In November the government then announced another manifesto. This time the redemption dues paid by the peasants were to be abolished. This meant that the peasants were no longer tied to the land and had more money to live and farm on. Nicholas hoped that in cancelling the redemption payments they would be able to ‘win’ the peasants back to what was regarded as their fundamental loyalty to the tsar. He was right as the response to this was an immediate drop in the number of land-seizures by the peasants and a decline in the general lawlessness in the countryside.
However, a few days before the first Duma was about to begin, in April 1906, Nicholas passed the Fundamental Laws, restricting the legislative power of the Duma. By these laws, the Tsar could initiate and pass laws without the consent of the Duma, giving him total power over law making in Russia. These laws allowed Nicholas to govern by decree whenever the assembly was not in session and no alteration to the constitution could be made without his approval. These laws allowed Nicholas to be, ‘confident of the military’s support’(source C) and keep complete control of them, which would suppress a revolution even further if he controlled the armed forces. These laws allowed the Tsar to keep complete and autocratic power over Russia, preserving his authority further.
In July 1906, Nicholas appointed his Minister of the Interior, Pytor Stolypin, as Prime Minister. He was known as firm and even ruthless, but one who recognized the new realities of the political situation within Russia. He believed that the best way to strengthen support for the regime was by reform. Stolypin was determined to change the political atmosphere in the countryside. He believed that the key to building this support lay in solving the peasant question. Stolypin therefore made all State and Crown lands available to the Peasants Land Bank for purchase by enterprising peasants. Peasants were also allowed to withdraw from their commune, without consent first, and those who had left the mir were later able to have all their land together instead of in strips. Stolypin also declared an end to the redistribution of land as the population grew, making all the land the hereditary property of the head of the family. By passing these reforms, Stolypin hoped to create a new class of well-to-do peasants, the Kulaks. These Kulaks would be able to leave the commune, extend their lands and build up their own independent farms. They would also be able to try new farming techniques and grow the crops they wished. An end to redistribution of land meant that there was now encouragement for peasants to improve their current land. Stolypin believed that this new class of peasant would provide stable support for the tsar and his government, but the reforms would need 20 years to take place, time that Stolypin didn’t have.
As a result source A tells us that ‘Stolypin’s agrarian reforms were met with extraordinary success’. Stolypin had done more than any of his predecessors to improve ‘the entire agrarian problem’. His reforms led to profitable and efficient farming on a large-scale. Stolypin’s success in persuading the peasants to pledge their loyalty to the tsar can be measured by Lenin’s attitude towards the Russia peasantry. Lenin saw Stolypin’s reforms as a real threat to the revolution since they made many peasants content, and so less likely to support a revolution.
Other methods taken to preserving tsarist authority included Stolypin’s policy of repression. Among this was counter terror, used against violent political opposition. In 1907 political terrorists were responsible for the death of 1,231 officials and 1,768 citizens. Stolypin therefore used the Fundamental Laws to grant extra powers to Provincial Governors. These governors set up field court martials which carried out 1,144 death sentences between 1906 and 1907. Stolypin also put pressure upon the press and trade unions, which were thought to be bases for ‘radical opinion’. Between 1906 and 1912, 1,000 newspapers were shut down and 600 unions closed. Although these measures were harsh, they proved to be a success as by 1908 the number of political assassinations had dropped to 365. It was commented by the leader of the Octobrists, Guchkov, that if Russia was seeing the end of the revolution, ‘then it is to this man that we owe it’, talking about Stolypin. Without Stolypin’s work it would have been almost impossible for the tsarist regime to have lasted between the years 1905 and 1914.
Nicholas also counted greatly on the support of his secret police in order to preserve his tsarist authority. It was the job of the secret police to seek out opposition against Nicholas, as can be seen in Source B. ‘People can be heard speaking of the government in the sharpest tones.’ They were able to identify any opposition against the tsar and eliminate it, keeping the opposition at a minimum.
However, luck also meant that Nicholas was able to survive as tsar in the years after the 1905 revolution. He had no need to worry about another co-ordinated revolution like 1905 as the Middle Classes, such as the now Octobrists, refused to join with the socialists again after the shambles of 1905. Industrialisation was also beginning to happen in Russia. The working classes became more contented as conditions in the factories improved and with that came better wages and living conditions. There were also good harvests between 1905 and 1913, meaning no rioting due to lack of food as there had been previously.
In my own opinion, in the years 1905 to 1914, Nicholas was able to survive as tsar due to the fact that he had succeeded in dividing the masses with the October Manifesto. The opposition against him was now separated and would never again come together on such a large scale. Even the middle class had vowed never to join again with the socialists. Due to the October Manifesto Nicholas was able to separate the masses and so prolong his reign as autocratic ruler of Russia. This was until Russia entered the First World War and once again this gave the people of Russia a basis on which to stage a revolution, ending with the abdication of Nicholas II.
