Alexander III Timeline, Society, Culture, Economy

1881

• Plehve appointed director of newly established Okhrana

• Pobedonostev (Tutor) advises Alexander towards Russification → Pogroms + restrictions of national minorities

1882

• Okhrana given powers to search, question, detain and exile to Siberia suspects without evidence

1885

• “Closed Courts” (no juries) introduced for major crimes/ crimes against Tsar

1887

• 5 members of People’s Will executed for plot against Alexander III - one of which was Lenin’s older brother

1888

• Vyshnegradsky secured a French loan for economic growth through industrial development

1889

• “Land Captains” introduced to overrule Zemstvo and allocate punishments

1890

• Law passed to reduced voting rights of peasants in local government

1891

• Trans-Siberian express began to be built

1891-92

• Great famine killed 2 million people while grain exports continued → dismissal of Vyshnegradsky

• Middle class liberals in the Zemstvo provided famine relief undermining govt authority

1892

• Sergei Witte became finance minister → promoted capital investment and industrialisation

• Law passed making it more difficult of poor to vote in towns

1894

• Alexander III died of kidney failure

Economy

• 1881-94: industrial output x2 → worlds 2nd biggest oil producer

• 1881-94: 9000Km of railway built between Moscow and Vladivostok (TSR)

• 1891: Tariff Act (33% import duties) + 18% increase grain exports → “we shall not eat but we shall export” - Vyshnegradsky

• 1881-94 115mn rouble increase in FDI (mailny France and Britain)

• 1893: Gold standard introduced → stabilised currency

Opposition

People’s Will:

• 1881 5 leaders executed → police crackdown due to AII’s assassination

• By 1890, 10,000 total arrests/ executions

Early Marxists:

• 1883 “liberation of labour” group founded by Plekhanov (father of Russian Marxism)

• Smuggled literature into Russia e.g.

• Labour strikes increased in 1890s due to 1.4Mn industrial workers population

Zemstvo:

• Pre 1889 liberals had power in Zemstvo

• Power reduced by Zemstvo Act

• Showed govt incompetence with famine relief 1881-89

Society

Peasants (80% of population):

• 50% in debt by 1890 (rural poverty) + 70% were illiterate

• divided land ruined farming (farms < 4 hectares)

Workers (10% of population):

• 12-14 hour workday

• 1894 over 30 recorded strikes

• wages 0.5 x Western Europe

Middle Class (5% of population):

• Professional class had some control of Zemstvo before Zemstvo Act

• 1894, 500,000 professionals (increased amount of merchants due to protectionism)

Women:

• Excluded from politics → restricted to family

• 30-50% lower pay than men

• 1894: 10% of university students were women (couldn’t get full degree)

Culture

Religion:

• 1884: non-Orthodox churches banned without state permission

• Pogroms continued across his reign + legal discrimination continued

Art:

• Realism continued but increased censorship began (minimal and informal) → orthodox values encouraged

Nationalism:

• 1890: Russian language made mandatory + Polish schools and publications continually restricted from AII’s reign