The nature, extent and effectiveness of opposition before 1917

OCR History A Level Russia and its rulers

Name some of the parties that emerged before 1917

The populists, land and liberty, the people's will, the SDs, SRs, the Kadets and the octobrists

Who were the Populists?

Russian intellectuals who attempted to challenge tsarist policy in the late nineteenth century. They aimed to educate peasants and promote a popular form of socialism

What was Land and Liberty 1876

A secret revolutionary organisation that aimed for freedom from landowners

What was the People's Will?

Was a group of reformers that became terrorists, and successfully assassinated Alexander II in March of 1881 by throwing bombs into his carriage.

Who were the SDs

Those who belonged to the all Russian social democratic workers party, founded in 1898

Who were the SRs?

Socialist revolutionaries who grew out of the populist movement. They had greater interest in the urban proletariat, founded in 1901

Who were the Kadets?

Constitutional Democrats, a liberal political group founded in 1905

Who were the Octobrists?

Supporters of tsar Nicholas II and particular his proposals made in the October manifesto

Who was Plekhanov?

A highly respected populists and a member of Black repartition who was one of the first to be converted to Marxism

Who was Lenin?

Leader of the Bolsheviks originally an SD

Who was Struve?

A legal Marxists who preached Marxism, however he later changed to become a kadet and then a white during the civil war

Who was Milyukov?

Originally the founder of the kadets and later the minister of foreign policy with the provisional government

What caused peasant riots pre 1917

Dissatisfaction with land allocations, redemption payments and food shortages

What were the urban proletariat

The urban workers who were becoming more politically conscious

How did education change the urban proletariat

They became more aware of the politics which increased strikes and protest meetings

What triggered a wave of sympathy strikes in the early 1900s

Bloody Sunday and the Lena goldfields strike

What was Bloody Sunday?

when 200,000 unarmed people march on the winter palace of Nicholas II, 500-1,000 shot and killed

What was the Lena Goldfields Massacre?

1912 Workers were protesting against the serving of rancid horse meat in the canteen which escalated to an all out strike with workers demanding 8 hour day, 30% wage increase and between medical care. Soon gov sent in troops to arrest leaders and they opened fire.

How many died in the Lena goldfields massacre

Between 200-300 workers died

What was the Putilov strike?

In February 1917 workers at the Putilov iron mill in Petrograd demanded higher wages because of the rising prices of food and good, they joined a march on the city with women celebrating international women's day, soldiers refused orders to fire on the crowds and the tsar was overthrown

What was the aim of national minority groups in the Russian empire

To break away from centralised rule

Where were there strong nationalist movements in the Russian empire pre 1917

Poland, Finland and parts of the Caucasus region

How was the people's will successful

It managed to assassinate the tsar Alexander II in 1881

When did the Romanov dynasty in Russia come to an end?

Due to radical opposition in the form of the Bolsheviks, the dynasty finally came to an end with the abdication and them murder of Nicholas II and his family in 1918

What did peasant activists before 1917 want

Greater freedoms, rights to the land and protection against famines

What were the positive reforms for the peasants

The emancipation edict 1861, the setting up of the Zemstva and Stolypin's wager on the strong

What were less favourable parts of reforms for the peasants

Redemption payments, continued restrictions imposed by the mir, poor distribution of land and control of peasant affairs by land captains from 1889 onward, famines also continued

How did Lenin try to win over the peasants

By offering 'Peace, Bread and Land'

Which nationalities were successful in gaining greater degrees of independence

Finland was granted autonomy in 1905 and the polish national Democratic Party members gained seats in the first and second Dumas