Political Reaction, 1881-1904

Impact of Industrialisation
1. Vyshnegradsky
  1. Appointed in 1886; wanted to improve finances and gold reserves
  2. Increased indirect taxes, reduced imports by increasing tariffs; industrial machinery and cotton was protected; negotiated some loans from France
  3. Exports increased by 18%
  4. Peasants bore the brunt of heavy taxation; price of good rose; made the famine of 1891 even worse
2. Witte
  1. Minister of finance in 1892
  2. Believed in modernisation; would curb unrest and revolutionary activity
  3. 3 key problems: insufficient capital; lack of technical and managerial expertise; insufficient manpower
  4. Raised interest rates to increase foreign investment and business confidence; new rouble in 1897 backed by the value of gold,
  5. Lots of investment in mining, metal, oil and banking; he encouraged foreign experts and workers
  6. Forced Russia into an industrial revolution
3. Railways
  1. Opened up Russia, connection between industrial and agricultural areas; transport costs fell
  2. Trans-Siberian Railway; economic benefits, peasants encouraged to emigrate to Siberia, supported transport of militrary supplies and troops
4. Annual Growth
  1. 4th largest industrial economy
  2. Imports and exports grew in quantitiy and value
  3. Dependence on foreign loans
  4. Led to the creation of the new urban and middle classes
Rural Economy
1. Population
  1. The population had doubled to 132.9 million in 1900
  2. Population growth had caused the further subdivision of estates
2. Kulaks
  1. Took advantage of poor peasants
3. Poor Peasants
  1. Migrated to Siberia, encouraged by government schemes
  2. High mortality rates
Internal Opposition
1. Populism
  1. A2's assassination ended the Populist movement
  2. The People's Will reformed in 1886, and attempted to assassinate A3
  3. No benefits of A2 killing: no practical benefits, wave of arrests, greater police surveillance, abandonment of Louis-Melikov's proposals, strict regime of A3
  4. Great Famine highlighted the need to reform the rural economy; revived Populist ideals
2. Social Revolutionary Movement
  1. In 1901, a group of Populists came together to create this
  2. Fairly loose organisation; wide variety of views; never centrally controlled; never held congress till 1906
  3. Accepted basic Marxist teachings but mixed it with Populist ideas
  4. Wide national base with large peasant membership; 50% of supporters were from the urban working class
3. Social Democrats
  1. Plekhanov established the Emancipation of Labour group in Switzerland: smuggled and translated Marxist works into Russia
  2. The first Congress was broken up by the Okhrana
  3. Second Party Congress in 1903 in Brussels then London, divisions with Lenin and Martov
  4. By 1906, 2 separate SD parties
4. Repression & Police
  1. Ohkrana upped the surveillance
5. Split in the SDP
  1. Mensheviks: Martov; waited for bourgeois revolution and then proletarian revolution, impetus had to come from workes, open membership, democratic procedures
  2. Bolsheviks: Lenin; bourgeois and proletarian revolution would occur simultaneously, their duty to educate workers, restricted membership, control in the hands of a Central Committee
6. Intelligentsia & liberals
  1. Pressed for change and reform but through reforming the autocracy
  2. Zemstva allowed liberal thinkers to air views; they did all the work in the Great Famine so wanted extra powers
  3. A3 reduced Zemstva powers, N2 ignored demand to set up advisory body
  4. Union of Liberation found in 1903, peaceful evolution needed, establishment of a constitutional government, liberal elites attended society banquets
Rule of N2
1. Rule of the Tsars
  1. A3 publically hung those involved in A2's death; strong centralised control was reasserted; Land Captains 1889 could override Zemstva decisions, magistrates were removed. He forced counter-reforms
  2. A3 & N2 believed their power was undermined by Western ideas, consititutional theories, secular thinking and urban discontent. Staunch believers in Orthodoxy and nationalism; student demonstrations were crushed
  3. N2 purged elected boards of liberals; dismissed attempts to create an 'All-Zemstva Organisation in 1896. Not suited to being an autocrat, failed to develop any domestic policy porgrammes, increased repression, ignored disturbances; autocracy was out of date yet he fantatised about absolute power, feeble
2. Russification
  1. Official policy under A3&N2
3. Red Cockerel
  1. Peasants set fire to landlord's barns, destroyed grain or attacked landlords
  2. Industrial strikes in towns, police-sponsored trade unions set up to prevent workers joining radical socialists

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Political Reaction, 1881-1904

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