Essay 3:
An assessment of the attempts to
strengthen Tsarism between 1905
and 1914
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.
1. What does this tell you about his attitude to
a) The Zemstvo?
b) Himself?
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?’
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…”
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.
1. What is different?
2. What are likely to be the effects of this?
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
Agricultural: Read Section C and
answer the following:
1. What evidence is there of peasant unrest in
before 1905?
2. Why might Nicholas have thought cancelling
redemption payments might have worked?
3. Explain the two views that exist about
Stolypin’s land reforms (you can also use your
phones to research Stolypin’s Land reforms).
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
• “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
• 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?
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”- BenCion Pinchuk
• “first pacification, then reforms” was his quote
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
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”
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?
How would it work?
• Stolypin thought that peasant landowner
would produce more food to sell for profit.
The countryside would therefore become
richer.
Did it work?
• Kinda!
• The peasants responded fairly well to these
reforms (although there is conflicting
evidence).
Conflicting views
Hugh Seton Watson
• 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
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.
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.
The Duma
• Things to consider:
1. How much authority the Duma had
2. The role of Stolypin
3. Was Stolypin successful?
4. Was the Duma successful
Attitudes towards the Duma
• Historians split over whether the 1917
Revolution could have been avoided if the
Duma had been granted more powers.
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”
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”
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.
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.
SDs
• Some individual SDs decided to stand for
election, under direction of Party leadership.
Most members boycotted the Dumas.
Nationalists
• Union of the Russian People (right wing).
Didn’t want to break up the empire.
• National minority groups objected to excesses
of Russification.
Questions:
• “Was the Duma ‘doomed from the
beginning?” Explain your answer.
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?
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 cooperate.
• What do you think the Tsar’s response will be?
Stolypin’s attitude to the Duma
• He accepted the duma as a permanent figure
of the regime. He realised that the Duma
couldb e 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”
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?
• 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.
Achievements of the third duma.