How Important was Stolypin?

By allowing consolidated farms, the reforms would have also helped strengthen the economy as at the time Russia was a very backward country in terms of production of food. It was therefore vital to increase the amounts of food available to support industrialisation, as workers in the industrial towns were also starving. This had been a major factor in previous uprisings because there were wide spread famines. He hoped to prevent such a recurrence and therefore boost people’s faith in the rule of the Tsar.

Another reform that also helped the position of the peasants and therefore increased their support for the Tsarist regime was the increase of welfare spending. Zemstva expenditure on health, poor relief and agricultural advice almost doubled between 1906 and 1912. This was therefore another popular reform. His reforms in education were also successful in that the number of primary schools almost doubled between 1906 and 1912. These again would have benefited the peasants because for the first time many of their children would be receiving an education which would lead to generally a better educated populace leading to more advancement in terms of technology and agriculture.

However, Stolypin also tried to introduce other reforms in government which were less successful. One of these was to try to bring about religious toleration. This reform was eventually passed by the Duma after a long struggle but then it was vetoed by the Tsar. Nicholas II was very suspicious of change and so this was a reason why some of Stolypin’s reforms were never introduced. Another reform rejected, was that of the plan to extend the zemstva into non-Russian areas. The State Council believed that it was a threat to the nationality principle which was believed to hold Russia together. Therefore it is possible to see from these rejected reforms that Stolypin was not able to essentially do what he wanted and was still restrained by the Tsar.

Stolypin also had an important role in government since he was Prime Minister and so all decisions would have gone through him and he would have only allowed the ones which would have been in favour of the Tsar.  Also he respected the Duma and an understanding soon developed between him and the largest party (Octobrists). This allowed him to pursue his land reforms with little obstruction from Duma deputies.

Although he wanted to introduce reforms to preserve the Tsarist regime, Stolypin believed in suppression before reform. As he said “suppression first and then, only then, reform”.  He conducted a vicious campaign against any opposition to Tsarism. Those who opposed the Tsar were mainly terrorists and revolutionaries. Many were arrested and then went on to be executed. So many were killed that the hangman’s noose was soon nicknamed ‘Stolypin’s necktie’. This campaign of terror was quite successful in terms of preserving the position of the Tsar because of the fear inflicted upon everyone and the effectiveness of the secret police. Many revolutionaries therefore went into hiding and so revolutionary ideas were not able to spread throughout the population. During the period of Stolypin’s reforms many of the revolutionary groups were divided and many leaders remained in exile.

Therefore in conclusion it is possible to see from the evidence that Stolypin played quite an important role in the effort to preserve Tsarism. However, it is also possible to see that if he had not been assassinated in 1911 then he would have been even more important for even he acknowledged that his reforms would take a long time and would not just happen overnight. Stolypin himself believed that his reforms needed twenty years to become fully effective. They were only given five years until his death, after which time Nicholas abandoned them and the role of the Duma. He replaced Stolypin with Goremykin who had little commitment to his post. However, despite Stolypin’s efforts to reform, the problems in Russia were deeply rooted and not helped by the character of Nicholas II. His efforts would therefore only postpone the inevitable fall of Tsarism.