Russia Depth Study

Emancipation Edict 1861

Freed 50 million serfs but left peasants with less land, redemption payments and mir control, so freedom was limited

Zemstva Act 1864

Created elected local councils for education, health and infrastructure, but central officials could still overrule them

Judicial Reform 1864

Introduced independent courts, juries and equality before the law; Alexander II’s most radical reform

Military Reform 1874

Introduced universal male conscription, reduced service length and modernised the army after Crimea

Press and University Reforms 1860s

Relaxed censorship and increased university autonomy, helping create a more critical intellectual climate

1883 Peasant Land Bank

Loan scheme for peasants to buy land, but high interest meant it did little to reduce poverty

Statue on State Security 1881

Allowed arrest and exile without trial in emergency areas; became a key instrument of repression until 1917

Loris-Melikov proposals 1880–81

Proposed limited representative consultation, but were abandoned after Alexander II’s assassination

People’s Will assassination 1881

Killing of Alexander II that triggered reaction and repression rather than further reform

Alexander III’s reversal of reforms

Curtailed many of Alexander II’s reforms through tighter control, Russification and repression

Crimean War as catalyst

Defeat in the Crimean War exposed Russian backwardness and pushed Alexander II towards reform

Witte’s assessment of Alexander II

Economic growth under Alexander II was real, but still depended on an unreformed agrarian base

February Revolution (7–12 March)

Mass strikes and mutiny in Petrograd that brought down Tsarism and created Dual Power

Dual Authority (Dual Power)

Situation after February 1917 in which the Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet shared power

Provisional Government’s 8 principles

Democratic reform programme promising freedoms and equality, but weakened by failure to end the war

Provisional Government’s decision to continue WWI

Most damaging decision of the PG, as it destroyed support among soldiers, workers and peasants

April Theses (April 1917)

Lenin’s programme calling for no support for the PG, peace, land and all power to the soviets

July Days 1917

Failed anti-government uprising that briefly weakened the Bolsheviks but exposed the PG’s fragility

October Revolution (25–26 October)

Bolshevik seizure of power that overthrew the Provisional Government with little resistance

Decree on Land (October 1917)

Abolished private landownership and redistributed land, winning peasant support for the Bolsheviks

Decree on Workers’ Control (November 1917)

Gave workers oversight in factories, but was soon replaced by stricter economic control

Constituent Assembly disbanded January 1918

Bolsheviks closed Russia’s only genuinely democratic parliament after losing the election

Trotsky’s role in October Revolution

Trotsky organised the practical seizure of power through the Military Revolutionary Committee

Weaknesses of the Provisional Government

Continued war, failed land reform and Dual Power fatally undermined the PG’s authority

Secret Speech February 1956

Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s crimes and cult of personality, launching de-Stalinisation

De-Stalinisation

Khrushchev’s partial liberalisation through reduced terror, rehabilitation and a limited cultural thaw

Anti-Party Group crisis 1957

Failed attempt by senior Communists to remove Khrushchev, after which he consolidated power

Khrushchev removed from power October 1964

Khrushchev was ousted by party elites, showing limited success for internal political opposition

Virgin Lands Scheme 1954

Khrushchev’s plan to expand farming into new areas; early gains but long-term decline

Khrushchyovki apartments

Mass-built private flats that significantly improved urban living standards under Khrushchev

7-hour working day 1958

Reduction in working hours and rise in wages that improved workers’ conditions

Sovnarkhoz reform 1957

Replaced central ministries with regional economic councils in an attempt to decentralise planning

Pension reform 1956

Extended pensions and welfare to collective farm workers for the first time

1956 Hungarian Revolution

Soviet suppression of Hungary showed de-Stalinisation did not extend to political independence

Sputnik 1957 / Gagarin 1961

Major Cold War achievements that boosted prestige but reinforced heavy-industry priorities

Khrushchev’s agricultural failures

Failed farming policies, including Virgin Lands decline and maize campaigns, helped bring about his removal.