Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

1906-1917 - Coggle Diagram

1906-1917

HOW REVOLUTIONARY WAS RUSSIA

Workers

FOR

  - Established as a distinct section of the population
  - Second generation employment from 1906-13
  - High literacy level - 64% of population compared to the general less than 40%
  - Little improvement since 1905 desite the revolt, little reward for growing industrial production.
  - Wages less than one third of the rest of europe
  - Long hours for low pay
  - Growth of militancy post Lena
  - Students supported the workers
  - Strikes grew from 464 in 1908 to 2401 in 1914
  - Larger factories turning to Bolshevik factions.
  - 
  -

Against

  - Only 1 quarter involved in July 1914 St Petersburg compared iwth teh fourth fifths in Feb 1917
  - Regime right to worried by most workers were not in large factories and very few were polliticaly motivated.

Peasants

For

  - Major variation in standard of living
  - Soem resemenet due to conflicts of enclosure and violence from those leaving the commune from older.
  - Peasants not reciving change necesary
  -

Against

  - Living Standards were rising in the years prior to 1914. 
  - Good harvest helped.
  - Villages were mostly quiet.

Liberals↓

Against

  - In a weak position between the Right and teh radical workers and peasanst.
  - Divided with no real threat
  - Major Octoberists and Kadet misstrust needed the Tsar to implement their ideas.
  - Feared mass anarachy and did not support the strike movements

For

  - Guchkov - leader of octoberists states that he wass reminded of 1905 but with danger from the government who actions revolutionsied society and people.

Revolutionaries

Against

  - SRS  weakended by years before. Fear of double agents led to mass breakdown in leadership. Exposure of Azef as a double agent. Unable to take adavantage of Lena.
  - Bolshevik leaders were islated and workers were not yet truly radiclised.
  -

For

  - Mensheviks with emphasis on reaction of legal labour movement enjoyed more support and political freedom.
  - Lena gave the more radical Bolsheviks support due to the proof that peace was not n option. By 1914 Bolsheviks had the biggest influence in the trade unions in St Petersburg and Moscow like the Metal workers union. Bolshevik papaer Pravade achieved national circultaion of 40,000 copies. 
  -

Army

For

  - Loyalty weakeneded due to mutinites of 1905-6
  - Cutting period of service to3 years brought closer contact with civilian society.
  - Officer corps becames more profffesional due to determination not to be used to crush civilian uprisings

CONSEQUENCES OF 1905 REVOLUTION

Political

Crackdown on LW radicials by Stolypin drive SDs and SRs underground.

Elected Duma created and political parities legalised.

Split political opposition post Oct Manifesto

```
Civil liberities brought back Radicals
```

Social

Government armed to de-revolutionise peasants who they saw as biggest threat.

Attempted to improve livelihoods of peasants

Weakened influence of soviets temporarily

People realised the power of united opposition. Strikes became a regular occurrence.

Free press encouraged - people read news and politicised cities.

Unions of Unions gave strength to grievances

Military

Soldiers prohibited from voting, grievances unrepresented despite official pledges to improve military conditions.

```
Moscow Uprising crushed brutally
```

Russo-Japanese war end appeased military

```
Military largely remained loyal.
```

Economic

Redemption payments halved or cancelled to ease peasants

```
Peasants Landbank established.
```

CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN CONSTITUION OF RUSSIA

The Fundamental Laws (April 1906)

Reasons for nature→Government out of danger by this point - used to claw back as much political ground as possible.

Elements of the Fundamental Law

  - Article 4→Tsar's continuing primacy in Russia's government - autocratic power
  - Article 87→Tsar to proclaim law without Duma approval when not in session
  - Dissolution→Tsar could dissolve at any time
  - Tsar's powers→can dissolve at any point, sole commander of the army, navy, right to personal rule when not in session. Right to appoint ministers

Electoral system

  - Favoured upper classes through the State council and a two-house (bicameral) legislature.

General provisions

  - Freedom of speech
  - Freedom of assembly
  - Freedom of association.

New Government

  - Promise of a constitutional monarchy resulted in the Duma.
  - Tsar remained head of government but was aided by Council of Ministers, The State Council and Duma (male electorate body would approve law)

Radicalism of the First two Dumas

First Duma

  - Events
      - Nicholas made a speech - never addressed the Duma agains (openly hated the Duma by praising the Union of Russian People who campaigned against it)
      - Peasants - radical expected to talk about key issues such as land - division in the Duma
      - Outbreak of violence over not being taken seriously (asked to discuss toilet facilities) led to dissolution.

Dissolution

  - Replacement of Goremykin with Stolypin
  - Radicals wrote the Vyborg Manifesto (urges people not to pay taxes until Duma restored, written by Kadet, and Trudovik) Failed. they were arrested and disbanded

Second Duma - Feb 1907

  - Differences
      - Socialist parties took part rather than boycotting
      - Government was interventionist in elections - financed right wing parties.
  - Result of Elections
      - Kadets lost half seats
      - 200 socialists (Trudoviks, SR, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks) and 54 Moderate liberal Octoberist and few right wing extremists
      - Polarised between left and right
  - Dissolution
      - Known as Duma of National Anger
      - Stolypin dissolved under pretence of Bolshevik treasonous activity - assasination plot of Nicholas
  - Actions of Stolypin
      - Changed electoral system to reduce peasant, worker and national minority representation.
      - The nobility (1%) of the population - elected half of the duma, Peasantry elected 1/5

Nicholas' relations with the Dumas

Third and Fourth Dumas

  - Elections→Dominated by Octobrists (154 seats) and 150 pro-regime right - did not soften Nicholas' hostility
  - Alexander Guchkov (leader of Octoberist)
      - Goaded right wing Duma members to describe tsar as autocrat
      - 1908 - made speech criticising senior positions in armed forces held by royal family - nepotism
      - Declared "hanging is too good" for Rasputin
  - Views in Government→wanted Duma dissolution - Nicholas was convinced by others, but was collapsed

Dumas

  - Voting system gave more votess to the landed gentry.
  - 3rd and 4th Dumas delt with changed electoral system meaning lower classes were no longer represented. (reduced) 
  - They were better and made several changes to national income, agriculture, education (Over 50,000 primary schools)

Relationship with the Dumas

  - Rejection of Laws e.g. religious toleration of jews - passed through duma, vetoed by Tsar.
  - After Stolypin's death, Nicholas was keen to assert his autocratic power and no future prime minister was concerned with the Duma.

Nature of Tsarist government and royal power in 1914

Argument for re-established autocracy in Russia by 1914

  - Fundamental Laws→limited Duma to law-making in only one aspect of government - no serious limits on Tsar's power in foreign affairs, public order, defence for example. 
  - Dissolution of Dumas→occured in 1906, 7 and extensive use of power under Article 87
  - Rule of Law→absent e.g. Government broke law ammending the 1905 electoral law, but nothing happened.

Argument against autocracy in Russia by 1914

  - The Duma→despite reduction of power - it was an elected legislative body
  - Political Parties→free to criticise regime with relatively free press.

Absence of Nicholas II

  - Absence→spent time at palace outside St Petersburg or summer residence - was not able to be reached by ministers.
  - Determination to uphold autocracy→no real policies, failed to give clear direction, ministers left 
  -

REPRESSION AND REFORM

Stolypin's repression

Examples of peasant violence

  - 1906 - over 1000 people died in terroist attacks rose to 3000 in 1607
  - Peasants rampaged across the country.

Attempts to pacify under Durnovo

  - Army units - 15,000 people dead and 20,000 wounded, 45,000 exiled
  - Cut redemption payments in half by 1906 - abolished in 1907 (little effect -due to end in 1906 anyway)

Stolypin's Repression

  - State of emergency→declared in 1906 covering whole of European Russia - gave government power to imprison without trial for 6 months and exile
  - Arrangement of courts
      - Field courts-marital could:
      - Cases were heard with 24 hours of offence
      - Trials in secret
      - Accused could not be represented
      - Trails lasted max two days
      - Death sentances without 24 hours of court decision
      - No appeals against.
  - Effect of Court arrangements→In 1906-7 1000 died under these procedures
  - Exile→Thousands exiled to Siberia, coined Stolypin's Neckties (for the 3600 he sentenced to death) and Stolypin's Wagons (for the 4500 sentenced to hard labour)

Actions against revolutionary parties

Repression

  - Leaders driven to foreign exile
  - Trotsky and other leaders of St Petersburg Soviet sentenced to lifetime in Siberia
  - Lenin escaped to Finland and then Western Europe due to Okrahana

Dissolution of Second Duma→revolutionary parties arrested - Bolshevik members charged with inciting mutiny in armed forces - over 2000 arrests.

Expropriation→allowed Bolsheviks to be incriminated by government for criminal activity in 1907

Agricultural reform and emigration to Siberia

Stolypin's views→Reactionary not conservative - unapologetic about use of force to restore order. Saw reform as key to survival for economic and political benefits

Political Benefits

  - Peasants owning own farms - develop attachment to private ownership, resist socialist calls
  - Benefit from reform would want the survival of the regime

Economic benefits

  - Peasant would want to develop and improve their own land - absent in old system
  - More highly motivated peasantry would be more productive
  - Increased agricultural production - ensure food supply eliminate unrest by famine.

Key measures of reform

  - Every peasant householder could demand change to communal land into private property
  - Strips could be converted into small farm if there had been no redistribution since emanciptation - Commune unwilling - would be paid compensation
  - Villages were redistibution had been practiced could only create small farms after vote among villagers
  - Peasant Land Bank rules relaxed so peasants could borrow money with better interest rates.

Impacts

  - Stolypin's Reforms due to war→stopped from having full effect (said 20 years was needed)
  - Impact before 1914
      - Initial→rush to take up opportunities but stopped after a year or two - many peasants victimised by fellow villagers
      - Statistics→by 1914 only 20% had left the village and become legal owners of their land.
      - Migration to Siberia for cheap land→1 in 6 returned
      - Increase in agricultural production→1909-13 and greater use of machinery and fertilises - investment rose in mechanisation of agricultural equipment by 9%

Emigration to Siberia

  - Reasons for→sparsely populated, mineral rich, economically under-developed
  - Actions→opened The Trans-Siberian Railway
  - Attractive offerings→free or cheap leand, interest-free loans, reduced railway fares.
  - Results→between 1906-13 3.5 million emigrated - although 20% returned.

Stolypin's other actions

  - Other reform 
      - Local government→abolition of land captains, giving zemstva additional powers
      - Schooling→reform education - all children recieve four years
      - Factory workers→compensation for injured
  - Opposition→faced opposition from conservatives, nobility, orthodoxy church - lost Tsars confidence and led to assassination.

The Lena Goldfields Massacre (1912)

Strike events→occured as a result of raw food - led to all out strike

Strike demands→8 hour working day, 30% wage increase, improvements in medical care

Government response→sent troops in to arrest strike leaders. In April 90 soldiers fired on 3000 unarmed marches (160 killed)

Effect→no effect, killed owrkers were replaced with Korean and Chinese workers.

General effect→gave rise to protest strikes - Lenin - "inflamed the masses with revolutionary fire"

IMPACT OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The state of the armed forced in 1914

Outward impression→had 1.4  million men, 3 million trained reserves, largest army in EUROPE. Been re-armed and retrained after failure at Russo-Japanese war.

Weaknesses

  - Leadership→Generals placed via nepotism. Good-quality junior officers in short supply
  - Physical condition and educationally standards→low for soldiers, less highly motivated as conscripts identified with their home districts more than Russia as a whole. Surrendered quicker than any other army.
  - Equipment→Russian army was poorly equipped  army needed 100,000 new rifles a month but only supplied 27,000
  - Poor strategy
      - Failure in Aut 1914 - advance into German territory failed at Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes.
      - Great Retreat - killed one million men - further one million taken prisoner
      - Brusilov offensive - halted when German army aided Austria.

Wartime economic problems

The 1915 Munitions Crisis

  - Failure to plan for long war→no stockpile of munitions or build up of armamaents
  - Results→placed major orders with British and American arms in 1914-15 and these were unable to meet deadlines
  - Munitions crisis→Spring 1915 was political and economic - demonstrated the weakness of the government.
  - Special State Committee for State Defence→set up by Government did improve - but the political damage had been done.

Supplies for Cities - Transport Problems

  - Railway→used for military - movement of freight interrupted food serious delayed and often rotting before reaching cities
  - Effect→War time food shortages, and rising food prices 
  - Soldiers→Strain of feeding them collapsed the whole economy.
  - Agricultural implements→Production at 15% of pre-war level.

Inflation

  - Driver→rising food prices as supply failed
  - Reasons for rising food prices
      - Grain production→fell in war time as areas were occupied by Germans and Peasants were fighting.
      - Hoarding→Peasantry hoarded grain rather than selling for consumer goods.
      - Transport→failed to transport the grain.
  - Effect on Urban Working class
      - Wages of indurstrial workers raised by prices faster
      - Petrograd - wages doubled between 1914-17 but there was a fivefold increased in the cost of flour and sevenfold in a bag of potatoes.
  - Effect on Peasantry
      - Only became problematic when consumer goods rose towards the end of the war - largely self-sufficient.

Nicholas, Alexandra, Rasputin

Effect of the Great Retreat

  - Great retreat of 1915 gave rise of panic and hysteria in political circles with rumours the Kiev and Petrograd were in danger.
  - Nicholas against the advice of his ministers went to the front in Aug 1915
  - Intention to restore calm but had no intention to be a hands on commander.
  - Led to his pivotal absence in Petrograd

Alexandra

  - German princess 
  - Shunned St Petersburg society - believed them to be decadent - lived isolated
  - Widley disliked for her aloofness, German origns
  - Strong-willed but unstable - ultra conservative in politics, advised her husband against moderation.

Rasputin

  - Siberian peasant - won repuatation as holy man and healer
  - Alexandra believed he could control her son's haemophilia 
  - His private life and close connection with royal family led to his asassination in 1916 along with murder of Nephew of Nicholas. Aim to cleanse and purify the monarchy

Influence of Alexandra and Rasputin

  - For
      - In full control of domestic policy
  - Against
      - Nicholas - military→largely symbolic, continued to be involved in politics with minsterial appointments
      - Advice→didn't always take his wife's advise
      - Rasputin→did not trust him in the same way as his wife - "our friend's opinions are sometimes very strange"
      - Exaggeration→from opposition in hope of overturning the regime.

Ministerial Leapfrog

  - Jobs in government changed with berwildering frequency
  - In 1916 - three different chief ministers, three interior ministers, three foriegn ministers, three ministers of justice
  - People believed this was due to Alexandra - guilty of mismanagement and corruption and were conspiring to bring about German victory.

The Progressive Bloc and the Zemgor

Bolsheviks

  - One key party in opposition to the war.

Duma→Government immediately suspended the Duma.

1914 - Zemstva→Zemstvo Union war relief work - providing medical care etc. Joined with Union of Towns forming the Zemgor.

Zemgor→contributed 5% to war time production - but demonstrated the weakness of Tsarist Government - Led by Lvov.

The War Industries Committee→founded by businessmen and industrialist to quell the shell shortages.

Political Pressure→post Great Retreat, Nicholas was convinced to recall the Duma.

The Progressive Bloc→Summer 1915 Duma 300 members formed the Progressive Bloc - pressing for measures essential to win the war. Feared revolutionary parties.

Callings of the Progressive Bloc→Demanded a unified government, to replace incompetent ministers - Tsar was against this and rejected. Led to opposition turning to a confrontational approach

THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION

Growth of Unrest in Towns and Countryside

Inflation→accelerated as war continued - by 1916-17 could buy half of what they had been before - due to rising food prices, rent trebled and harsh winter of 1916-7 led to intense fuel for domestic heating was scarce.

Labour unrest→result of inflation - in 1916 3/4 of a million working days lost due to strike action in Petrograd. Including protests to remove the tsar.

Causes of Rural unrest

  - Peasantry values→never strongly pro Russia or pro War - described as "muffled, submissive, sullen discontent" 
  - Peasantry cost of war→15 million men served 1914-17 - 2 million killed.
  - Extra workload→due to loss of men (both dead and injured)
  - Requisitioning→army horse, livestock - left with inferior animals. 
  - Allowance for wives→when husbands away not increased for inflation - 50 peasant women, unable to buy fabric - looted local shops.

International Women's day and the Petrograd general strike

State of Petrograd 1917 Jan→Jan - nearly half cities workers on strike - anniversary of Bloody sunday

Petrograd Feb→Second major strike - at giant Putilov engineering company - brought to standstill.

International Womans Day→day after Putilov closure - socialist activists encouraged workers to mark it.

Result of socialist encouragement→women (70% made up textile industry) demonstrated for their low paid jobs and poor household conditions. Led to five days of disorder.

Events of February

  - 23 February→Striking textile workers in Vyborg joined by men from engineering factories protesting against foodshortages - attempts to march to city centred stopped by authorities
  - 24th February→Textile workers strike spread to other industries - general strike including over 200,000 workers. Reached city centre - beaten back by police and military (soldiers reluctant to act against crowds) 
  - 25 February→Demonstrations in city centre - students and factory workers - overtly political with banners 
  - 26th February→Authorities put plans to regain control in operation - known agitators arrested - strong points set up around the city, 100s killed.
  - 27th February←Soldiers in Petrograd Garrison mutinied - spread to other barracks. NCOs - didn't want to be sent to the front line.
  - Result→created a political vaccum.

Creation of the Provisional Committee and the Petrograd Soviet

Provisional Committee of Duma

  - Established on Petrograd garrison mutiny
  - Led by Milyukov
  - Aim to restore public order - establish new government

Problems with Provisional Committee

  - Not democratically elected
  - Petrograd Garrison unwilling to recognise authority - refused to leave streets when ordered

Petrograd Soviet

  - Founded by socialist intellectuals (many Mensheviks)
  - Re-creation of 1905 St Petersburg Soviet - but included soldiers and workers
  - Achieved support from soldiers - but held no endeavours to create government

Reasons for Petrograd Soviet not wanting to create government

  - Mensheviks Belief→orthodox Marxists - believed needed capitalism transition though proletarian revolution (watch and wait)
  - Lack of experience→believed themselves unqualified to govern
  - Army→fears of response from army is a socialist government propelled themself into power.

Immediate aftermath

  - Duma committee and Soviet negotationed agreement
  - Soviet consented to formation of liberal-dominated provisional government while election processes were carried out 
  - Duma liberals accepted that Soviet would monitor events.

Abdication of Nicholas II

Location of Nicholas→500 miles south of Petrograd - assured by officals there was no cause for alarm

After Muntiny

  - ordered generals to send troops to Petrograd to regain control 
  - set off for the capital himself 
  - 150 miles out learned that army high-command had  overriden his instructions and favoured abdication

Prince Michael

  - Is abidcated to, after conversations with Duma leaders refuses to take the throne

Reasons for Abdication

  - Societal Hostility→Lost confidence in all sectors of society
  - Military→defeat had left middle classes to despair, opponents included the Progressive Bloc, Guchkov, Lvov despite orginially being moderates.
  - Working-Class Conditions→worsened during war years - regime did not allievate, food rationing was poorly organised
  - Peasants→bereaved from war - hostile to regime as this worsened
  - Loyalty of Army and bureaucracy→Priorities were not Nicholas but winning the war and preventing collapse of the country into anarchy.