system of government Flashcards
theme 1 (26 cards)
liberal democracy
individual rights and freedoms are officially recognised and protected, the exercise of political power is limited by rule of law.
what were the beliefs of Pobedonostev?
wanted to ensure Russia did not move towards becoming a liberal democracy (thought Russia should remain frozen in time)
Fundamental Laws of 1832
the emperor of all the Russians is an autocratic and unlimited monarch (divine right)
Alexander II - limiting autocracy
- formed the Zemstva (regional councils) in 1864
- Emancipation of the Serfs (change from above not below) 1861
Alexander II - reinforcing autocracy
- ended reform programme after 1st serious attempt to his life in 1866
Alexander III - Manifesto of Unshakeable Authority
- autocratic power was used for the benefit of the people
- God gave power to the Tsar (ideology)
- 1881
Alexander III - reinforcing autocracy
- intent on returning stability to Russia
- Russification programme 1881 (enforced Russian culture on ethnic minorities)
- suppressed the ‘People’s Will’
Alexander III - limiting autocracy
- in 1889 land captains were appointed to monitor and control the behaviour of the peasants
Nicholas II - The October Manifesto
- signed in 1905 as a result of 1905 revolution
- Duma was established
- no law can become effective without the approval of the State Duma
restrictions of the Duma - Fundamental Laws of 1906
- supreme autocratic power is in the Tsar, God’s command that his authority should be obeyed
- initiative in all branches of legislation belongs to the Tsar
- without the tsar’s approval no law can come into existence
- Tsar able to appoint and dismiss at any time
Nicholas II - limiting autocracy
- introduced the first Duma
BUT… - limited the Duma’s ability to intervene and eventually dissolved them
Nicholas II - reinforcing autocracy
- announced October Manifesto and new constitution
The four Dumas
- May-July 1906: Duma of National Hopes
- February-June 1907: Duma of National Anger
- November 1907-June 1912: Duma of Lords and Lackeys
- November 1912-1917: not named (known to put pressure on the tsar to abdicate)
problems under the provisional government
- failure to hold any elections
- did not achieve reforms as promised
- lacked legitimacy - did not hold the same authority as the tsars
basic principles of Marxism
- Superstructure
- Dictatorship of the Proletariat
- Labour theory of value
why was Russia not the most obvious place for Marxist Revolution to take place?
- not industrialised enough
- had not gone through the theory of capitalism
approaches of Lenin
- believed revolutionary changes could be sped up in Russia by having two stages of revolution simultaneously
- wanted the Central Party Committee to govern in interests of workers until they could take control themselves
approaches of Stalin
- believed that the ‘base’ could only be changed with a certain ‘superstructure’, with a command economy controlled from the centre
- repression was central to maintain and enforce this control and ideology
approaches of Khrushchev
- wanted to move away from brutal aspects of Stalinism so initially intended to move back to collective leadership of the party (seen under Lenin)
- moved away from excessive political repression, but power still remained with K.
Constituent assembly and the end of the war
- nov. 1917- elections held for constituent assembly, results were disappointing for Bolsheviks (came second to SRs)
- 5-6th Jan 1918- Lenin refused to allow SRs to have power and the Assembly was dissolved at gunpoint after sitting for on day and one night
- Mar.1918- Russia exited WW1 by signing treaty of Brest-Litovsk, losing 55 million people
1918 Constitution
- the RSFSR was declared in July 1918
- the constitution of 1918 declared that supreme power rested with the All Russian Congress of Soviets
- the supreme organ of power was to be the central executive committee
- congress was responsible for election Sovnarkom
organisation of government after 1918 const.
- Politburo
- Ogburo
- in 1922 all other parties except the communist party were banned
- Cheka used increasingly to violently suppress anyone
1924 Constitution
- officially created the USSR
- Russia was divided up into a federation of republics in theory giving them more power, but these areas were kept under strict control from Moscow
1936 Constitution
- stated that the Communist Party was the ‘nucleus of all the public and state organisations of the working people’
- Stalin rapidly established his total control over the country through his violent suppression of opposition and his industrial and agricultural polices
