The Growth Of Opposition To Tsarist Rule Flashcards
What did the relaxation in censorship and higher education cause
Relaxation in censorship- encouraged the spread of radical literature
Relaxation in higher education- increased the number of independently minded students.
How did the reforms of the local councils and the judicial system help challenge the autocracy
Zemstva- provided a platform for the educated intellectuals to challenge tsarist policies.
Judicial system- produced professionally trained lawyers skilled in the art of persuasion and ready to question and challenge autocratic practices
Who were the moderate liberal opposition
Small group as they were few literate and educated Russians but the size and influence of the liberal intelligentsia grew with the reforms and economic changes.
Liberal intelligentsia had the education, wealth, time and interest to reflect on political matters. Many had travelled abroad and despaired at the political and social stagnation in their country.
Some of the intelligentsia believed in philosophical ideas such as nihilism and anarchism.
But most fell into two broad categories- the westerners who wanted to catch up with the west by copying western ways and the slavophiles who favoured a superior Russia path for better future.
The writer Ivan Turgenev was a westerniser
Leo Tolstoy was a slavophile
Define what nihilism and archaism beliefs
Nihilism- the belief that all values are baseless and nothing can be known or communicated
Anarchism- self governed institution, the state is considered unnecessary or harmful.
Difference between the slavophiles and the westernisers
Slavophiles- believed Russia had a unique culture and centred on the peasant society and the principles of the Orthodox Church.
Westernisers- thought that Russia should abandon Slavic traditions and adopt modern western values. Economic and military reforms but also reforms to civilise society by providing representatives assemblies reducing the authority of the Orthodox Church and establishing civil liberties.
How did many westernising liberals voice heir opinion
Although how was this limited
Through the zemstva. They encouraged members to think more nationally. The members hope was to reform the autocracy so that the tsar would listen and rule in conjunction with his subjects.
Alexander II was not prepared to give them national influence. Restriction of the zemstva by Alexander III in 1889-90 bitterly disappointed the zemstva liberals.
What happened to the slavophiles in 1890’s
The attraction to the slavophiles diminished in the 1890’s the country moved coward towards industrialisation and creating conditions in which western style socialisms began to take root
What happened to the western style socialisms in the 1890’s
Some were attracted by Marxists
Others a more moderate liberal stance and. Onto yes their hope on a reform of tsardom
Define socialism
The political and economic theory that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned by the community as a whole and people should work cooperatively together. He Bolsheviks were commuted to socials thought Marxist ideology
What was “ the organisation”
Set up in 1863 by students of Moscow university and more calls for reform were made. Students idealism and determinism was heightened by the increase repression and the influence of radical socialists writers
What was the Marxist theory
Karl Marx theory based on the idea that all history was composed of class struggles. Struggles between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat could create a communist society were everyone is equal.
What were some of the actions from radical thinkers throughout the 1860’s
- 1862- a series of fires in St Petersburg destroyed over 2000 shops
- Radical books being illegally smuggled into -Russia
- 1869-necheav a radical student who had fled from Russia after calling on St perterburg students to assassinate the tsar wrote a manifesto ‘catechism of a revolution’ published in Switzerland and smuggled into Russia. In 1971- nechaev were forced to flee again from Russia after murdering a student who disagreed with him.
What was the Tchaikovsky circle
Named after Nicholas Tchaikovsky and was set up in 1868-69 in St. Perterburg.
It was primarily a literacy society that organised printing publishing and distribution of scientific and revolutionary literature including the first volume of Marx’s Das capital. The circle was never large probably no more than 100 people spread between St perterburgs and other major citiesbut it sought social revolution.
From 1872 the Tchaikovsky circle began organising workers with the intention of sending them to work among the peasants in the countryside.
What was the narodniks ( populists)
What did pyotr lavrov encourage and why
What happened as a result of this
What were the positives of this
The idea of ‘ going to the people’
1874- pyotr lavrov encouraged 2000 young men and women mainly from the nobility and intelligentsia to travel from the country side to persuade the peasantry that the future of Russia depended on the development of the peasant communes. They aimed to exploit the resentment felt since emancipation meant they had a lack of land and heavy tax burdens.
Result- the peasants ignorance superstition prejudge and deep loyalties to the tsar meant they were soon reported to the authorities. 1600 were arrested.
There was a second attempt in 1876 but this was no more successful than the first but more arrests.
Positives- the narodnyism’s helped to take radical option from underground to the country side making the government aware if the depth of feeling of its opponents
Give an example of populism in practice ( Mikhail romas)
romas put his populists ideas in to practice and set up a cheap fruit and veg store. Chief peasants who had made their own deals with urban mechants caused an explosion by filling one firewood log with gunpowder. They intimidated any poorer peasants who bought romas goods. They murdered romas assistants and scattered his body along a river bank to warn other populists. Romas shop was eventually blown up and he was made to flee for his life.
