1.
Tsarist Russia after 1856
a.
Outcomes of the Crimean War showed the strength of the western
nations
b.
The European examples again become the model for Russian reforms
c.
Two major perspectives in Russia
i.
Westernizers: Russia is
destined to become more like Europe
ii.
Slavophiles: Russia is
destined to be unique (Just not sure what!)
d.
Russia had strong tradition of autocratic rule
i.
European conceptions were missing
1.
Spiritual authority is independent of state authority
2.
People have certain rights or claims for justice
3.
Rule by law was substituted with ukase, police action, and the
army
4.
Developing technology was replaced with importing technology and
forcing reforms onto the population
ii.
Those within Russia that were exposed to western ideals objected
to the pure bureaucracy
1.
Press and universities were censored
e.
Russian serfdom
i.
Characteristic of slavery
ii.
Serfs that had some mobility had to pay fees to the lord
iii.
Serfs lot depended on the personality or economic circumstances of
their owners (paternalistic)
iv.
Serfdom made the muzhiks into “illiterate and stolid drudges,
without incentive, initiative, self-respect, or pride of workmanship
1.
Made for very poor soldiers
f.
Educated Russians
i.
Estranged from the government
ii.
Estranged from the Church
iii.
Estranged from the uneducated peasants
1.
And felt some guilt for the condition of the peasants
iv.
Became the “intelligentsia:
a class apart
v.
Free to think, not free to do much
vi.
Believed that intellectuals should play a large role in society
1.
Some turned to revolution and terrorism
vii.
Government responded with more repression
2.
The Emancipation Act of 1861 and Other Reforms
a.
1855 Alexander II eased the controls on the universities
i.
Censorship was reduced and followed by a great outburst of public
opinion
b.
One point of agreement was the emancipation of the serfs
i.
How to achieve the goal of emancipation was unclear
1.
Needed to avoid throwing the labor system into chaos
2.
Did not want to ruin the gentry class
c.
1861 serfdom was abolished by decree
i.
Subjects of the government not of their owners
ii.
No longer could forced or unpaid labor be demanded
d.
Land allocation
i.
Half the land went to the gentry
ii.
The other half went to the peasants
1.
The peasants had to pay a redemption
iii.
Gentry exchanged their difficult economic position of mortgaged
serfs for free and clear land with redemption money
iv.
Peasant land became mir or village property
1.
The village could demand forced labor from members that defaulted
on their portion of the redemption
v.
Land could not be sold outside the village
vi.
Discouraged the investment of outside capital
1.
Agriculture in Russia would lag behind the technical advancements
of the west
e.
Inequality among peasants
i.
Some peasants leveraged their position by renting land from the
gentry and hiring other peasants to work (kulaks)
ii.
Others ended up displaced from the land and destitute
f.
Jurisdiction of the land lord was replaced with a new system of
local courts
i.
Public trials
ii.
Right to representation
iii.
Class distinctions in judicial matters were abolished
iv.
Training for judges on state salaries
v.
Jury trials
g.
Zemstvos 1864
i.
Regional governments
ii.
Took care of education, medical relief, public welfare, food
supply and road maintenance
iii.
Some called for a Duma
1.
Liberal rumblings in Poland caused Alexander II to pull in the
reigns of reform
3.
Revolutionism in Russia
a.
Several assassination attempts were made against Alexander II
b.
1881 Alexander was killed in a bombing
c.
Revolutionaries were not pleased with the reforms
i.
Reforms only strengthened the existing order
d.
Peasants were saddled with heavy redemption payments
e.
Intellectuals fanned the peasant discontent
f.
Socialists came to believe that the future of socialism was with
Russia
i.
Weakness of capitalism in Russia
ii.
Kind of collectivism was already established in the village
communes
g.
Bakunin and anarchism
i.
Promoted terrorism to remove the existing government
ii.
In order to stem the rise of radical socialist the Czar turned to
the liberals
1.
Liberals demanded follow through with earlier reforms
2.
Czar abolished the secret police of Nicholas I
a.
Allowed more freedom of the press
b.
Agreed to a pseudo-parliamentary system
iii.
March 13, 1881 Alexander II was assassinated by the People’s Will
h.
Alexander III 1881 to 1894
i.
Brutal resistance to liberal and revolutionary interests
i.
Reforms of Alexander II made some progress
i.
The two walls of autocracy and revolutionism made for a tentative
and halting advance of the reforms