Encyclopedia of Tsarist Russia: 1881-1894 (Alexander III and Economic Change)

Tsar Alexander III: Accession and Personal Character

• Alexander III ascended to the Russian throne in $1881$ and reigned until $1894$. His reign began under the most traumatic circumstances possible: the assassination of his father, Alexander II (known as the 'Tsar Liberator'), at the hands of the revolutionary group known as the People\u2019s Will.

• Before becoming Tsar, Alexander III had pursued a career in the army. Those who interacted with him described a man of immense personal authority, a commanding physical presence, and extraordinary bodily strength.

• Witnesses recorded anecdotes illustrating this physical power, such as the Tsar crushing a silver rouble coin with his bare hands or twisting a dining fork into a knot to emphasize a point regarding the strength of the Russian military.

• Despite his commanding persona, he suffered from a serious drinking problem. To conceal his habit, he wore custom-made boots with hollowed-out soles and hidden miniature flasks of whisky in each boot.

• Ideologically, Alexander III was an arch-conservative. He possessed a deeply traditional view of the Tsarist position and was characterized as extremely autocratic.

• His governing philosophy was driven by the belief that his father's liberal reforms had directly encouraged revolutionary violence and caused the assassination. Consequently, he was entirely unwilling to introduce any further political or social reforms and believed that only the absolute exercise of Tsarist autocracy could preserve the Russian imperial system.

Political Policies and the Rise of 'Reaction'

• Alexander III's domestic policies are categorized as 'The Reaction.' These measures were intentionally designed to undermine the liberalizing reforms of Alexander II and to suppress both peaceful and violent opposition.

• The Statute of State Security ($1881$): This landmark legislation granted the central government extensive emergency powers, including:

  • The prohibition of public gatherings exceeding $12$ people.

  • The authority to prosecute individuals for political crimes.

  • The introduction of emergency police rule in areas where public order was deemed threatened.

  • The establishment of special courts that functioned outside the standard legal system.

  • The power to summarily close schools, universities, and newspapers.

• Local Government Reforms:

  • The Zemstva Act ($1890$): This act significantly decreased the independence of local councils (zemstva), making them subject to direct interference from the central government and stripping away powers granted under Alexander II.

  • Franchise Restrictions: The peasant vote for the zemstva was reduced in $1890$, followed by similar electoral restrictions in town governments in $1892$.

  • The Land Captains ($1889$): Alexander created the post of 'Land Captain' to re-establish the control of the landed nobility over the peasantry, effectively counter-acting the effects of the Emancipation of the Serfs. These officials could override zemstva election results, reverse local decisions, and impose punishments (including the death penalty or public flogging for minor offenses until $1905$) independently of the standard court system.

• Policing and the Okhrana:

  • $1882$ Statute on Police Surveillance: Any region of the Russian Empire could be declared an \u2018area of subversion,\u2019 allowing police to arrest, search, question, and exile anyone suspected of a crime, including their relatives and acquaintances.

  • The Okhrana (Secret Police): This organization's power was expanded dramatically, allowing for the arrest of individuals deemed likely to commit a crime in the future. The Department of Police was led by Plehve from $1881$ to $1884$, followed by Durnovo. They utilized spies and 'agent provocateurs' who posed as radicals to incriminate others.

• Judicial and Educational Constraints:

  • Liberal judges and magistrates were removed from office. Volost courts were placed under the direct supervision of the Land Captains.

  • Minister of Education Ivan Delyanov oversaw educational crackdowns. The $1884$ university charter made the appointment of professors, deans, and chancellors subject to Ministry of Education approval based on \u201creligious, moral and patriotic orientation\u201d rather than academic merit.

  • Universities were closed to female students, and separate university courts were abolished. The $1887$ University Statute placed higher education back under strict government supervision.

  • Primary education for children of the lowest classes was restricted, and such schools were placed under the authority of the Orthodox Church.

Ideology, Russification, and Religious Policy

• Alexander III adopted the official ideology of \u201cAutocracy, Orthodoxy, and Nationalism,\u201d mirroring the reign of Nicholas I.

• Russification: A policy aimed at merging all the Tsar's subjects into a single nation with a shared identity. This involved the systematic destruction of non-Russian cultures:

  • Finland: The Finnish Diet (Parliament) was reorganized in $1892$ to weaken its influence; the independent postal service was abolished, and local currency was replaced by Russian coinage.

  • Poland: The Polish National Bank was closed in $1885$. Schools were required to teach all subjects in Russian, except for Polish language classes.

  • Baltic Region: From $1885$ to $1889$, measures enforced the use of Russian in state offices, schools, police, and the judiciary.

  • Ukraine: Use of the Ukrainian language was limited in $1883$, and all Ukrainian theaters were closed.

  • Repression of Uprisings: Ethnic uprisings were crushed mercilessly, with significant military action in Georgia ($1892$), Bashkira ($1884$), and Armenia ($1886$).

• Religious Policy: Adherence to the Orthodox Church was aggressively encouraged. In the Baltic region, $37,000$ Lutherans converted to Orthodoxy to access special state benefits. Conversely, in Poland, Catholic monasteries were closed, and non-Catholics were incentivized to settle in the region. By $1883$, non-Orthodox members were forbidden from building new places of worship or wearing religious dress outside their meeting places.

Anti-Semitism and the Pogroms

• The Jewish population, numbering approximately $5$ million and confined largely to the Pale of Settlement, suffered the most under Alexander III's nationalism.

• Ministers like Pobedonostsev promoted slogans such as \u201cBeat the Yids \u2013 Save Russia,\u201d and proposed a three-part solution to the 'Jewish problem': one-third emigrate, one-third die, and one-third assimilate through conversion.

• Alexander III was personally anti-Semitic, writing that \u201cwe must never forget that the Jews have criticised our Master and have shed his precious blood.\u201d

• The Pogroms ($1881-1884$): Violent anti-Jewish riots broke out in April $1881$ in Yelizavetgrad, Ukraine. While potentially sparked by business competition, it is highly probable the Okhrana encouraged them using the link to Alexander II\u2019s assassination as a pretext. Violence spread to Odessa, Kiev, Warsaw, and at least $16$ major cities. Property was destroyed, and many cases of rape and murder were recorded.

• The May Laws ($1882$): These laws effectively condemned Jews to urban ghettos. A separate decree in $1882$ reduced the number of Jewish doctors in the army to prevent them from attaining the status of army officers.

• Expulsions: Forced expulsions occurred in Kiev in $1886$. During the winter of $1891-1892$, $10,000$ Jewish artisans were expelled from Moscow. In $1892$, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (Governor-General of Moscow) forced another $20,000$ Jews from the city during Passover and closed a newly built synagogue.

The Russian Economy ($1881-1904$)

• Ivan Vyshnegradsky (Finance Minister $1886-1892$):

  • Focused on building gold reserves and improving finances by increasing indirect taxes and implementing the Tariff Act of $1891$, which protected iron, machinery, and raw cotton from foreign competition.

  • He negotiated major loans from France in $1888$.

  • His priority on grain exports (\u201cWe ourselves shall not eat, but we shall export\u201d) stripped peasants of reserve stores. This, combined with bad harvests, led to the Great Famine of $1891$, resulting in his dismissal in $1892$.

• Sergei Witte (Finance Minister $1892-1903$):

  • Committed to economic modernization through heavy industrialization directed from above.

  • Invited foreign experts (engineers and managers) from France, Belgium, Britain, Germany, and Sweden.

  • Negotiated huge foreign loans and investments while maintaining high domestic interest rates and heavy taxes.

  • Industrial Growth: Russia\u2019s annual growth rate exceeded $8\%$ per annum between $1894$ and $1904$, the highest globally at the time.

• Railways and Heavy Industry:

  • The state expanded its ownership of railways from a small fraction to $60\%$ by the mid-$1890$s and $66\%$ by $1905$.

  • Track mileage increased from $13,270$ miles in $1880$ to $33,270$ miles in $1900$.

  • Trans-Siberian Railway: A massive east-west link and psychological achievement.

  • Coal production in Ukraine rose from $3.2$ million tons in $1880$ to $5.9$ million in $1890$. Oil output in the Caucasus grew from $0.5$ million tons in $1880$ to $3.9$ million in $1890$.

Social Impact and Rural Disparity

• Peasants: Separated into Kulaks (prosperous peasants who bought out neighbors and acted as pawnbrokers) and poor peasants. In the Tambov region, two out of three former serfs could not feed their families without debt. Life expectancy remained low at $27$ years for males and $29$ years for females, compared to $45$ years in Britain.

• Urban Working Class: The population of factory workers swelled from $2$ million in $1900$ to $6$ million by $1913$. Workers lived in overcrowded \u201cbarracks\u201d without sanitation or running water, where excrement was collected in buckets in backyards.

• Landed Elites: While some became professionals or business owners (over $700$ nobles owned businesses in Moscow by $1882$), the society remained highly stratified.

• The Peasant's Land Bank ($1883$): A positive development allowing peasants to buy land; peasant ownership grew from $6$ million to $21.6$ million hectares between $1877$ and $1905$.

Growth of Opposition Groups

• Populism: Following the failure of terrorist tactics and the 'going to the people' movement, Populism flagged in the late $1880$s. The re-formed People's Will attempted to assassinate Alexander III in $1887$, leading to the hanging of five members, including Alexander Ulyanov (Lenin's brother).

• Marxism: Gained traction as Russia industrialized. Georgi Plekhanov established the Emancipation of Labour group in Switzerland in $1883$. Plekhanov argued that revolutionaries should focus on the urban proletariat and cooperate with the middle class to bypass the 'capitalist phase' and eventually reach socialism.

• Liberals: Included figures like Leo Tolstoy, who criticized the regime but rejected violence. Liberalism grew after the famine of $1891-1892$ exposed government incompetence, leading to demands for a middle-class role in national government. Resentment grew as Alexander III reduced the powers of the zemstva.