Growth of Opposition in Russia
Opponents to Nicholas II came from the middle classes & the proletariat and sometimes from
the peasants. They had no practical experience & because of their nature as underground
movements the groups tended to lean towards Utopian/radical thoughts.
Growth of the Urban Proletariat

1900 - only 2-3 million industrial workers out of 110 million Russians. These workers
were confined in 4 main areas.
 Factories were poorly lit & badly ventilated, had long working hours & brutal discipline.
There was no job security.
 Living conditions were appalling – workers lived in dormitories or rented rooms. In 1911
typhus, smallpox, typhoid & cholera were serious problems for industrial workers.
 All of these experiences created a militant working class. From the 1880s there was an
increasing number of industrial strikes.
1. 68 strikes in 1895
2. 125 strikes in 1900
3. 14,000 strikes in 1905
 There was a trickle of social legislation but it was often ignored:
1. 1892: No children under 12 to be employed.
2. 1892: No female labour allowed in mines.
3. 1896: eleven and a half hour working day introduced.
Conditions for Peasants
Life expectancy was under 40. Living conditions were poor. There were severe famines.
Their main problem was a land shortage due to an increasing population. The government
tried to distract people with a successful war against Japan. Instead the humiliating defeat
was blamed on Tsarist incompetence. This resulted in the joining together of the middle class
liberals, the working class & the peasants in the 1905 Revolution.
There were 4 main opposition groups:
1. Populists (Narodniks)
2. Social Revolutionaries
3. Social Democrats
4. Liberals (Octoberists and Kadets)
Populists (Narodniks)
 First revolutionary movement in Russia during the 1870s primarily led by students.
 They believed that change would only come from the peasants.
 Many were arrested after the Okhrana infiltrated their groups.
 Others became disillusioned with the apathy of the peasants.
 By the late 1870s they had divided into 2 distinct groups:
 The People’s Will – a terrorist organisation.
 Land and Liberty movement – who continued to work with the peasants.
 The movement was destroyed in the wake of Alexander II’s assassination, but they were
influential in establishing a revolutionary tradition in Russia.
Social Revolutionaries
 Their main aim was to redistribute land to the peasants.
 They appealed to peasants & young Russians and by1890 factory workers.
 They were led by Victor Chernov & formed the Union of Social Revolutionaries in 1896.
 In 1901 they split into 2 groups:
 Left Social Revolutionaries – terrorists operating out of Berlin.
 Right Social Revolutionaries – dedicated to distributing propaganda operating out of
Geneva. (Remember political opposition was illegal)
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Between 1901-1905 the Left murdered over 2000 aristocrats & ministers including
Plehve, Minister for the Interior, in 1904.
By 1905 the Right side of the party gained middle class professional support as well as
support from the peasants.
By 1906 they had a comprehensive programme promising ‘revolutionary socialism’ – but
this meant giving all the land to the peasants with no compensation for the rich – which
was not an ideal immediate solution.
The Liberals
 There was no single Liberal Party.
 They were largely middle class & basically loyal to the Tsar.
 They wanted constitutional reform, a constitutional monarchy & Russia to westernise.
 Some tried appealing directly to the government through the Zemstvos.
 Others left Russia & went underground producing leaflets demanding change.
Social Democrats
 They believed that change would come from the proletariat because peasants showed
little interest and a rapidly expanding industrial working class did not fit Populist pattern.
 They were attracted by Marxist ideas as explained in books such as ‘Das Kapital’ and the
Communist Manifesto.
 George Plekhanov founded the first Russian Marxist organisation called the ‘Group for
the Emancipation of Labour’.
 1880s – Young Marxists helped organise strikes in St. Petersburg.
 1898 - Social Democratic Labour Party was formed to unite the different Marxist groups.
 1898 - Vladimir Lenin was exiled to Siberia for his activities.
 Many Marxists operated from outside Russia to avoid capture printing pamphlets to send
back to Russia.
 In 1900 they founded a newspaper called Iskra (the Spark).
 Lenin believed that rather than have a government suddenly overthrow the government
they needed a dedicated group of professionals to orchestrate revolution.
 In 1903 the party split into 2 groups - Bolsheviks & Mensheviks.
 The Bolsheviks (majority) followed Lenin.
 The Mensheviks (minority) followed a man called Martov.
Popular Unrest & Politics
Even with the improvement of Russia’s economy there was still a sense of growing unrest
amongst the people that made them open to rebellion. The Tsars were improving the
Russian economy but many peasants felt that the changes were happening too slowly & did
not improve their situation immediately. There were 3 main reasons why Russian people
were looking for an alternative to tsardom between 1905 – 1914.
1. Industrial Instability – Between 1900-3 almost 30% of the labour force were put out of
work. These unemployed workers became bored and hungry which was dangerous.
2. Labour concentration – By 1914, 40% of workers were in factories employing a
thousand men or more. These could be far more easily mobilised for political
disturbances. For the first time large groups of people were working together & when they
were upset about something the whole factory acted upon that feeling.
3. Frequency of strikes and disputes - Working & living conditions were low and poor
wages led to disputes throughout the 1880s and 1890s. Russian troops were used
against strikers, trade unions were made illegal, strikes were made punishable by fines &
refusal to work could lead to arrest.
The Growth of Russian Towns
The Finance Ministers wanted the economy to grow & saw Russia’s industry as a way to
achieve this. They focused on foreign investment in factories & the resettlement of farmers
into towns built around factories as a way to improve the economy but did not take into
account the social & political impact of the sudden growth of Russian towns. This led to
social & political problems for the Tsar. This is why:
 The dramatic growth of major Russian towns such as Moscow (197%), Warsaw (253%) &
Lodz (872%) led to problems of urban overcrowding. There were not enough houses.
 Living conditions in towns were squalid & unsanitary. This was because houses that did
exist were poorly built, had no proper running water or heating facilities.
 There was overcrowding in factory barracks - people were sleeping three to a bed.
 Workers were paid with goods that they made instead of money to improve their lives or
living conditions. The problem was finding people to buy your goods or barter with – most
local people were also being paid in kind so there was no diversity of merchandise.
1905 Revolution
What made the events of 1905 a significant threat to the Tsarist government was that for the
first time it was faced by a combination of threats from the three main opposition classes in
Russia, the industrial workers, the peasants & the reformist middle classes.
What happened?
 The 1905 Revolution began on Bloody Sunday.
 It was led by Father Gapon, an Okhrana double agent who led a crowd of workers to the
tsarist Winter Palace wanting a petition from the tsar to help change their terrible working
conditions.
 The police panicked & soldiers fired into the crowd resulting in hundreds of casualties.
 It led to a national outbreak of disorder with strikes in towns & cities.
 Terrorism against government officials spread through the Russian countryside organised
by the Social Revolutionaries.
 The situation was made worse by the disastrous war against Japan.
 Peasants burned down their landlord’s houses frightened that the government was about
to seize the property of peasants who had failed to pay off their mortgages.
 Georgia even declared itself independent & the Poles demanded self-government.
Effects of the 1905 Revolution
 Summer 1905 - there were mutinies in the army & navy.
 In St Petersburg & Moscow workers formed themselves into an elected soviet.
 They began trying to get better conditions for workers but revolutionaries soon realised
that they could also be used for political & revolutionary agitation.
 The Menshevik, Trotsky, became chairman of the Petersburg Soviet.
 The Tsar realised he had to grant concessions but he really only wanted to divide the
opposition. He tried to get liberal support first by granting, on Witte’s advice, a duma. This
was done by the October Manifesto.
How significant was the 1905 Revolution
 Revolutionaries played little part in the revolution.
 Only Trotsky played an important role.
 Many historians argue that it was not that important.
 The Tsarist regime survived despite losing the Russo-Japan War & the revolution.
 Mutinies in the army & navy did not really spread.
 Liberals & peasants accepted the government’s economic & political bribes suggesting
they were not ready for a real revolution.
 The Duma did not limit the Tsar’s powers.
 So long as the army was loyal to the Tsar & the government kept its nerve then there
would be no opposition.
 The liberals were scared of co-operating with the proletariat & their potential power to
make change.
Russia 1905 – 1914
THE OCTOBER MANIFESTO 1905
It promised a Duma, elected by social classes proportional to their size with legislative
powers. It promised civil rights, i.e. freedom of speech, assembly and conscience. The
Liberals agreed to the manifesto and split from the revolution. They formed 2 political parties.
 The Octobrists – who were moderates and basically loyal to the Tsar.
 The Kadets – who were larger than the Octobrists.
THE CONSTITUTION - FEBRUARY 1906
This formalised the promises of the October Manifesto but already it was watered down. It
created 2 chambers – the Duma and a reformed State Council.
 The Duma was elected indirectly for a period of 5 years. Election was based on social
class, but all women and almost half of male urban workers were excluded.
 The State Council was half made up of men appointed by the Tsar and half elected by
the Church, universities, nobles and Zemstva.
The Duma could initiate legislation but both chambers had to agree to it before it became
law. It had control over one third of the government’s income and it had the right to question
ministers. But the Tsar had personal veto over all legislation.
THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS – APRIL 1906
In April 1906 the Tsar passed the Fundamental Laws which undermined the Duma. They
stated that ‘supreme autocratic power’ still lay with the Tsar. The Tsar appointed all ministers
who were not responsible to the Duma. The Tsar could dissolve the Duma and, under Article
87, the Tsar could issue decrees when the Duma was not in session, in exceptional
circumstances.
There were four Dumas held in Russia between 1906 and 1914. They were largely
ineffective and did not give the people of Russia any real political power. Election to the
Dumas was still only possible for the elite.