How far did the reforms of Alexander the Second popularise Tsardom?

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How far did the reforms of Alexander the Second popularise Tsardom?

This essay will focus on the reforms of Alexander the Second. The desire for reform was huge amongst the discontent Russian people.  Nicholas had made a few reforms, particularly in the region of serfdom.  Apart from the more remembered reforms banning the auction of serfs and the splitting of families, he also introduced reforms in the 1840s allowing a few hundred families freedom.  However considering there were 22 million privately owned serfs in Russia at this time it shows the ineffectiveness of his reform and his more reactionary than reformist attitude.  Alexander inherited a country on the verge of defeat in the Crimea; a country isolated in Europe; and which was dangerously weak.  Politically Russia had an autocracy, unlike most of Europe, which survived largely due to the uneducated masses and the repression of any western thinking.  Socially and economically Russia was hugely backward, particularly when compared to the industrialising European powers, with serfdom as a root of these problems.

The major reform that Alexander is remembered for is the Emancipation of the Serfs in 1861.  In effect this reform freed all state and privately owned serfs.  The emancipation was introduced as at the time Serfdom was becoming socially unacceptable both within Russia and internationally where serfdom was seen as a blot on Russia’s reputation.  Serfdom was also seen as the prime cause of Russian inefficiency.  It was also noticed that other reforms were not possible whilst serfdom existed.  Several key provisions were required were the emancipation to work.  As all non-state owned land was declared to be the property of the nobles, peasants could not be given land they had to buy it.  To combat this the state introduced funds from which the peasantry could borrow.  In return for this money they had to pay back redemption payments.  These took 49 years to be completed and were so high that many had to mortgage land back to the nobles in order to keep up their repayments.  Another problem caused by emancipation was that the areas of land granted to the serfs were too small, and many families had to rent extra land just to survive.  A population explosion put extra pressure on the land and soon demands for a second emancipation grew.  The mood amongst some Russians is demonstrated by this manifesto published at the time of emancipation:  “…we do not want privileged classes to exist.  We do not want a nobility and titles.  We want the land to belong to the nation and not to individuals.”  This was taken from a revolutionary manifesto, and therefore must not be taken to be representative of the views of all the people, but it is known that support for revolutionary movements was growing at the time.

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The Zemstva were local, rural councils, which had around 40% of members elected by peasants.  These organisations were far better equipped to deal with local needs than the central bureaucracy and they had an important impact on education and public health.  Although the Zemstva were seen as inadequate compared to their Western counterparts it must be realised that this was a huge step forward by the Russians.  The problems with the Zemstva were that the voting rights, at both local and provincial level were weighted heavily in favour of the Lords, meaning that the nobility still controlled local affairs. ...

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