The peasants felt extremely strongly about their social, political and economic position in 1905. They felt it was unfair that although their number was so large in Russia at the time- with an approximate size of 97 million from a total Russian population of 110 million- they were treated like slaves by the aristocracy under the Tsarist feudalism that was turn of the century Russian society. Their living conditions were appalling, with it being common for peasants to sleep with the animals they looked after. Statutes were imposed which made it compulsory for peasants to request for permission to leave their village. Wages were pitiful and often not even at subsistence level. They had no political rights at all. The Populist movement championed their cause, but this group had no actual political rights either. Like most other political groups, power was limited due to the Tsar’s autocratic rule.
The educated middle class in Russia believed that they had a right, like their peers in Europe, to some sort of representative democracy. However, such a system would fail in an autocratic state because the two were not compatible together in the eyes of Nicholas II. He believed it was his duty to lead the Russian nation on his own. This led to antagonism from the intelligentsia. The liberal middle class citizens were further alienated when the Interior Minister (a Liberal himself) and his supporters were ignored by the Tsar when calling for a national Zemstro assembly. These Zemstros (similar to constituencies in that some decisions were taken locally and others in the national assembly) would have distributed some power to the people, but Nicholas II believed that it would compromise his position as Tsar. This left a good number of the bourgeoisie resentful towards the Tsar. This situation was rather important in relation to the 1905 Revolution as it pushed the potential leaders of any opposition to the tsardom further away from compromise.
Activity during the 1905 Revolution centred on industrial areas, such as the formation of Soviets to act as a worker’s group. Was one of the causes of the revolution the actions of industrial workers? This is probably accurate. The industrial working class were a growing faction within Russia. The industrialisation programme that Russia was undertaking meant workers’ numbers were rising rapidly, but they experienced hardship on a similar scale to the peasants. Working conditions were hard with workers often suffering from horrifying accidents in the workplace and having to work long hours for poor wages. And any form of union representation was forbidden as it posed a threat to the Tsar’s power. Instead, underground political parties, such as the Social Democrats, formed whose goals were to gain power for the proletariat. Any effect the workers had on the Revolution could also have been owing to their concentration. Whereas peasants and the intelligentsia were spread out over Russia, the industrial workers were predominantly based in urban areas.
In a sense, this is similar to the concentration of national minorities into states within Russia at that time as they too were converged in a specific area. Nationalism was a phenomenon that occurred increasingly during the 19th century. This caused national minorities to demand more autonomy, as they believed themselves to have a right to their own state. This was particularly apparent in Finland, Poland and the Ukraine. This trend grew at a faster pace after decrees from the Tsar enforcing the use of Russian as a first language in these parts of the Russian Empire. The declaration led to great frustration amongst these minority groups- and even caused a number of deaths by confusing a number of Ukrainians who misread a Cholera sign and then drank infected water. Also, Polish students were forced to study Polish Literature texts in Russian to ensure these laws were followed. This increase in discontentment among the national minorities within Russia was an even more potent threat to the Tsar’s authority because not only were they concentrated to certain regions but they were also organised into a hierarchy with leadership predominantly coming from the middle and upper classes, who could mobilise and gain support from the workers and peasants of that region.
By 1904, the Tsar already realised that his regime was unpopular. It is suggested that he planned the conflict with Japan to gain a quick victory and gain popular support and increase national morale. Also, his intentions went further, he was an imperialist and wanted to expand his Russian Empire. Tsar Nicholas II went into this war looking for military victory but he and his generals under-estimated the Japanese army. Crushing defeats on the battlefield and at sea ensued. Inexperienced Russian generals sent their troops into battle armed with obsolete weapons on horseback, whilst the Japanese soldiers sat in trenches gunning them down with their superior weaponry. The Russian Fleet in Vladivostok was destroyed, and the Baltic Fleet arrived in the Pacific having missed the war; the only hostilities they experienced having been a skirmish with some British trawlers in the North Sea. The war ended with Russia conceding territory to Japan, and with public opinion of the Tsar at a low ebb. This was a key short-term factor in explaining the 1905 Revolution.
To sum up, the revolution in Russia in January 1905 was essentially due to long-term factors that had been deep rooted for some time before the uprising actually took place. The peasant class made up a significant majority of the population of Russia, and had good reason to want to revolt against the Tsar, as they had no political and civil rights and lived in poverty. However, this had been the situation for centuries, so therefore one might assume that the peasants were not the driving force behind the revolution. Having said that, they still had some involvement in the uprising. National minorities were also a group who had good reason to revolt, but the revolution would probably have occurred without them. The centres of revolutionary fervour at the time were not areas that demanded autonomy, but the main cities of Russia- St Petersburg and Moscow. The main causes of the 1905 revolution were the intelligentsia and the industrial workers. It was the educated middle classes who wanted liberal reforms, which were not granted, and it was them who also presented leadership. Until then, there had been continual suppression of the workers and peasants because these groups had not been represented. However, this revolution could not have occurred without the presence in numbers that the industrial workers gave. This industrial labour force was also concentrated in urban areas, which allowed them to unite quickly when a revolution took place. The Russo-Japanese War was the catalyst which brought together different groups united in their opposition to Tsar Nicholas II as head of the failure of the Russian Armed Forces.
