Russia Key Topic 1: SK Booklet

Context of Russia- Character of Nicholas II

• Nicholas came to the throne at the age of 26 in 1894, he knew himself that he was not capable of ruling Russia.

• Upon hearing of his father’s death, he wept and said “I am not prepared to be a Tsar. I never wanted to become one.”

• Nicholas believed strongly in the Divine Right of Kings and considered it his duty to continue the autocratic rule of his father.

• He saw revolutionary ideas as the product of ‘dark forces’ and attributed them to a minority of Jewish plotters and university students (liberals).

• Nicholas was tutored by and heavily influenced by the ideas of Pobedonostev, a highly conservative and repressive minister who called representative government “the great lie of our time”.

Context of Russia-Geography of Imperial Russia

• In 1894 Imperial Russia’s Geography included a space of 8 million square miles, covering two continents and 11 time zones.

• The greater part of the population, quadrupled from 40 to 160 million between 1815 to 1914

• Russia was covered by the dense Tyga forest and Northern Russia was made up of frozen tundra, making it difficult to develop the country and exploit its resources.

• The only productive arable land was the Black Earth region in the Ukraine.

• The population was diverse, containing different races, religions, languages and cultures. The largest ethnic minorities were Ukrainians (22m), Tatars (13m), Polish (8m), and Jews (5m).

Context of Russia in1894- Political situation

• The political situation in Russia was steeped on the traditions of autocracy. The Romanov dynasty, that Nicholas II was head of, had ruled for 300 years.

• The Fundamental Laws of 1832 had declared that the Tsar was absolute ruler.

• There were some reforming Tsars such as Alexander II, who in 1861, emancipated the serfs.

• Although he had been assassinated in 1881, discrediting his liberal views and the Okhrana (secret police) ruthlessly prevented any further calls for liberal ideas.

Context of Russia- Russian Orthodox Church

• By the late 19th century the Church had become a conservative body, deeply opposed to political change and determined to preserve Tsarism.

• The Church had also become detached from the emerging urban population, with one suburb in Moscow only having one priest for 40,000 people.

• Pobedonostev was Over-Procurator of the Holy Synod (Head of the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church), from 1880, a position that he used to speak out forcibly in favour of absolutism, nationalism and anti-Semitism.

Context of Russia- Social Situation

• There was a comparatively small commercial class (1.5% of the population) that included merchants, factory owners and financiers.

• The working class made up only 4% of the population, whereas the British population was over 70% working class by this point.

• The Russian peasantry made up 82% of the population. The peasants were viewed with suspicion by the ruling classes, going so far to call them the ‘dark masses’, due to their predominately illiterate and uneducated status. 

Context of Russia in 1894- Economic situation

• The Russian economy lagged behind Germany, Britain and the USA. The economic stagnation is evidenced by how Russia’s GDP in 1890 was $108,772 million compared to Britain’s $351,527 million.

Context of Russia- Military situation

• The top-ranking generals were made up of the nobility who bought commissions in the army, and not those who deserved to command on merit, this meant that the standard of Russia’s officers was often poor.

• The Russian army in 1894 was the largest in the world numbering nearly 1.5 million people and costing the government 45% of its annual GDP.

National Minorities - Poles

• Historically the Poles had been passionate about breaking away from Russian influence and The Polish Revolt of 1863 was an indication of growing nationalism.

• As a result of industrialisation in Poland, a proletariat began to emerge in the 1890s that showed an interest in Marxism and socialism. Workers’ political parties formed, including the Polish Socialist Party (1892) and the Democratic Party (1893).

National Minorities– Ukrainians

• The Valuev circular (1863) and the Ems Ukase (1876) blocked the development of Ukrainian literature and only after 1905 did Ukrainians gain the right to use their own language in publications and education.

National Minorities– The Caucasians

• Internal division in the Caucasus between Armenian Christians and Muslim Chechens made Russification easier for Nicholas.

• The Georgian Mensheviks provoked the rise of nationalism and campaigned for Georgia to ally with Germany.

National Minorities– The Finns

• Prior to Nicholas II’s rule in 1894, Finland had been allowed a separate Finnish parliament (Diet) and even a constitution.

• Opposition against Russification was so strong that the governor general, Nikolai Bobrikov, was assassinated in 1904 and in 1905 Finland was given full autonomy

• Stolypin quickly reneged on this and it wasn’t until 1917 that Finland eventually gained independence

National Minorities– The Baltic Provinces

• Riga, in Latvia became an important commercial and business centre, which led to the migration of large numbers of Russians. As a result, the process of Russification happened quite naturally and there was little opposition.

National Minorities- The Jews

• Over 600 new measures were introduced against the Jews, including a requirement that Jews had to live in ghettoes.

• This alienated the vast majority of Russia’s 5 million Jews, large numbers of whom fled in desperation to Western Europe, or North America, carrying with them a hatred of Tsarism.

• n 1902, the Okhrana released the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’, a conspiracy theory which claimed Jews were trying to take over the world.

• Between 1905 and 1916, 14 million copies of 3,000 different antisemitic books were printed.

• In a 1903 pogrom in Kishinev, 47 Jews were murdered, 400 wounded and over 1300 properties destroyed in the space of 2 days.

• Nicholas II did make a concession to the Jews by allowing them to sit on the Duma.

Pobodonostsev and Russification

• Pobedonostev tutored Nicholas II as a young man and held the position of chief minister in the Russian government from 1881 to 1905. As a result, he had a lot of influence over the Tsar and therefore the future of Russia. 

• He probably wrote Alexander III’s accession manifesto, which reasserted Tsarist autocracy and because of his extensive influence he received the nickname ‘the Black Tsar’.

• Referred to Judaism as the ‘Hebrew Leprosy’.

• Russificiation was the idea that everything Russian should be emphasized as superior in order to reduce the influence of non-Russian national minority groups. Non-Russian culture and traditions were dismissed and attacked by the state, in order to produce a unified and homogenous nation of loyal Russians. This policy was begun under Alexander III, then extended under Nicholas II.

• Russian was declared the official language and all legal proceedings, trials

Political Opposition– The Populists (Narodniks)

• ‘The People’s Will’ assassinated Tsar Alexander II, however he was a reformists Tsar and their assassination of him decreased their popularity.

Political Opposition– Social Revolutionaries (SRs)

• 2,000 successful political assassination, including the much-hated interior minister Vyacheslav Plehve and Grand Duke Sergei, Nicholas II’s uncle.

• In 1903, the head of the SR Combat Organisation (responsible for assassinations) was betrayed to the Okhrana and sentenced to a life of hard labour.

• The same Okhrana agent, Yevno Azef, was able to become the new head of the SR Combat Organisation, undermining them from the inside and having lots of SRs arrested.

Political Opposition– The Mensheviks (SDs)

• Controlled Iskra (Spark), the first underground Marxist paper to be distributed in Russia from December 1900.

• The Mensheviks played a leading role in the 1905 Revolution and were very active in the soviets and the emerging trade union movement.

• However, the Menshevik insistence on a large party of activists made them vulnerable to infiltration by the Okhrana and many of the SDs killed in Stolypin’s show trials and summary executions were Mensheviks.

• Total membership of the Mensheviks was only 8,400 in 1905, though it rose to 38,200 by 1907.

Political Opposition– The Bolsheviks (SDs)

• Lenin’s political pamphlet ‘What is to be Done?’, written in 1901, provided inspiration and new ideas for Russian revolutionaries.

• The Bolshevik newspaper Pravda helped to spread revolutionary ideas. From 1912 to 1914, 40,000 copies were sold per day before the paper was officially shut down by Tsarist censorship.

• Over the next 2 years it continued to function under 8 different names and was integral in its ability to give a popular voice to Russian discontent.

Political Opposition– The Liberals

• In 1904, Peter Struve founded the Union of Liberation, which demanded greater freedoms and justice for all Russians. In particular, the Union wanted fairer land distribution for peasants, a representative constituent assembly and improved conditions for industrial workers.

• Struve was originally a Marxist, but rejected these views and founded a liberal magazine. He was from a distinguished academic family in Perm.

 Political Opposition– The Octobrists

• The Octobrists were moderates who formed after the October Manifesto (1905). They wanted gradual liberal reforms, but supported the Tsar initially.

• Led by Rodzianko and Guchkov, the Octobrists supported the rule of law and worked with the Tsar’s ministers in the Duma. Rodzianko was a deputy in the Third Duma and the Chairman of the Fourth Duma.

• Even Rodzianko criticised the emergence of Rasputin and called it the ‘beginning of the decay of the Russian society’.

 Political Opposition– The Kadets

• The Kadets were seen to pose little threat to the Tsar, as they were unable to gain support from the peasantry and the middle class only made up 1.5% of the population in the 1897 census.

• The Kadets were dominant in the first Duma, gaining over 30% of the seats, as the SRs and SDs refused to participate.

• When the first Duma was dissolved, 120 Kadet deputies went to Vyborg (in Finland) and put together the Vyborg Manifesto, calling for passive resistance against the government. This was completely ineffective.

• As the government’s incompetence in the war became clear, the Kadets joined the Progressive Bloc in August 1915 and Milyukov gave a key speech accusing government ministers of either incompetence or treason.

• During the February 1917 Revolution, Kadet deputies from the Duma formed the core of the new Provisional Government. One of the Kadet leaders, Prince Lvov, became Prime Minister and Milyukov became Foreign Minister.

Sergei Witte

• He was totally committed to economic modernisation, seeing it as the only way of preserving Russia’s ‘great’ power status. He realised that without industrialisation, Russia would be unable to produce modern weapons, vital for great power status.

• Witte believed in industrialisation ‘from above’, because there was no entrepreneurial class to drive change.

• Witte was by far the most capable minister in government, though he was disliked by the conservative elements (supporters of Pobedonstev) and their antagonism led to his dismissal in 1903.

• He was also an outsider, as he had a business background and was married to a Jewish divorcee, neither of which endeared him to the nobility.

Industry

• Russia becoming the fourth largest industrial economy by 1897.

• By 1899, the state owned 2/3 of metallurgical production, controlled 70% of railways and owned several oil fields and mines.

• Coal production doubled and that of iron and steel increased sevenfold from the 1890s to 1905.

• By 1900, Russia had overtaken France as the fourth largest iron producer in the world.

• Income from industry rose from 42 million roubles in 1893, to 161 million roubles by 1897.

• As a result of this ‘Great Spurt’ in industry, Russia’s economic growth in the 1890s hit 9%.

• The focus on heavy industry meant that domestic and lighter industry like textiles were neglected, as well as smaller, sophisticated machine tool and electrical industries that would have reduced the need for imports and helped modernise manufacturing.

Agriculture

• In good years peasants’ income remained low because bread prices were kept down

• In bad years they faced starvation, as occurred in 1891-92 and again in 1898 and 1901.

• The increase in population meant that average land holding had fallen from 35 acres to 28 acres from 1877 to 1905.

• The output of American farms was on average 1.5 times that of Russian farms, while British farmland was 4 times as productive.

Expansion of Railways

• In 1866, there was 3,000 miles of track. By 1900 there was 33,270 and by 1913, there was 43,850 miles.

• By the end of the 1890s, nearly 60% of all iron and steel was consumed by the railways.

• Despite this progress however, Russia still had 11 times fewer miles of railway track than Germany.

• Witte’s most famous project was the Trans-Siberian Railway, which connected isolated parts of the country, from the large cities in the West to Vladivostok in the East. This was largely symbolic in nature and unfinished in parts, though it did help to develop Western Siberia.

Foreign loans, investment and expertise

• From France alone, Witte was able to procure loans of 900 million roubles to support the growth of Russia’s heavy industry.

• A Welsh businessman named John Hughes bought land and mineral rights in Donbass with support from Witte’s government.

• Accompanied by 100 mostly Welsh ironworkers and miners, they set up the settlement of Yuzovka. By the early 1900s, the population of Yuzovka had reached about 50,000 and it was the largest steel works in Russia.

• Supporters of Pobedonostev and Russification saw Witte’s reliance on foreigners as dangerous and shameful.

• It certainly undermined the message of Russian superiority they were trying to convey.

Fiscal Policy under Witte

• The Russian currency (roubles) was placed onto the Gold Standard – where a currency’s value is directly linked to the value of gold.

• Witte increased taxes, directly and indirectly on items such as kerosene, alcohol and salt.

• This forced peasants to sell more grain to pay for taxes, which in turn gave more grain for Witte to sell abroad.

• Witte also placed high tariffs on foreign goods to promote Russian industry, which led to high prices on agricultural machinery that could not easily be made within Russia.

• Witte kept wages low, so profits were invested into industry and not on wage bills. The peasants and urban workers were squeezed hard and this significantly increased resentment amongst the Russian people.

• Under Witte the state budget more than doubled, eating into the profits of the country’s economic growth.

Social Impact

• The need for industrial workers led to urbanisation and by 1897, Moscow had 1.5 million inhabitants, with St Petersburg reaching over 2 million. By 1900, Moscow was one of the 10 biggest cities in the world.

• In St Petersburg in 1900, 40% of houses had no running water of sewage system.

• A survey of St Petersburg in 1904 showed 16 people in the average apartment, six people per room and this was even higher in workers’ districts.

• For this luxury, they would pay most of their wages. With a survey of printers in Saratov in 1900 revealing that food and rent represented 75% of the household budget, while clothes, laundry and baths accounted for the rest.

• Women, who made up 20% of the industrial workforce in 1885, though this rapidly increased under Witte

• Women were amongst the lowest paid, earning less than half the average industrial wage.

• There were some efforts to improve the situation for workers with an 1897 law reducing the number of hours worked to 11.5 per day and a 1903 law expanding the provision for factor inspection. But these were not enough to alleviate the horrendous conditions.

• Average life expectancy at the end of the 19^th Century was 27.25 years for Russian males and 29.83 years for Russian females, whilst in England the average life expectancy was 45.25 years.

Political Impact

• The growing working classes found it much easier to take concerted action against the government than the peasantry, as they were concentrated in large numbers in the cities. This resulted in 176 strikes per year between 1895 and 1904, compared to only 33 a year from 1886 to 1894.

• A massive strike among the textile workers of St Petersburg in 1896-97 revealed a high degree of unity and discipline amongst the workers and in 1903 alone there were 550 stoppages. These disgruntled workers swelled the ranks of revolutionary parties, in particular the SRs and SDs.

Causes of the Russo-Japanese War

• This linked closely to the Tsar’s own legacy, as to be remembered as a great Tsar you needed to increase Russian territory. The Russians saw Manchuria and Korea as excellent opportunities for expansion, as did the Japanese.

• The Russian government also wanted to obtain an ice-free port, as all of Russia’s major ports on its northern coastline were frozen up for some part of the year. This would be beneficial strategically, as well as boosting trade.

• Finally, the Russian government wanted to distract its people from domestic troubles with the prospect of foreign glory.

Events of The Russo- Japanese War

• Soon after in January 1905, Port Arthur, one of Russia’s most fortified positions, surrendered to the Japanese.

• During the siege of Port Arthur, the Russian government made the decision to send the Russian Baltic Fleet (based in Europe) to the Pacific to relieve the siege by sea. They embarked on a mammoth 8 month, 33,000km journey, requiring the support of 60 colliers (coal ships) to supply them en-route.

• Finally, the Russian Baltic Fleet reached the far East in May 1905. As Port Arthur had already surrendered, they wanted to slip undetected into Vladivostok, where they could undergo a much-needed repair and resupply.

• In the Battle of Tsushima, the Japanese used better tactics and superior naval vessels to decimate the Russians. 7 of the 11 Russian Battleships were sunk, while the other 4 were captured and a total of 126,792 tons of Russian shipping was sunk compared to only 450 tons of Japanese shipping. This, above all else, was a bitterly humiliating defeat for Russia, after the 8-month journey of the Russian Baltic Fleet had attracted global media attention. 

Treaty of Portsmouth– Territorial Impact

• Mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts, the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the war was actually quite generous to Russia and the Japanese were unhappy with the terms.

• Russia was forced to recognise Japanese claims to Korea, evacuate her forces from Manchuria and cede its leases in Southern Manchuria to Japan. This included the important Port Arthur and the South Manchuria Railway, with its mining concessions.

• Russia was allowed to retain the Chinese Eastern Railway in Northern Manchuria.

• Russia was forced to give the Southern half of Sakhalin to Japan. But the Japanese negotiator Komura was outraged that Russia was not made to pay reparations.

Political Impact of Russo-Japanese War

• This was a national humiliation for Russia, who had been defeated by an ‘inferior’ and much smaller Asian country. This was the first major defeat of a European power by an Asian opponent. To make matters worse, the Tsar was held personally responsible for military defeats and the anger of the Russian people was directed squarely at him.

• This loss undermined the principle of Russification and encouraged the national minority groups in Russia who were fighting for their rights. An army of 300,000 men (larger than the one facing Japan) had to be stationed in Poland to quell unrest there. Polish leaders like Jozef Pilsudski collaborated with the Japanese against the Russians.

 Socio-economic impact of Russo-Japanese War

• To pay for the war the Russians had to increase military spending by 50% and take out a loan worth 800 million Francs from France, as well as a separate loan of 500 million Marks from Germany.

• This exacerbated the recession in Russia, leading to food shortages, high prices and unemployment. Wages dropped by 20%. One of the main purposes of the war had been to distract the Russian population from the grim socio-economic conditions they were facing domestically, instead the war did the opposite.

Bloody Sunday

• On 22 January 1905, a group of peaceful protesters led by the loyal, Tsarist, Orthodox priest Georgy Gapon attempted a peaceful march to the Winter Palace.

• When the 150,000 protesters arrived and realised that the Tsar was not in attendance, chaos ensued.

• Eventually, infantry opened fire on the crowd, killing over 200 and injuring many more. The bond between the Tsar and his people was broken.

• The protesters had requested a reduction of the working day to 8 hours, a minimum wage of 1 rouble a day, a say in how taxes are spent and reform of the government. Gapon’s ideas were heavily influenced by the Union of Liberation.

• On the same day, cavalry were used to stop another group of 60,000 protesters on Palace Square, again the protest ended with government troops opening fire.

  As these events became known, waves of protests erupted across the country with 400,000 people joining strikes in the largest Russian labour protest there had ever been.

 Key events of the 1905 Revolution- Urban Workers

In May, Paul Milyukov formed a Union of Unions. This was a group of leaders representing professionals, workers and the zemstva. Disillusioned with the slow progress being made by Nicholas II over political reforms and prompted by the naval disaster at Tsushima, the Union of Unions demanded the setting up of a democratically elected constituent assembly.

 Key events of the 1905 Revolution- Military

• 27^th June, sailors on board the Russian battleship Potemkin refused to eat the borscht they were given, which had been made with rotten, maggot infested meat.

• After the ships second in command threatened to shoot anyone who refused to eat the borscht, the ship’s crew mutinied, killing 7 of the 18 officers on board, including the captain and second in command.

• The Tsar was reliant on the army and navy to keep control in the face of revolution, so it was fortunate that the mutiny did not spread and the events on the Potemkin were an isolated incident.

 Key events of the 1905 Revolution- Government Response

• Witte encouraged the release of a manifesto as an attempt to lessen the tensions by making concessions, the principal one being a promise to create a state assembly of elected representatives of the 51 provinces of the empire, to begin sitting in January 1906.

• However, the powers of the assembly were not clearly defined. Moreover, since the Tsar added the clause, ‘We reserve to ourselves exclusively the care of perfecting the organisation of the Assembly,’ the clear implication was that he did not intend his royal authority to be restricted in any way. The limited concessions of this first August Manifesto did not work and strikes had begun in both Moscow and St Petersburg. 

 Key events of the 1905 Revolution- Second Strikes

• In September 1905, another wave of strikes ensued, culminating in a general strike in October. On this occasion, workers attempted to coordinate their activities more effectively by forming soviets or workers councils. The largest soviets were established in St Petersburg and Moscow, and initially focused on campaigning for improved wages, shorter working hours and better working conditions.

• From January to October 1905, the army was deployed 2,700 times to put down peasant uprisings.

October Manifesto

• The manifesto promised freedom of speech, religion and free press.

• An elected Duma (parliament) was promised, which had actual authority and laws issued by the Tsar would need approval from the Duma.

• Additions in November promised to improve the peasants’ land bank and abolish redemption payments within a year.

• The October Manifesto worked and strikes were called off. Spontaneous demonstrations in favour of the Tsar were held in St Petersburg and the St Petersburg Soviet was dissolved.

• In December, a final isolated uprising in Moscow, led by the Bolsheviks, was easily crushed, marking an end to the 1905 Revolution.

Post- 1905 Reforms-The New Government

• In April 1906, just days before the Duma was due to open, a new set of Fundamental Laws was passed. They confirmed the October Manifesto, but also reasserted the Tsar’s powers over the Duma.

• The Fundamental Laws confirmed that the Tsar had the power to: rule independently of the Duma when it was not in session, dissolve the Duma at any time, change the electoral system, appoint whatever ministers he wanted to the Council. Finally, they confirmed that the Tsar was the sole commander of the army and navy, giving him the military power to crush any uprising.

• In the Fundamental Laws, the Tsar stated ‘I do not believe that there is need to alter the nature of my supreme power’, claiming that ‘80% of the people are with me’ and he did not really believe that Russia wanted him to give up his autocratic powers.

• The Lower Chamber was The State Duma. Members were elected by a system of indirect voting by estates (groups in society). This was heavily weighted in favour of the peasants and the nobility, who were assumed to be the crown’s natural allies. Deputies were to be elected for a five-year term.

• The Upper Chamber was The State Council. Half of its members were elected by the Zemstva and half were directly appointed by the Tsar. This ensured that members were nobles from major social, religious, educational and financial institutions and that the body as a whole would always be loyal to the Tsar.

The First Duma (Duma of National Hopes)

• The government obtained a loan of 2,250 million gold Francs from France in April 1906, weakening the Duma’s opportunity to use financial powers over the Tsar.

• The Tsar’s displeasure at the Duma project led to Witte being replaced by Goremykin as Prime Minister. Goremykin was much more right-wing and traditional.

• The first Duma opened on 27^th April 1906 with around 500 deputies. It ran for 73 days until 8^th July 1906.

• Extreme left-wing parties, including the SRs and SDs, boycotted the Duma, as did the extreme right-wing party Union of Russian People.

The Second Duma (Duma of National Anger)

• The Second Duma opened on 20^th February 1907 and lasted 103 days, until 3^rd June 1907.

• Right and left-wing parties abandoned their policy of boycotting elections to the Duma, leading to a Duma that was dominated by deputies who actively wanted the Duma project to fail. This was however the most representative Duma of all.

• Left-wing parties did particularly well, with the Trudoviks winning 104 seats, the SDs winning 65 (47 Mensheviks and 18 Bolsheviks), the SRs winning 37 and the Popular Socialists winning 16.

• Duma opposing Stolypin’s Land Reform Bill, which he had to pass using Article 87 (emergency powers), when the Duma was not in session.

• On 1^st June 1907, Prime Minister Stolypin accused the SDs of preparing an armed uprising and demanded that the Duma exclude 55 SDs from Duma sessions and strip 16 of their parliamentary immunity.

• When this ultimatum was rejected by the Duma, it was dissolved on 3^rd June by imperial decree in what became known by the left-wing parties as the Coup of June 1907.

The Third Duma (Duma of Lords and Lackeys)

• The Third Duma opened on 7^th November 1907 and was the only Duma to run a full five-year term, dissolving on 9^th June 1912.

• The Duma was dominated by the Octobrists, who had around one-third of all the deputies.

• The Third Duma succeeded in passing 200 pieces of its own legislation and voting on 2,500 government proposals, of which 2,200 were passed.

• The Duma supported an improvement in Russia’s military capabilities, Stolypin’s plans for land reform and basic social welfare measures. The Duma even helped develop schemes of national insurance for industrial workers. The power of Nicholas’ hated land captains was also consistently reduced.

•  The Duma had to be shut down twice so that laws could be passed using Article 87. By 1912 it was clear that the Duma system was not working and that they had no real control over the Tsar, or his government.

 The Fourth Duma (The Final Duma)

• The Fourth Duma opened on the 15^th of November 1912.

• Although party groupings were generally similar to the Third Duma, the Octobrists did considerably less well, leading to a greater rift between the left-wing and the right-wing.

• Reports from the Okhrana about protests in the Fourth Duma show how seriously authorities took the assembly as a focus of public opinion.

• Kokovstov largely ignored the Duma and actually said ‘Thank God we still have no parliament’.

• The Tsar suggested that the Duma should be downgraded to a purely consultative body on 1^st July 1914.

• In May 1915 Guchkov (leader of the Octobrists and President of the Duma), set up the War Industries Committees to unite industrialists that supplied military equipment. This improved efficiency and moved Russia closer to a total war economy. It also put political pressure on the Tsar and his government.

 Repression following the 1905 Revolution

• The army was used to suppress the revolution itself. When fighting broke out between the army and Bolshevik strikers in December 1905, the army killed over 1,000.

• The Okhrana’s exposure of Bolshevik revolutionary plans forced Lenin into exile in 1907.

• Show trials and summary executions had reduced membership of revolutionary groups from 100,000 to 10,000 by 1910.

• However, revolutionary groups survived underground and continued to attract support.

• Revolutionaries got the final victory over Stolypin’s repression when Dmitri Bogrov (an SR) assassinated him on 18^th September 1911.

• Between 1905 and 1909 there were 2,828 terrorist assassinations and 3,332 woundings.

• 1913 was the tercentenary year (300^th year) of the Romanov dynasty and Nicholas and Alexandra were able to revel in the lavish celebrations.

The Agricultural Problem

• An increase in Russia’s population had led to land shortages and overpopulation. Russia’s population grew from 125 million in 1897, to 166 million in 1914.

• Bad harvests had led to famines in 1891 and 1897.

• Finally, in central Russia in particular, farming methods themselves were antiquated and inefficient, wooden ploughs called sokha were used, medieval land treatments left land fallow (empty so that it can rest) and modern Western methods were treated with suspicion.

Land Distribution Reforms

• Peasant ownership of land increased from 20% in 1905 to 50% in 1915.

• 16% of people moved out of the commune by 1913.

• Some people wanted to keep their land and legal battles occurred, the resolution of these in Russia’s legal system was extremely slow.

• The bureaucracy was slow and only 1.3 million out of 5 million applications were dealt with by 1913.

• By 1914, 90% of land holdings were still in strips taken out of Mirs, peasants were reluctant to change their ways.

De-Revolutionising the Peasantry

• Redemption payments on prior loans were officially abolished in 1907.

 The Wager on the Strong

• Peasants largely resisted improvement and the Ministry of Agriculture began to lose faith. 134,000 people set up independent farms in 1913, but only 97,000 in 1914.

• Land in Siberia was difficult to farm so increases in productivity were small. Though eventually 3.5 million peasants would move there, creating a brand-new agricultural region.

• Even Kulaks (the beneficiaries of Stolypin’s policies) remained discontented, as the majority of fertile land was still reserved for the gentry and nobility.

• Grain production increased to 90 million tonnes by 1914 and Russia became the world’s leading cereal exporter.

• Increasing agricultural efficiency allowed some peasants to sell out and move to towns, boosting industrial labour supply from 2.5 million workers in 1908, to 2.9 million in 1914.

• In return, Kulaks were able to buy out other peasants and consolidate their land, making more efficient and profitable farms.

Economic Reform by 1914

• Between 1908 and 1913, Russia experienced an industrial growth rate of 8.5% and a 50% growth in national income.

• This bolstered state revenue, which doubled from 2 billion to 4 billion roubles from 1908-1914.

• In the same time period, the number of banks rose from 1,146, to 2,393 and the number of factories rose from 22,600 to 24,900.

• In 1881 there were 21,000km of railway track. By 1914, this had grown to 70,000km.

• Production of coal rose from 16.1 million tons to 35.4 million tons from 1900 to 1913.

• Production of pig iron rose from 2.66 million tons to 4.12 million tons from 1900 to 1913.

• Production of oil shrank from 10.2 million tons in 1900 to 9.4 million tons in 1914.

• Russia had now become the 4^th largest producer of steel and the 5^th largest industrial power in the world. Germany was concerned that if war did not begin soon, Russia might overtake her industrial production.

• However, only 30% of production was industrial, compared to 75% in Britain.

• The migration of 2 million peasants away from the communes had led to a shortage of labour there.

• Wages only rose from 245, to 264 roubles per month, while inflation soared by 40% in the same period.

Social Reform by 1914

• Spending on schools rose from 1.8% to 4.2% between 1907 and 1912.

• There was a 77% growth in the number of pupils and a 85% increase in the number of schools between 1905 and 1914.

• The literacy rate rose from under 30% in 1900, to over 40% by 1914.

• Conditions in the cities were grim, with a Cholera outbreak in St Petersburg in 1910 killing over 100,000 people.

• Out of 1,000 towns, only 200 had piped water, and just 38 had a sewage system.

• 80% of the population were still classed as peasants.

• Between 1912 and 1914, around 3 million workers were involved in strike activity.