of their counsel, Alexander made several improvements
in government administration, such as establishing Cabinet ministries. He also
introduced a new system of public education, which involved the formation of new
schools, the creation of teachers’ colleges and the foundation of three new
universities.
However, in relation to the most urgent need of all – the abolition of serfdom –
Alexander achieved very little.
Alexander sympathised with the serfs, saying on one occasion that serfdom was ‘a
degradation and a misfortune for the nation’, but he lacked the energy and the
courage to fight against the nobles.
Early foreign policy
By this treaty Alexander agreed to turn against Britain and support Napoleon’s
Continental System, a scheme designed to crush Britain economically by restricting
the purchase of British goods.
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Relations with France
The business community was particularly critical, because the nation depended so
heavily on British imports.
The alliance between France and Russia finally collapsed in 1811.
The main reason was Alexander’s official abandonment of the Continental System.
Patriotic War
Eager to punish Alexander for his part in the destruction of the alliance, Napoleon led
his Grand Army across the Niemen River into Russia on 24 June 1812.
This aggressive move started what the Russians were to call ‘the Patriotic War’.
The Russians finally turned to fight at Borodino on 7 September 1812. Napoleon
narrowly won a savage and bloody conflict, and the Russians had to retreat.
A week later Napoleon led his army into Moscow in triumph, only to find the city ablaze.
The retreating Russians had torched their capital, rather than allow the enemy to
take it intact.
The Congress of Vienna
Dominated by the conservative Prince Metternich of Austria, the congress decided to
oppose the spread of revolutionary ideas, and to restore the old privileged orders to
their former levels of power.
This new form of repression was called the Congress System, and was to dominate
European politics for the next decade.
The Holy Alliance
He proposed that he and his fellow monarchs form a brotherhood, to be called the Holy
Alliance.
Under the terms of this alliance, they would all agree to govern their countries with
justice, peace and piety, and consider their fellow rulers as brothers in Christ.
Alexander, who was by then the most powerful ruler in Europe.
A new outlook
• Alexander’s campaigns of 181214 were victorious in a military sense, but they had
some important political byproducts as well.
• In terms of economic development, the Western nations were far more advanced than
Russia, and their factories and transport systems made Russia’s look ancient.
• As a result of this new outlook in Russia a number of secret societies sprang up,
devoted to the idea of instituting social and political change.
• Foremost among their aims was the desire to abolish serfdom and to introduce a
formal constitution, which would limit the autocratic powers of the Tsar and give the
people say in their own government. One such secret society later came to be called
the Decembrists.
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Alexander’s foreign policy
Sweden, which had been a Russian preoccupation since the sixteenth century.
Sweden
• Alexander to sign the Treaty of Kiel in 1814, confirming Russia’s control over
Finland, in return for the Tsar’s support for Sweden's plan to seize Norway from
Denmark.
Poland
• Poland was a nation which ceased to exist in the eighteenth century when its territory
was divided up among Austria, Prussia and Russia.
• Once Napoleon was out of the way, Alexander wanted to create a new Poland. He
succeeded in forming a new nation from the territories formerly held by Russia and
Prussia, became its first monarch and granted it a fairly liberal constitution.
• The Poles’ disappointment over Lithuania gradually led to increased tension with
Russia, and eventually to a revolt in 1830, then fullscale war in 1831.
Turkey
• In fulfilling its aims, Russia tried either to dominate Turkey by being the senior
partner in a coalition, or by waging war.
Military colonies
• In 1816 Alexander instituted a new scheme for serfs on crown lands. He converted
many villages into ‘military colonies’, in which the serfs became soldiers but still
spent part of their time working in the fields.
• The military colonies were not a success.
Alexander’s last years
• He was aware of the growing discontent with his reign, and responded by
suppressing secret societies, tightening censorship and forbidding students to travel
abroad.
• An unstable man, his mind was always full of unrealistic illusions and unfinished
projects.
The Decembrist Revolt
• As he had no children, he was succeeded by Nicholas, the younger of his two
brothers.
• About thirty young army officers of a revolutionary organisation called the Northern
Society feared that there would be no reforms under Nicholas. They quickly
organised a military coup in favour of Constantine, through whom they hoped to
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achieve their main aims: a national parliament, the abolition of military colonies and
the abolition of serfdom.
• The Decembrists paid dearly for their failure. Hundreds were killed in the fighting,
while five of the main ringleaders were hanged and many others sent into exile in
Siberia.
Domestic Policy
• In his early years he showed some tendency towards Liberalism.
• Early in his reign he abolished the secret police, expanded the administration of
Russia.
• In 1809 Alexander reinstituted the secret police.
• In 1816 Alexander attempted to introduce a policy of military colonies [A system of
selfsustaining villages who produce was used to support the small military garrisons
(Fort) in them. Exceptionally in western provinces such as Ukraine and Poland].
• His reformation of the bureaucracy, Alexander I began the shift of power away from
the decentralized feudal system, were the nobility held name of the Tsar to a more
centralized system, with officials, appointed and paid by the Tsar, directly
responsible for the administration of the empire and the ministers.
Religion
• There were two levels to the Russian Orthodox Church. The “Black” clergy and the
white clergy, names based on the colour of their vestments.
• Black – Higher ranked bishops and above were the administrators and policy
makers of the Orthodox Church. They were financed by the government and
appointed from the upper classed.
• White – Lower ranked village priests and acted under the instructions of their
black superiors.
• Alexander began to turn away from orthodoxy and after 1815 he allowed more
freedom for mystics, sects and freemasons.
Education
• Alexander established a new primary and second education system based on western
models, in order to accommodate illiteracy.
• He created three new universities by 1825; 265 000 were attended school, 100 000 of
this in military academies.
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Roreign Policy
• From 1805 to 1812, Alexander was preoccupied with defeating Napoleon.
• In 1812 he became concerned with expanding the Russian Empire and he conquered
Finland, Bessorabia, Georgia and part of Persia.
• He became obsessed by the need to prevent a rise of a revolution in Europe.
• Furthermore the believe that god had given him a holy mission to restore order to the
nations.
Economic Policy
• Before and during the reign of Alexander I the Russia economic was based almost
entirely upon the agriculture system of serfdom.
• A revenue system largely based on a pole tax and the feudal dues of the barschina
and obrok emphasized landlord ownership of the countryside.
• The tax farming of Vodka provided most of the governments revenue.
• The Vodka farms produced varying qualities depending on the number of times it was
distilled the cheaper and ruffer it was.
• Vodka was very important part of life foe most Russians in a culture were drinking
was integral, and were vodka was the only recreational outlet for working class men
in the towns.
• In 1825 the peasant Savva Morozov brought his freedom with the proceeds of his
Moscow lace and silk factory and establish Russia’s first cotton mill, using English
equipment. This was significant for several reasons:
• It was extremely rare for serfs to be able to afford to buy their freedom to gain
the landlord’s permission to do so.
• It was the first time a peasant had been able to establish a sizeable business and
it was still operation at the time of the Russian revolutions of 1917.
• It also showed that Russia itself could not yet produce the machinery necessary to
operate a modern industrial plant. Neither Alexander I nor his successor
Nicholas I saw the benefits of a strong local industrial economy.
Revolutionary Movements
• The Napolenic wars brought many Russian soldiers into contact with French ideas of
liberalism and revolution, which they began, to support.
Historian’s opinions – Alexander I
• The backwardness of Russian industry was due to the absence of a banking system; a
lack of capital and difficulty in obtains labour.
• The most cultured and educated group and the source of reform were the higher
nobility.
• Class distinction was accentuated more in Russian than any were in Europe.
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• The Russian system of administration was feudal, the Russian economy was holly
agriculture; commercial activity and communication basic – In 1825 there was only
200 000 industrial workers and most of industry was foreran owned.
• During the Napolenic wars the Russian army became familiar with the concept that
rulers have duties to society and should only rule with the consent of the people they
govern.
• The practice of serfdom, the tying of peasant to the land arose in the 18th century
when the Russian land was so plentiful and labour was scarce – later in the time of
Alexander I there was much discontent among the peasant when this necessity no
longer existed and the nobility’s obligation to serve the state but the peasants
obligation to serve the landlords increased.
• There character of Alexander I was greatly affected by his love of military spectacle
– his inconsistencies were due to a conflict between a fear of disorder and his wish
for the improvement of Russia.
The Reign of Nicholas I (18251855):
• Born in 1796, Nicholas was nineteen years
younger than Alexander I. As the third son of
Paul I, he was not expected to become Tsar. He
received a good education as befitted his rank,
and became very interested in military science,
specialising in army engineering.
• His early diaries show him as having distinct
prejudices against Poles and Jews, and an intense
dislike of democracy.
• “I consider the entire human life to be merely
service, because everybody serves.”
• Because of his background and upbringing,
Nicholas was the classic autocrat. Organisation
of government
• Nicholas developed a new unofficial bureaucracy
of his own. As a soldier he felt comfortable with military men, and soon surrounded
himself with military advisors.
The Third Department
• The Third Department’s official responsibility was to guard the state from revolution
and subversion.
• Aided by a vast army of spies and informers, the Third Department kept an eye on
political dissidents, religious agitators and foreigners.
• Benckendorff controlled the Third Department until 1844, when he was replaced by
Prince Aleksey Orlov. These two men had continued access to the Tsar, so their
influence was very powerful.
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Serfdom
• Nicholas set up several commissions of inquiry into what might be done to help the
serfs, but these invariably reported that landowners were bitterly opposed to reform,
and that intense social disruption would result from changes to the present system.
• Nicholas did introduce some improvements: he forbade the sale of individual serfs,
or any measures which would break up families.
• Finally, in 1842, he allowed landowners to free their serfs if they wanted to.
Censorship
• Nicholas was not prepared to tolerate criticism from anyone, and established an
office of censorship to keep ‘dangerous ideas’ from contaminating the minds of the
people.
• This heavyhanded attempt to regulate the state and to stifle all criticism is
sometimes referred to as ‘the Nicholas System’.
Westerners and Slavophiles
• England and France had made economic and political progress which should be
emulated by Russia.
• Opposing the Westerners were the Slavophiles (lovers of things Slavic).
• It is interesting to note that although the Westerners and the Slavophiles differed
profoundly in their approach to most issues, they were united in advocating the
abolition of serfdom.
The Polish revolt, 1830
• Determined to stamp out liberalism wherever it surfaced in Europe, Nicholas at once
planned to send an army to Paris to crush the rebellion.
• Nicholas punished the Poles severely. By abolishing their Diet and withdrawing their
constitution, he effectively cancelled their independence and made them more subject
to his personal rule.
• He forced Poland further into the Russian orbit by giving all important government
positions to Russians, and by making Russian its official language. In addition, he
incorporated the now depleted Polish army into the Russian army. As a further blow
to Polish nationalism he closed down the universities of Warsaw and Wilno, and
made the students attend Russian universities.
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Foreign policy
• Nicholas’ attempt to intervene in the French revolution of 1830, and the subsequent
war against Poland, is a good example of his desire to suppress outbreaks of
liberalism in Europe. He was devoted to the idea of autocracy, and felt that successes
achieved by liberal governments would undermine the old order in Europe, making
his own position increasingly difficult to maintain. As a result, any national group in
Europe contemplating a revolution against an autocratic government always had to
consider the possibility of Russian intervention in their affairs.
Hungary
• A secret clause of the treaty gave the Russians a great advantage: the Sultan agreed
to close the Dardanelles to all warships at Russia’s demand.
The Straits Convention
• To conclude the matter, the powers concerned signed the Straits Convention in 1841.
This provided for the closure of both the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus to warships
of all nations in time of war. This treaty effectively cancelled the gains made by
Nicholas in the Treaty of UnkiarSkelessi.
The drift to war
• The situation deteriorated sharply in March 1853 when Nicholas suddenly claimed
that Russia should be responsible for protecting all of the Sultan's Christian
subjects, regardless of where they lived.
Rich noble, Poor noble:
• The Russian noble measured his wealth by the number of male serfs that he owned.
• The usual landlord owned less then 100 serfs.
• The sheremet evs owned tens of thousand of serfs.
• A landowner was worth 4 511 rubles in south west and 7 936 rubles in New Russia if
the landowner had 21 male serfs on his property.
Masters and serfs:
• The nobles receive their income by cash; Kind and labour of serfs.
• The sovereigns of Russia maintained that all subjects served the state, why they
existed.
• Runaway serfs and slaves, vagabonds, illegitimate, abandoned children, sons of
priests, soldiers and hanger son were able to avoid paying taxes because of their
classlessness.
• The law of 1763 was that limited freedoms of movement by making a peasant get a
permit from a landlord.
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• The decree of May 3rd 1783 was that peasants in little Russia were bound to the
landlords of who owned their land when census was made.
• Serfdom was not established in Siberia.
• Male serfs have grown in numbers but decreased as a percentage of population.
• The Hungarians were crushed, and forced to accept Austrian control once again.
Nicholas System
The brother of Alexander I, Nicholas I was an enthusiasticand competent ruler.
Terrified that the Decembrist Conspiracy might have led to disaster for him, he decided
to adopt polldes of repression to ensure that this threat would not materialise again. He
set up a system of strict censorship, the dissolution of secret revolutionary or even simply
radical organisations; close superidsion of university lecturers and students under the
regulations of 1835 and, via the University Statute of 1849, higher barriers to entry into
all areas of university life.
This Nicholas System was an attempt to shift control away from the once feudal land
owning nobility whom Nicholas identified with the aristocratic Decembrists. It resulted
in the formalisation of the central, executive power of the Tsar. This affirmation of the
autocracy, begun by Peter the Great, was abandoned in the latter half of the eighteenth
century due to the agitation of the landowners and culminated in the assassination of
Paul I and the installation of Alexander I by this caste. However, in restructuring the
bureaucracy in 1803, Alexander had begun the move back to the centralisation of power
this was completed by Nicholas. By reforming the Imperial Chancery into five sections,
each of which was responsible for a key portfolio of Russian Affairs, Nicholas clearly
identified and administered directly those areas he considered vital.
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Tsar Nicholas I
Absolute autocratic power
Committee of Ministers Imperial Chancery
Each was responsible for a portfolio such as Responsible for key portfolios in area
Foreign Affairs, Finance, Religion, State considered to be urgent tasks, each of which
Domains, Defence and Interior, but limited to was in the direct interst of the Tsar – each
an advisory function as far as policy was section was responsible directly to the Tsar.
concerned – their real function was to carry out
the Tsar’s wished and the Committee itself had
no collective power. First Section Secretariat
Responsible for administration and all
promotions to key position in the Empire
Ministerial Boards
Public service bureaus responsible for carrying Second Section Law
out ministerial directives and responsible to Responsible for the codification of all of
their ministers – staffed by Chinovniks. Russia’s laws into a single document –
Speransky.
Third Section Secret Police
Responsible for internal security, gathering
Administration of the Provinces information and intelligence about the Empire,
Under the old system, most provinces were run the identification and arrest of subversives and
by governorsgeneral, drawn from the the monitoring of all ideas in the Empire –
landowning nobility and directly responsible to headed by Benckendorff.
the Tsar. They were able to avoid the
constraints of a common Ministerial Policy on Fourth Section Education
Provincial Administration – under the new Fifth Section Serfs
system, most of the governorsgeneral were Responsible for investigating possible reforms
replaced by governors responsible to the for the conditions of the serfs – aim was to
Minister of the Interior. defuse revolutionary sentiment, not necessarily
to improve the quality of the peasants’ lives –
headed by Kiselev.
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Travelling in the Russian Empire:
In the 1870s a Scotsman, Mackenzie Wallace, visited many parts of the Russian Empire.
These passages from his book, Russia, describe different ways of travelling about the
huge land. All the places mentioned can be found in Source 2C. Notice that Wallace calls
the people of the River Don district ‘Cossacks’. They were the descendants of people who
had set up frontier settlements there two centuries before.
ABy train
The carriages are decidedly better than in England, and in winter they are kept warm by
small iron stoves, assisted by double windows and double doors a very necessary
precaution in a land where the thermometer often falls to 30 degrees below zero. The
trains never attain. It is true, a high rate of speed so at least English and Americans
think but then we must remember that Russians are rarely in a hurry, and like to have
frequent opportunities of eating and drinking… From. Moscow to St. Petersburg the
locomotive runs for a distance of 400 miles [643 kilometres] almost as the crow is
supposed to fly, turning to neither the right hand nor to the left. For twelve weary hours
the passenger in the express train looks out on forest and morass(area of marshy
ground), and rarely catches sight of human habitation.
From D. Mackenzie Wallace. Russia. Cassell & Co., 2nd edn. 1912.
BBy boat, on the river Don
The river is extremely shallow, and the sandbanks are continually shifting, so that many
times in the course of the day the steamer runs aground. Sometimes she is got off by
simply reversing the engines .... The captain always gave a number of stalwart
Cossacks(People of the Don region) a free passage on condition that they should give
him the assistance he required; and as soon as the ship stuck fast, he ordered them to
jump overboard with a stout hawser(thick rope or wire) and pull them off.
From D. Mackenzie Wallace. Russia. Cassell & Co., 2nd edn. 1912.
CTravelling by Imperial post service
One has to apply to the proper authorities for a… large sheet of paper stamped with the
Imperial Eagle, and bearing the name of the recipient, the destination and the number of
horses to be supplied.
…Armed with this document you go to the poststation and demand the requisite number
of horses. The vehicle… resembles an enormous cradle on wheels… An armful of hay
spread over the bottom of the wooden box is supposed to play the part of seats and
cushions.
From D. Mackenzie Wallace. Russia, Gassell & Co., 2nd edn. 1912.
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DCrossing a bridge
Making hurriedly the sign of the cross, he gathers up his reins, waves his little whip in
the air, and, shouting lustily, urges on his team… First there is a short descent; then the
horses plunge wildly through a zone of deep mud; next comes a fearful jolt, as the vehicle
is jerked up on to the first planks; then the tranverse planks… rattle and rumble
ominously at the… animals pick their way cautiously and gingerly among the dangerous
holes and crevices; lastly you plunge with a horrible jolt into a second mud zone.
From D. Mackenzie Wallace. Russia, Cassell & Co., 2nd edn. 1912.
Peasants’ homes:
There were 129 million people counted in the Russian census of 1897. Most of them were
poor peasants living in tiny wooden homes which straggled along both sides of a muddy
or dusty village street. The peasants famed strips of land in the fields around. This is an
Englishman’s description of the inside of a peasant family’s home, published in 1913. It
refers to the ‘black earth’ district around the upper Volga which was the most fertile part
of the flat grasslands known as the steppes.
AA peasant family's home
Wooden benches stand along the walls, also a construction of planks on which the
inmates make their beds. In some districts there is a bedstead used by the peasant and his
wife. At the entrance there are black pictures of saints whose features are no longer
recognizable, ancient heirlooms held in high honour; even in very poor houses a little
lamp is kept burning night and day before them. The table utensils are kept in a
cupboard, which finishes the furniture of the rom, for the Russian peasant knows no
chairs. When he comes home in the winter stiff and covered with snow, he takes off his
shoes and stretches himself out by the stove ....

A small hut about twelve feet [3.6 metres] square with a door through which a medium
sized man can only go by stooping the floor made of earth, the ceiling so low that a tall
man cannot stand upright, tiny windows letting in but little light with much draught and
cold the whole building made of thin wood, insufficiently plugged with oakum(strands
of rope, usually waxed or tarred, which were used to plug cracks). That is the usual
peasant’s home in Russia! and these poor peasants constitute ninetenths of the
population.
The stove takes up a quarter of the room, that is, the particular Russian stove. It heats the
room and cooks the food, it bakes the bread and boils the dirty clothes, and all the
members of the family bathe in it in turns, and the old people sleep on it. It is the
universal stove which only a people under snow six months out of every year could have
invented. And what do they not use to heat it wood, straw, dung…

It is torture to go into a peasant’s hut when the stove is being lit. The room is full of
smoke, no one can breathe, it is suffocating; the smoke stings the eyes, that is why there
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are so many blind people in Russia. The real Russian stove has no chimney. The smoke
fills the room and tries to escape through the roof, through the thatch, or the holes in the
walls and when the peasant can stand the accumulated smoke no longer, through the
open door…
The entire family live in this room, day and night. The old man mends his shoes and the
women work the spinningwheel; the girls and young children sit here; the babe cries in
his cradle; a calf, a lamb, a suckingpig huddle together round the stove here they are
warm, and if left in the outhouses would freeze to death. They sleep on the benches and
on the floor all together, men, women, old men, children, and cattle.
From D. S. Rappoport, Home Lift in Russia, Methuen, 1913.
4A famine, 1892:
There was hardly any year when the crops did not fail in some part of the Empire. If the
grain was destroyed by disease or bad weather the result was a dreadful famine the
following winter. These accounts were written by a Russian lady who led a relief party
which took food to villages in the Volga river area, which were suffering famine in 1892.
AHunger in the villages
It was a tragedy to see splendid men in the prime of their life walking about with stony
faces and hollow eyes. And then there were women clothed only in wretched rags, and
little children shivering in the cold wind. They would crowd around the relief parties,
which drove about in sledges, holding out their hands saying:
We have sold our last horses, cows and sheep, we have pawned all our winter clothing:
we have nothing left to sell. We eat but once a day, stewed cabbage and stewed pumpkins
and many of us have not eaten that.
This was true. There were many among them who had not tasted food for days. It was
agonising to hear these poor people pleading to us for mercy lest they die of starvation.
As they spoke in dull voices, tears would spring up out of the eyes of strong men and
course slowly down their cheeks into their rough beards; but there was no complaint, no
cries, just the slow monotonous chant, broken by the sobs of worn out mothers and the
cries of hungry children.
The thermometer stood at 36°F. below freezing point, yet the air was so calm that the
cold was scarcely noticeable.
From O. Novikoff. Russian Meraories. H.Jenkins Ltd. 1916.
Luke Cole Page 19
BA family’s suffering
Paul Axenoff is the head of a family of nine, two old people, Axenoff and his wife, and
five children… The house and cow have been sold and the outhouses pulled down and
used for fuel. Straw is usually employed in Russia for heating, but this year there is none,
so the peasants are glad to find anything to burn… In this hut I discovered a fresh article
of food a soup made of hot water and weeds. They didn't eat it for the good it might do
them, but simply for the sake of having something hot. At another hut in this village I
found a similar concoction made with boiling water and choppedup hay.
From O. Novikoff. Russian Meraories. H.Jenkins Ltd. 1916.
Time Line:
1826 War against Persia
Acquisition of Kazakhstan and Turkistan
1827 Administrative system of the Imperial Chancery, consolidated into the Five
Sections
1830 War against Poland
Russian expansion into the Caucasus
1833 Muchengratz Convention
1835 Education regulations introduced placing educational curators directly under the
control of the Minister of Education
1836 Publication of Chaadayev’s ‘Philosophical Letter’, thus beginning the
Westernisation debate
1849 University Statute
Hungarian campaign
Trial of Petrashevsky Circle
1851 First Russian public train line (Moscow St. Petersburg)
1853 Crimean War begins
1855 Death of Nicholas I
Accession of Alexander II
1856 Crimean War ends in Russian defeat
1859 Vodka riots
1861 Emancipation Edict
Secret police
• Over 150000 of the critics of the Nicholas System were sent to Siberia.
Limited Reform
• Nicholas I was not completely blind to the need for reform.
• His desire for a centralised imperial system led to the reform of the administration
and the establishment of the five sections.
Luke Cole Page 20
Treatment of Serfs
• He forbade the sale of serfs by their masters to settle private debts, or sales which
broke up families. He allowed serfs whose masters went bankrupt to but their
freedom.
Primary Extracts the Serfs before Emancipation:
“The appearance of several villages surprised me; they displayed signs of wealth, and
even a sort of rustic elegance, which was very pleasing. The neat wooden houses form
the line of a single street. They are painted, and their roofs are loaded with ornaments...
[but] on examining them more closely, these habitations are discovered to be ill built... It
was the first time I had seen the peasants in their own houses. [He enters an inn.] An
immense wooden shed, plank walls on three sides, plank flooring and plank ceiling,
formed the hall of entrance, and occupied a greater part of the rustic dwelling.
Notwithstanding the flee currents of air, I found it redolent of that odour of onions,
cabbages, and old greasy leather, which Russian villages and Russian villagers
invariably exhale.. A low and confined room adjoined this immense shed; it reminded me
of the cabin of some riverboat; walls, ceiling, floor, seats, and tables, were all of wood
rudely hewn. The smell of cabbage and pitch was extremely powerful. In this retreat,
almost deprived of air and light for the doors were low, and the windows extremely
small, I found an old woman busily serving tea to four or five bearded peasants, clothed
in pelissers of sheepskin. the wool of which is turned inwards…There is ignorance and
misery among the people… All [the women] I have hitherto seen have appeared to me
repulsive…Here as in Petersburg, they are broad and short in figure…which spreads
freely under the petticoat. It is hideous! Add to this voluntary deformity, large men's
boots and a species of riding coat… falling indeed literally in rags.
De Custine, French Writer, comments on the condition of the serfs in the 1830s – 1843
The population varies probably as much as the appearance of the village. It consists
usually of serfs (panskiye liudi) of free peasants (kasakki), of priests, and of nobles. The
free peasants and the serfs always keep carefully aloof from each other, usually occupy
the opposite portions of a village. rarely intermarry, and differ from each other both in
manner and appearance. The panskiye liudi pride themselves on the power and wealth of
their lords the kasakki on their own independence. Among the latter will generally be
found not only the wealthlest inhabitants of the village, but likewise all the beggars. This
is natural enough. If a free peasant be a drunkard, as most of them are, he is likely to
sink into abject poverty; and having no lord on whose bounty he can fall back, his only
reliance must be on the alms of the benevolent; if, on the other hand, he be a careful,
industrious man, he will be likely to accumulate property,, without being liable to the
extortions of a lord.
Villages in the Ukraine according to kohl English writer – 1842
lkjf
The peasants belonging to the nobles have their abrock [obrok] regulated by their means
of getting money; at an average throughout the empire of eight or ten roubles… Each
Luke Cole Page 21
male peasant is obliged by law, to labour three days in each week for his proprietor. The
law takes effect on his arriving at the age of fifteen. If the proprietor chooses to employ
him the other days, he may; as, for example, in a manufactory; but then finds him in food
and clothing. Mutual advantage, however, generally relaxes this law; and, excepting
such as are selected for domestick servants; or, as above, are employed in manufactures,
the slave [sic] pays a certain abrock, or rent, to be allowed to work all week on his own
account. The master is bound to furnish him with a house and a certain portion of land.
The allotment of land is generally settled by the starosta {eider of the village) and a
meeting of the peasants themselves. In the same manner, when a master wants an
increase of rent, he sends to the starosta, who convenes the peasants; and by that
assembly it is decided what proportion each must pay. If a slave exercises any trade
which brings him in more money than agricultural labour, he pays a higher abrock.
Serfdom in the early Nineteenth Century according to Heber, English Writer
The Russian communes evince an organic coherence and compact social strength that
can be found nowhere else and yield the incalculable advantage that no proletariat can
be formed so long as they exist with their present structure. A man may lose or squander
all he possesses, but his children do not inherit his poverty. They still retain their claim
upon the land, by a right derived, not from him, but from their birth as members of the
commune. On the other hand, it must be admitted that this fundamental basis of the
communal system, the equal division of the land is not favorable to the progress of
agriculture, which… under this system could for a long time remain at a low level.
Haxthausen on the Russian commune – 1840
Foreign policy
• Nicholas I’s foreign policy was guided by the two goals of expanding the territory of
the Empire and crushing foreign liberalism.
• The Polish revolt of 18301 was crushed and further Russian control was established
by denying the Poles the liberal reforms Alexander I had promised fifteen years
earlier.
Luke Cole Page 22
Map showing imperial acquisitions under Alexander I and Nicholas I
1801 – 1855:
Intellectuals and the Superfluous Men
• Some intellectuals were the sons of merchants from the small middle class, but most
were younger nobles who had travelled abroad during the reign of Nicholas’s
brother, adopted liberal views, and returned to Russia either to teach or to study at
the universities.
• The intellectuals attempted to discuss and spread some liberal ideas borrowed from
Western European liberals.
• Early Russian liberals were largely ineffective due to the strict control of the
Nicholas System, under which critics could be imprisoned, banned, exiled, declared
insane or executed.
• The liberal intellectuals of the 1830s and 1840s wanted to improve the system in a
different way from the govemment’s policies.
• They began to write of their experiences and the suffering of the peasants, but were
not able to infiltrate the corridors of power.
Intellectteal Debate PanSlavism and Westernisation
• PanSlavism was a popular movement which wished to create a separate 'Slav'
culture under Russian leadership, which celebrated the Russian feudal system and
which was flee of any of the influences of Western culture.
• As it was supported by Nicholas I and the bureaucracy, it became the philosophy that
guided Russian foreign policy.
• Westernisation, the second major cultural movement of nineteenth century Russia,
aimed to introduce Western culture, ideals and reform to Russia.
Luke Cole Page 23
• They believed that the technical and industrial strength of the West was too great to
be ignored so limited concessions should be made by the Tsar to match these
strengths.
• Their proposals included economic modemisation and industrialisation, freeing the
serfs, and the granting of limited political reform towards a more liberal government.
MV ButashevichPetrashevsky: A junior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Petrashevsky was deeply influenced by the pre Marxian Socialists. He believed strongly
that peasant revolt was the only way for the people to overcome the military superiority
of the Tsarist autocracy. From 1845 to 1849, he conducted discussion sessions for
Similar intellectuals, poets and writers (including Dostoievsky) in which they condemned
the autocracy, serfdom and military discipline and supported the establishment of free
speech, equality before the law and a democratic republic. This Petrashevsky circle
never progressed beyond informal Friday evening soirees, but over 100 were arrested by
the Third Section in 1849 and put on public trial. Some were sentenced to hard labour
and 15 were sentenced to death although their sentences were commuted to exile to
Siberia by Nicholas at the last moment an action which only served to bring grater
public attention to their plight.
PA Chaadayev (17931856): Although from a military and aristocratic background, he
favoured the liberal social circles in Moscow and St Petersburg. His First Philosophical
Letter, written in 1829 and published in 1836, in which he condemned Russia as being
sterile due to its dissociation with the West and with Catholicism, provoked the whole
Westernisation debate. He believed in flee thought, rationalism, science and personal
liberty. The government’s response to his letter was to declare him insane.
AS Khomyakov (18041860): A nobleborn writer and poet who travelled widely outside
Russia in his youth, Khomayakov was an ardent supporter of a society based on the
traditional Russian values of the land, the village community and piety.
Primary Extracts the Intelligentsia and the Superfluous Men
before Emancipation:
I shall, retire, marry and go off to my village in the Saratov district. The profession of a
landowner is not unlike chat of the Service. To be concerned with the management of
three thousand souls, whose wellbeing depends entirely upon us, is mort important than
commanding a platoon or transcribing a diplomatic dispatch…The state of neglect in
which we leave our peasants is unforgivable. The more rights we have over them, the
greater must be our responsibility towards them. We leave them to the mere’ of a
dishonest steward, who oppresses them and robs us. We mortgage our future incomes
and ruin ourselves, and old age catches us worrying and in want.
This is the cause of the swift decline of our nobility: the grandfather was rich, the son is
needy, the grandson will go begging. Ancient families fall into decay; new ones arise and
Luke Cole Page 24
in the third generation go again. Fortunes are merged, and not one family knows who its
forebears were. To what will such political materialism lead?
I do not know. But it is time to put a stop to it.
I was never able to see without regret the decline of our historic families; no one among
us, beginning with those who belong to them, thinks much of them… But our Fatherland
has forgotten even the real names of its saviours. The past does not exist for us. A
miserable people…
A gentry stemming from meritorious bureaucracy cannot replace an hereditary
aristocracy, whose family traditions ought to be part of our national heritage. Bur what
sort of family traditions would one get from the children of a collegiate associate?
Pushkin, Russian novelist, in a novel in letters on the plight of the superfluous men – 1829
A conversation between the hero Pechorin and an old acquaintance, Maxim:
‘Delighted to see you, dear Maxim Maximych,’ said Pechorin. ‘How are you?’
‘And what about you?’ the old man mumbled, with tears in his eyes, put out by
Pechorin’s formal tone. ‘It’s been a long time... Where are you heading now?’
‘Persia. Then on from there.’
‘But you're not going this minute, are you? My dear fellow, you must stay on for a bit.
We can't part Straight away after not seeing each other all this time.’
‘I must be going, Maxim Maximych,’ replied Pechorin.
‘But merciful heavens, man, what’s all the rush? I’ve got so many things to tell you. And
a lot of things to ask as well. How is it then? Left the army have you? What have you
been doing?’
Pechorin smiled. ‘Being bored,’ he said.
[Pechorin comments at the end of a failed romantic adventure:]
‘And anyway, the joys and tribulations of mankind are of no concern to me, an itinerant
officer with a travel warrant in my pocket.’
[Pechorin comments on a conversation with a friend:]
‘Is it my sole function in life, I thought, to be the ruin of other people’s hopes?
Through all my active life fate always seems to have brought me in for the denouement of
other people’s dramas. As if nobody could die or despair without my help. I’ve been the
indispensable figure of the fifth act, thrust into the pitiful role of executioner or betrayer.
What was fate’s purpose? Perhaps I was meant to be a writer of domestic tragedies or
novels of family life, or a purveyor of stories, perhaps for the Reader’s Library? Many
people start life expecting to end up as Alexander the Great or Lord Byron, then spend
their whole lives as minor civil servants.’
Some extracts from Mikhail Lermentov’s a hero of our times 1834
Confined in our schism, nothing of what was happening in Europe reached us. We stood
apart from the world's great ventures... while the world was building anew, we created
nothing: we remained crouched in our hovels of log and thatch. In a word, we had no
part in the destinies of mankind. We were Christians but the fruits of Christianity were
not for us.
Luke Cole Page 25
Herzen, Russian writer and exwesterniser, on the benefits of the Russian village system – 1850s
What a blessing it is for Russia that the rural commune has never been broken up, that
private ownership has never replaced the property. of the commune: how fortunate it is
for the Russian people that they have remained outside all political movements, and, for
that matter, outside European civilisation.
One of the Petrashevsky circle comments on its aims 1847
A life of wealth and bliss, to cover this beggar's earth with palaces and fruits and to
adorn it with fruitsthis is our aim. Here in our country we will begin this revolution,
and the whole world will bring it to fulfilment. Soon the whole of mankind will be freed
from unbearable suffering.
Economic Policy
• Before the 1870s Russia was still predominantly a primitive agricultural society.
• There was no public railway system at all before the 1850s.
• Nicholas I discouraged economic growth and development because he was afraid
that rapid industrialisation would create instability and a desire/or reform that would
endanger his authority and position.
• Because Nicholas’s economic policy provided no encouragement for the growth of a
middle class, there was no large middle class to apply pressure to the regime for
industrialisation.
• With these two sources for increased prices for the drinker, costs for this most
Russian of products began to rise to the level where the lower classes could not
afford to consume the quantities they desired.
Weak Middle Class
• There was no prospect of change, so the liberal parliamentary ideas so popular in
the rest of Europe in the 1840s had no appeal to the small middle class because they
seemed unachieveable.
EF Kankrin (17741845): A German soldier who had acted capably as Quartermaster
General during the War of 1812, he was Minister of Finance for 21 years and served
under both Alexander I and Nicholas I. He was an efficient administrator who was an
extremely conservative and ‘at times’ unimaginative director of state finance.
Orthodox Church
• The Russian Orthodox Church was still the major pillar of the Tsarist system.
Luke Cole Page 26
The Succession of Alexander II
• Nicholas I died in 1854 and left his successor, Alexander II, with many problems.
Many Russians, including members of the aristocracy, now realised that Russia’s
only hopes for military survival lay with modernisation.
War in the Crimea
• Russia lacked the industrial capacity to supply a modern army, the communications
to transport men and products to the front line and Russian generals were more
concerned with tee appearance of the soldiers on the parade ground than with their
training for the battleground.
A challenge from Europe
Thirty years after Napoleon died on St Helena, his nephew Louis Napoleon became
Emperor of France. Louis Napoleon knew that if France were to have any chance of
regaining her lost glory she would have to destroy Russia's preeminence in Europe. He
needed to provoke a European warthis is why he intervened in a dispute involving the
Holy Places of Jerusalem part of the Turkish Empire.
The Holy Places, 185153
Throughout 1851 there had been a series of quarrels between the Catholic and Greek
Orthodox monks who tended the Holy Places. Louis Napoleon managed to persuade the
Sultan to favour the Catholics. Tsar Nicholassuitably provoked demanded that the
Sultan should grant to Russia the right of protecting all Christians living within the
Turkish Empire. The Sultan refused and Russian troops promptly moved into Moldavia
and Wallachia. British and French warships appeared in the Bosphorus and the Sultan
illadvisedly declared war on Russia in October 1853.
The Battle of Sinope, November 1853
Admiral Nachimoff’s Black Sea fleet immediately sailed south to attack the Turkish naval
base at Sinope. Many of the Russian warships mounted French manufactured guns which
fired highvelocity incendiary shells. These soon reduced the Turkish warships into a row
of blazing wrecks. News of this victory emotively labelled the ‘Massacre of Sinope’
arouscd Russophobia in London and Paris. It was partly this, together with Russia’s
refusal to evacuate Moldavia and Wallachia, that persuaded Britain to join with France
in a war to weaken Russian power in Europe. Yet this was easier said than done.
War in the Crimea
Allied fleets tested tile Russian coastline for its weak spots. They cruised off Kronstadt,
attacked the fortress of Bomarsund, bombarded Sveaborg and raided the Finnish coast.
They tried to force tile garrison at petropavlosk to surrender and sent help to resistance
Luke Cole Page 27
fighters in the Caucasus. Only in tile Crimea did the Allies seem to have any chance of
victory. So it was that on 14 September 1854 AngloFrench forces landed on the Russian
coast in an effort to capture Sevastopol. They defeated General Menshikoff at the Battle
of Alma in September and slowly outflanked the huge base. Meanwhile, the Allied fleets
approached the Russian warships anchored in Sevastopol Roads. Menshikoff ordered
ViceAdmiral Korniloff to unship the guns from half the fleet and then scuttle tile hulks at
tile harbour entrance. The rest of the ships would join the reinforced coastal batteries in
firing incendiary shells at the approaching enemy. The plan worked. Before long
several British ‘woodenwalls’ were ablaze. This experience convinced the Allies that
they would have to lay on a fullscale infantry assault if they were going to capture
Sevastopol. Surprisingly, it was the Russians who took the offensive by advancing on the
British at Balaclava. A charge by the Heavy Brigade forced tile Russians
back; then confusion among British senior officers led to the heroic but futile Charge of
the Light Brigade (25 October 1854) a twentyminute epic which 195 troopers out of
600 managed to survive. Ten days later the Russians attacked at lnkerman Heights and
suffered a major defeat. After this, the war degenerated into a bitter siege of Sevastopol
in which both sides suffered appalling losses from disease. In June 1855 the Allies began
a threemonth campaign to capture the massive forts called the Redan and Malakoff;
when they had achieved this the Russians abandoned Sevastopol and melted away. They
never surrendered.
The Treaty of Paris, 1856
Now the Allies faced the problem of translating this hollow victory into a meaningful
peace treaty. The Russians had suffered some heavy defeats and could not any longer
consider themselves the dominant power in Europe. But it was difficult to acknowledge
these facts in the clauses of a peace treaty. Finally, the Russians promised to ‘neutralize’
the Black Sea. They would not rebuild Sevastopol or construct another Black Sea fleet
Moreover, they accepted the existence of a new nation on their frontier: the two
principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia became Romania. The fighting wits over; the
treaty was signed. But tile effects of the war were now to be felt inside Russia.
Reform and Repression:
By 1861 Russia was in dire need of reform a problem that had be recognised by the first
few years of the 1860’s he introduced a wide range of political, social and economical
changes. The most important of which was the emancipation of the serfs. However,
attempt on his life caused him to turn away from the course of progress; he spent the rest
of his day in fear of his life still considering but never implementing, constitutional
change.
In 1881 he was disintegrated by an assassin’s bomb, his son Alexander III reacted with
extreme caution and was determined to return Russia to the days of complete autocracy,
especially through the policy of Russification.
The reforms changed the nature of Russia imparticular they paved the way for the
introduction of more modern industry.
Luke Cole Page 28
Lessons from the Crimea
• Lack of an efficient railway system to keep them supplied with reinforcements,
weapons and food.
• Alexander realised that to compete with his western enemies he needed to modernise
the army.
• Alexander began to explore the means of abolishing serfdom.
The reaction of the nobles
• Despite the Tsar’s words, the majority of nobles remained opposed to any reform of
the system that had served them so well.
Historic Development – Preparations for Reform:
In 1858, Alexander II stated his aims for reform:
Stage 1 – The peasants must immediately feel that his life has improved.
Stage 2 – The estate owner must immediately be reassured that his interects are
protected.
Stage 3 – The government must never wanner for a moment at any point in ensuring
against any disturbance of law and order.
• In 1858, provincial assemblies of nobles were called together to advise the tsar on
reform.
Historic developments – Detail of reform:
Stage 1 – Between 1861 and 1863, 23 million private serfs were frees. There was no
change in economic status as the land lords still owned all of the land except for the
peasants houses and usad’ba (garden vegetable patched a feudal dues remained).
Stage 2 – From 1863 exserfs became temporally obligated. This meant that feudal
punishment and the justice system were handed over to communal courts. The
government set the price raged and quantities of land to be bought, with the landlords to
buy from the nobles. The financial arrangements for this were usually that the peasants
bought the right to farmland with a 49year mortgage, the government used these
payments to pay levies as compensation to the nobles. Household and domestic serfs
were freed with no rights to the land.
Stage 3 – Exserfs now had ruffly the same legal status as state peasants.
Zemstva (Zemstvo in the singular)
Zemstva were district and provincial elected local government assemblies and
represented the first form of popular involvement in the government in Russia. All classes
of men could vote but upper class members dominated the assemblies. The Zemstva had
very limited powers over public health, public education and prisons and they had small
budgets funded by local rates.
Luke Cole Page 29
Historical Developments – Immediate effects of reform:
As a result of the reforms, the nobility lost their traditional advantages of a free labour
force, feudal dues, their traditional justice and police powers and some social status.
They also lost input into local government to the Zemstva. These losses reflected the fact
that the landed nobility was becoming less important to the autocracy. Poorer nobles
could not afford to pay for labour and thus had to accept an even lower standard of
living.
The peasants were not immediately pleased with the reforms. There were many riots from
1861 to 1863 until the exserfs were able to secure their land rights. There was
considerable resentment that they had to pay for land which they distribution was not
really fair – on average most received 4%, less land than they rented before.
Emancipation brought no economic freedom for the serfs. From 1870 on wards, there
was a population shift towards towns when peasant families found that they could not
succeed at running their own land, due to primitive techniques.
The Edict of Emancipation:
• The edict to abolish serfdom was proclaimed in March 1861.
• In practical terms, this meant peasants could own land, marry whoever they wished,
and be able to sue (and be sued) in court.
• The edict was determined to be fair to both nobles and peasants and tried to protect
both classes’ separate interests.
• The farming land still belonged to the nobles, but the peasants were now allowed to
buy a percentage of that land for themselves.
• For his role in bringing about this, one of the most important reforms in Russian
history,
• Alexander was named ‘the Liberator’.
Emancipation in practice
• Most historians now agree that the peasants paid too much for their land, especially
in the north, thereby committing themselves to a heavy financial burden for the rest
of their lives.
• There were some 1200 instances of violence by peasants during the first year of
emancipation, and the police and the army had to be called in to put down the
disorders.
Luke Cole Page 30
Local government
• In 1864 a new law was enacted to create district and provincial councils called
zemstva (singular zemstvos) .
• Although all classes were supposed to have equal representation on the zemstva, they
were in fact dominated by nobles and wealthy men from the towns.
• Despite these limitations, the zemstva helped to make the people more aware of self
government, and were a useful training ground for future politicians.
Legal reform
• A new legal system was introduced in 1864, based on British and French models.
• All these advances indicated equality of people before the law, regardless of their
social class, and were clearly a step in the right direction.
Other reforms
• There was the creation of a Ministry of Finance, and the establishment of a State
Bank in 1862.
• In 1863 the government moved into education, creating a new system of secondary
schooling and giving the universities a greater measure of self government.
Economic depression
• Despite the abolition of serfdom and the other reforms, the average peasant did not
benefit greatly from the Edict of 1861.
The Polish revolt, 1863
• Since his accession he had followed a policy of reconciliation with the Poles.
• As examples of his good will he had reopened Warsaw University and reinstated
Polish as the official language, but this was not enough.
• During the rebellion Alexander decreed the emancipation of the Polish serfs, under
much better conditions than he gave his own people.
Return to repression
• He had lifted restrictions on foreign travel and abolished some barbarous medieval
punishments.
• He changed his attitude to leadership. He began to turn from reform to repression,
reimposing much of his father’s ‘Nicholas System’. He stepped up the activities of the
secret police, increased censorship and limited the autonomy of the universities.
Luke Cole Page 31
Revolutionary writers
• They argued that true equality could never exist while a few nobles owned half the
nation’s land and millions of peasants tried to survive on the rest.
• They proposed that there should be no private ownership of land, and all land should
be held by the state, in common ownership for all citizens. The profit from that land
would then be shared by all, and the unequal distribution of the nation's wealth
would then cease. Acknowledging that the rich would never give up their privileges
willingly, these writers maintained that revolution was the only way to change the
system.
The Narodniks
• They believed that the people were ready for revolution, but that no such revolution
would happen while the masses were leaderless. It was therefore their duty to go
among the people, to educate them politically and so indirectly inspire a rebellion.
Zemlya i Volya (Land and Freedom)
• This was Russia’s first revolutionary party, dedicated to the idea that the peasants
would be the source of social revolution.
• Its most famous victim was Alexander II himself, killed in an explosion in 1881.
The Treaty of San Stefano
• The most important clause concerned Bulgaria, which was given so large an increase
in territory that it stretched from the Black Seato the Aegean. This ‘Big Bulgaria’
was to be ‘advised’ by Russia, making it in effect a Russian puppetstate.
The Congress of Berlin, 1878
• This congress was something of a defeat for Russia. Although the previous
agreements about Serbia, Montenegro and Romania were confirmed, ‘Big Bulgaria’
was cut into three parts. One became the new and reduced state of Bulgaria, the
second became a semiindependent state called Eastern Roumelia and the third part
was returned to Turkey.
Primary Extracts the Peasants after Emancipation:
The present money dues and taxes are often more burdensome than the labor dues in the
old times. If the serfs had a great many illdefined obligations to fulfil… they had on the
other hand a good many illdefined privileges… All this has now come to an end. Their
burdens and their privileges have been swept away together, and have been replaced by
clearly defined, unbending, unrealistic legal relations. They now have to pay the marker
price for every stick of firewood they burn, for every log they require for repairing their
houses, and for every rood of land on which they graze their cattle. Nothing now is to be
had gratis…
Luke Cole Page 32
The spinning, weaving, and other home industries have been killed by the big factories,
and the flax and wool have to be sold to raise a little ready money for the numerous new
items of expenditure. Everything has to be bought clothes, firewood, petroleum,
improved agricultural implements, and many other articles which are now regarded as
necessities of life.
Mackenzie Wallace scottish writer, on the conditions of the peasantry 1878
Emancipation has utterly failed to realize the ardent expectations of its advocates and
promoters. The great benefit of the measure was purely moral. It has failed to improve
the material conditions of the former serfs, who are on the whole worse off than they
were before emancipation. The bulk of the peasantry is in a condition not far removed
from starvation… The frightful and continually increasing misery of the toiling millions
of our country is the most terrible indictment against the Russian Government, and is the
paramount cause and justification for the rebellion against it…
The universal expectation, as proved by the universal disappointment, was that freed
peasants would have all the land that they had previously tilled… The freed peasants
were endowed with small parcels of land, carved out of the estates of their masters, who
retained, however, the greater part of their properties… The land was so parsimoniously
apportioned that the enfranchised peasants were utterly unable to provide themselves
with the first necessities of life. With few exceptions, the bulk of the peasantry, are
compelled to look to wage labour, mainly agricultural, on their former masters’ estates,
as an essential, and often the chief source, of their livelihood.
Kravchinsky, Russian writer, on the failure of emancipation 1894
The mir means a commonality, of interest among the inhabitants. The Russian peasant
family has a head; the heads of the families form the mir…
The arable land, part of which [the peasant] must work, is nor his actually; it belongs to
the mir. The arable land is divided into three parts to suit the triennial rotation 6f crops,
so that that which is used for winter grain this year is used for summer grain the next,
and the third year lies fallow. Each family possesses in each of the two fields under
cultivation so many strips, according to the richness of the toil and the working capacity
of the Family. Thus the fields are divided up into innumerable long narrow strips
parallel with one another, and these difficult proportional distributions are done by the
peasants themselves with measuringsticksEach family must work according to the rules
of the mir. Ploughing, reaping, sowing, harrowing work of any sort must be done at
the time ordained by the mir, neither before nor after. Every family is responsible for
every member of chat family. If there is a drunkard and ne'erdowell in the family, the
onus of the nonfulfilment of his duties fails on the family. Similarly, if a family is lazily
inclined, that family has a very bad dine of it, for if it does not do its share of the mir
work, till its share of the mir land, and pay its share of the mir taxes, which the mir must
pay to the government, then the mir, ie the village as a whole, is held responsible by the
government.
Luke Cole Page 33
A peasant may not leave his village for other regions without having obtained leave from
the mir, and, having gone, he is required to pay his taxes when away, and may be
recalled at the will of the mir.
Kennard, British writer, comments on the role of the mir at the end of the nineteenth century 1907
From reports reaching the ministry of the interior it is seen that in certain provinces,
predominantly southern and southeastern, there has recently emerged a series of
peasant disorders in the form of systematic damage to the landowners’ fields and
meadows, together with the driving away of cattle under the protection of men armed
with sticks, staves and pitchforks, and attacks on the landowners’ watchmen and guards
or considerable illegal timbercutting in the landowners’ woods, and brawls with
foresters. When the guards seize the peasants' cattle, the peasants, hoping to free it, often
by moving whole villages, carry out armed attacks on the buildings and farmhouses of
the landowners and divide up the working and even the living quarters, attacking and
wounding servants and guards. A ministry of the interior circular on peasant unrest
1898
The effects of emancipation:
The introduction of the zemstva meant that liberal professionals employed as experts had
more contact with peasants and saw their miserable conditions, especially after 1878 as
the zemstva spread to more provinces. However, the reforms of Alexander II were not
motivated by sentiment or nationalism, but were designed to strengthen the autocracy.
The two sectors of society who retained the gereatest power after the reforms and who
gained the most overall, were the monarchy and the rapidly expanding bureaucracy. The
reform and liberalization of education in the 1860’s encouraged free thinking and a
desire for even more radical level of reform wide currents of popular feeling emerged in
the 1870’s with the capitalists and rich peasants opposing revolution but also denying
support to the autocracy. The poorer peasants loved the Tsar but hated his government.
Unlike other reforms, those relations to the army had a great deal of success. The
introduction of a literacy campaign in the army led to a rate of education five times
greater than that of the general population.
Repression under Alexander II – The growth of the radical and
revolutionary movements:
In 1866, following his attempted assassination by Polish rebels, Alexander II turned
away from reform. Russian language, religion and culture were force upon nonRussian
provinces. Despite his reputation as the ‘Tsar liberator’, Alexander II confirmed his
belief in autocracy. Over a ¼ million prisoners were exiled to Siberia between 1855 and
1875. As a result, movements developed which helped to feed and sustain revolutionary
ideas. The increasingly intense debate between the westerners and slavophiles
questioned whether Russia should follow the path of western industrialization or build a
uniquely Russian society. The philosophies which dominated the political opposition of
the monarchy from the 1860s were:
Luke Cole Page 34
• Narodnism (Populism)
• Nihilism, Helland Anarchism
• Marxism
During the 1870s, revolutionaries called populists (narodniks) actively began to work for
socialism among the peasantry. Their philosophy came from western ideas. Narodniks
wanted to take advantage of the unhappiness the peasants felt. Populism argued that the
state should consist of free peasant communities and the village commune or mir would
provide the basis for economic progress.
Nihilism – A Radical Group
Nihilism rejected authority and relied on the notion of reason and the principles of
natured scientists. It believes in Nihilism – nature was only there to be dominated and art
was worthless.
Marxism in Russia
By the 1880s, with the apparent failure of the movements for change, more intellectuals
in Russia began turning to the Marxist view of society. It came to dominate political
debate among revolutionary groups.
The Assassination of Alexander II
On March 1, 1881, the Tsar was bombed in his carriage while returing from a military
parade. According to some historians, Alexander II did more to improve the lives and
conditions of the Russian people than any other single person in their history.
Far from encouraging revolt, the assassination shocked and appalled the nation.
Alexander III hunted the men and reversed many of his father’s reforms.
The Reign of Alexander III:
Alexander III’s beliefs and values
Alexander III was determined to wage war against all political opponents. He believed
that antocracy was the only possible basis of government for Russia and that Alexander
II’s reforms were ‘criminal acts’.
Domestic policy – Education, Rural controls and local government
Alexander III introduced a reform so that secondary and higher education were to be
only for the elite. Consequently, the number of high school enrolments fell. By 1904, only
27% of schoolage children were being educated. He also reduced the powers of the
Zemstva in favour of increased control to the nobles in local affairs.
Luke Cole Page 35
Repression
• One of Alexander’s first actions was to organise a new and more efficient secret
police, called the Department for Defence of Public Security and Order and known in
Russia as the Okhrana.
• Alexander increased government powers.
• These powers meant that the government could close schools, shut down newspapers
and exile people suspected of opposing the regime.
Persecution of the minorities
• Alexander saw the ideal nation as one with a single language and religion, and one
form of administration.
• He decreed in 1885 that Russian should be the official language, and the following
year he placed all schools under the Russian education system.
• The Ukrainians had been associated with Russia for centuries, but even they were not
free from Russian interference with their culture. It was Alexander II who, towards
the end of his reign, became alarmed at the growing strength of Ukrainian
nationalism. He banned the use of the Ukrainian language in favour of Russian, and
in the process provoked many Ukrainians to migrate to Austrian Galicia. Alexander
III pursued this same policy with increased vigour.
Persecution of the Jews
• The severest measures were taken against Jews.
The Orthodox Church
• Every village had a church and regular attendance at services was considered the
right thing to do.
• The Church’s great weakness was its close association with the repressive regime of
the Tsars, and the teaching that it was sinful to oppose the monarchy.
Social critics
Tolstoy
• His main themes were the waste and futility of war, excessive interference by
governments in people’s affairs and the artificiality of much of human life.
Death of Alexander III
• He was the last Tsar to exercise the full powers of autocracy to the end of his natural
life. His son, Nicholas II, was to be Russia’s last Tsar.
Luke Cole Page 36
Summary of main events:
Alexander II Reforms
1858 Nobles invited to submit plans to abolish serfdom
1861 Proclamation of the Emancipation Edict
1862 Ministry of Finance and State Bank organised
1863 Education reforms instituted
1864 District and provincial councils (zemstva) formed
Reform of legal system
1874 Army reforms introduced
Opposition to Alexander
1863 The Polish revolt
1873 Narodniks staff their activities
1876 Formation of Land and Freedom
1879 Formation of People's Will and Black Repartition
Alexander II’s foreign policy
1860 Treaty of Peking gives Russia gains in Manchuria
18651876 Russian advances into lands beyond Caspian Sea
1867 Russia sells Alaska to United States
1877 War between Russia and Turkey
1878 Treaty of San Stefano
Congress of Berlin
1881 Alexander assassinated
Alexander III
1881 Formation of the Okhrana
1882 Nobles given more say in zemstva
1883 George Plekhanov forms ‘Liberation of Labour’
1889 Land captains appointed to direct the mir
Foreign policy
1881 Revival of the Dreikaiserbund
1887 Reinsurance Treaty with Germany
1890 Reinsurance Treaty allowed to lapse
1892 Dual Alliance with France
1894 Death of Alexander III
Luke Cole Page 37
Nicholas II The last of the Tsars:
Introduction
Nicholas II was more interested in his family than his nation and he wanted to preserve
autocracy handed to him by his father. He did little to relieve social and economic
distress in the countryside and the new cities. A disastrous attempt to promote Russia
image in the east saw a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Japanese 1905.
Finally the social protest of Father Gapon turned into a bloody slaughter. Revolution,
though disorganized, erupted all over Russia. The Tsar’s commitment to autocratic
power meant that he was reluctant to allow the drastic changes needed to save his reign
and his dynasty from collapse.
Beliefs and Character of Nicholas II
In October 1894 Nicholas II succeeded the throne following the natural death of
Alexander III. Nicholas II preferred to live in his country estate rather then be a Tsar. He
was very much a family man and a love father to his children. However, he had little
understanding of the out side world.
In 1894 Nicholas II married Princess Alix of Hesse – Darmstadt (grand daughter of
Queen Victoria of Britain) who became Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia.
Nicholas II was devoted to but dominated by his manipulative wife, a highly emotional
woman, whose increasing interference in government affairs was ultimately a disaster
for Russia. In addition, the royal family concerns over Prince Alexei’s condition of
hemophilia meant that the royal attention was often diverted completely from matters of
state.
Marxism
By the early 1890’s Marxism had moved from the peasants to the industrial workers as
the main revolution force. Julius Ossipovich Zederbaum aka Martov (18731923), came
up with the idea that Marxists should live and work among the industrial workers with
the aim of wining there trust and assisting in the struggle for high wages and better
conditions.
This worked and from 18951897 wide spread strike action gained may benefits for the
employees, However may Marxists where sent to Siberia.
Lenin (18701924) became revolutionary in 1887 after the execution of his elder brother.
Lenin was expelled from Kazan University for revolution activities in December 1887 but
past his law exams by studying at home and practice as a lawyer in St. Petersburg. In
1895 he was jailed for is months and then exiled for 3 years in Siberia.
Luke Cole Page 38
The last years of peace: Imperial Russia, 190613:
Hope for the future
• The transformation of the countryside. Between 1906 and 1911 Stolypin tried to
impose his vision of a new and vigorous Russia on the uncomprehending minds of the
Tsar’s 170 million subjects. Aware that the root cause of Russia’s problems was the
archaic system of land tenure, Stolypin abolished the mir and began to transfer land
to those peasants who were capable of farming efficiently. Peasants with little or no
land either had to seek work in industry or migrate to Siberia in search of cheap
farmland.
• A national system of education. As they were entering a twentieth century world in
which technological competence was increasin~y important, the people would need a
sound, basic education. Stolypin supported a crash programme of teacher training
and school building so that by the time of his death a national system of primary and
secondary education had begun and nearly sevenandahalf million children
artended school.
• Conditions in the wwns. The towns were the most likely source of revolution and
Stolypin was ruthless in suppressing trouble. He had few constr~ctive ideas for
improving living conditionsthe uncontrolled influx of peasants frustrated any
planning. However, a stateorganized system of health insurance became available to
industrial workers after 1912 and this was an important step forward in a long
overdue programme of social reform.
The revolutionaries
Most remained in exile. bickering among themselves. In 1912 kenin made his final break
with the Mensheviks who now claimed the support of the working classes living in the
older industrial towns. Nevertheless, Lenin could still make his views heard in Russia. A
legacy from a rich sympathizer enabled him to start another news paperPravda
(Truth).* Lenin now pinned his hopes on the peasant rabble pouring into the factories,
for they would make excellent revolutionary material. His problem, as always, was how
to get at them. As late as January 1917 he would confess to some of his younger
supporters, ‘We of the older generation may not see the decisive battles of this coming
revolution.’
Luke Cole Page 39
A brief industrial explosion
Indeed, Lenin’s task seemed pretty hopeless. Tsarist Russia, for all its inperfections, had
survived. Industry was positively flourishing. New factories. often located outside the
towns, sprang up in many parts of the country. The older factories became relatively
efficient. In the Ukraine, for example, nine monster works produced twoandahalf
million tons of pigiron annually. The cotton factories around Moscow were some of the
best equipped in the world and dominated the export markets of Central Asia. Individual
firms such as the Sormovo works outside Nizhniy Novgorod manufactured firstclass
locomotives while, in Kiev, Igor Sikorsky built and flew the world's first fourengined
aircraft.
The importance of peace for Russia
Admittedly, the Tsar’s image had suffered badly during the 1905 Revolution. Even so,
many Russians still revered their ‘Little Father’. The sordid stories about the monk
Rasputin’s hold over the royal family had not circulated widely before the end of 1912.t
Of course, Russia still seethed ~ith discontent, especially after the murder of the Lena
goldfield strikers during 1912. But even in extreme cases such as this the relentless
Okhmna and the other security forces seemed able to contain most symptoms of social
unrest. Russia's stability would appear to depend far more on the maintenance of inter
national peace than on the domestic ‘law and order’ problem. She had already reached a
‘friendly understanding’ with Britain in the 1907 dngloRussian Entente. It was a pity
that Russian ministers were still playing with fire by supporting revolutionary cells inside
the Austrian Empire and by dabbling in the dangerous politics of Serbia. On three
occasions, when Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908 and during the two
Balkan Wars of 191213 (both of which caused dramatic changes in the map of South
East Europe) there were serious international war scares. But bemuse the great powers
deliberately chose to find peaceful ~lutions to these problems. the danger of war receded.
It seemed that a major war would occur only if one of the big powers such as Russia,
Austria, Germany or France attempted to resolve a crisis by force.
* Now that Russia purported to be a constitutional monarchy. There was a more liberal
attitude towards censorship. Trade unions ='ere tolerated after 1906: and the Bolsheviks
were allowed to sell Pntvda inside Russia.
tThe Tsar had a son. AlexeL who suffered from haemophilia.
Rasputin appeared to be able to hypnotize the boy and in this ~'a,~ stop
the bleeding.
Luke Cole Page 40
The 1905 Revolution:
The Russo – Japanese War, 1904 and 1905
This war began on Plehve’s misguided advice Nicholas II agreed to fight a ‘small
victorious war that would stop the revolutionary tide’. Long – standing tensions between
Japan and Russia over clams to Manchuria and Korea were the reasons for the war and
on February 8, 1904, the Japanese attacked Port Arthur. After, an 11month seige, Port
Arthur fell in January 1905. Then in May 1905, the Baltic squadron was sunk by Admiral
Tojo in less than six hours. The Russian military and navy powers were completely
beaten.
The effect of this lost were dramatic. No one could believe that a force the size of Russia
could lose. This was a huge blow to the Russia government, the humiliating defeat stirred
up the revolution of 1905. There was unrest among every social class.
Causes of Revolution
The most important cause of the 1905 revolution were:
(1) The military and navel defeats under the Japanese
(2) Famines in 1897, 1898, 1901
(3) Unrest among the new industrial working class as a result of poor living and
working condition in the cities
(4) The unfeasible Tsarist government who was out of touch with his people
Father Gapon and ‘Bloody Sunday’
In January 1905, a strike broke out in the Putilov Munitions Works in St. Petersburg, and
spread to other factories in Russia. On Sunday 22 January, Father Georgei Gapon, the
organizer of a policesponsored union, led over 150 000 peaceful, unarmed marchers
through the snow to the Winter Palace in the same city. These men, women and children
took with them petitions asking for reforms, aimed at achieving a better system for the
distribution of food and employment opportunities.
As they approached the palace the police order everyone to stop then the officers gave
the order to shoot. A bloody massacre occurred. Up to 1 000 killed and many injured.
The massacre convinced many of the people that the Tsar was a murder, they called
‘Bloody Nicholas’ and he could do nothing to prevent the outbreak of a revolution.
Following bloody Sunday there was an immediate strike in St. Petersburg. This brought
the whole country to a stand still.
Luke Cole Page 41
The October Manifesto
Nicholas II abandoned earlier plans for a military dictatorship and appointed Witte as
P.M Reluctantly, Nicholas issued an Imperial Manifesto, which promised
• Civil liberties
• That all future laws would require the approval of the State Duma
Financial Relief for the Peasantry
In 1902 the government made some attempts to ease the economic burden of the
peasants. In late 1905 the peasants developed a peasants manifesto. As a result the Tsar
authorized laws which gave the peasants genuine land reform. This include:
• The cancellation of all tax debts
• Outlaw of Corporal punishment
The End of the Revolution
Witte’s task was to make the Russian people happy. His next job was to make sure he had
the army on his side. As a result, all rebels were hunted and hung, including all suspects.
Experiments with Constitutionals 19051914:
Establishment of the Dumas
The Tsar contradicted the October Manifesto from the beginning. The conduct of all
affairs remained the responsibility of the Tsar. Under Article 87, the Tsar said that the
Duma could not pass laws without the agreement of Tsar and Imperial council.
As soon as he could Nicholas II sacked Witte in July 1906, his successor was I. L.
Goremykin who was replaced by Peter Stolypin in 1906.
History of the Dumas
Between 1906 and 1916 the Dumas meet four time. They were denied an effective Role in
government. Anyone who didn’t agree with the Tsar was arrested.
Peter Stolypin
He was a strong supporter for the Tsar. His reforms however were genuine and helped
him to improve the life of the peasants he gave peasants the right to pay for their land he
promoted voluntary migration to Siberia to help stop land hunger & between 1907 and
1909 over 2 million people moved eastward. However his reforms didn’t go for enough
one thirds of the peasants remained land less while 30 000 landlords were in possession
of 76 million hectors of agricultural land. In September 1911, Stolypin was shot dead.
Luke Cole Page 42
Grigori Rasputin (1871 – 1916) & the Royal family
• Known as the mad monk.
• Had a strong appetite for sexual activity.
• Eyewitness say that his appearance was poor had a strong body odor and his
drinking bouts frequently in orgies and rape of noble women. Despite his reputation
Rasputin was constantly sought after.
• The Romanovs began searching for remedies for their boy – Rasputin soon came to
their attention.
• After 1911, Rasputin had a political over the royal family especially the Tsarina.
Foreign Policy’s:
Central Asia
Nicholas II added new territories to the Russian Empire and Central Asia.
Far East
Russia had no ice free part in the Far East.
Karl Marx:
• Its main theme was that all history was a record of class struggles, and that these
would end with a final victory for the working classes.
• The followers of Lenin were known as Bolsheviks.
Luke Cole Page 43

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