Could forces of change overcome forces of reaction by 1894? Flashcards
(30 cards)
Successes and failures of Financial minister Mikhail Von Reutern, (1862 - 1878 )
Successes:
Tax collection made more efficient and effective. Tax farming abolished, government audits, encouraged foreign investment by lowering tariffs
Banks like the municipal (local gov) banks were introduced in 1862 and savings banks in 1869.
Government subsidies funding to help industry, Mining and cotton, and further development - development of railways
-> Railway growth as a result
-> economy expanding 6 percent annually
Failures:
1/3 of government expenditure went on debt and currency.
The rouble (Russian currency) remained unstable.
66% of government income came from indirect taxation on goods like salt and vodka.
Trade tariffs being lowered caused government income to fall, so they eventually had to put them back up in 1878.
The economy overall remained weak.
Define tax farming
Where individuals could buy the right to collect (and keep part of) taxes.
What economic reforms did Mikhail Von Reutern (1862 - 1878) make that lead to economic gain?
Government subsides given to entrepreneurs to help develop railways-> Railway grew rapidly as a result.
government financially supporting industries like mining and cotton -> Textiles (Russias largest industry) oil extraction and ironworks developed further -> economy expanding 6 percent annually
What economic reforms did Mikhail Von Reutern (1862 - 1878) make that lead to economic flops?
Encouraging Foreign Investment lowering tariffs -> income actually fell, tariffs had to be increased again by 1878.
1/3 of all gov expenditure went on the Russian currency -> Rouble remained unstable.
Russias economy remained weak despite all of the reforms.
What economic reforms did Mikhail Von Reutern (1862 - 1878) make for taxation?
Tax collection made more efficient and effective. Tax farming abolished, government audits, encouraged foreign investment by lowering tariffs(tax on imported/exported goods)
What economic reforms did Mikhail Von Reutern (1862 - 1878) make for banks?
Banks like the municipal (local gov) banks were introduced in 1862 and savings banks in 1869.
What economic reforms did Mikhail Von Reutern (1862 - 1878) make for government spending?
Government subsidies funding to help industry, Mining and cotton, and further development
1/3 of government expenditure went on debt and currency but the rouble remained unstable.
What were slavophiles and what did Slavophiles believe?
A different ‘belief’ within the liberal intelligentsia which believed Russia had a unique culture and heritage which should be preserved as Russia modernises.
What were westernisers and what did westernisers believe?
A different ‘belief’ within the liberal intelligentsia which believed that Russia should westernise and take inspiration from countries like the UK France and USA.
Many historians now argue that Westernisers and Slavophiles were not so different after all. Why might this be?
They both wanted Russia’s autocracy to change, they both wanted Russia to modernise, and they both fought politically for improvement in the lives of ordinary people.
what makes it difficult to talk about one liberal intelligensia in Russia?
there were multiple ideas for what they wanted politically within the group, progressively getting more extreme: Liberalism, Socialism, Anarchy; but ultimately they all wanted a left-leaning change.
When did Russia’s famine happen?
1891 - 1892
Who helped with the famine?
The Tsars central government dithered.
Zemstvos quickly clicked into gear, organising famine relief to help starving peasants. The ineffectiveness of the Tsarist political system stimulated the rise of activism amongst the liberal intelligensia.
Who was Alexander Ulianov?
University student convinced revolutionary. Involved in conspiring to assassinate Alexander III. Sentenced to death in Siberia. Ulianov’s brother Vladmir would later take the nickname Lenin and become the first leader of the Soviet Union.
What did populist leaders want?
What did they mean by ‘the people’?
Mikhail Bakunin wanted revolution starting from the lowest, most outcasted and poorest of society - peasants, bandits and robbers.
Alexander heron who edited opposing journal ‘the bell’ said ‘go to the people’ in 1869, encouraging peasants in the country side / not in centralised places of Russia to be encouraged to revolution.
Nikolai Tchaikovsky was also in a similar field, leader of the most important propaganda circle that published Karl Marx’s capital, who also organised links for workers to access the country side and spread the propaganda.
Sergei Nechaev was a violent and reckless student terrorist who advocated for terrorism + murder from a small group and expected ‘the people’ to follow said group.
Mikhail Romas began a peaceful cooperative which intended to teach peasants independence and how to run their own lives.
What attracted Russian Populists to peasant communes (mir) ?
They wanted to use the peasant communes to create new socialist equal societies by using existing community to build socialism.
Useful because of the collective and egalitarian structure.
Helps avoid industrialisation.
How did Russia’s populists seek to use propaganda to further their course?
-Peaceful route towards radical change.
-Ingnite calls for revolution from the readers.
How did Russias populists seek to use direct action to further their cause?
violent, direct action
terrorist movement focusing on tsars + nobility
Tchaikovsky circle’s propaganda.
Dismantling fear of the Tsar, encouraging people to want him dead.
What was the Tchaikovsky circle?
Nikolai Tchaikovsky was leader of the most important propaganda circle that smuggled and published mass amounts of revolutionary propaganda, even publishing Karl Marx’s capital. They also organised links for workers to access the country side and spread the propaganda.
The Tchaikovsky circle recruited workers in St Petersburg to go to the people, sending the workers out into the countryside to work with the peasants and encourage them to support a revolution in Russia.
What, to summarise, turned Russian radicals to terrorism?
Felt as thought there was no other option / exhausted all other routes to change.
How did ‘the movement to the people’ disappoint Russian populists?
Many Peasants straight up ignored the populists’ ideas. Others handed them straight into the police. The movement completely collapsed, and resulted in the ‘trial of the 193’.
What did Peter Kropotkin call the Populists’ ‘go to the people’ boost in the 1870s.
The mad summer of 1874
Why was the failure of the movement to the people important for Russian Populists?
Many turned to terrorism. Inspired by French revolutionary terror in the 1790s, they changed their intentions to Target those in power, like the Tsar + gov ministers.
There was the successful assassination of the head of the secret police (Third section)
What 2 groups formed following the split of ‘Land and Freedom’ in 1879?
Black repartition - peaceful wing, set up by Georgii Plekhanov and others, aimed to share black soil provinces (fertile land) in Russia amongst peasants, by developing ties with students and workers and publishing propaganda materials to bring about change without violence.
1880 - 1881, devastated by arrests and collapsed.
People’s Will - militant group, terrorist populist organisation, advocating for the assassination of gov officials to bring about rapid revolutionary change. Infiltrated secret police with a spy, evaded arrest, and Assassinated Alexander II in March 1881.
