the problem of reform in imperial Russia Flashcards
(9 cards)
what were the obstacles to reform?
- basic disagreement within the government elite over Russia’s true character as a nation. -serious differences between the ‘Westerners’ and ‘Slavophiles’.
- autocratic structure of Russia. - no representative institutions, such as parliament, with the power to alter things.
-it was hardly expected that the tsar would make any changes that could interfere or weaken his authority.
what were the local governments reforms?
- Alexander II reforms began with the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, followed by the setting up of a network of elected rural councils, known as the Zemstva.
- Zemstva not truly democratic but was a form of representative government.
- authorities saw the mir as a local organisation which would help to keep order and provide a cheap means of collecting taxes and mortgage repayments.
what were the legal reforms?
- aim of simplifying the court procedures whose delays had led to corruption and injustice.
- Alexander II’s relaxation of the controls over the press and the universities.
- greater freedom of expression encouraged the development of the intelligentsia.
what were the limited nature of reforms?
- Alexander was not a fan of reform and saw it as a way of lessening opposition to the tsarist system.
- Alexander II’s hope was that his reforms would attract the support of the intelligentsia. - in this he was successful.
- emancipation, greater press and university freedoms, and the administrative and legal changes were greeted with enthusiasm by progressives.
- fearful that he had gone too far, he abandoned his reformist policies and returned to the tsarist tradition of oppression.
what were key measures of ‘the reaction’?
the statute of state security 1881:
- special government-controlled courts were set up, which operated outside the existing legal system.
- judges, magistrates, and officials who were more sympathetic towards liberal ideas were removed from office.
- the powers of the Okhrana, the tsarist secret police, were extended, and censorship of the press was tightened.
the university statute 1887:
- brought the universities under struct government control.
the Zemstva act 1890:
- decreased the independence of the local councils and empowered government officials to interfere in their decision-making.
what was the role of Pobedonostev?
- in addition of being chief minister, he was the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church.
- Pobedonostev was an arch-consecutive who had a deep distaste for all forms of liberalism and democracy.
- he believed that autocracy was the only possible government for imperial Russia.
- Pobedonostev was behind many of the pogroms (persecutions which often involved the wounding or killing of Jews and destruction of their property).
- Nicholas was influenced by many of his lessons.
what was Russification?
- this was a severely enforced method of restricting the influence of the non-Russian national minorities within the empire by emphasising the superiority of all things Russian.
- the aim was to impose Russian ways ways and values on all the people within the nation.
- discrimination against non-Russians had become more open and vindictive.
- the nationalities that suffered most from this were the Baltic Germans, the Poles, the Finns, the Armenians, and the Ukrainians.
- state interference in their education, religion, and culture became widespread and systematic.
what was Anti-Semitism?
- the greatest victims of Russification were the Jews.
- over 600 new measures were introduced, imposing heavy social, political, and economic restrictions on the Jewish population.
- jews were required to live in discrete districts or ghettoes that rendered them immediately identifiable and made it easy to characterise them as scapegoats who could be blamed for Russia’s difficulties.
- pogroms
- the ‘black hundreds’ was a group of ultra-conservative Russian nationalists, notorious for their attacks on jews.
what was the response to Nicholas II’s policies?
- despite greater police interference, opposition became more organised.
- the governments policies of reaction and Russification made many political and national groups increasingly frustrated by the coercion and incompetence of the tsarist system.
