Unlike our system in which the different powers of government are separated, for example the judiciary, legislature and executive, in Tsarist Russia independence was impossible as all power rested with the Tsar. The legal system was totally controlled by the Tsar so no effective check on his power was kept that way, or any justice for ordinary citizens.
The inefficiency of the system was also present in the economy. It mainly was rooted in agriculture, which was sustenance farming. A limited craft industry existed as demand was not high. This was partly due to people not being given education so they could pursue any type of career, and farming was all they could do to survive. The Tsar could not afford to allow new ideas to spread by people improving there minds and circumstances – this might pose some threat to his status. The society of Russia also maintained this as land was owned by a small percentage of aristocracy, with 80% of the population peasants. Most of these were tenant farmers, serfs, whose lives were completely controlled by their masters.
Now we have seen how the Tsarist system was compared to our modern systems, we can assess ho it had changed by 1914. Yet it can be seen that these changes were just cosmetic. Alexander II was famed for being a reformer in which he mainly emancipated the Serfs in 1861. Yet this freedom they gained was flawed since the Tsar needed to compensate the landowners who lost land and money. To do this he imposed debts on the peasants, which they found hard to pay off.
After the 1905 revolution, Nicholas II had allowed a parliament to be called the Duma. Due to this political parties sprang up, such as the Kadets, and a Petrograd Soviet was formed to represent the armed forces and workers. However in November of that Stolypin repressed the Soviet by arresting members and executing opposition, as well as closing Trade Unions and newspapers. This was just the kind of censorship experienced from the Tsar, just in a different form. The Duma was also doomed to never work since the Tsar only consulted it, he still held all decision making power and reduced it to a virtual talking shop.
A new system of administration also was designed to change things but the federal system in which local governments took decisions was just as cosmetic. The government still wanted control over the population so elections were biased and powers were limited. A reform of the judicial system work quite well as at low levels but the Tsar could still control proceedings, as happened under Alexander III when he tightened control over the Zemstvos. Also the lack of education led to lawyers and ‘JPs’ being undertrained. Alexander III had tightened the Tsars grip on the law by ending the security of judges jobs in a bid to control the outcome of cases, and he abolished JPs. Things hadn’t changed much with the 1095 revolution as the Tsar still interfered with human rights and could decide verdicts in certain cases.
Universities were controlled severely as the Tsar still feared unrest and new ideas from student organisations. For example in 1861 universities temporarily closed because of student unrest. Secondary education syllabuses were government controlled and restricted mainly to the wealthy as fees needed to be paid.
Censorship was also rife in Russia to further stop the transmission of new ideas to the public. Alexander III strongly increased censorship after the assassination of his father. He formed a secret police, the Okhrana and led a drive to ‘Russianify’ the country. This involved anti-Jewish pogroms and moving people to certain places in the country.
In conclusion it is clear that the Tsarist system was on a slippery slope. The Tsars knew from other countries experience that autocracy would crumble. I think that Alexander II tried to reform the system to bring the country up to date yet retain autocracy. However it could not happen as censorship made people uneducated and stopped the industry progressing. I think the Tsars after him tenuously held onto power by controlling the population in every aspect of life yet they tightened their grip so the country burst into revolution.
