Growth of Reformist groups in Tsarist Russia

How accurate is it to say that the growth of the reformist groups in the year 1881 was the main cause of the 1905 revolution?

In 1905, Russia was gripped by revolution; it involved strikes and riots across the country after years of Tsarist rule and the loss of the Russo Japanese war. The Tsar had lost the backing of his people; this caused Russian people to want the Tsarist and Feudal system gone or reformed. It could be argued that growth of reformist groups after 1881 was the main cause; however there were other factors that must be considered, such as Political repression which caused extremist and reformist groups to oppose the Tsar , economic and social problems led to overcrowding in the cities and unsanitary conditions for most workers, the Russo-Japanese war which was a massive failure for Russia and a financial black hole and finally Bloody Sunday which started out as a peaceful protest but ended in huge bloodshed.
After 1881, there was a massive growth in opposition towards the Tsar from reformist groups, such as, the extremists “The People’s Will”, Social Revolutionaries and Social Democrats all three of which were prepared to use violence to end autocracy for Russia. “The People’s Will” assassinated Alexander II in 1881 and there were many assassinations of government figures to try to gain that reform of autocracy, but after every Tsar followed more repression. However there were reformist groups that didn’t use violence, such as, the Liberals who took a more peaceful approach by going to the peasants to start the revolution as they believed the future of Russia was with them. Although there was a growth in numbers, all reformist groups were disunited as they were scattered all around the country, furthermore opposition groups were illegal. To add to this, groups such as the social democrats and the social revolutionaries were divided within themselves as some wanted to take action with violence and others wanted a slow and moderate approach to change, this caused a lack of influence among the peasants, so revolution at this point seemed unlikely.
In 1881 when Alexander II was assassinated, his son Alexander III replaced him and with him came his repressive ideas. This led to political repression. This meant that Alexander III increased central control of his people and Russia. Alexander III had a range of political opposition; he dealt with this by declaring in the April 1881 Manifesto that all political power resided in the Tsar. This did cause a rise in tension and opponents, which led to the Tsar taking more action by imprisoning opponents without trial and introducing Russification to drive non-Russian speaking people out of the country. The Tsar also replaced the local Zemstva governments with Land captains to increase his central control. In the years after his father’s death he influenced a lot of change in Russia, starting with the replacement of the ministers, one of which was Sergi Witte the brains behind the Trans-Siberian express. The tight controls that Nicholas tried to impose did not lessen political opposition to Tsardom.
In the years between the years 1881 to 1905 there was a period of rapid growth, change and development under Witte. The Trans-Siberian express was constructed quickly and efficiently and this led to further economic and industrial growth for Russia, she was beginning to catch up with the rest of Europe. However the development had a large and negative affect on Russia, the country was vastly overcrowded and most of the population were living in slums, the unsanitary conditions made it difficult to live with a Tsar in control. In this time agriculture was massively ignored, so the peasants who were farmers suffered due to the lack of development of agriculture. At this time a lot of people were suffering and going hungry in Russia, so the humiliating defeat of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 increased opposition to the Tsar as the war was a vast waste of Russian money. All this decreased the morale in Russia; negativity was aimed at the Tsar and his repressive ways. Revolution seemed likely at this point.
The Russo- Japanese war was lost in 1905 due to the Tsar’s overconfidence that Russia would easily crush an Asian country such as Japan. Japan had been underestimated; it was not the backward state they imagined. Humiliation and the fact that the war was a logistical nightmare led to angered generals in the army who had realised the outcome and had lost faith in the Tsar. The war led to increased food and fuel shortages which increased prices. The mood of the Russian people quickly went from patriotic to anger. The defeat, however, encouraged revolution, damaged the credibility of the Tsar and further accelerated the revolution that was already taking place. Protests had been produced out of the anger of Russian people and they were quickly fired upon, leading to Bloody Sunday of January 1905.

In 1905, a peaceful demonstration of workers led by Father Gapon was attacked by the Cossacks, in a bid to assert the Tsar’s authority. This atrocity led to strikes and riots – sailors on the battleship ‘Potemkin’ mutinied. Workers and sailors got together and set up committees called Soviets to represent them. Russia was far too big to be ruled by just one man. The industrialisation was increasing every day and the workers were poor and oppressed all of which made revolution more and more likely.
To conclude, I firmly believe that the urbanisation and industrialisation of Russia was the main cause of the 1905 revolution. As it led to the agriculture in Russia being neglected which made thousands of Russian’s live in unsanitary conditions which is enough for them to be opposed to the Tsar. The Trans- Siberian express led to overconfidence to win the war against Japan, he felt that it would restore pride for Russia, when it actually had the opposite effect. The humiliation of the war and the waste of money led to the peaceful protest from the workers which ended in devastation. All this finally leading to the revolution its self, morale of the people was low and reform was needed for Russia.