Alexander III

1882 Statute on Police Settlement

Drastically expanded the role of the secret police

Any area of the Empire could be deemed an area of subversion and the police had almost unlimited power over who to arrest and the actions they took

Zemstva Act 1890

Peasant vote was reduced and the zemstva was placed under government control (Ministry of the Interior)

Provincial governors could veto and amend their decisions

Generally, central government interfered with or stifled local initiatives

Still continued with their programmes of improvement (buildings roads and hospitals)

Opposition

June 1888: Department of Police estimated 332 cases of mass disturbance in 61 of Russia’s 92 provinces and districts

In 51 cases the military was involved

Georgi Plekhanov

1883 - established the Emancipation of Labour group, which translated and smuggled Marxist texts into Russia

Encouraged proletarian cooperation with the bourgeoisie in order to overthrow autocracy

People’s Will

1886 - a group of St. Petersburg students tried to reform People’s Will

Famine, 1891-92

Marked a significant point in the growth of opposition as the government failed to provide adequate relief - 13 million of 35 million affected got aid from the government

Leo Tolstoy set up a soup kitchen

Zemstva stepped in to improve conditions and intelligentsia demanded a greater role in public affairs

Hit 17 of the 39 provinces and 400,000 peasants died, many from a simultaneous cholera epidemic

Coal production

By 1894, coal production had increased by 400 poods from 1860

Railway

By 1885, there was 632km of railway constructed

Urban migration

By 1890, 2/3 of St Petersburg inhabitants were not born there; number even higher in Moscow

Grain production

Grew by 2.1% annually from 1883

Redemption payments

May 1881 - redemption payments and arrears were cancelled in central provinces

Taxation

May 1885 - poll tax was abolished and inheritance tax introduced, shifting the burden of taxation from the lower classes

Poll tax had previously brought in 60 million rubles during the 1870s

Peasants Land Bank 1883

Only helped in 20% of peasant land purchases

Designed to facilitate peasants buying land

Tariffs

Increased in 1891 to 30% on raw goods (introduced in 1878)

Vyshnegradsky

Negotiated French loans

Increased indirect taxes on consumer goods and raised tariffs even more than Bunge had

Pushed the collection of redemption payments, increasing the financial burden on peasants

Manifesto of Unshakeable Autocracy

29 April 1881

Reaffirmed the control of the autocratic government

Alexander III’s brother forced 20,000 Jews from Moscow during the Passover and closed down a newly built synagogue

37,000 Lutherans converted to Orthodoxy during Alexander III’s reign

Nobles’ Land Bank

Established in 1885 to lend money to nobles at low interest rates to pay off debts or invest in land

Working conditions

Law passed to restrict child labour, limit working hours for women at night, reduce fines for workers and to provide compulsory education for younger factory children

Repression

Following the assassination of Alexander II, a nationwide police offensive led to 10,000 arrests and emergency measures of that year saw a crackdown on anybody with terrorist or revolutionary activities

Okhrana

Recruited thousands of informers and agents who penetrated revolutionary groups to uncover terrorist conspiracies and sow confusion

Many masqueraded as cab drivers to listen in to conversations; most post offices had a room where mail was read

Thousands suspected of being a danger to the state, many innocent, were arrested and sent into exile

Georgii Sudeiken

1881 - given responsibility for maintaining order in St Petersburg, recruiting agents to gain information about potential attacks

In 1882, he turned a prominent member of People’s Will, Sergei Dagaev, into a spy, but he was soon found out and ordered to kill Sudeiken, which he did

Political unrest

Every terrorist act was followed by a wave of arrests

Public revulsion from public following the assassination of the Tsar

More plots were uncovered by the Okhrana

Lenin’s brother

1887

Alexander Ulyanov, Lenin’s brother, and four others were hanged for a plot to assassinate the Tsar

National minorities

Ethnic Russians made up around half of the population

Judicial re-reforms

Court martials were used to try sensitive cases to avoid publicity

Minister of Justice could order a trial to be held in private

Crimes against the state could be heard in special courts without a jury

Judges lost their security of tenure and many were appointed directly from the Ministry of Justice

Huge centralisation of power

Witte’s industrial strategy

State-sponsored development of heavy industry

Foreign loans, investment and expertise

High tariffs on foreign industrial goods

Strong rouble, adoption of gold standard

Raised taxation rates

Exports of grain

Outcome of Witte’s strategy

Coal output tripled

Production of cotton cloth increased by 2/3s

Production of iron and steel rose from 9 to 76 million poods a year

Pobedonostsev

Tutor to both Alexander III and Nicholas II

Extremely antisemitic, encouraging pogroms

Made Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod in 1880, giving him significant influence over the Church, education and social matters

Called representative democracy ‘the greatest lie of our time’

Institutional weaknesses

Ministers and departments did not work with each other or even necessarily consult each other

Shortage of finance to pay for the reforms

Machinations and manoeuvring at the higher levels of the bureaucracy - deputies schemed to depose superiors

August 1881

Governors could expel people from their home province, close businesses, search homes etc. without any appeal

View of his father’s reforms

‘ill-advised, tantamount to revolution and pushing Russia on to the wrong road’

1881 Statute of State Security

Most remained in force until 1917, despite supposedly being temporary

Prohibited gatherings of more than 12 people

Prosecute any individual for political crimes

Introduce emergency police rule where public order was threatened

Set up special courts outside of the legal system

Close schools, universities and newspapers

Land Captains

Government appointed officials who had direct control over the peasants and village communes

Could overrule district courts and there was no option for appeal

Deeply resented by the peasants

University Statute 1884

Reduced the autonomy of universities and student freedom

Staff were appointed by the Minister of Education

Education

Church was given more control over primary education

University courses for women were closed

Fees in secondary schools were raised

Censorship

Publications which criticised the regime could be suspended and editors banned from publishing anything else

1892 Municipal Government Act

Drastically cut the number of people eligible to vote

In Moscow and St. Petersburg, only 0.7% of the population could vote

Russification

Forced conversion of 100,000 Muslim Tartars (many subsequently converted back to Islam)

Poland

Polish language was prohibited in schools and colleges - even railway announcements were in Russian

Russians took top government and business jobs in Poland

Many Poles joined revolutionary groups

Ukraine

Most of the elites were Russian, Jewish, German or Polish

Made up the second largest ethnic group and produced a good deal of grain

Cossacks loyal to Tsar

Publication of books in Ukrainian and use of Ukrainian in theatres prohibited

Jews

5 million; Pale of Settlement

Most lived in poverty

Both Alexander III and Pobedonostsev encouraged pogroms

Restrictions on Jews

Not allowed to own their own property and land

Could not hold government office, run schools, or appeal against a court sentence

Could be deported if they lived outside the Pale - 1891, Jews deported from Moscow

Not allowed in legal, military or medical professions

Restrictions on entrance to university and secondary school

Denied vote in zemstva and municipal elections

Forced to sell businesses and their rights to trade or sell products were restricted

Response to antisemitism

Mass immigration

Significant part of the Russian intelligentsia and were attracted by socialism and Marxism

1897 - Jews formed their own ‘Bund’ or union which played a role in the development of social democratic movement

Disproportionately represented in leading members of the Bolshevik Party: Trotsky, Martov, Zinoviev and Kamenev

1882 Statute on Police Surveillance

Any area of the Empire could be deemed an ‘area of subversion’ and police could take any actions they felt necessary

Famine, 1891-92

Half a million people died and the govt. bureaucracy had proved totally incompetent in its handling of the famine and continued to export grain while peasants starved

Government gave aid to 13 million peasants of 35 million affected

Students

Involvement in illegal political movements continued

Taxes

May 1881 - redemption payments reduced

May 1885 - poll tax abolished and inheritance tax introduced - brought in 60 million rubles annually during the 1870s

Grain production

Grew annually by 2.1%

Bunge

Consolidated banking system and founded the Peasants Land Bank

Duties of 30% of the value of raw materials

Spearheaded the first Russian labour laws

Unable to overcome the budget deficit due to continued problems to state capital so resigned

Indirect levies

Vyshnegradsky

Increased indirect taxes on consumer goods and raised tariffs and imports even more than Bunge

Negotiated French loans

Russian gold reserves almost doubled

Forced to resign because of the famine

Literacy rates

Lower than 20%