Answers to Questions on Russia and the 1905 Revolution

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Years of Change: Chapter 4

Structured Questions and Essays:

1a. Witte adopted a policy of limited industrialization in Russia in the late nineteenth century because he had a vision for the economy’s industry and railways to be financed by foreign capital. He hoped for long-term growth, and while he got it, he also basically caused the Russian Revolution through his reforms.
1b. Witte had railway building begin, stabilized the Ruble by “forbidding speculation and amassing gold by high exports of agricultural goods,” encouraged education and supported the avoidance of war.
1c. Witte’s objectives were successful in that production of goods increased (examples: iron, coal, oil, cotton). However, nearly a third of the money invested in Russia came from abroad – making Russia a not-so-self-sufficient nation – and the new dependence on overseas economic intervention left Russia so constantly in debt that any war or scuffle would have destroyed it financially. Also, in order to raise capital, indirect taxes were raised and huge portions of crops were taken from the people. Besides this, Witte ignored innovative forms of industry, and imported almost all machinery, “making servicing difficult and costs high.” To add to this, Witte was ignorant of supply usage and didn’t do a very good job of utilizing all that the landmass had to offer.

2a. The “soviet” was set up in St. Petersburg during the 1905 Revolution because St. Petersburg needed a body to organize supplies and emergency measures, and to form the policy on strikes. War with Japan had ruined morale and embarrassed the Russian military, and people needed to regain control of the situation.
2b. The 1905 Revolution broke out because the poor and wealthy were discontent, strikes were going about, famines were drastically decreasing the peasants’ standards of living, and there began uprisings in Poltava and Kharkov. Tensions with Japan led to a costly war, and the creation of the soviet of St. Petersburg also contributed to the Revolution’s initiation.
2c. The tsarist regime was able to survive during the revolution because there was nothing else to take its place. Also, because it
seemed the regime was working for the benefit of the people. I suppose the reason the regime stayed in power so long was because it appeared to be doing a good job of controlling the situations that arose, and because people were afraid of change.

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3a. The October Manifesto was significant in that it gave the “Octobrists” justification for their beliefs. They said it was “the right degree of democracy.” It ensured individual freedoms and the establishment of a State Duma, which would make decrees, decide on laws, and participate in a Committee of Ministers.
3b. Stolypin attempted to restore order and reform in Russia by abolishing land captains and ending the peasant passport system, releasing the peasants from their “obligations to the
mir”, and encouraging resettlement.
3c. The assertion that “down to 1914, Nicholas II learned nothing from the threat to his regime evident ...

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