Essay 3:

1. Essay 3: An assessment of the attempts to strengthen Tsarism between 1905 and 1914

2. Part 1: How did the Tsar deal with 1905? • Nicholas II dismissed Zemstvo requests for participation in central government as ‘senseless dreams’? Even as late as 1904 he had rejected plans for an elected assembly. • What does this tell you about his attitude to • The Zemstvo? • Himself?

3. October 1905: • The Tsar is under serious pressure from (finish the sentence) 3. How would the concession of a Duma ‘stem the tide of the revolution?’

4. Nicholas II, early 1906 • Let us look at this article… I am filled with doubt. Have I right, before my ancestors, to alter the limits they bequeathed me. I am sincere when I tell you that if I were convinced Russia wanted me to abdicate my powers I would do that for the country’s good. I am no tconvinced that this is so…”

5. April 1906: The Fundamental Principles • Look at the sheets I gave you yesterday. Compare the promises of the October Manifesto to the wording of the Fundamental Principles. • What is different? • What are likely to be the effects of this?

6. Way to approach this essay • The essay will ask you to assess the attempts to strengthen Tsarism between 1905 and 1914. I would take your essay thematically rather than chronologically: • Agricultural • Industrial • Political • Security

7. Agricultural: Read Section C and answer the following: • What evidence is there of peasant unrest in before 1905? • Why might Nicholas have thought cancelling redemption payments might have worked? • Explain the two views that exist about Stolypin’s land reforms (you can also use your phones to research Stolypin’s Land reforms).

8. What were Stolypin’s land reforms • 2 ‘schools of thought’ of Stolypin • Some argue that his reforms could have avoided the Russian Revolution • Some argue his reforms made silly assumptions

9. “By the left, he is regarded as a savage butcher who hanged peasants and workers…To the extreme right he was an odious figure whose policy of reform and attempt to work with the Duma were a threat to autocracy” • L Schapiro

10. He wanted to develop Serf emancipation beyond the limits of the Act passed by Alexander II. Peasants would be removed from their commune and set up as individual, legally protected owners of their land. • He felt the best hope of averting revolution lay with the real emancipation of naturally conservative peasants. 4. What is the logic in Stolypin’s assumption that creating a wealthy peasantry would stave off revolution?

11. Paraphrase the full quote… • “Stolypin’s aim was to preserve the authority of Tsarism by introducing reforms that would strengthen its social and public base. Convinced that the socio-economic and educational advancement of the nation had to precede major political reforms, he sought to reconcile public opinion and government by minor reforms and to remove certain out of date practices that were incompatible with the spirit of the times”- Ben-CionPinchuk • “first pacification, then reforms” was his quote

12. How did it work? • Stolypin recognised that the peasants were annoyed with the terms of serf emancipation. But the peasants’ large support for a centre left political party in the first Duma told the Tsar that he would have to work harder to gain their loyalty. • Step 1: Redemption Payments were cancelled in November 1905

13. Analysis • “The abolition of redemption payments in 1905 destroyed the legal ties that many peasants had to their ‘commune’. This enabled some within their ranks to become freer, and Stolypin assumed that this would lead to increased loyalty to Tsarism”

14. Stolypin’s first reform (9/11/06) • Any householder in a commune where there had been no redistribution of land since 1882 could apply to become owner of all the land in his possession • What does this mean?

15. How would it work? • Stolypin thought that peasant landowner would produce more food to sell for profit. The countryside would therefore become richer.

16. Did it work? • Kinda! • The peasants responded fairly well to these reforms (although there is conflicting evidence).

17. Conflicting views Hugh Seton Watson R.B McKean Called it an ‘uneven process’. Take up was considerable between 1908 and 1910, but declined thereafter. By 1915 only 100,000 households had set up independently. Most continued with the commune. • Watson suggests that by 1915 about 7 million peasant households (1/2 russian total), held land privately. On top of this, a considerable amount of buying and selling was taking place. • So the peasants seemed to be ‘going for it’. • Stolypin used a peasant land bank, transferring millions of acres of state land to peasant ownership at low interest rates. • 5 million peasants moved to Siberia

18. Similar views • One thing is certain; Peasant disturbances are much less evident after 1906, perhaps this suggests that Stolypin’s reforms WERE working after all? • Russian agriculture remained unable to produce adequate food supplies for the cities.

20. The Duma • Things to consider: • How much authority the Duma had • The role of Stolypin • Was Stolypin successful? • Was the Duma successful

21. Attitudes towards the Duma • Historians split over whether the 1917 Revolution could have been avoided if the Duma had been granted more powers.

22. Paraphrase Richard Pipes • “The October Manifesto provided a framework within which the Russian state and Russian society should have found it possible to reduce the tension dividing them. This it failed to accomplish. A constitutional regime can only function if government and opposition accept the rules of the game; In Russia, neither the monarchy nor the government was prepared to accept this. Each regarded the new order as an obstacle, a deviation from the country’s true system, which for the monarchy was autocracy and for the intelligentsia , a democratic republic. As a result, the constitutional interlude, while not without achievements, was largely wasted- a missed opportunity which would not occur”

23. Consider • October Manifesto: No Law could be passed without Duma approval • Fundamental Laws changed from ‘The Emperor of all the Russias is an autocratic and unlimited monarch. God himself commands that this supreme power be obeyed out of conscience as well as fear”, to • “The Tsar of all Russia possesses supreme autocratic power. He is to be obeyed not out of fear but as a matter of duty, in accordance with divine decree”

24. Parties in the Duma:Liberals • Split into two factions: Octobrists and Kadets • Octobrists accepted the October Manifesto and the Duma as being the main concession they were after. They were dominated by the modertes of the Zemstva and by the business class. Guchkov was main spokesman. • Kadets prepared to work with the Duma, but wished to push for greater powers. Struve and Miluko were the main players.

25. SRs • Had seen terrorism as a legitimate political weapon against Tsarist authority. Not everyone agreed and the People’s Socialist Party broke away. SRs boycotted Duma, PSP didn’t. One of these men was Alexander Kerensky.

26. SDs • Some individual SDs decided to stand for election, under direction of Party leadership. Most members boycotted the Dumas.

27. Nationalists • Union of the Russian People (right wing). Didn’t want to break up the empire. • National minority groups objected to excesses of Russification.

28. Questions: • “Was the Duma ‘doomed from the beginning?” Explain your answer.

29. The First Duma • Kadets 179 • Octobrists 32 • Social Democrats 18 • National Minorities 60 • Union of Russian Peoples 100 • First meeting very hostile! • How do you think the Tsar will react?

30. The Second Duma • Began after an increase in Peasant terror. SR bomb had blown up Stolypin’s house, killing 27 and injuring his daughter. • 683 death sentences Stolypin’s Necktie • 3000 deaths by Peasant terrorists in 1907 • Second Duma offered improved working conditions and reform of civil service, police and local government. But the Duma didn’t co-operate. • What do you think the Tsar’s response will be?

31. Stolypin’s attitude to the Duma • He accepted the duma as a permanent figure of the regime. He realised that the Dumacouldbe of help in achieving his goals; it’s abolition could be fatal to Tsarism, he thought. • “One should not even think about a return to absolutism”

32. Third Duma • Franchise reduced in order to create a Duma that could work. • Much more conservative. What does this mean? • Octoberists had twice as many seats as the Kadets(154 seats) • SDs had 12 seats • Small number of National Minorities outnumbered by Right wing Russian Nationalists, 76 seats. • What do you notice about the Parties that do well here?

33. The attitude of the third Duma was interesting. They were not prepared to be servile. An earlyincident in the life of the third Duma clearly emphasised this. In preparation for the state opening of the Duma, right wing representatives, mainly the Russian Nationalists and a minority of the Octobrists declared their wish that the Tsar should be addressed as ‘Autocrat of all the Russias’. This motion was defeated by 212 votes to 146.

34. Achievements of the third duma.