Conditions in Russia pre 1905- 1905 and WWI

BACKGROUND FOR CONTEXT

  • 1891-92- famine in the Volga Region had spread to 17 provinces.

  • May 1905- Union of Union set up by liberal// left professionals demanding full civil and political rights due to this.

  • Rural disturbances increased- “The years of the red cockerel”- dealt harshly by Stolypin using peasant flogging, exile and shooting commonplace.

  • Strikes increased from 17,000 in 1894 to 90,000 in 1904.

  • Unrest amongst workers and students led to increased se of the Okhrana.

OPPOSITION

  • Liberals-

  • major political opposition up to after the 1905 revolution.

  • Active in the Zemstvo where the professional middle classes had developed skills of local government- in favour of a western style constitution, not autocracy.

  • Believed in parliamentary democracy, civil rights, and free election where all men could vote.

  • Not a large popular base of supporters, but were supported by academics, lawyers, doctors and landlords.

  • Two types of Liberals:

  • Octobrists-

  • Came about from the issuing of the October manifesto in 1905 which set up the Duma.

  • Moderates who were loyal to the government and the Tsar.

  • Wished to see the maintenance of the concessions contained in the Manifesto.

  • The Kadets-

  • Also known as the party of the people’s freedom.

  • Largest group of Liberals who wanted Russia to develop into a constitutional monarchy, where the power of the Tsar would be restricted by a democratic national assembly.

  • Demanded full equality and civil rights for all citizens, the ending of censorship, abolition of redemption payments on land, right to strike and free education.

  • Social democracts-

  • represented the industrial workers.

  • Took Marx’s ideologies into an optimistic theory- there was progress through the development of industry and the working class to the ultimate triumph of socialism.

  • Aimed to reached Marxist principles.

  • Support mainly came from the working class.

  • Two types of Social Democrats:

  • Bolsheviks-

  • Lenin- a revolutionary party should be made up of a small number of highly discipline professional revolutionaries, operate under centralised leadership, have a system of small cells to make it easy for police to infiltrate them.

  • Can be seen as leading to dictatorship. (It did).

  • Support came from young, more militant peasant workers who liked the discipline, from leadership and simple slogans.

  • Menshiviks-

  • Believed a party should, be broadly based and take in all those who wish to join, be more democratic in order to allow its embers to have more a say in policy and encourage trade unions to help the working class improve their conditions.

  • Support came from different types of workers and members of the intelligentsia, also a broader range of people such as Jews and Georgians.

  • Social Revolutionaries-

  • represent the peasants.

  • Formed in 1901- a loose organisation accommodating groups with a wide variety of views and did not hold its first congress until 1906.

  • Never centrally controlled.

  • Belief was to overthrow tsarist government and for it to be replaced with a democratic republic in order to provide support for peasants.

  • The land would be taken form landlords and divided up amongst the peasants.

  • Main socialist faction from 1900- 1917.

  • Their radical stance on reform, redistributing land to the peasant and removing the Tsar, made them very popular with the peasantry.

  • Major faction in the transitional government and won the election of 1917, but the Bolsheviks who had taken power from the transitional government a few days earlier shut the SRs out and dissolved the assembly.

  • Anarchists-

  • Extreme group of SRs.

  • Wanted to continue with the terrorists methods adopted by the “peoples will” who were responsible for the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1884.

FEB-SEPTEMBER 1905 REVOLUTION

  • End of January 1905 more than 400,000 workers were on strike.

  • Tsar- “at war with his own people”.

  • 4th Feb 1905- Archduke Sergei- Tsar’s uncle- assassinated in Moscow.

  • March- May- defeats of Russian army and navy in war with Japan lead to change of government.

  • June- Potemkin mutiny.

  • June- July- riots in the countryside were widespread. Land was seized and landowner’s houses were looted and burned.

  • September- Peace treaty signed with the Japanese- thousands of troops now free to down unrest.

  • Paid their backpay and promised them better conditions of service to remain loyal to Tsar.

OCTOBER 1905 REVOLUTION

  • General strikes spread from Moscow to other cities- all opposition groups were united in demanding changes.

  • Barricades were set up in the street.

  • 26th Oct- St Petersburg Soviet of Workers’ Seputies was formed- representatives form factories met to co-ordinate strike action.

  • 30th Oct- Tsar issues October Manifesto.

THE OCTOBER MANIFESTO

  • Promised:

  • A parliament or Duma- elected by the people

  • Civil rights- freedom of speech.

  • Uncensored newspapers and the right to form political parties.

  • The liberals and and middle class believed they had won democratic government- stopped protesting.

DECEMBER 1905 REVOLUTION

  • Troops back in Russia Tsar felt strong enough to take back control.

  • Used force to close down the St Petersburg soviet and crushed an armed uprising in Moscow.

  • Sent troops to take revenge on workers and peasants who had rioted and bring then back under control.

INITIAL REACTIONS TO WWI AND WAR EFFORT

  • Tsar became more popular- Russian people united in their support for him in the face of a common enemy.

  • The Tsar started to work closer with the Duma- people from the Duma were appointed to important posts.

  • August 1914- WWI started- troops were mobilised in support of Serbia.

  • November 1914- two main Russian armies were defeated in the battles of Mausarian lakes and Tannenberg.

  • End of 1914- Over 1 million Russian solider dead- Russia couldn’t produce enough weapons to supply all soldiers- war industries committee set up to try and solve this.

  • 1914-15- Shortages of food, coal and industrial materials in cities prices rose, factories closed and government blamed- led to strikes.

  • September 1915- Tsar leaves Petrograd to go to the Western Front- Tsarina and Rasputin left in charge.

  • Tsarina wouldn’t work with Dumas at all, replacing able ministers with Rasputin’s friends or “yes-men”.

  • Many changes in ministers that nobody was organising food, fuel and supplies for the cities.

  • The railway system fell into chaos and trainloads of food were left rotting in the sidings.

  • Liberals and middle class blamed the Tsar for Rasputin and Tsarina’s tactics.

  • Winter 1916- Bad winter- hardly any food or fuel going to Petrograd- Head bread queues formed and massive inflation- Tsarina and Rasputin didn’t help with this.

  • 21st February 1917- 40,000 workers at the Putlilov strike.

  • 23rd February 1917- International Women’s day- thousands of women joined, and protesters demanded food, fuel and a new government.

  • 26th February 1917- Tsar ordered army to fire on protesters- many refused and joined demonstrations- soldiers and workers marched to the Duma to demand it took control of Russia.

  • By March 1917- up to 8 Million Russians killed in WWI.

  • 2nd March 1917- Tsar forced to abdicate.