The Zemstva was a reform that created district and provincial assemblies. The members of district assemblies were elected by the inhabitants of each rural district, peasants and nobles alike.
The intellectual classes thought that reform thought that the reforms were not radical enough. The emancipation of the serfs did not solve the land problem of the peasants. The creation of the zemstva system did not lead to the formation of a national parliament in Russia. As a result of their disappointment with the reforms, the intellectual classes formed secret revolutionary societies, aiming to overthrow Tsardom.
The revolutionary societies were made up of two groups, Nihilism and populism. Nihilists believed that the whole of the old regime including the Tsar and the Orthodox Church must be destroyed before a new society could be created. In the 1860’s, most of the young educated intellectuals were Nihilists. They took to methods of terrorism and propaganda to overthrow Tsardom and his society. They also wrote many articles in the newspapers to demean the Tsar. Nihilism lacked a positive programme to reform society. Gradually in the 1860’s to 1870’s Nihilism was part placed and part combined with Populism. Populism had a social, political and economic programme.
Populist movement was controlled by Lavrov. Lavrov thought that the peasants would make the revolution if they were taught and educated by the populist intellectuals. Although a lot of them gave up their jobs and houses to become rural teachers in the villages by teaching the Peasants social creed, they failed. This was because the peasants still thought that the Tsar would eventually bring them reforms. They were also afraid of the police and even handed in some of the intellectuals to the police. On March 13, 1881, Alexander II was assassinated by members of the ‘Will of the people’
When Alexander III died in 1894, he was succeeded by his son Nicholas II. He was the last Tsar. He still believed that it was a sacred duty to uphold the principle of autocracy, but he was unsuitable to be an autocrat. He was weak and indecisive and easily succumbed to the influences of stronger personalities. There was also the start of more virulent discontented groups which presented a greater challenge to Tsardom. The five groups were: the proletariat class in the industrial towns, the Marxist-orientated revolutionary parties, the middle-class political parties, the subversive groups among the national minorities and the peasants in the countryside. Thus a revolution was bound to take place in Russia.
To express their grievances, the workers in the industrial towns organised mass strikes. The main aim of the strikes was to better the livelihood of the workers. As the 19th century came to a close, the main aims of many of the strikes were not only economic improvement but political reforms of the Tsarist government as well. In 1903, there was said to be more than 85,000 – 87,000 strikers. Some of the workers became the members of the secret and illegal revolutionary parties, for example the Social Democratic Party.
The first Marxist group was formed in 1883 by Plekhanov and in 1898 Lenin formed another Marxist party, known as the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In August 1903, the Social Democratic Party held a congress in London.
The many national minorities in the outlying districts hated the Russification policy of Alexander III and Nicholas II. They thought that socially, culturally and economically they were treated unfairly by the Tsar. Some of them formed subversive groups, spreading anti-Russian propaganda. Some joined the Social Democratic and the Social Revolutionary Parties.
In the countryside Peasant outbreaks increased due to increasing land shortage and famines in 1891, 92, 1897, 1898 and 1901.
Nicholas II saw in the possibility of a successful war to divert the discontentment of the Russians from his despotic rule. In February 1904 the Tsar chose to fight with Japan.
However the Russo-Japanese war was a disaster to the Tsar. The Russian armies suffered a series of defeats in the battles because they were ill-equipped, badly armed and poorly trained. The corruption and inefficiency of the government were exposed in the conduct of the war. Transportation broke down and things such as bread prices soared. The Tsarist government was totally discredited in the eyes of the Russian people. In July 1904, shortly after the Russian defeat at the Yalu, the unpopular minister of the interior, Plehve, was assassinated by the Social Revolutionary terrorists. As war continued, discontent multiplied.
When Port Arthur fell discontent reached almost the breaking point. There was much labour unrest in St.Petersburg due to the rise in prices of food and other daily necessities. On January 22, 1905, a priest, Father Gapon decided to lead a group of workers to present a petition to the Tsar. The petition included political and economic demands. These included the calling of a Duma. It also demanded to end the war immediately. The petition was signed by 135,000 people.
In conclusion, The Russo-Japanese war played a huge part in the 1905 revolution, simply because it was the last straw for the Russians as many factors had contributed to the start of a revolution before the war, the war however forced them to take more serious action.