Discontent and Opposition to the Tsar

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Discontent and Opposition to the Tsar
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The nature of Russian society in 1914

• Russia is a vast country stretching from the
  Eastern European plain, across the Ural Mountains
  and the plains of Siberia to the Far East.
• Approximately 110 million people lived in Russia
  in 1900, 97 million of which were peasant
  farmers, three million were industrial workers
• About one million made up the aristocracy and
  approximately half a million were from the
  professional classes.

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• Russia was socially and economically backward in
  contrast to the other Great Powers, although it
  was beginning to undergo rapid industrialisation
  in the cities as it tryed to catch up with the
  USA, Germany, Great Britain, France and Japan.
• The vast majority of Russians were peasant
  farmers who lived an almost medieval existence -
  dependant upon the soil and the local
  aristocracy.
• By 1900 the peasantry was growing rapidly and
  there was a hunger for land that was mainly
  owned by the aristocracy.

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The government of Nicholas II in 1914

• The Romanov Tsar Nicholas II, was an absolute
  monarch who ruled from St Petersburg.
• This situation changed Following a revolution in
  1905 when the Tsar was forced to accept the
  establishment of the Duma, a Russian parliament.
  
• However, this organisation was weak and
  essentially rubber-stamped decisions made by the
  monarchy and its council.
• Although the Duma theoretically limited Nicholas
  IIs power, he could still be described as an
  absolute monarch with absolute power over the
  Russian people.

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Traditional loyalty

• The Romanov dynasty maintained its position
  through the traditional loyalty of powerful
  sections of Russian society
• The most important of these were the
  aristocracy, the Church, the bureaucracy, the
  police and the Russian army.
• Each of these powerful elites was interested in
  preserving their own positions and the power of
  the monarchy.
• By 1914 Russia seemed to be very old fashioned,
  even medieval, in contrast to the other Great
  Powers.

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Opposition groups

• Opposition groups such as Kadets, Social
  Revolutionaries and Social Democrats were
  suppressed and many of the Tsars political
  enemies were forced to live abroad.
• The Kadets, (Constitutional Democrats) were a
  middle-class liberal party that wanted peaceful
  political change leading to the handover of power
  to an elected duma. They were the most moderate
  of the opposition groups.
• The second major opposition group were the Social
  Revolutionaries wanted to seize power by
  revolution. They would change the system of land
  ownership to make life better for the peasants.

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• The third group were the Social Democrats. They
  followed the communist the writings of Karl Marx.
  He predicted that workers would rise up against
  the middle and upper classes and seize control of
  the means of production (factories and land).
  Eventually a classless society would be created -
  communism.
• The communists aimed to overthrow the Tsar, the
  aristocracy and the Church and replace them with
  small councils or Soviets, which would represent
  the ordinary people and control the means of
  production on their behalf.
• The communists were split amongst themselves
• The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov,
  or Lenin. who believed a communist revolution in
  Russia could only be achieved by a small elite of
  professional revolutionaries under his command.
• The other communist group were the Mensheviks.
  The Mensheviks also wanted a communist
  revolution, but one that was democratic and not
  controlled by one person or a small group.

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The Tsars Opponents and Supporters
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The Tsars response to opposition

• He could be completely ruthless to people who
  protested.
• He used the army to put down street
  demonstrations
• He had a highly effective secret police force
  called the Okhrana
• Once arrested suspects could be tortured,
  imprisoned or sent into exile in a remote part of
  the country.
• The work of the Okhrana kept illegal opposition
  groups weak and disorganised.
• By the early 1900s most of their leaders had fled
  abroad.

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First World War

• The First World War was a disaster for Russia.
  Many Russians laid all the blame on the Tsar and
  came to see his overthrow as the only way to save
  the country from a crushing defeat.

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Discontent by 1916

• Russia was losing the war
• It was impossible to supply the huge army of 6
  million men, with Russias small amount of
  industry.
• Inefficiency and corruption of Tsars
  adminstrators led to waste confusion
• Transport system could not cope supplying both
  towns and the army
• Army used outdated tactics and its generals were
  poor leaders.
• In 1915 the Tsar made himself Commander-in-Chief
  of the army
• now soldiers could directly blame him for their
  misery and the high casualties.

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Discontent by 1916

• The Tsar left the running of the country to his
  wife the Tsarina
• She refused to take any advice from the Duma so
  she was blamed for everything that went wrong.
• The Tsarina was German this made her unpopular
  rumours she was trying to sabotage the war
  effort.
• The Tsarina listened to Rasputin
• His character and the many scandals made him
  unpopular.
• Some believed he had a satanic hold over the
  royal family and he was leading Russia to her
  doom.
• Wild rumours that they were both German agents
• He was murdered in December 1916 but by this time
  it was too late

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Crisis in the Cities

• Throughout much of the war, Russian cities
  suffered from a shortage of food
• Bad harvests
• Poor transport arrangements
• Loss of large areas of rich farmland to the
  Germans
• The shortage meant food prices went up 700 in 3
  years of war, but wages only increased 200.
• By the beginning of 1917, workers in towns were
  faced with starvation.