Opposition 1855-94

Question 1

What were the two main groups who opposed the autocracy during the early 1960s?

Answer 1

1. Peasants
2. National minorities.

Question 2

When was the Bezdna unrest? What did it entail?

Answer 2

April 1861: 5,000 peasants from 130 villages joined and restricted temporary obligation - army was used to restore killing 91 peasants.

Question 3

Was there any long-term uprisings after the emancipation of the serfs?

Answer 3

No, there was a peak in rebellions 4 or so months after Emancipation but in the long-term the peasantry remained loyal.

Question 4

Who were the two mainly opposed groups stemming from the intelligentsia?

Answer 4

Liberals:
Believed in reform and greater form of democracy.

Radicals:
Overthrowing the monarchy (Nihilists, Popularists and Marxists)

Question 5

When was Young Russia established? What was something significant they did in 1862?

Answer 5

Formed early 1860s, believed to be responsible for a series of large fires in St. Petersburg in 1862 which destroyed over 2,000 shops.

Question 6

When did Marxism become relevant during the 20th century? Why was this?

Answer 6

Became relevant during the 1880s and 1890s when there was an emergence of a capitalist society and not feudal - meant Marx’s theory could finally be applied.

Question 7

When were the Narodnik’s formed? What did they carry out?

Answer 7

1874 - carried out go to the people movement from 1874-76

Question 8

When were the Peoples Will formed? Where did they stem from?

Answer 8

Established in 1879 - stemmed from the Narodnik movement and Land and Liberty

Question 9

What did the Peoples Will believe in?

Answer 9

Advocated violent methods - sentenced Alexander II to death in 1879 unless he agreed to make reforms.

Question 10

Where did Black Repartition and Peoples Will stem from?

Answer 10

Land and Liberty - 1877

Question 11

What did Black repartition believe in?

Answer 11

Renounced violence, preferring gradualism, propaganda and agitation.

Question 12

How were Black repartition weakened during the 1880s?

Answer 12

Under Alexander III’s rule most radical and liberal opposition was stamped out using abrasive methods. Black repartition was severely weakened by arrests.

Question 13

Name two radical popularist writers

Answer 13

Nikolai Chernyshevsky

Sergei Nechaev

Question 14

Who published what is to be done in 1863?

Answer 14

Nikolai Chernyshevsky

Question 16

When was the Tchaikovsky Circle established? What did they do?

Answer 16

1868:
Shared banned books, popularist literature

Produced pamphlets and spread propaganda to workers and peasants.

Smuggled the first copies of Marx’s Das Kapital

Question 17

What aided the intelligentsia’s exposure to popularist ideas?

Answer 17

Relaxation of censorship, and extension of education

Question 17

How many Narodnik’s were involved in go to the peoples movement in 1674-5?

Answer 17

4,000 Narodnik’s involved

Question 18

Narodnik’s were suppressed during the late 1870s, how many were arrested?

Answer 18

1,600 arrested and some exiled.

Question 19

What is the slight advantage of Narodnik’s being arrested during the 1870s?

Answer 19

Some were acquitted with sympathetic juries such as the Trial of 50 and the Trial of 193

Question 20

What did Land and Liberty do?

Answer 20

1. Sprang prisoners from jails
2. Assassinated tsarist officials

Question 21

What reforms did Count Mikhail Loris Melikov pass during 1880?

Answer 21

1. Released political prisoners
2. Relaxed censorship
3. Lifted restrictions on activities of the zemstvo
4. Third Section abolished.

Question 22

What did the Loris-Melikov proposals include?

Answer 22

1. Aim to widen democracy at a national level.
2. Common people allowed to elect a small number of representatives to government
   etc.

Question 23

What happened to the Loris-Melikov proposals after Alexander II was assassinated on the 13th of March 1881?

Answer 23

Abandoned.