'THE TSARIST REGIME WAS SECURE BY 1905'
EXPLAIN HOW FAR YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THIS SATEMENT
By 1881 Russia was a very powerful country; the size of the country was equivalent to two and a half times the size of the USA. However, Russia was seen as a backward country in social, political and economic terms. The Tsar claimed all absolute authority, it was a criminal offence to oppose the tsar in 1881, and Russia was in autocratic rule. This just showed how little Russia had advanced politically. By 1905 the tsarist regime was secure in some cases but not in others.
Progressive tsars up to Alexander II took steps to modernise Russia, so that they could be on the same wavelength as the 'western' powers. The modernisation f the country did not include the extension of political rights. State censorship was imposed on the press and on published books. This shows to some degree that the regime was not secured as people did oppose the regime otherwise censorship would not be needed. However by 1905, there was a massive change in industrialisation, the economy of Russia made a remarkable turn around.
With the duma (created in 1870), cabinet, the zenistra proved to be quite useful with 15,000 extra schools being introduced by 1880. In addition, the interest in local politics grew as forums and discussions within assemblies grew to be frequent occasions.
The Russian monarchy veered to the right after the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, and in the personal politics of the last two tsars, Alexander III and Nicholas II, that is where it stayed until 1917. After 1881 there was a discernible change of mood and ideology. Pobedonostsev was a fierce and perceptive critic of the West and its liberal ways, and he sought to create a workable, popular, conservative ideology of his own. Pobedonostsev put a lot of emphasis on 'Nationality' and a notion known as russification. This attempted to create a single 'Russian' nationality out of the multi-national Russian Empire (only 44% Great Russian in 1900). This was also the key policy of the tsarist government after 1881. It aimed to give the empire greater strength and coherence. However the overall impact of russification was mainly negative, but did manage to secure the regime by 1905 as it successfully handled the minorities.
Discrimination against non-Russians was now more open and vindictive-the Jews being the main victims. Jews were blamed for Russia's difficulty (scapegoats), just like they were later on during nazi Germany. At the critical stage when cohesion and unity were needed in Russia, the tsarist regime chose to treat half its population as inferiors and potential enemies. This proves to be extremely crass. This was a very important problem as the tsarist regime lost all its support and therefore unsettled the security of the tsarist regime as making more enemies could spark a revolution and could topple the tsarist regime.
Although Alexander II had made some progress in modernising Russia's economy, Britain and Germany were now forging ahead even more quickly. Russia was a difficult country to industrialise, due mainly to its size and the problem it had with serfdom. It is not surprising therefore that Russia did not launch a full-scale drive to industrialise until the 1890's. Ivan Vyshnegradsky attempted to drive Russia forward by increasing its exports and imports. This initially had the desired effect however it put a lot of pressure on the peasantry and in 1891-2 Russia suffered its worst famine of the nineteenth century, costing 1.5 - 2 million lives as well as brutally exposing the shortcomings of government policy. The catastrophe of the famine cost Vyshnegradsky his job and he was replaced by Sergei Witte in 1892. He was the catalyst in the 'great spurt' which offered a possibility that Russia might throw off its economic backwardness, and catch up the world powers.
Witte was one of the few Russian ministers to appreciate the sheer magnitude of Russia's problems as it tried to modernise. Hence he entitled his most important policy statement: 'Save Russia by rapid and forceful industrialisation'. The tsar had no choice but to accept his plans and Witte began ruthlessly by collecting as much capital as he can. He then began building an efficient railway system that was essential if Russia wanted to increase its extraction of resources. Much of the foreign capital that Witte was successful in rising was directly invested in railways. This foreign capital was ...
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Witte was one of the few Russian ministers to appreciate the sheer magnitude of Russia's problems as it tried to modernise. Hence he entitled his most important policy statement: 'Save Russia by rapid and forceful industrialisation'. The tsar had no choice but to accept his plans and Witte began ruthlessly by collecting as much capital as he can. He then began building an efficient railway system that was essential if Russia wanted to increase its extraction of resources. Much of the foreign capital that Witte was successful in rising was directly invested in railways. This foreign capital was raised through foreign investment to the French, and thus this was a sign that foreign relations were secure and that the regime was made more secure.
A good railway system also offered significant military and security advantages. The Trans -Siberian Railway was constructed between 1892 - 1902. This was intended to migrate workers, and connect remoter regions of the central and eastern empire. This all paid off as extraction of resources tripled during the ten years that Witte was Minister of Finance. This was a substantial achievement but it doesn't mean that Russia had an industrialised economy by 1900. Witte's policies then began an irreversible process in that his approach was successfully continued by the tsarist regime. Witte's progressive policies contrasted sharply with the conservatism of the Ministry of Interior, which was responsible for policy regarding the peasantry and therefore agriculture. This meant that the Russian economy was being pulled in two directions at once in the 1880s and 1890s.
The problems with agriculture were that there were inadequate land provisions for the peasants and the terms on which peasants might acquire further land were poor. Russia's rural population also doubled in the period 1861-1913 (74 million to 164 million), which further increased the problems. The looked to solve the problems with the economy by providing credit to keep the system afloat. They founded a Nobles' Land Bank in 1882 and a peasants' Land Bank 1885, however these did little to alleviate the pressure. Agricultural problems were also made worse by a famine in 1891-2, and reforms were not brought in until 1902.
Agriculture was going downhill and Russia wanted to change its fortunes to develop it's industry and remain an important military power. As Russia felt the need to improve her industry she had to borrow money from other countries, though the main source of money came from the people of Russia. Wages were kept low so money could be spent on industry' and after a few years people would be better off. Industry grew rapidly at first due to the success in iron, steel and the railways. In 1902 depression hit Russia and there was an industrial slump and thousands of people lost their jobs. Demonstrations and strikes were a regular occurrence and many peasants were starving. There were many violent acts and landlord's houses were even burned down.
The emancipation of the serfs was a huge undertaking, fraught with danger. In practice Russia managed to free 40 million serfs with minimal disruption. Emancipation of the serfs was the key to all future economic modernisation. The period 1881 to 1905 saw the revolution of serf emancipation begin to pay off in terms of economic and social modernisation. By 1904 Russia was still well behind the western European powers in economic and social modernisation but Witte's reforms had shown the capacity for startling change. However Russia's progress was unbalanced. Agriculture was lagging behind industry and clearly needed further reform under the pressure of a rural explosion.
The Emancipation Decree of 1861 was issued to solve the problems of decreased productivity because of an increasing population. It was also as a result of the Crimean War of 1855-56 which motivated Tsar Alexander II to introduce Emancipation to help the Russian State. However it had the opposite effect on Tsarist society, the main reasons for the discontent among the peasants was they could not understand why they were forced to pay for land hey had farmed for generations. Emancipation had a far worst effect on the nobility because they were totally unprepared and as a result did not survive, they had to sell of land to pay existing debts. The most important reason for Emancipation was the desire to strengthen the Russian State in military, economic and industrial terms. It was hoped that revitalised peasant economy would provide the basis for industrialisation by providing surplus capital for investment, but this aim was not achieved. Therefore the Emancipation Decree of 1861 did not solve the problems of the peasantry and only made things worse then they already were.
This showed that the regime was not very secure at all, and had opposition in this case, as the poor were treated badly and wanted to start a revolution. Emancipation act of 1861 had a far-reaching effect on Tsarist society by not solving the problem of the peasantry because of the economic, social and political effects.
Conditions for the poor had worsened since 1891 when famine swept through the southern region of Russia and forced millions of peasants to leave their families and village communities to search for work in towns. Most of the industrial workers who worked in the factories were peasants and women. Women filled the textile factories in St Petersburg and Moscow, which was the poorest paying industry in Russia..
The industrial workers were angry at the poor living and working conditions. Living space was at a premium so workers had to occupy accommodation provided by the employers. There were ten to a room and a single sheet separated bedrooms. There was no privacy and famine easily spread. Also there were no regulations on safety or hours of work, so some people died or were badly injured and had to work 12-15 hours per day. In addition they received extremely poor wages
The peasants had to pay very high taxes on grain and also on items such as alcohol and salt. The peasant farmers not working in the factories suffered two very poor harvests and it came to a point when they could barely survive. This proved too much for the peasants and they had enough. Russia's population in 1900 was about 120 million; at least eighty percent were peasants, so they formed a big unhappy majority. Some peasants wanted land to be divided out fairly and taken off the middle class. The Social Revolutionary party also agreed with the peasants and wanted them to start a Revolution. This I believe this didn't secure the regime entirely as peasants, and middle class were very unhappy with the Tsarist system and thus they could pose a threat to the regime as the population of Russia contained 4/5 peasants and it would therefore not be a very good idea in upsetting them as they could go on strike and cause either a civil war or a national uproar.
Middle class shared the view that there needed to be a change but unlike the other groups in Russia they didn't feel the need to start a revolution. The middle class who came from well-educated backgrounds wanted the Tsar to share his power, so the Russian people could benefit from the freedom and rights that people in Britain enjoy. Due to working and living conditions worsening and wages remaining low, there was less call for trade and jobs and so many were left without income. This included widespread famine and hunger, which had dramatically increased.
One of the reasons which played a part in securing the regime was due to the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church supported absolute authority, it was an conservative body, opposed to political change, and committed themselves to the preservation of the tsarist system. It was their spiritual authority to teach the Russian people that it was their duty to be totally obedient. The church told the peasants to support the tsar. This was a bad idea as the peasants began to realise that they didn't want to remain under an autocratic rule.
The Okhrana played a major role in securing the tsarist regime. Secret societies dedicated to political reform or change were frequently infiltrated by agents of the Okhrana, the tsar's secret police. They conducted raids, arrests, imprisonments and general harassment. These actions did bring fear into the lives of the Russian people, so they won't oppose the regime or revolt against it.
Another way of keeping the people in check, especially the 'dark masses' was to conscript numbers of them into the Russian armed services. Conscription was regularly used as a form of punishment. I believe this was a key way in securing the tsarist regime as it thought people what the consequences maybe if they tried to oppose the Tsar and therefore it brought a sense of fear in the lives of the Russian people not to oppose the tsar. It was a brutalising experience. The military reforms of 1874 meant that men would have to serve at least six years in the forces and be on reserve for an additional nine. These were unpopular as men were the providers for their families, so their families would also suffer because of their absence.
Although the Tsars of Russia ruled autocratically and no political parties were allowed to exist, this did not mean that there was no organised opposition to their rule. The system of repression in Russia simply meant that any kind of political opposition was forced underground. The forces that were pressuring the Tsar could be put into three groups, the peasant revolutionaries (the Narodniks and the Social Revolutionaries): they wanted power to be place in the hands of the peasants.. The socialists (the Social Democrats): they wanted power to be placed in the hands of the workers. The reformers (the liberals): they wanted elections and a constitution under the Tsar.
The peasant revolutionaries formed another party, the Social Revolutionaries, in 1902. They combined the violent actions of the People's Will (the Narodniks extremist grouping) with attempts to mobilize the peasants into mass action. Promising to return the land to the peasants, their slogan was "All land to the peasants", which obviously made the SRs the most popular party with the peasantry. They became an important political force in the revolution. They had little success and didn't pose a great threat to the security of tsarist regime or itdidnt't look likely that they would cause a revolution. They led the assassination of Alexander II, which weakened the Populist movement, and this made the group less unified, and so couldn't pose a threat to the security of the tsarist regime.
The Socialists followed the ideas of Karl Marx. The Socialists believed that the working class was the force which could best develop society. Their goal was to overthrow the capitalist system. The socialists wanted the workers themselves to control the factories and share equally in the profits. The socialists believed that capitalism was an advance in Russia. They believed that industry provided an opportunity for all people to share the benefits of modern production.
In Russia the leading socialist political party was called the Social Democratic Party. The party was established in 1898 under the leadership of George Plekhanov, the "father of Russian Marxism". However, by 1902 there were serious differences among its membership. By 1898 it soon became impatient with Plekhanov's leadership, they found him too theoretical in his approach and wanted more active revolutionary polices. In 1903 the party split into two, (Bolsheviks and Mensheviks). So the SD's couldn't pose a threat to the regime by 1905 as they were disorganised.
The Bolsheviks believed that a socialist party should be a tight organisation in which all members worked for active revolution. They wanted to overthrow the government by a revolution in order to establish the "dictatorship of the proletariat". The outstanding spokesman for this viewpoint was Lenin. Although the Bolshevik Party was well organised and was becoming increasingly popular in Russia, both Lenin and his deputy were caught unawares by the March Revolution of 1917 and were unable to seize the opportunity offered by this revolution to get themselves into power. Hence the liberals got in first.
The tsarist regime remained secure as none of the oppositions were able to pose a threat to the Tsar up to 1905. This was achieved through the Okhrana, the army and greater police surveillance to keep the opposition in check. Also in each group there seemed to be disturbances which stopped the groups from succeeding such as leadership disputes, little success, couldn't seize power etc.
In conclusion, I don't the tsarist regime was not totally secure by 1905. The economy and the industry of the country got a massive boost through the direction of Sergei Witte. The 'great spurt' helped to stimulate reformers and revolutionaries alike through the rapid industrial growth in the 1890s. It was very successful in crushing all opposition through the Okhrana, the army, the Orthodox Church and by 1905 opposition groups didn't pose a serious threat as the groups were much disorganised. However on the other hand by 1905 the regime was opposed and angered many peasants and middle class workers, they endured sickening working conditions the were living in poverty and received poor wages, and had to pay taxes on grain and also on items such as alcohol and salt. If I was personally in their position I would consider revolting and would be willing to part of a revolution. By 1905 the Tsarist regime was secure in some places but not in others.
FAHIM TALUKDER L6SD