Growth of opposition to Tsarist rule

Question 1

How did Alexander 2nd’s reforms bring opposition?

Answer 1

The hope that they would be fully reformative combined with the disappointment of them not being effective brought opposition.

Question 2

What did relaxation of censorship and university control allow for?

Answer 2

Allowed the spread of radical literature and the relaxation of university controls increased the number of independently minded students who went on to become radical.

Question 3

How did the role of the zemstva and duma change politically?

Answer 3

They became forums once again for the intelligentsia to voice moderate liberal opposition.

Question 4

What served to grow the influence of the liberal intelligentsia?

Answer 4

Economic reforms - the liberal intelligentsia had the wealth, time and interest to spend time on this issue. Many also travelled abroad.

Question 5

Which 4 mentalities did most intelligentsia develop?

Answer 5

Anarchist, nihilist, Westerniser or Slavophile.

Question 6

What did Alexander 2nd not want the zemstva to have?

Answer 6

National influence - the zemstva often worked with westerniser intelligentsia to try reform the autocracy. When the Petersburg zemstva asked for a central assembly to organise regional councils the Tsar refused.

Question 7

What caused the decline of slavophilic ideals in the 1890s?

Answer 7

The socio-economic conditions allowed Western-style socialism to take hold as the main mentality, using Das Kapital as the rubric.

Question 8

What left the intelligentsia largely powerless in the early 1890s?

Answer 8

Splits over following a marxist route or immediate constitutional tsarist reform.

Question 9

What was the role of the zemstva in the 1891-92 Great Famine?

Answer 9

They undertook the responsibility of most of the relief work, which grew resentment towards the Tsar as he was not caring adequately for his people.

Question 10

Where did radical opposition mostly come from?

Answer 10

The children of moderate liberal opposition who saw that their fathers didn’t achieve anything so wanted to go further. These children often came from educated families and so attended university.

Question 11

What happened in June 1862 that sparked an investigation into and suspicion of the Russian youth?

Answer 11

Fires in St Petersburg destroyed over 2000 shops.

Question 12

What was set up by students in 1863?

Answer 12

Moscow University students set up ‘The Organisation’ which called for reform.

Question 13

What did Chernyshevsky write whilst in prison?

Answer 13

The Contemporary in 1862 - advocating for the peasants to lead revolutionary change.

Question 14

Who was Mateo Herzen?

Answer 14

Editor of the publication ‘The Bell’ which was produced abroad and smuggled into Russia. He urged his followers to ‘go to the people’ - credited with sparking Narodnyism.

Question 15

Who was Bakunin and what were his significant contributions?

Answer 15

An anarchist and socialist - he argued private ownership of land should be replaced by collective ownership. He lived in exile in Switzerland but translated Marx’s Communist Manifesto into Russia ‘Das Kapital’ in 1869. He also wrote A Catechism of a Revolutionary with Sergei Nachaev - a radical student activist.

Question 16

What was A Catechism of a Revolutionary?

Answer 16

It called for its followers to have absolute nihilism - nothing should matter aside from revolution. ‘The Revolution is a doomed man’.

Question 17

What was the Tchaikovsky Circle?

Answer 17

Led by Nikolai Tchaikovsky and set up in St Petersburg in 1868. They were a literary society of less than 100 people who all sought social revolution and published and distributed revolutionary literature. From 1872 they began sending radicalised workers into the countryside.

Question 18

Who were the Narodniks?

Answer 18

1874 - Lavrov encouraged 2000 young people to travel into the countryside, pose as peasants and persuade them that the future of Russia would come from the peasant communes. They aimed to exploit the resentment felt since the emancipation, but the peasants remained loyal and 1600 were arrested. They tried again in 1877 but had even more arrests.

Question 19

What was the impact of the Narodniks?

Answer 19

They helped bring radical opposition into a practical space, out of backrooms and helped the government understand the level of opposition they posed.

Question 20

What was Land and Liberty?

Answer 20

A populist group founded in 1877, whose members sought unobtrusive work in communes to spread socialist ideals and carried out assassinations, namely General Mezenstev (head of 3rd Section) in 1878.

Question 21

What did Land and Liberty garner?

Answer 21

Public sympathy - talks between the zemstva and L&L to pressure the Tsar for constitutional reform commenced. The government failed to respond.

Question 22

What did Land and Liberty split into in 1879?

Answer 22

Black Repartition and the People’s Will

Question 23

What was the Black Repartition?

Answer 23

Led by Plekhanov, they wanted to share the black soil provinces among the peasants. They worked peacefully with peasants, students and workers to try stimulate social change without violence. They were weakened by arrests in 1880-81 and their leaders moved to Marxism.

Question 24

What was the People’s Will?

Answer 24

Led by Aleksandr Mikhailov who planted a spy in the 3rd section so they could avoid arrest. They were bigger than BR and advocated violence - assassinated over 208 officials. In 1879 they declared the Tsar had to be removed, but would rescind this if he implemented a constitutional monarchy. They succeeded in their assassination in March 1881, as Alexander was on his way to sign the Loris-Melikov Treaty.

Question 25

Where did Alexander 3rd live?

Answer 25

In Gatchina, a fortified castle so he was safe.

Question 26

What became popular in Moscow in 1881?

Answer 26

Self-education circles such as the Muscovite Society of Translators and Publishers who reproduced foreign socialist pieces.

Question 27

What did Plekhanov establish from Switzerland?

Answer 27

The Emancipation of Labour group in 1883 - who smuggled Marxist pieces into Russia and tried demonstrating to the public how Russia was fit for a marxist revolution. They had limited impact and crumbled when their German connect, Deich, was arrested in 1884.

Question 28

What was Plekhanov known as, and how did he live up to this?

Answer 28

The Father of Russia Marxism - he wrote Socialism and the Political Struggle where he advocated for using the Marxist stages of development. He focused on urban workers, who should first cooperate with the bourgeoise to bring down the autocracy to speed up capitalism.

Question 29

What was reformed in 1886?

Answer 29

The People’s Will, by a group of St Petersburg students. 5 members were hung for bomb-making, including Lenin’s brother, Ulyich.