- The emancipation of the serfs was a fundamental change in Russian society and economy. It involved over 40 million people and it was inevitable other reforms would follow if this had happened.
- The government was still autocratic and repressive.
- The reputation of the monarchy had never really recovered from the events of Bloody Sunday.
- Industry was still small compared to Western Europe standards.
- Agriculture was also still very poor despite Stolypin’s efforts. It would be years before anything would have an effect.
- Nicholas failed to realise the need for change and didn’t realise how much prestige the monarchy had lost in 1905…having Rasputin around also discredited the court further.
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His advisers weren’t that great. Witte was→ but he was dismissed in 1906 and Stolypin was also great → but he was assassinated in 1911.
Was life better for the Russians in 1914 compared to 1900?
In 1900 conditions for the Russian people were appalling. Russia was a very backward country when compared to the European countries like Germany and England. Russia had a huge population that continued to grow and no way in which to feed them all. 80 out of 100 people were peasants and those were the people that were in desperate need of help and some kind of reform in the country.
The people wanted a parliament to make new laws and the ability to have free speech and an end to the use of the secret police, of which the Tsar heavily relied on to control outbreaks and riots. Using violence to try and stop them worked in the short term but not in the long run because the people were getting fed up of it and felt that the government didn’t really care about them and wanted to get rid of them.
In 1905 after a major uprising something called the October Manifesto was written up which gave the people a right to have a Duma. (Parliament) It allowed freedom of speech and other political parties which the people never had before but its debatable whether there was actually any use for it. The first two were dismissed straight away because they disagreed with the Tsar. Although it was the Duma that was responsible for developing the schemes of national insurance for industrial workers which was something that they had needed for a long time. So in that respect they were useful in changing a few things in the people’s lives. The Tsar himself hadn’t actually given anything up though because he could dispose of the Duma at any time.
Something that had changed since the 1900 was the industry due to the industrial revolution! Stolypin’s (Chief minister after Witte was dismissed.) main concern was the peasants but he didn’t neglect the Russian’s industrial development. From 1908 onwards there was a substantial growth in coal, iron and steel industries. In 1914 Russia was still deficient in provision of roads and railways, although the increase in industry had created more jobs and there were few signs of unrest in the period 1908-1914. Unlike in the 1900’s were it would be normal to have riots and strikes among the peasants/proletariats.
Industry was still small though when compared to the Western Europe standards.
The emancipation of the serfs was a fundamental change in Russia because it involved over 40 million people and it was inevitable that other reforms would follow. The peasants were freed from their obligations to their landowners. The government compensated the landowners though. Stolypin introduced very important agrarian reforms, which were meant to win the support of the peasants. The Redemption payments were stopped and they were able to turn their holdings into their own individual properties.
- Results of the land reforms:
- Communally owned grazing and pastureland was divided up.
- The land captains lost their power they had over the peasants.
- Joint family ownership ended and it was the eldest person in the family that was considered to be the owner of the household’s allotment.
- The peasant’s land bank was increased so that the richer peasants (Kulaks) could buy out their poorer neighbours.
- The peasants were able to have passports on the same terms as everyone else and so this increased the mobility to the different towns. This meant that a lot of them could move to Siberia.
Agriculture was still very poor despite Stolypin’s efforts. It would be years before anything would have an effect.
Despite all of this the government remained very autocratic and repressive. The government’s reputation had never fully recovered after the events on Bloody Sunday. Nicholas failed to realise the need for change and didn’t realise how much prestige the monarchy had lost in 1905, also having Rasputin around also discredited him and the Romanov family further.
His advisers weren’t that great either. Witte was but he was dismissed in 1906 and Stolypin was also a great asset but he was assassinated in 1911.
The conditions for the Russian people had improved slightly by 1914 when compared to 1900 but Russia still had problems and was very far behind when compared to the rest of the world.
Industry and agriculture had improved but was still backwards. The transport system still had to be improved further, especially the railways because then it would increase the areas that people could go to work in and sell goods.
The people had a Duma but the Tsar hadn’t actually lost any power because he could dismiss the Duma at any time he liked. He wasn’t giving them a Duma to help them but just to stop them from striking and to save his own skin.
