Was the opposition to the Tsarist policies in the later half of the 19th Century too Insignificant to pose any real threat

Was the opposition to the Tsarist policies in the later half of the 19th Century too Insignificant to pose any real threat.

There were many reasons as to why opposition grew in the second half of the 19th century. After Alexander the second had allowed democratic ideas to enter the country and had broadened education therefore increasing the intelligencia, for Alexander the third to then come to power and withdraw all of these reforms , retraction, repression and Russification, that his predecessor had made upset much of the population who had had a taste of Democracy and know wanted more. This was one of the main reasons for general opposition to rise up.

The early rebellions began in the 1860’s with two main groups the first of which was the Nihilists. Popular on Russian Universities campuses Nihilists believed a better society could only be achieved after the destruction of the present system. However this eventually resulted in University clamp down and renewed censorship. A more extremist version of Nihilism is Anarchism, they advocated the destruction of national Government preferring the country to be run on a local level.

The second group of opposition to appear in the 1980’s is the Populists, essentially a intellectual movement rather than a political one. They had two ...

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The second group of opposition to appear in the 1980’s is the Populists, essentially a intellectual movement rather than a political one. They had two main characteristics firstly sympathy with the common people and secondly a wish to change the political system to something with more equality by some means of revolution but not necessarily destroying the Tsarist regime. The populists or Narodniks were not significant enough to hold any serious threat to the Tsar, they were only a small group of maybe one or two thousand students and ex-students against the very strong Russian government. Also the Tsar controlled these rebels by imprisoning them. They were not dangerous as they were very un organised and there was a concrete alternative in Marxism where in Populism there was no definite solution. Peasants couldn’t understand the teachings of the intelligencia. Finally the populists lost support due to their violent behaviour.

Another opposition rising up was the Social Democrats who followed the theory of Marxism. This was the theory that the workers in the factories would overthrow the bourgeousie and the Government. However in theory this was floored in the late 19th Century as the majority of the population were peasants and not factory workers and so before this theory could go through there needed to be the Industrial Revolution and then for the majority of the population to begin working in the factories. However the social Democrats divided into the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks understood that Russia was not yet ready for the Revolution whilst the Bolsheviks believed that Russia was ready now for the revolution.

Was the opposition to the Tsarist policies in the later half of the 19th Century too Insignificant to pose any real threat

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