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ALEXANDER II: GOALS

ALEXANDER II: GOALS. To improve the tarnished image that Russia received as a result of its defeat in the Crimean War To correct the internal problems which had contributed to this defeat. IMPROVING RUSSIA’S IMAGE.

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ALEXANDER II: GOALS

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  1. ALEXANDER II: GOALS • To improve the tarnished image that Russia received as a result of its defeat in the Crimean War • To correct the internal problems which had contributed to this defeat

  2. IMPROVING RUSSIA’S IMAGE • Took advantage of Franco-Prussian War to void provisions of Treaty of Paris that restricted Russian activities in Black Sea region • Won Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 • Gained control of Bulgaria (temporarily) • Established control of Caucasus and Central Asia • Won territorial concessions from China

  3. IMPROVING INTERNAL STATUS QUO • Not motivated by liberal principles • Simply realized that certain changes had to be made to domestic status quo if Russia was to remain a great power • Primary issue was serfdom • Few nobles could afford serfs • New laborers required for changing economy • 1500 peasant rebellions between 1800-1860 • Uneducated, docile serfs had fought poorly in Crimean War • Educated Russian objected to serfdom on moral grounds

  4. THE GREAT EMANCIPATION • March 3, 1861: Alexander signs imperial order freeing 40 million serfs • Nobles gave up ½ of the land they formerly controlled • Compensated by govt. • Land given to serfs to work as their own • Legal title held by village assemblies • Each serf family had to accept allotment, assume tax liability, and make annual “redemption” payments for 49 years to cover cost of compensating landlords

  5. WEAKNESSES • Terms not generous enough to improve their lives • Redemption payments were high • Each family only received an average of six or seven acres • Little surplus income to buy more land • Edict did not provide crucial resources (such as timber and pasture lands and water rights) • Did legally abolish serfdom but left peasants with inadequate amount of land and huge financial burden of increased taxes and redemption payments • Many peasants felt betrayed

  6. ZEMSTVOS • Provincial and district assemblies • 1864 • Administer local affairs • Representatives chosen by a complicated electoral system • Peasants received significant representation but nobles dominated • Met once a year and selected committees that met regularly all year • Responsibilities limited to local finances, public health, road maintenance, and education • Improved conditions and gave people some experience with representative government

  7. OTHER REFORMS • Legal reforms • Administration of justice made separate branch of government • Jury trials introduced • Freedom of speech granted to lawyers • Equal treatment before law guaranteed • Military reforms • Conscription expanded to include all Russians • Term of service lowered from 25 to 6 years • Reserve force created

  8. REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT • Revolutionary movement had developed into several distinct branches • Remained upper-class movement centered in universities of Moscow and St. Petersburg • Never a mass movement

  9. RUSSIAN INTELLIGENTSIA (I) • Slavophils • Nationalists who sought a return to the Russian state as it was before Peter the Great • Ideal was an isolated nation based on the peasant commune, a purified Orthodox Church, and an autocracy free from all bureaucratic interference • Westerners • Advocated a secular, rational approach to development • Based on increase use of Western technology, thought, and social structures • Inspiration was Peter the Great

  10. RUSSIAN INTELLIGENTSIA (II) • Petrashevtsi • Leader was Mikhail Petrashevsky • Followed teachings of Charles Fourier • Spread socialist literature and opposed Nicholas I • Some members arrested and executed • Fedor Dostoevsky

  11. SOURCES OF POPULISM I • Narodnichestvo • Influenced by Alexander Herzen • Westerner and moderate revolutionary • Embraced socialism but adapted it to Russian conditions • Socialism would spring from a peasant revolution and would be based on traditional socialistic tendencies of the peasant commune • Published Kolokol (“The Bell”) from Paris • 1857-1867 • Found eager audience among educated Russians

  12. SOURCES OF POPULISM II • More radical than Herzen • Called for a violent revolution that would abolish the state and church and establish a society in which no class would dominate • Envisioned political authority being held by self-governing communes—no state • Spent most of adult life in exile • Participated in Revolutions of 1848 • Leader of anarchist wing of the First International Mikhail Bakunin

  13. SOURCES OF POPULISM III • Wrote What Is To Be Done? • Outlined vision of Russia under socialist system • Postulated existence of “new man”—an elite corps of intellectuals who would strive to improve conditions • Argued that Russia could skip capitalist phase and go directly to socialism • Exhorted followers to violently pull down existing system • Inspired future revolutionaries, especially Lenin Nicholas Chernyshevsky

  14. “GO TO THE PEOPLE” MOVEMENT • Thousands of university students go into countryside to work with peasants • 1873 • Inspired by Herzen’s notion of “natural socialism” of peasants • Purpose was to awaken peasants to their socialist potential and inspire them to revolution • Students did not receive warm welcome • Beat up and chased away by frightened peasants • Government also arrested many participants

  15. AFTERSHOCKS • Failure of “Go to People” convinced many that a revolutionary elite should act for the people, not necessarily with the people • Land and Freedom (Zemlya i Volya) • Founded in 1876 • Dedicated to overthrow of government by any means necessary, ending private land ownership, redistribution of land to peasants, and self-determination for national minorities • Vera Zasulich tried to kill governor of St. Petersburg • Jury refused to convict her even though she made no attempt to deny her crime

  16. PEOPLE’S WILL (NARODNAYA VOLYA) • Land and Freedom splits into two groups by 1879 • One group wanted to prepare people for revolution through propaganda and education • Other group dedicated to immediate reign of terror that would destroy tsarist regime • People’s Will • Kills Alexander II on March 1, 1881 with hand grenade

  17. ALEXANDER III • Tsar from 1881-1894 • Determined to re-establish law and order and reassert complete authority of the autocracy • Determined to crush all revolutionary activity • Strengthened powers of secret police • Banned all student associations • Further restricted university curriculums • Established government bank to make loans to nobles • Restricted access of lower classes to educational institutions • Forced non-Orthodox subjects to convert to Orthodox Christianity

  18. POGROMS • Alexander was an intense nationalist and anti-semite • Discriminated against national minorities • Suppressed their local culture, language and religion • Organized pogroms against Jews • Organized against Jews who lived in cities • Resulted in many deaths and massive property destruction • Forced Jews to live in “Pale of Settlement” (Ukraine) • Restricted number of Jews admitted to schools • Over one million Jews fled Russia as a result

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