REPRESSION (1855–1917)

secret police under Alexander ii

• ★ Third Section (founded 1826) remained central to surveillance.

• Monitored universities, radicals, minorities, and peasant unrest.

• ★ Used “agenturnaya rabota” (agent networks) inside student circles.

• After 1866: Third Section expanded; more informants placed in universities and zemstva.

PURGES / TARGETED CRACKDOWNS under Alexander ii

• No mass purges, but targeted repression after radical activity.

• ★ After 1866 Karakozov attempt, purge of liberal professors (e.g., Timofey Granovsky’s circle).

• Crackdown on Chaikovsky Circle (1873): 770 arrests.

enthnic minorities under Alexander ii

• Polish Uprising (1863–64):

  • 80,000 deported to Siberia.

  • Polish language banned in schools.

  • Catholic monasteries closed.

  • Land confiscated from Polish nobles.

• Jews restricted to Pale of Settlement; quotas in universities.

IDEOLOGICAL RESTRICTIONS under Alexander ii

• Official doctrine: Autocracy, Orthodoxy, Nationality.

• Radical literature banned; socialist texts confiscated.

• Polish nationalism suppressed as ideological threat.

• Writers like Chernyshevsky exiled.

secret police under Alexander iii

• Okhrana massively expanded; HQ at Gorokhovaya Street.

• Used agents provocateurs to infiltrate revolutionary groups.

• Surveillance extended to factories, universities, and minority regions

purges and targeted crackdowns under Alexander iii

• People’s Will crushed (1881–83): leaders executed or exiled.

• Purges of liberal zemstvo members after 1890 Zemstvo Act.

• University purges after 1884 Statute.

ethnic minorities under Alexander iii

• Russification at its peak:

  • Russian language imposed in courts, schools, administration.

  • Forced conversions: 8,500 Muslims, 50,000 pagans, 40,000 Catholics/Lutherans.

• ★ May Laws (1882):

  • Jews restricted to Pale.

  • Banned from rural areas.

  • Property + business restrictions.

• Armenian Church property seized (1885).

• Finnish autonomy restricted.

group by group repression under Alexander the iii

Peasants

• ★ Land Captains (1889):

  • Could whip, fine, imprison, exile peasants.

  • Replaced elected justices of the peace.

Workers

• Strikes illegal; police surveillance in factories.

• Morozov strike (1885) suppressed.

Students

• ★ Meetings >5 banned (1884).

• Universities placed under police control.

Liberals

• Zemstva restricted; governors could veto decisions

Nicholas ii secret police

• Okhrana at its peak:

  • Infiltrated Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, SRs.

  • Agent Roman Malinovsky sat on Bolshevik Central Committee while reporting to Okhrana.

• Extensive surveillance of factories, unions, universities.

• Police photography + fingerprinting introduced.

purges and crackdowns under Nicholas

• Stolypin’s field courts‑martial (1906–07):

  • 24–48 hour trials.

  • No defence.

  • 3,000+ executed (“Stolypin’s neckties”).

  • 60,000 exiled.

• Purges of radical Duma deputies after 1907 coup.

• Crackdown on Soviets (1905, 1906).

ethnic minorities under Nicholas ii

• Pogroms (1903–06):

  • 690 towns affected.

  • 3,000+ Jews killed.

• Poland:

  • 93,000 workers on strike in Łódź (1905).

  • Russification intensified.

• Finland:

  • Governor‑General Bobrikov assassinated (1904).

  • Autonomy restricted.

• Muslims + Armenians monitored; suspicion during WW1.

group by group repression under Nicholas ii

Workers

• ★ Lena Goldfields massacre (1912): 270 killed → 3,500 strikes.

• Strikes broken by troops; leaders arrested.

Peasants

• ★ Years of the Red Cockerel (1902–07):

  • Thousands of estates burned.

  • Black Earth region epicentre.

  • Troops + field courts used.

Liberals

• First two Dumas dissolved.

• Vyborg Manifesto signatories banned from politics.

Revolutionaries

• Bolsheviks + SRs infiltrated; leaders exiled.

• Soviets suppressed.

Soldiers

• Mutinies punished harshly (e.g., Sveaborg 1906).