AQA: Tsarist Russia 1855-1917: Alexander III

AQA: Tsarist Russia 1855-1917: Alexander III

1. Reaction

   • 1889- Land Captains introduced
     • Nobles
     • Could override the Zemstva and Mir
   • Police
     • Okhrana introduced
       • Could use torture and execute without trial
       • Any suspect of opposition meant arrest without trial
   • Economic
     • Bread prices kept down during good harvests
     • Indirect taxes increreased
       • Hurt peasants
     • Grain exports increased
       • 1891 Famine

2. Opposition

   • Overcame?
     • Yes
       • Rounded up 150 opposition members
         • Hanged 5
         • Raided meeting places
       • Police given more powers
       • Russification
     • No
       • Liberal opp not dealt with as harshly
         • Liberal opposition grew
       • 1904 war lead to more reason for opposition
       • Demand for Liberal reform in Zemstva
   • Reasons for
     • Industrialisation made Marxist ideas more attractive
     • 1891 Famine
       • Made Liberals more politicised
   • Main groups
     • The Populists
       • 1886- People's Will reformed
       • 1887- some arrested for planning assassination on Alex III
         • 5 people hanged
     • SDs
       • 1903- Split
         • Mensheviks
           • Wanted to work with Liberals
           • Wanted a broad party with mass working class membership
         • Bolsheviks
           • Led by Lenin
           • Disciplined organisation led by professionals
           • Said Bourgeoisie and Proletariat revolutions could happen together
       • Freedom based on class struggle with the working class
     • SRs
       • Large peasant membership
         • 50% urban working class
       • Tried to stir up discontent in countryside
     • The Liberals
       • Wanted reforms not revolution
       • Zemstva's work during famine made them want to have more of a say nationally

3. Reforms

   • First Russian Labour laws
     • Legislation on workers rights
   • Bunge reduced redemption payments
   • 1883 Peasant Land Bank
   • 1885 Nobles Land Bank

4. Personal Life

   • Autocracy, Orthodoxy and Nationalism
   • Father murdered by People's Will
     • 1881
   • Tutored by Popadonastev
     • Hated Jews
     • Favoured autocracy and repression

5. Russification

   • Supported by Nobles who wanted order
   • Wanted everyone in the Russian Empire to speak Russian
   • Pogroms broke out in 1881
     • Laws brought in to discriminate against Jews
       • 1882- Jews sent to Pale of Settlement
   • Poland was the worst hit area
   • Many people effected joined opposition groups
   • Some appeal to Russians but mainly destructive