Russian society

Living Conditions under Alexander II

• Former serfs often became worse off due to redemption payments and land shortages.
  Document quote: “2/3 of former serfs in the Tambov region were unable to feed the household without falling into debt.”

• Only 50% of peasants produced a surplus by 1878, showing persistent rural poverty.

• Life expectancy extremely low — average peasant life expectancy was 27 (vs 45 in the UK).

• Restrictions on travel and “temporary obligations” kept peasants tied to landlords for years.

• Emancipation (1861): serfs freed but tied to 49‑year redemption payments.

• Temporary obligation for 2 years; 15% still temporarily obligated until 1881.

• urban life Rapid migration to towns; 1/3 of St Petersburg residents were peasants by birth (1864).

living conditions Alexander III

• Continued rural poverty; land captains imposed harsh discipline.

• Russification increased pressure on minorities; forced conversions (e.g., Muslims, pagans).

• Industrial workforce still small but growing; reforms 1882–90 regulated child labour, reduced fines, introduced inspectors — minimal real improvement.

Nicholas II living conditions

• Urban population quadrupled (7m → 28m).

• ¾ of St Petersburg residents peasants by birth.

• Housing overcrowded; 40% of St Petersburg homes lacked running water/sewage.

• 30,000 died of cholera (1908–09).

• Rents = half a worker’s wage.

• Wages rose from 245 → 264 roubles (pre‑1914) but inflation 40%, so real wages fell.

• Cost of living ↑ 300%.

working conditions Alexander II

• Military reforms improved literacy (army campaigns 1870s–90s).

• Early industrial workers faced long hours, low pay, poor safety.

• Strikes illegal; political meetings banned.

Alexander III working conditions

• 1882–90 labour reforms:

  • Child labour regulated.

  • Working hours reduced slightly.

  • Excessive fines limited.

  • Factory inspectors appointed.

• 33 strikes per year (1886–94) despite illegality.

• Conditions still harsh; wages low; overcrowded barracks common.

Nicholas III working conditions

• Factory workforce: 2m (1900) → 6m (1913).

• Workshops (more common than factories) not covered by 10‑hour limit.

• Overcrowded, unsanitary, unsafe workplaces.Normal factory day reduced to 10 hours by 1914 (not universal).

• Workshops often exceeded this.

• Lena Goldfields massacre (1912) radicalised workers.

• Kulaks employed labourers; poorer peasants fell into debt.

education Alexander II

• ★ Universities gained autonomy and could appoint their own staff.

• ★ Responsibility for schooling transferred from the Orthodox Church to the zemstva.

• ★ Primary and secondary education expanded, including new “modern schools” for non‑classical education.

• ★ Schools declared open to all classes and sexes; women allowed into secondary education from 1870.

• ★ Educational provision grew markedly, but university independence increased radical/militant student activity.

• ★ After 1866 assassination attempt, government reasserted control over universities.

education Alexander III

• ★ Delyanov’s University Statute (1884): appointments based on religious, moral, patriotic criteria, not academic merit.

• ★ Universities closed to women.

• ★ Students forbidden to meet in groups larger than 5.

• ★ Children of the lowest classes restricted to primary education only.

• ★ By 1897 only 21% of the population was literate.

• ★ Church regained control over rural schools; curriculum made more traditional.

• ★ Failure to prevent student involvement in illegal political movements.

education under Nicholas II

• 85% rise in primary school provision (1905–1914).

• ★ Yet only 55% of children were in full‑time education by 1914.

• ★ 60% countryside illiteracy in 1914.

• ★ Secondary education remained elitist; only 30,000 peasant children in secondary schools by 1911.

• ★ University students increased from 5,000 (1860) → 69,000 (1914), with 45% women.

• ★ Growth of professional classes: number of doctors rose from 17,000 → 28,000 (1897–1914).

• ★ Government spending on primary education rose from 5 million roubles (1896) → 82 million (1914).

Religion under Alexander II

• ★ 70% of the population subscribed to the Orthodox Church — central to peasant identity.

• Priests acted as state agents: reading imperial decrees, keeping statistics, reporting suspicious behaviour

• Some persecution of radical sects (e.g., Old Believers), but less intense than under Alexander III.

religion under Alexander III

• Alexander III used Russification to promote Orthodoxy across the empire.

• ★ Forced conversions:

  • up to 100,000Muslims

  • 50,000 pagans

  • 40,000 Catholics & Lutheransin (Poland/Baltics)★

  •  This was often prompted by "land and benefits" incentives offered to Orthodox peasants, rather than direct physical force

    • from 1883, non‑Orthodox groups could not:Build new places of worship

    • Wear religious dress outside their meeting place

    • Spread religious propaganda

  • ★ Church given increased control over primary education.

  This period = aggressive religious repression + strengthening of Orthodoxy.

religion under Nicholas II

• Orthodoxy remained dominant, especially in rural areas.

• Loyalty to Tsar and Church remained strong among peasants up to 1917.

• ★ Nicholas II did not reverse Alexander III’s religious repression — he maintained it.

• ★ The Church remained a pillar of autocracy, limiting religious freedom.

women under Alexander II

• ★ Schools were opened to all classes and sexes under Alexander II’s reforms.

• ★ Women were allowed into secondary education from 1870.

• Women began entering teaching and mid‑level professions, but in small numbers.

• Patriarchal norms remained dominant; women’s legal rights unchanged.

• no political rights or major social freedoms.

women under Alexander III

• Universities were closed to women under the 1884 Statute.

• ★ Lower‑class children (including girls) were restricted to primary education only.

• Alexander III reversed many of Alexander II’s openings — this is a clear continuity of repression

women under Nicholas II

• ★ Women made up 1/5 of the industrial workforce in 1885, rising to 1/3 by 1914.

• ★ Women earned less than half the average male industrial wage.

• Many women worked in textiles, domestic service, and low‑paid factory roles.

• y 1914, 45% of university students were women (huge expansion).

• ★ But secondary education remained elitist; only 30,000 peasant children (boys + girls) in secondary schools by 1911.

• Women increasingly involved in professions:

  • Number of doctors rose from 17,000 → 28,000 (1897–1914).

  • Growth in teachers, administrators, and nurses.v

  • ★ Women participated in strikes (e.g., February 1917 began with women textile workers).

  • By 1917, women were politically conscious, economically essential, but still legally restricted

youth under Alexander II

• Increased access to education → growth of nihilist and revolutionary youth circles (from your text: “university independence increased radical/militant student activity”).

• Alexander II’s reforms unintentionally created the first generation of politically active youth.

• Universities gained autonomy → rise in radical student groups.

• After 1866 assassination attempt, state reasserted control over universities.

youth under Alexander III

1884 Statute: students forbidden to meet in groups larger than five.

• Lower‑class children restricted to primary education only.

• Church strengthened control over schooling → more conservative youth upbringing.

• Alexander III’s policies aimed to de‑politicise youth and reverse the radicalisation seen under Alexander II.

youth under Nicholas II

oung workers lived in overcrowded barracks, faced poor sanitation, and were exposed to radical ideas.★

Primary schooling ↑ 85% (1905–14), but only 55% of children in full‑time education by 1914.

• ★ 60% countryside illiteracy (1914).

• Secondary education remained elitist; only 30,000 peasant children in secondary schools by 1911.

• University students ↑ from 5,000 → 69,000 by 1914 (45% women).

• Youth increasingly involved in strikes and political activism (e.g., 1912 Lena Goldfields → radicalisation).

• Growth of reading, newspapers, and mass literature → youth exposed to new ideas.

• 1767 newspapers published weekly by 1914

• By 1917, youth were the most politically volatile group, central to revolutionary mobilisation.

national minorities under Alexander II

• lexander II was less repressive than his successors, but minorities were still monitored and controlled.

• Orthodox Church remained dominant; minority faiths faced discrimination.

• Ukrainian Uniate Church and Armenian Church faced pressure from the state.

• Alexander II did not pursue systematic Russification, but minorities still faced religious and cultural restrictions.

national minorities under Alexander III

• Alexander III used Russification to impose Russian language, culture, and Orthodoxy across the empire.

• ★ Forced conversions under Russification:

  • 8,500 Muslims

  • 50,000 pagans

  • 40,000 Catholics & Lutherans (Poland & Baltic provinces)

• ★ In Central Asia & Siberia, enforced baptisms took place.

• From 1883, non‑Orthodox groups were banned from:

  • Building new places of worship

  • Wearing religious dress outside their meeting place

  • Spreading religious propaganda

  • Ukrainian Uniate Church persecuted.

  • Armenian Church persecuted.

  • Muslims faced land seizures and forced conversions.

  olish Catholic institutions were restricted from building churches or spreading their faith.

  • ★ Alexander III’s Russification = systematic cultural repression, especially of Poles, Baltic peoples, Jews, Muslims, and non‑Orthodox Christians.

class/social structure, under Alexander II

80–90% of the population were peasants

1861 Emancipation created kulaks and poor peasants, widening inequality.

 Life expectancy lower class was under 30 for men and 32 fo

ome nobles sold land to pay debts; others modernised farms

Growth of education and zemstva created new professional roles.

Alexander II’s reforms shifted but did not break the old class hierarchy.

class and social structure under Alexander III

• Peasants remained the largest class; rural poverty persisted.

• Land Captains imposed harsh discipline over villages.

• Former state peasants generally better off than privately emancipated serfs.

• Nobility regained political dominance through reactionary policies.

• Continued to dominate zemstva and local government.

• 1882–90 labour reforms introduced inspectors, reduced fines, regulated child labour — but limited impact.

class and social structure under Nicholas II

• Kulaks bought out poorer peasants, widening inequality.

• Only 3.5 million emigrated to Siberia out of 97 million peasants.

• Mortality rates remained the highest in Europe.

• Urban population quadrupled (7m → 28m).

• Housing overcrowded; 40% of homes lacked running water/sewage.

• Middle class became more politically aware and critical of autocrac

• nobility Still influential but declining economically.

• Many nobles sold land; others moved into business or government roles.

censorship, freedoms under Alexander II

• Alexander II introduced limited relaxation of censorship in the early reform era.

• Growth in publications: journals, books, newspapers increased.

• More freedom for discussion of social issues.

• After the 1866 assassination attempt, censorship tightened again.

• Government reasserted control over universities and the press.

• Radical writings increasingly restricted.

• Alexander II allowed the greatest freedom of expression of any Tsar before 1905 — but it was never secure and was reversed after 1866.

censorship, freedoms under Alexander III

• 1882 Temporary Regulations (from your document):

  • Government could close newspapers.

  • Editors and publishers could receive lifetime bans.

• All publications subject to strict pre‑publication censorship.

• Political meetings forbidden.

• Strikes illegal.

• Travel abroad restricted.

censorship, freedoms under Nicholas ii

• Censorship remained tight.

• Political meetings and organisations restricted.

• Police surveillance widespread

• october Manifesto promised:

  • Freedom of speech

  • Freedom of assembly

  • Freedom of association

  • Freedom of conscience

  • Fundamental Laws (1906) reasserted Tsar’s autocratic power.

  • Press restrictions re‑imposed.

  • Newspapers forbidden from reporting defeats, shortages, or criticism of the regime.

repression under Alexander ii

• Some relaxation of censorship and policing in early 1860s.

• Zemstva created limited local self‑government.

• Third Section (secret police) monitored radicals and students.

• Priests acted as state informants, reporting suspicious behaviour.

• After 1866, police surveillance intensified.

• Thousands of radicals, students, and dissidents were exiled to Siberia.

• Exile used as a primary punishment for political crimes.

repression under Alexander iii

• Okhrana expanded; infiltrated revolutionary groups.

• Use of agents provocateurs to entrap radicals.

• Could whip, fine, arrest, and exile peasants without trial.

• Troops used to crush strikes and peasant unrest.

• Martial law declared in several regions.

repression under Nicholas ii

• nfiltration of parties (e.g., Social Democrats, SRs).

• Interrogation, torture, and imprisonment of suspects.

• Stolypin’s Field Courts‑Martial (1906–1907)

  • Set up to deal with terrorism and peasant unrest.

  • Trials lasted 24–48 hours.

  • No defence lawyers.

  • Sentences carried out within 24 hours.

  • Over 3,000 people executed by these courts (★ essential statistic).

  • Thousands more exiled to Siberia.

  • Repression of Peasant Revolts

    • Villages burned.

    • Collective fines imposed.

    • Suspected rebels executed or deported.

cultural florishment under Alexander ii

Relaxation of censorship in early 1860s allowed growth in journals, books, newspapers.

• ntellectual life flourished: more debate, more publications, more public engagement.

• BUT After 1866 Radical writings restricted.

• Alexander II’s era saw the first major opening of cultural space, but it was never secure and was reversed after 1866.

cultural florishment under Nicholas ii

• Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes offered new and shocking challenges to convention.

• Russian culture broadened and diversified by 1914.

• Growth of mass literature: 1767 newspapers published weekly by 1914.

• Urbanisation created new cultural audiences (workers, migrants, youth).

• 1913 Romanov tercentenary celebrated with traditional jubilee rituals.

• Nicholas toured empire to jubilant, obsequious crowds, reinforcing autocratic cultural imagery.

• Nicholas returned convinced that “my people love me.”