Chapter I: The Vestiges of Empire
Czar Alexander II: 1855-1881
Czar Alexander II began his reign in 1855 when Russia was defeated by Britain, France and Piedmont in the Crimean War. He thought that the chief reason for Russian defeat was her backward economic and social system -- most of the labor force were serfs who were ignorant and superstitious. In order to strengthen the dynasty, he decided to carry out a number of reforms to modernize the archaic institutions of Russia.
According to the Emancipation Edict of March 3,1861, the serfs were not only freed but granted a certain portion of the noble's estates. The nobles who lost their estates were to be compensated by the government. To the government, the peasants were to pay an annual sum for 49 years, at the end of which time the land was to be their property. In the meantime, the land was not the private property of the peasants, but was to be kept by the village communities. The village communities would allot a share of the village land to each peasant; in return, each peasant was compelled to repay the annual sum to the government.
These arrangements proved very unsatisfactory to the peasants. Firstly, their share of the village land was often insufficient to keep them above the level of grinding poverty. (It has been estimated that only 1/3 of the total area of agricultural land was given to the village communities; while more than 1/3 was kept by the state and the Imperial family, and ¼ was till kept by the nobles.) Secondly, their annual sums to the government were often heavier than the dues (or rents) they had formerly paid to the nobles. Thirdly, the land of the village communities was often infertile because the nobles were allowed to give up the poorest parts of their estates to the peasants and kept the best parts for themselves. Fourthly, the village communities kept the village land as collective property. As the population of the village continued to increase, at each re-allotment of land the share of land granted to each peasant would become smaller and smaller. After the emancipation, discontent increased and peasant riots regularly broke out.
Before the reform, the administration of countryside was dominated by the nobles. The reform of 1864 created district and provincial assemblies (Zemstva). The members of the district assemblies were elected by the inhabitants of each rural district, peasants and nobles alike. Members of the district assemblies then elected delegates of the provincial assemblies. This system of election tended to cut down the power of the nobles and gave more political right to the non-noble classes.
The assemblies were responsible for the administration local education and public health, the upkeep of roads and bridges, the encouragement of industry and agriculture and the election of the Justices of Peace. This was the first experiment in self-government in Russia and encouraged the Russians to demand for more political power in the future. Some Zemstva members even thought of creating a constitutional monarchy to replace the Czar.
Like the Zemstva in the countryside, there were also the town councils in the towns. They were elected by property owners and taxpayers. The town councils were responsible for the general welfare of the towns. Thus town councils served the same function as the zemstva in providing valuable lessons in self-government for the Russians and became the hotbeds of liberalism, challenging the rule of the Czar.
The Czar also attempted to modernize Russian legal system by providing for open trial, the use of jury and the appointment of trained judges who were to be freed from government control. Other reforms included the introduction of a national conscription system, abolition of military colonies, a relaxation of the censorship of books and periodicals and an attempt to re-establish university autonomy and widen the basis of entry to secondary schools. The government also tried to stimulate economic development by building more railways and by giving financial subsidies to industry.
The intellectual classes thought that the reforms were too piecemeal and not radical enough. The emancipation of the serfs did not solve the land problem of the peasants. The creation of the Zemstva System did not lead to the formation of a national parliament in Russia. As a result of their disappointment with the reforms, the intellectual classes formed secret revolutionary societies, aiming to overthrow the Czar.
One such group was called the 'Black Partition' which continued to emphasize on propaganda and gradualism. The other group, influenced by Bakunin, Nechayev, was the 'Will of the People'. They mounted an all-out terrorist offensive against the Czarist government. They thought that as Russia was a centralized state, if the Czar and the important bureaucrats were killed the masses could be led by a revolutionary party to seize power. On March 13, 1881, Alexander II was assassinated by the members of the 'Will of the People'.
Czar Alexander III: 1881-1894
Alexander II was succeeded by his son, Alexander III. Alexander III was an even more autocratic Czar. He concluded that any reforms to save the monarchy were useless as the last Czar was assassinated by the revolutionaries. He was determined to cancel the past reforms and suppress the revolutionaries. More than that, he even attempted to restore Russia to the pre-1861 situation, with the nobles sharing the power with the Czar. He still held high the banner of 'Orthodoxy--Autocracy--Nationality'.
From 1881 to 1894, the Czar took repressive measures to uphold his autocratic rule. Immediately upon ascending the throne, the Czar passed the Temporary Regulations to deal with the 'Will of the People'. Any people threatening public order were arrested by the police, imprisoned, exiled and court-martialed. Amongst those executed was Alexander Ulyanov, the brother of Vladimir Lenin. The 'Will of the People' and terrorism died down as a result. Only a few revolutionaries remained.
The most important attempt to restore autocratic rule was taken in 1889. In that year, a new post called the 'land captain' was created. Each district had several land captains. They were selected from the local nobility. They held wide authority over the peasant communities in each district. Even the functions of the Justices of the Peace were transferred to them. In fact, the land captains, like the nobles of the pre-reform era, exercised omnipotent administrative and judicial authority in the Russian countryside (the local officials feared the land captains because they could be dismissed by them).
The creation of the 'land captain' was followed by a drastic revision of the structure of the Zemstva. The number of peasant delegates and westernized intellectuals was reduced. The representation of the nobles was markedly increased. The land captains were automatically members of the Zemstva. Moreover, approval of the provincial governors was required for all Zemstva employees --teachers, doctors, and lawyers. Zemstva's decisions were subject to review by the provincial governors and the minister of the interior. In 1892, the municipal government also raised the property requirement in order to limit the right to vote of the radical intellectuals and the lower classes.
On the surface, the autocratic Czar seemed to be successful in using repression to save autocracy. Yet the inadequacy of peasant landholdings remained to be a problem. The revolutionary movement was only driven underground. The revolutionaries were determined to make even greater efforts to overthrow Czardom. The first Russian Marxist group was formed in St. Petersburg in 1883. The attempt to overthrow Czardom was assisted by the proletariat, which gradually built up as a result of the economic reforms in 1860's and continued to grow throughout Alexander III's reign. It seemed that the reign following Alexander III should experience the first revolution in Russia. Alexander III died in 1894, leaving the throne to his son, Nicholas II.
Czar Nicholas II: 1894-1904
When Alexander III died in 1894, he was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II. He still believed that it was his sacred duty to uphold the principle of autocracy, but he was unsuited to be an autocrat. He was weak and indecisive in character. He easily succumbed to the influences of stronger personalities--the most important one was his wife, Princess Alexandra. She was most eager to preserve the full autocratic power for her husband, and later, for her son.
While the Czar clung steadfastly to the principle of autocracy, there was the emergence of more virulent discontented groups which presented a greater challenge to Czardom. The five discontented groups were: the proletariat class in the industrial towns, the Marxist-oriented revolutionary parties (Social Democrats and Social Revolutionaries), the middleclass political parties, the subversive groups among the national minorities and the peasants in the countryside.
1890 marked off the great breakthrough in Russian industrialization (which began in Alexander II's reign) as a result of French loans. (After signing the Dual Alliance with France in 1893, Russia was provided with huge French loans for industrial development.) The state took the leading role in building up, financing and managing nearly all the new industries. As a result, big industrial towns sprang up rapidly and the proletariat (the factory workers) became an important social class in Russian society. By 1914, their number probably reached about two and a quarter million. By 1917, Russia had about three million workers.
Although by 1914 Russia ranked fifth among the industrial nations of the world in terms of industrial production, the conditions of the workers were bad. Their wages were low, about 25 to 30 per cent of the British workers. Their working hours were long -- usually 15 hours a day. Their living conditions were intolerable--they were crowded together in barracks where there were no healthy and sanitary facilities. Conditions in the factories were also unsatisfactory there were no safety devices to protect the workers. Since 1882, the government had passed laws prohibiting employment of children under 12 and night work for women, laws creating a corps of factory inspectors and laws concerning labor contracts, but there was little improvement in the poor working conditions of the workers. As the owners of the factories had to sell their manufactured goods to overseas markets, they had to reduce the wages of the workers and so to keep the price of their goods low -- the Russian goods were often of inferior quality. Workers had no collective bargaining power they had no right to strike and or form trade unions.
To express their grievances, the workers organized strikes, even though they were illegal. In the 1890's the first organized mass strikes took place. The main aim of the strikes was betterment of the livelihood of the workers. As the 19th century came to a close, the main aims of many of the strikes were not only economic improvement but political reforms of the Czarist government as well. Their successes and failures would, more than anything else, shape the future of Russia for the better part of the next 2 decades.
Czar Alexander II: 1855-1881
Czar Alexander II began his reign in 1855 when Russia was defeated by Britain, France and Piedmont in the Crimean War. He thought that the chief reason for Russian defeat was her backward economic and social system -- most of the labor force were serfs who were ignorant and superstitious. In order to strengthen the dynasty, he decided to carry out a number of reforms to modernize the archaic institutions of Russia.
According to the Emancipation Edict of March 3,1861, the serfs were not only freed but granted a certain portion of the noble's estates. The nobles who lost their estates were to be compensated by the government. To the government, the peasants were to pay an annual sum for 49 years, at the end of which time the land was to be their property. In the meantime, the land was not the private property of the peasants, but was to be kept by the village communities. The village communities would allot a share of the village land to each peasant; in return, each peasant was compelled to repay the annual sum to the government.
These arrangements proved very unsatisfactory to the peasants. Firstly, their share of the village land was often insufficient to keep them above the level of grinding poverty. (It has been estimated that only 1/3 of the total area of agricultural land was given to the village communities; while more than 1/3 was kept by the state and the Imperial family, and ¼ was till kept by the nobles.) Secondly, their annual sums to the government were often heavier than the dues (or rents) they had formerly paid to the nobles. Thirdly, the land of the village communities was often infertile because the nobles were allowed to give up the poorest parts of their estates to the peasants and kept the best parts for themselves. Fourthly, the village communities kept the village land as collective property. As the population of the village continued to increase, at each re-allotment of land the share of land granted to each peasant would become smaller and smaller. After the emancipation, discontent increased and peasant riots regularly broke out.
Before the reform, the administration of countryside was dominated by the nobles. The reform of 1864 created district and provincial assemblies (Zemstva). The members of the district assemblies were elected by the inhabitants of each rural district, peasants and nobles alike. Members of the district assemblies then elected delegates of the provincial assemblies. This system of election tended to cut down the power of the nobles and gave more political right to the non-noble classes.
The assemblies were responsible for the administration local education and public health, the upkeep of roads and bridges, the encouragement of industry and agriculture and the election of the Justices of Peace. This was the first experiment in self-government in Russia and encouraged the Russians to demand for more political power in the future. Some Zemstva members even thought of creating a constitutional monarchy to replace the Czar.
Like the Zemstva in the countryside, there were also the town councils in the towns. They were elected by property owners and taxpayers. The town councils were responsible for the general welfare of the towns. Thus town councils served the same function as the zemstva in providing valuable lessons in self-government for the Russians and became the hotbeds of liberalism, challenging the rule of the Czar.
The Czar also attempted to modernize Russian legal system by providing for open trial, the use of jury and the appointment of trained judges who were to be freed from government control. Other reforms included the introduction of a national conscription system, abolition of military colonies, a relaxation of the censorship of books and periodicals and an attempt to re-establish university autonomy and widen the basis of entry to secondary schools. The government also tried to stimulate economic development by building more railways and by giving financial subsidies to industry.
The intellectual classes thought that the reforms were too piecemeal and not radical enough. The emancipation of the serfs did not solve the land problem of the peasants. The creation of the Zemstva System did not lead to the formation of a national parliament in Russia. As a result of their disappointment with the reforms, the intellectual classes formed secret revolutionary societies, aiming to overthrow the Czar.
One such group was called the 'Black Partition' which continued to emphasize on propaganda and gradualism. The other group, influenced by Bakunin, Nechayev, was the 'Will of the People'. They mounted an all-out terrorist offensive against the Czarist government. They thought that as Russia was a centralized state, if the Czar and the important bureaucrats were killed the masses could be led by a revolutionary party to seize power. On March 13, 1881, Alexander II was assassinated by the members of the 'Will of the People'.
Czar Alexander III: 1881-1894
Alexander II was succeeded by his son, Alexander III. Alexander III was an even more autocratic Czar. He concluded that any reforms to save the monarchy were useless as the last Czar was assassinated by the revolutionaries. He was determined to cancel the past reforms and suppress the revolutionaries. More than that, he even attempted to restore Russia to the pre-1861 situation, with the nobles sharing the power with the Czar. He still held high the banner of 'Orthodoxy--Autocracy--Nationality'.
From 1881 to 1894, the Czar took repressive measures to uphold his autocratic rule. Immediately upon ascending the throne, the Czar passed the Temporary Regulations to deal with the 'Will of the People'. Any people threatening public order were arrested by the police, imprisoned, exiled and court-martialed. Amongst those executed was Alexander Ulyanov, the brother of Vladimir Lenin. The 'Will of the People' and terrorism died down as a result. Only a few revolutionaries remained.
The most important attempt to restore autocratic rule was taken in 1889. In that year, a new post called the 'land captain' was created. Each district had several land captains. They were selected from the local nobility. They held wide authority over the peasant communities in each district. Even the functions of the Justices of the Peace were transferred to them. In fact, the land captains, like the nobles of the pre-reform era, exercised omnipotent administrative and judicial authority in the Russian countryside (the local officials feared the land captains because they could be dismissed by them).
The creation of the 'land captain' was followed by a drastic revision of the structure of the Zemstva. The number of peasant delegates and westernized intellectuals was reduced. The representation of the nobles was markedly increased. The land captains were automatically members of the Zemstva. Moreover, approval of the provincial governors was required for all Zemstva employees --teachers, doctors, and lawyers. Zemstva's decisions were subject to review by the provincial governors and the minister of the interior. In 1892, the municipal government also raised the property requirement in order to limit the right to vote of the radical intellectuals and the lower classes.
On the surface, the autocratic Czar seemed to be successful in using repression to save autocracy. Yet the inadequacy of peasant landholdings remained to be a problem. The revolutionary movement was only driven underground. The revolutionaries were determined to make even greater efforts to overthrow Czardom. The first Russian Marxist group was formed in St. Petersburg in 1883. The attempt to overthrow Czardom was assisted by the proletariat, which gradually built up as a result of the economic reforms in 1860's and continued to grow throughout Alexander III's reign. It seemed that the reign following Alexander III should experience the first revolution in Russia. Alexander III died in 1894, leaving the throne to his son, Nicholas II.
Czar Nicholas II: 1894-1904
When Alexander III died in 1894, he was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II. He still believed that it was his sacred duty to uphold the principle of autocracy, but he was unsuited to be an autocrat. He was weak and indecisive in character. He easily succumbed to the influences of stronger personalities--the most important one was his wife, Princess Alexandra. She was most eager to preserve the full autocratic power for her husband, and later, for her son.
While the Czar clung steadfastly to the principle of autocracy, there was the emergence of more virulent discontented groups which presented a greater challenge to Czardom. The five discontented groups were: the proletariat class in the industrial towns, the Marxist-oriented revolutionary parties (Social Democrats and Social Revolutionaries), the middleclass political parties, the subversive groups among the national minorities and the peasants in the countryside.
1890 marked off the great breakthrough in Russian industrialization (which began in Alexander II's reign) as a result of French loans. (After signing the Dual Alliance with France in 1893, Russia was provided with huge French loans for industrial development.) The state took the leading role in building up, financing and managing nearly all the new industries. As a result, big industrial towns sprang up rapidly and the proletariat (the factory workers) became an important social class in Russian society. By 1914, their number probably reached about two and a quarter million. By 1917, Russia had about three million workers.
Although by 1914 Russia ranked fifth among the industrial nations of the world in terms of industrial production, the conditions of the workers were bad. Their wages were low, about 25 to 30 per cent of the British workers. Their working hours were long -- usually 15 hours a day. Their living conditions were intolerable--they were crowded together in barracks where there were no healthy and sanitary facilities. Conditions in the factories were also unsatisfactory there were no safety devices to protect the workers. Since 1882, the government had passed laws prohibiting employment of children under 12 and night work for women, laws creating a corps of factory inspectors and laws concerning labor contracts, but there was little improvement in the poor working conditions of the workers. As the owners of the factories had to sell their manufactured goods to overseas markets, they had to reduce the wages of the workers and so to keep the price of their goods low -- the Russian goods were often of inferior quality. Workers had no collective bargaining power they had no right to strike and or form trade unions.
To express their grievances, the workers organized strikes, even though they were illegal. In the 1890's the first organized mass strikes took place. The main aim of the strikes was betterment of the livelihood of the workers. As the 19th century came to a close, the main aims of many of the strikes were not only economic improvement but political reforms of the Czarist government as well. Their successes and failures would, more than anything else, shape the future of Russia for the better part of the next 2 decades.