Alexander III: Counter Reforms

Give two ways in which Alexander III undermined his father’s judicial reforms

• Takes (mainly political) trials out of the public eye and holds them in secret, without journalists or a jury

• Crackdown on dissidents began immediately, with the execution of 5 assassins, a nationwide police offensive and 10,000 arrests

Give a way in which Alexander counter reformed his father’s censorship laws

• Loris-Melikov had abolished the Third Section at the end of Alexander II’s reign

• Alexander III restored it, renamed it the ‘Okhrana’ and made it the biggest secret police in Europe

Give 5 ways in which Alexander III undermined his father’s political reforms

• Whole towns or provinces could be declared ‘areas of subversion’ under supposedly temporary legislation

• Provincial Governors were given the power to search, fine or arrest individuals in ‘areas of subversion’ without evidence

• Used ‘temporary laws’ to pass controversial laws

• An 1882 temporary law made it difficult to sell or distribute publications that were critical of the government

• Main target for surveillance was the intelligentsia

Give 4 ways in which Alexander counter reformed the education system

• By 1887 the church had begun to take back full control of primary education and had introduced financial barriers to prevent peasants from accessing higher education

• Closed women only universities that had been opened under Alex II

• Changes courses at universities that promote critical thinking, such as Literature

• An 1884 law meant that universities could no longer decide what was taught and who was teaching

Who was put in charge of the Russian Orthodox Church?

Pobedonestev

How did Alexander III attempt to expand Russification? Was it effective?

• In order to find out the demographics of people in the empire and make it easier to govern, he ordered a census

• There was only ever one, and even then only 15 identities were clarified when there were approx. 100

• No

Give 5 examples of Alexander III’s attitudes towards diversity and religion

• Used religion to homogenise the empire

• In Baltic regions, land was given to the landless if they became Orthodox

• Financial support was made available to schools who agreed to be placed under the control of the Orthodox Church

• Polish monasteries were closed and an ‘All Russian Orthodox Missionary Society’ was established. It was claimed that 60,000 were converted as a result

• “Autocracy, Nationality, Orthodoxy” used by Nicholas I was resurrected

How did antisemitism manifest itself under Alexander III

• Alexander was openly antisemitic; he thought that they were conspiring against him

• Initiated pogroms

• Jewish access to education was limited by quotas: In the Pale of Settlement, only 10% of schoolchildren could come from Jewish families, and 5% everywhere else

• Choice of employment for Jews was limited, and they were no longer allowed to join the government

• As a result of this discrimination, many radical revolutionary groups recruited young Jewish men post 1870

What was the relationship between industrialisation and Alexander’s other policies?

It arguably undermined them

How did Alexander III legitimise his oppressive policies?

By saying that peace was needed to industrialise

Under which rulers did industrialisation take place? What was created as a result?

• Alexander III and Nicholas II

• An urban proletariat and middle class

What was the ‘Manifesto on Unshakeable Autocracy’, when was it published, and who wrote it?

• Written by Pobedonestev

• Published in April 1881

• Said that "Russian monarchs should rule “with faith in the strength and truth of autocratic power that we have been called upon to affirm and safeguard for the popular good from any infringement”

What government role did Pobedonestev take on under Alexander III?

Minister of Internal Affairs

What are Alexander and Pobedonestev’s attitudes towards the Zemstva?

They are hostile to it, as although limited, they pose a threat to the autocracy

What position was created in 1889 to oversee and overrule the Zemstva?

• Land Captains

• These were drawn from the nobility and had substantial control over tax collection, judicial and police authority over the peasants

How did Alexander III treat members of the nobility?

He rewarded members of the nobility who were loyal to the regime, and reinforced traditional social structures

How did Alexander alter zemstva elections?

• Zemstva were restructured in 1890

• This gave peasants fewer voting rights, as every elected member now had to be approved by the Minister of the Interior

What happened to the role of ‘Justice of Peace’?

They were essentially replaced by Land Captains

Overall, how ‘necessary’ were Alexander’s reforms?

• Some measures were Alexander trying to control tax collection and absenteeism for court, which had not happened under Alexander II

• However, new ‘closed courts’ and more severe prison conditions showed a tightening of societal control

What is the core aim of Alexander’s reign?

To reform and reverse that of Alexander II, then take it further