Russia needed a strong leader if they were to remain an autocratic nation. However, Nicholas II was ineffective in his position. To control the largest country in the world, some responsibilities had to be delegated to ministers and civil servants. He was very hard working at his job, but spent all his time not on the important responsibilities he had in office but banal tasks such as name-changes. Also, he did not keep up with the important events and the important decisions he had to make in office, leaving most of these to his subordinates and preferring few details in the reports they gave him as he found them boring. He was ill advised by his courtiers, as they were as narrow-minded as he was about Russia outside Petrograd. He was never blessed with intelligence, which hindered the way he ruled, and lacked the confidence in himself to lead with authority but with assistance.
As the despotism of Russia did not allow ordinary people of Russia any sort of voice, they were understandably disenchanted with the failures of the system at that time. This was especially true about the peasant class. They made up 97 million out of a population of 110 million, yet were treated like animals. Their legal rights amounted to very little, only a ‘peasant-class court’, which were headed by the middle and upper classes anyway. For seemingly trivial ‘crimes’, such as adultery and petty theft, they suffered draconian punishments like having their eyes and limbs pulled out. Also, their living conditions were squalid and health was generally poor, with their life expectancy a miserable 35 years and an infant mortality rate of 25%. These people worked all hours of the day for a pittance and had no representation in government. They were understandably in favour of change. However, their distribution across the whole of Russia meant there was not much doubt of them organising. Also, because most were illiterate, they could not communicate and co-ordinate a revolution.
There was a new social class emerging in Russia by 1900 that effectively had the same rights as the peasants- the industrial workers. They only made up 3 million of the Russian population, but these numbers were concentrated in the urban areas as the industries were found there and were increasing as rapidly as Russian industry. Their numbers were not only increasing due to the rise in population at that time, but many peasants were migrating to the cities to get- marginally- better paying jobs in industry. They were banned from going on strike and any protection offered by the Government was ineffective. Unlike the peasants, there was a group emerging, which would give the industrial workers more representation- the Marxists. Pamphlets were distributed that both panicked and inspired the workers. Their concentration in the cities meant they could mobilise easier during a crisis and their work in the factories was of great importance to the economy. Therefore, their discontentment was more serious a problem than the peasants.
Another group who posed a problem to Tsarist Russia was the national minorities who wanted autonomy from Russia. The most important of these peoples were Finland, Poland and the Ukraine. These were geographical, as opposed to social, groups and had their own languages and cultures. This, however, was only part of the main reason for wanting independence. It was the ‘Russification’ programme installed by Nicholas II whereby all the states in Russia were forced to speak Russian and all signs were in Russian. This alienated the countries and made their desire for self-government even greater. Even though they were not united as a class, they were as a nation unlike the other groups. The minorities were also made up of a variety of classes, including the educated classes, who could have therefore brought better leadership to the countries. This problem, however, was concentrated in specific areas and did not affect the whole of Russia.
By way of conclusion, it is difficult to judge the greatest problem facing Russia in 1900. There were two real problems: the dissatisfaction amongst three groups- peasants, industrial workers and national minorities; and the discontentment with the political system experienced by most of the nation. Politics as a definition is the peaceful resolution of conflicts and the solution of problems, yet the Tsar and his political system in Russia were too weak to resolve these problems. Although a considerable factor in the problems of turn of the century Russia, the political system would not have been a problem if an effective leader had ruled it. It was more the inequality that the lower classes suffered that proved to be the greatest problem.
