Imperial Russia: What did Russia look like prior to revolution?

Context of Imperial Russia

Russia ruled under the tsarist regime (Romanovs)

Key Characteristics of Imperial Russia

• 8000km east-west & 3000km north-south
• Population growth

Population Milestones

• 1815: 40 million people
• 1897: 126 million people
• 1910: 161 million people
• 60 different recognised nationalities

Governing of Russia

• Autocratic regime, all power was held by the tsar
• Tsar advised by State Council of members appointed by the tsar
• Tsar also had a committee of ministers in charge of departments
• Major weakness was that the direction of its policies and the confidence of its authority depended on the character of the tsar
• Orlando Figes: "The undergoverning of the localities was in fact the system's main weakness"
• Huge military force, largest in all of Europe
• Huge navy
• Two police forces
• Regular police for law and order
• Okhrana for agitators and political crimes

Social Classes in Imperial Russia

• Ruling class made up 0.5% of population
• Tsar, royal family, high-ranking members of government
• Very wealthy and devoted to the tsarist regime
• Upper class made up 12% of population
• Gentry or nobility, very wealthy, often part of the Church
• Strong belief in tsarist regime
• Middle class made up 1.5% of population
• Commercial class/bourgeoisie, professional
• Good standard of living, intellectuals from this class helped organise revolutionaries
• Working class made up 4% of population
• Factory workers, proletariat
• Terrible working conditions, only two peaces of legislation prohibiting night-time employment of women and children and restricting working day to 11.5 hours
• Supported Marxism and Leninism- Peasants made up 82% of the population
• Used to be slaves, still under bad conditions, lived on the brink of starvation, sickness spread quickly
• Most likely against tsarist regime

Key Events & People

Famine Crisis of the 1890s

• Russia hit by famine followed by cholera and typhus outbreak, killing 400,000 by 1893

Significance of the Famine Crisis

• Created tension between government and people due to slow and ineffective response
• Disillusioned intellectuals with tsarist regime
• Leon Trotsky: peasants were "snatched from the plow and hurled straight into the factory furnace"

Tsar Nicholas II

• Assumed the throne earlier than expected: "I am not prepared to be a tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling."
• Married Princess Alexandra, who had German heritage
• Many hoped he would bring about reforms in Russia, but he committed to upholding "the principle of autocracy as firmly and undeviatingly as did my late father"

Khodynka Field Tragedy

• Coronation celebrations for Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra held on 14th May 1896 at Khodynka Field
• Rumours of food and gift shortages caused mass panic and stampedes, killing 1300 people and injuring up to 20,000 more
• Nicholas and Alexadra attended a celbratory ball at the French Embassy upon hearing the news, earning Nicholas the name 'Nicholas the Bloody'

Important Ideologies

Marxism

• Entirely theoretical
• Based on class conflict
• Historical materialism: Primitive communism -> Ancient societies -> Feudalism -> Capitalism -> Socialism -> Communism
• Revolution is inevitable, socialist revolution would come when the proletariat spontaneously developed and acted upon their revolutionary consciousness

Leninism

• Took Marx's theories and applied them practically in a Russian context
• Rather than being led by workers, revolution should be led by a vanguard party of professional revolutionaries
• Democratic centralism: Party needs to operate like a military organisation- Stages of Capitalism: Lenin argued that development of capitalist imperialism would lead to worldwide war in which class conflic would become acute, providing conditions for revolution
• Dictatorship of the Proletariat: After revolution, Bolsheviks would need to establish an authoritarian socialist workers' state to crush inevitable resistance of the bourgeoisie while representing the proletariat

Historical Interpretations

Orlando Figes: "Nicholas was the source of all the problems ... incapable of exercising power." Robert Service: "The Russian Empire was deeply fissured between teh government and the tsar's subjects." Leon Trotsky: "Nicholas II inherited form his ancestors not only a giant empire, but also a revolution."

The 1905 Revolution: Why did the 1905 Revolution occur and how did it affect society?

Context of the 1905 Revolution

A series of anti-government protests broke out after Bloody Sunday massacre at the same time Russia suffered humiliating defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). To prevent revolution, Tsar Nicholas II published the COtober Manifesto (17 October 1905) promising democratic reforms.

Causes of the 1905 Revolution

Increased Industrialisation

• Sergei Witte, Minister of Finance initiated a program of rapid industrialisation known as the Great Spurt
• In 1881 construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began, design to connect isolated central Russia and resource-rich eastern Russia with industrial centres in the west
• Not completed until 1916
• Wittes reformed significantly developed Russian industry, but also:
• Relied on foreign investments
• Developed heavy industry but made little for Russian consumers
• Failed to improve the livelihoods of workers and peasants
• Led to high interest rates, rising prices, and increased taxes on goods
• Famine crisis and poverty caused many peasants to move to industrial centres (labour force tripled between 1860 and 1905)
• Terrible conditions increased social tensions, causing an increase in strikes from 19 in 1893 to 522 in 1902

Russo-Japanese War

• Russia had a lease on Port Arthur in China, wanted Manchuria to extend the Trans-Siberian Railway
• Russia and Japan both wanted control of Manchuria in north-east China, Russia didn't want to negotiate and many government figures thought a war would help stem the revolution
• Japan suprise attacked Russian fleet at Port Arthur on 8 February 1904, starting Russo-Japanese War
• Russia surrenders Port Arthur on 2 January 1905 after losing 31,000 men in defence of the port
• Also lose Manchuria to Japan
• Battle of Mukden (11 - 25 February 1905)
• Russia loses 90,000 men and surrenders
• Battle of Tsushima (14 - 15 May 1905)
• Baltic Fleet leaves St Petersburg to end siege on Port Arthur, takes 7 months to arrive
• Russia loses all battleships and over 10,000 men compared to Japan's 117 men
• Treaty of Portsmouth signed 23 August 1905
• Discontent grows in Russia due to humiliation, helping create conditions for revolution by late 1905

Bloody Sunday

• Strike of 120,000 workers in December 1904
• On Sunday 9 January 1905, Father Georgi Gapon leads a peaceful procession to present workers' grievances in a petition to the Tsar
• Soliders had been deployed to prevent the march from reaching the Winter Palace, officers shouted at workers to disperse but the march continued, resulting in shots fired into the crowds
• Around 200 killed and 400 injured, including women and children
• Nicholas was not in St Petersburg on Bloody Sunday and he didn't order troops to fire but was still seen as reponsible because he was the Tsar and had absolute power

Effects of the 1905 Revolution

Effects on Workers

• Over 400,000 workers on strike in St Petersburg by late January, industrial action in every major city

Effects on Peasants

• Unrest in countryside, peasants defied local officials, refused to pay taxes, seized crops oflandowners, plundered estates, and burned down manor houses

Effects on Students

• Uni campuses became "centres of political agitation" (Figes)
• Red flags hung around campuses, portrait of the Tsar burned- March 1905, government ordered all educational institutions to be closed for the rest of the year

Effects on Soldiers and Sailors

• Poor conditions/War weariness led to discontent
• 14 June 1905: Battleship Potemkin mutiny, sailors turned on their officers after being served rotten meat

Effects on Liberals

• Union of Liberations and Union of Unions were groups of professional middle class and intellectuals demanding universal right to vote and representative democracy

1905 Revolution Events

• Strikes and demonstrations led by revolutionary groups (SRs, Mensheviks, Bosheviks)
• SRs carried out terror attacks (eg. killing Tsar's uncle in February)
• 13 October 1905: St Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies founded and led mostly by Mensheviks
• Soviets began springing up in other cities
• 14 October 1905: Soviet called for nationwide general strike
• Strike numbered at least 1.5 million people

October Manifesto

• Witte advised significant reform to stop collapse of tsarist regime
• Witte drafted October Manifesto, outlining proposed reforms, which were accepted by Nicholas on 17 October 1905 and proclaimed
• Three major reforms:
• Freedom of speech, assembly, and association
• Creation of an elected and legislative parliament known as the Duma
• Agreement that all state laws must pass through the Duma

Historical Interpretations of 1905

Leon Trotksy "The events of 1905 were a prologue to the two revolutions of 1917" "The Russo-Japanese War had made tsarism totter" "The liberal bourgeoisie had frightened teh monarchy with its opposition" "Workers organised independently into soviets" "Peasant uprisings to seize the land occurred thorughout vast stretches of the country" "Although with a few broken ribs, tsarism came out of the experience of 1905 alive and strong enough"

Reform and Repression: What were the effects of the October Manifesto and 1905 on Russian society?

Context of Reform and Repression

Tsar was forced to allow greater freedoms to Russians after October Manifesto. Political parties emerged and democratic State Duma elected. Contrary to his promise, Tsar Nicholas managed to suppress rebels and revolutionaries and limited the power of the Duma.

Emerging Political Parties

Bolsheviks

• Established 1903
• Members were radical intelligentsia and proletariat workers
• Led by Vladimir Lenin
• Followed Marxism and Leninism
• Believed that workers are the key revolutionary class

Mensheviks

• Established 1903
• Members were radical intelligentsia and proletariat workers
• Led by Leon Trotsky (until 1917) and Yuri Martov
• Had a more democratic structure and open membership criteria
• Believed in capitalist democracy/bourgeoisie revolution must come before proletarian-socialist revolution

Socialist Revolutionaries

• Emerged from 1870s populist movement, formally establisehd 1902
• Members mostly peasants with some proletariat workers
• Led by Viktor Chernov and Alexander Kerensky
• Radical socialist party, believed that peasants and workers were the key revolutionary classes
• Wanted land redistribution and better working conditions
• Some members supported use of terrorism and assasinations
• Ideological and tactical disagreements led to disunity and a number of factions

Octoberists

• Founded October 1905
• Members were industrialists and nobles as well as conservatives loyal to the Tsar
• Led by Mikhail Rodzianko
• Accepted constitutional monarchy based on reforms of the October Manifesto
• Worked with tsarist regime as Duma representatives

Kadets

• Founded October 1905
• Members were progressive landlords, entrepreneurs, and professional middle class
• Led by Pavel Miliukov
• Progressive liberal beliefs