In 1881 Tsar Alexander II was assassinated after many previous attempts by a radical group called “ The People’s Will”, this again was a failure, as the ringleaders, were sentenced to death. It also failed, as the peasants did not cause an uprising like the radicals had hoped. The first official censuses in 1897, showed that 5/6 of 129.4 million people in Russia were peasants. I think at this point if the peasants had, an uprising they could have been successful in causing a revolution, as they were the majority of the population.
The successor of Alexander II, his son Alexander III, was much more reactionary and un done many of his father’s reforms. Did this make Alexander III a stronger man than his father? During Alexander III time, what we know today as trade unions were set up in order to protect the workers rights especially in the larger cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg. Although trade unions were in place wages remained low and no limits were made to the hours worked, peasants were given jobs in factories, unable to use the machinery, as they only knew agricultural work, which led to many accidents in the factory.
Russia was about to face one of the most dangerous periods they had ever faced before; know as the “Witte period”(1892-1903) after Sergei Witte the minister of communications. Witte wanted Russia to be self-reliant and be able to play a role in world politics. Industrialisation would be the answer to Witte’s aim. Communications would also improve with the development of a railway system that could expand across Russia, as time went on. Revenue was obtained from governmental loans, private and foreign investors, and indirect taxes on everyday goods such as sugar and tobacco, all helped Witte’s rapid policy of industrialisation.
Peasant unrest was huge during the Witte period, as they found it increasingly hard to live, many of them living in doss houses, in cramped conditions, and food was limited to soup kitchens, as a consequence of the indirect taxes and low wages. Strikes and organisations that protected workers rights such as trade unions were forbidden. This did not however stop them from striking, which were not just industrial but also political. Political in the sense of the overthrow of the Tsar, as he was denying them their human basic rights. Between 1895 and 1912 there were a huge amount of strikes starting with 68 in the year 1895, and by 1905 nearly 14,000. (2) As we will see later on in this essay there was an attempted revolution, Bloody Sunday and the end of the Russo Japanese war in 1905.
At about the same time as industrialisation was happening in Russia, Marxism came about. Marxists saw conflict between the middle class employers, capitalists, and working class. This theory seemed out of place at the time as the peasants hugely outnumbered the other groups and the middle class was weak. Lenin being the most influential Marxist, he wanted to bring communism to Russia and the world.
Tsar Nicholas II crowned in 1896 would be the last in the Romanov dynasty because of his incompetence; he tried to act like an autocrat when he did not have the abilities to do so. At the start of the 20th century, Nicholas II saw the growing influence of 2 revolutionary groups, the SPD (Marxists, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks) and the social revolutionaries. Nicholas II took a lot of advice from Rasputin on such matters as revolutionary groups. Rasputin became one of the “most influential men in government circles”, as he told the Tsar how to run the country. Rasputin had only became close to the Tsar because he treated his son’s haemophilia, so therefore did not have any knowledge on running Russia.
In 1905, there was an attempted revolution, the immediate cause of this being the Russo Japanese war 1904-05, which was an ongoing dispute between the two countries about Korea and Manchuria, Russia had rejected Japan’s proposals of settling the dispute, as a result the Japanese attacked Port Arthur, where Russia had her fleet. Russia felt that they were able to win the war because of their military superiority, but were defeated by Japan, when Port Arthur fell in January 1905.
Which was immediately followed by a demonstration of workers going to the Winter Palace on Sunday the 9th January, led by Father Gapon, Their march was peaceful carrying a petition asking for improved living and working conditions and their god given rights. Officials fired on the protestors, after asking them to leave the palace, killing hundreds and injuring thousands. This is known as bloody Sunday and highlights the incompetence and brutality of the government. After these events the nation were ready to do anything they could to get rid of the Tsar.
Nicholas II was able to survive the 1905 revolution because he set up the October Manifesto, which promised individual freedom, and a duma, which would share power with the Tsar. The social revolutionaries continued to work towards revolution, as they felt that the peasants were not getting anything from the Manifesto. However because they split into the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks it was easier for the Tsar to stop them as there was no longer one clear aim.
Russia goes through four Dumas (governments) before the Tsar was made to abdicate in 1917 and was replaced with a provisional government.
World war I, led to the 2 revolutions in 1917. Russia entered the war in 1914,after declaring war on Germany in July 1914. Russia was a large empire, which were all over the place. But when they knew they were entering a war, they united as one and worked together. However they were defeated at the end in 1917-18.
The February revolution came about on international women’s day, women demonstrated for bread, as the flour supply was low. Workers from the metal industry and others joined in the demonstration, the size of demonstrators grew out of control. Soldiers were ordered to shot to kill by the Tsar, which they did not agree with so joined the revolutionary parties. With no real authority, Russia went into chaos leading Nicholas II to abdicate in favour of his brother who refused.
The Bolsheviks in Feb 1917 only had 25,000 members representing the whole country, all of their leaders in exile. They believed that a revolution had to happen in Germany in order to break the strongest link of capitalism. Lenin returned from exile and made his famous April thesis, which he used to gain support and to get things under control, in the thesis were details of how to achieve a revolution.
October 1917 was when the Bolsheviks seized power, which is known as the October revolution. The Bolsheviks gained a lot of support because of who they represented the wage workers and the poor peasantry.
I think the origins of the Revolution are very important in order for us to understand the history of Russia and why that a revolution was needed for the country. Although the revolution happened in 1917, with the Bolsheviks, it is interesting to see how the struggle for revolution started over ninety years before hand with the Decembrists in 1825.
Footnotes-
- Lionel Kochan, The Russian Revolution, The Wayland pictorial sources series (London 1971),Pg-10, 16
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Website-
Bibliography
Books-
- Peter Kenez, A history of the Soviet Union from the beginning to the end, Cambridge university press, 1999
- Lionel Kochan, The Russian Revolution, The Wayland pictorial sources series London 1971
- John Reed, Ten days that shook the world, Penguin 1966.
- Beryl Williams, The Russian Revolution 1917-21, Basil Blackwell 1987.
Websites-
Faiza Ghanima
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