Role Of Social Structure In 20th Century Russia

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Social Structure of 20th Century
Russia
 Largest country, land is quite useless (only 5% could be used for farming)
 Russia was ruled by an autocrat who had absolute power
 Serfdom and slavery was entrenched in
Russian society
 By 1914, 125 million people lived in Russia and of these only 55700 000 were Great Russians.
What problems did this create???

Alexander I, Nicholas I and
Alexander II
• Contact with other European nations came under the reign of Alexander I during the Napoleonic War
 Nicholas I came into power when the atmosphere was hostile and he worked to strengthen the autocracy
 Crimean War (1853-56): Russia needed access to the
Mediterranean Sea and took advantage of the weak
Ottoman
Empire. The autocracy was crushed and this raised questions about her economy and industrial production  First group of Intelligentsia was the Petrashevesky circle  Alexander II: known as the Tsar Liberator, known for the
Edict of Emancipation, creation of the Zemstva, education reforms and legal reforms. Was this as progressive as it was hoped?

Alexander III and Rise of
Opposition Groups
 Nihilism: characterised by radicalism
 Populism: preaching change to the masses
 Some revolutionary groups: Black Partition
(rejected the methods of terrorism), People’s
Freedom or People’s Will (terrorism as a strategy to lift the revolutionary spirit)
 Tsar Alexander III strengthens the autocracy and erodes the political and judicial reforms introduced by his father

Russia at the turn of the 20th Century
 Society was at a breaking point as the conditions that most people lived and worked in were shockingly poor
 4/5 citizens were still peasants (1900). Life was hard nearly half of all new born children died before age 5
 Famine 1891-9 and crop failures 1901-1902= lawlessness.
Arson attacks, burning and looting on landowners’ houses and barns  New class emerges: Proletariat (peasants who had drifted to the cities)
 New railway tracks were built to accommodate for the growing population. Urban sprawl was experienced in major cities like
Kiev
 Despite these measures living conditions were appalling. Many workers slept on rushes or planks in the corners of factories
 In St. Petersburg in 1900, 35% of factory workers lived in a single room and 5% lived in either one bed or half a bed

Revolutionary Groups
 The populists remerged as the SRs
 The introduction of Marxism and the emergence of the
Social democrats. George Plekhanov introduced the ideas of Marxism to Russia
 Plekhanov advocated the idea of a two stage revolution
 Another prominent Marxist thinker: Lenin
 1898 the Social Democratic Workers’ Party was formed
 1890s Socialist Revolutionary Party, who eventually split into two: the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks
 Another revolutionary party was the Kadets who opposed the autocratic system and rejected violent methods

Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra
 Unexpected death of Tsar Alexander III in 1894
 Tsar Nicholas II was never groomed for the role and showed a blatant disinterest
 Remained remote from his subjects
 His reign started terribly: Coronation Ceremony
(1895), 1000 people killed in a stampede when the crowds were told that there would be free gifts
 German wife-Alexandra, encouraged Nicholas to rule as an autocratic leader.
She, later, was the subject of much and gossip (Rasputin and during WW1)
 Five children: Alexei, Anastasia, Tatiana, Maria and Olga

Russo-Japanese War, 1905
 Tsar Nicholas II was concerned with expanding Russia’s empire, largest army, source of great pride-distraction from the country’s social and political problems
 Russia wanted to gain control to the ice-free port on the pacific, which was controlled by Japan- Port Arthur
 Russia had seized Port Arthur in 1897 and with the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia
wanted access to more strategic ports along the Korean Coast

Russo-Japanese War, 1905
 The war was a serious of disasters for the Russians both at land and at sea.
 As the Russia army had departed revolutionary activity swelled, with Russia’s best army in the East
 Was intended to be a short, victorious war, but it was anything but this
 Russia’s numerical advantage was rendered useless by problems of transport and communication

Bloody Sunday
 Triggered by the news that Port Arthur was fallen, general strike in St Petersburg
 Father Gapon takes control of the protests, a petition is drafted and presented to the Tsar
 Military authorities were under instructions to accept no petitions, but to disperse the crowds by whatever means necessary
 By the end around a thousand were dead.
Tsar
Nicholas invited a group of workers to share tea and cakes with him some weeks later, but he now had the reputation of ‘Bloody Nicholas’

1905 Revolution
 Bloody Sunday Massacre sparked a revolution with almost all social groups and classes protesting
 Hundreds of government officials were murdered
 With the Russo-Japanese war still raging, Nicholas hoped for a military victory
 Mutiny began in June 1905, officers were thrown overboard on the battleship Potemkin. Armed forces could not be trusted
 Areas of the countryside were ablaze with peasant rebellions The October Manifesto
 Segei Witte appoint Minister of Interior and aimed
to divide and conquer the Tsar’s opponents
 October Manifesto issued in 1905 and gave the Russian people: an elected parliament (Duma), the provision that no law would be passed without the approval of the parliament and granted the Russian people fundamental civil liberties
 This quelled opposition amongst right-wing liberals, but not workers and peasants
 Four days before the issuing of the October Manifesto, the St Petersburg Soviet was formed ( emergency government). They did not accept the Manifesto

Fundamental Laws
 1906 Fundamental Laws issued and elections for the
Duma took place
 After 75 days the first Duma was dissolved. They demanded immediate reforms to the constitution and a more dominant role in the running of government
 Second Duma was more radical than the first and were dissolved in approximately 4 months
 Voting was thereafter altered to reduce the radicalism of the Duma members
 Third Duma lasted 5 years due to this new voting system implemented

Stolypin’s Reforms
 Stolypin replaced Sergei Witte as Prime
Minister
 He attempted to restore peasant disorder by using the death penalty
 In the cities 1100 peasants were arrested, tried and executed ‘Stolypin’s necktie’
 Created a new class ‘Kulaks’ they would be new independent farmers

Rasputin
 Rasputin had a disastrous impact and influence over day-to-day decisions, like ministerial appointments.
Ministers coming and going at such a speed the work of the government halted
 People lost faith in the autocracy and respect as the Tsar was befriending a peasant
 Sexual escapades cast doubt over the character of
Nicholas and Alexandra
 In 1916 Rasputin later murdered, but the damage to autocracy was done