1905 – 1914:
The Troubled Years
The Duma
• Tsar Nicholas II needed to reform
Russia to prevent another revolution
–
–
–
–
1906: First Duma meeting held hope
Duma had no power to override Tsar veto
N2 ignored legislative body
1907 N2 changed voting rules to remove
opponents (only aristocrats and wealthy
citizens could vote) from Duma & held
elections
– 1907-1912 ‘Loyal’ Duma held
•
By 1912 even ‘Loyal’ Duma critical
– Had no power to change Tsar’s policies
– Criticism alone was no threat to Tsar
Stolypin
•
In 1906 Tsar N2 fired Witte as Prime
Minister and promoted Peter Stolypin
• Stolypin used ‘stick & carrot’ approach to
the problems of Russia
• Stick:
– Oppressed strikers, protestors, revolutionaries
– 20,000+ exiled, 1,000+ hanged (‘Stolypin’s
necktie’)
– Successfully reduced opposition through 1914
Stolypin
•
The carrot
– Increased production in factories and on
farms. All profits from these reforms go to
the rich bankers and kulaks(rich peasants)
– Planned to offer basic education for peasants
& workers
– Planned to create work-safety codes for
factory workers
• Assassinated by revolutionary in 1911
• Tsar, influenced by landlords and his
court, planned on firing him anyway,
because he was changing Russia too
much for the Tsar’s tastes
• Tsar ordered investigation into Stolypin’s
assassination halted … hmm
Agricultural & Industrial Production: 1890-1913
100
93
80
Grain
Coal
Oil
Pig Iron
60
55
40
38
33
22
20
15
9
1
2
3
1890
0
These figures were compiled by the Tsar’s Ministry of Trade and Industry
8
5
1913
10
4
1910
6
1900
Million tons
72
Year
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
Strikes
13,995
6,114
3,573
892
340
222
466
2,032
2,404
3,534
Strikers
2,863,173
1,108,406
740,074
176,101
64,166
46,623
105,110
725,491
887,096
1,337,458
What does the above table suggest about working
peoples’ attitudes to the Tsar’s regime?
After Stolypin
•
1912: Economy turned down
– Unemployment & hunger
• Gov’t tried to measures to quell unrest
– Practiced discrimination against Jews, Muslims,
other minorities (popular move)
• 1913: Brief pause in unrest due to tricentennial celebrations
• Afterward, unrest increased, especially
among workers
– Lena gold field strikes saw troops shooting
workers
• Let those in power make no mistake about
the mood of the people .. Never were the
Russian people … so profoundly
revolutionized by the actions of the
government, for day to day, faith in the
government is steadily waning …”
– Guchkov, conservative Duma member, 1913
Rasputin
•
•
Worst evidence of Tsar’s incompetence was
promotion of dangerous figure to power
Gregory Yefimovich, aka Rasputin
– Gained influence by stopping Tsar’s son’s
hemophilia through hypnosis
– Freely gave advise on running Russia
– Drunkard & womanizer
– Rasputin means ‘disreputable’
– Tsar’s opponents seized on Rasputin as example
of Tsar’s unfitness to rule
– Tsar’s ignoring of the growing calls for Rasputin’s
removal demonstrates how Tsar either didn’t
know or didn’t care about people’s concerns
Russian cartoon showing how Rasputin influenced the
Tsar’s court.
A Russian cartoon. The caption reads:
‘The Russian Tsars at home.’
Focus Task: How well was Russia governed in 1914?
•
Here are five characteristics you might expect of a
good government:
–
–
–
–
–
Trying to improve the lives of its people
Building up its agriculture and industry
Listening to and responding to its population
Running the country efficiently
Defending the country from enemies
On a scale from 1 to 5, say how well you think the
Tsarist government did on each one up to 1914.
Explain your reason for that score.
• Now make a list of the successes and failures of the
Tsarist government up to 1914.
• Which of the following assessments do you most
agree with? By 1913 the government was:
•
A Cossack soldier
– In crisis
– Strong but with some serious weaknesses
– Secure with only minor weaknesses