UNIT 1 PAPER 5b: RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION, 1905_rz 2: The revolution of 1905: immediate causes,, response of the
to l9A7 reginrr
: fntroduction: Russia at the beginning of the Trventieth Century
What causedthe eventsof 1905?
An empire. Russians made up less than halfthe population. The rest includecl
Poles, Finns, Tartars, Germans,Latvians, and Georgians. Well over 100 different . Rapidgrowthofindu:
languageswere spoken. There was a policy of Russification. Russianwas the orpeaslnts
."""JiJ:il:;"#1",,1'!f rabour
rhousands
official language and attemptswere made to restrict the use of other languages overcrowded conditions. sanitation
f:nt;::Xr and very
was p"*, di*"j:*."",Hffks
and cultures.
. Working conditionsin
*ctories were u"ty p,o,ot'Hours
Ruled by an Autocrat. The Tsar (or Tsar), Nicholas II ruled the whole empire. long and wages r"- o il:rl:: were incredibly
were common as there was
There was no Parliament or Cabinet There were no elections. The Romanovs had covering workin* ut,r" l"gliiltiJn
"t'v
ruled Russiafor nearly 300 years.The Tsar took all the key decisionson his own. """iiiiXrlo
. The rapid growth of popuraion (1 g55-70
'
mition, r g97- 126 mition)
A class-basedsociety. Most (over 80%) ofthe population were peasants.They was a great shortageof land. plois meant there
we." aiuia"J^u_Jngsr sons,
worked small plots ofland in Russia'svillages.They had beenslaves,or serfs, sma'er and smaller. There ha,l and became
b#" ;;;;;i;
until I 861,when Tsar AlexanderI I (the Tsar Liberator)had set them free. havingto pay Redemption puyments. -'^"" 'L'i'e) sii,) uno o"u.unts resented
still
They had had to pay, and were still paying, Redemption Payments to pay for the . Many people vr'anteda s:l_in th:
running of the country. .l.he
land they had been given. Most were very poor, as they had so little land. Some happy to keep the Tsar, but Moderates were
wanted electtns fo, u iorrrtitu"rrt
influence Assembly where
were richer and able to hire landlesspeasantsto work for them. events'
rheR"'"tu;;;;;;; il,.a,o getridorthe
$:J-:irtl rsar
The village council, or Mir, often took communal decisions on working the land
so it was hard for go-aheadpeasantsto use new ways of farming. '
:#L:HlTl:.:1jl:T'- l"o wanted.a
newsocietv
basedon virrage
There was a small middle class ofeducated and professional people- lawyers, asociety
where il;ffi'*I#::*T"*ti:,Aleed- rhiss""iried.uitea
to
doctors, teache6, etc. sRs, or sociar n"roritionr"i"., on tn" land for a living. The
adopted this por,"r.
The Nobles rvere very rich. They olten owned great estates.They were expected . Many intellectuals wanted change.
They felt they had a right to
to servethe Tsar, making up the army oflficers,the civil servantsand the Govemment and that autocracv;"r influence the
;il-f"ril;Ji *r of date. Thev berieved
administratorsthat kept the Empire running. that all Russia'sproblems co.l,i .ro
be bl"_;;;-il";;;racy. "i'o
power Russia neededto moderni* remain a great
ana if,", gou"_^"rrt ton.
Religious. The Russian Orthodox Church was very influential. The Tsar was "ppii"i-tolr.
head ofthe church as well as head ofthe country. The Church had great influence . Sole intellectuals aereed^{t,h
the ideas of Karl Marx. He
over the peasantsin the villages. believed that the
ownthefactories
il;;l _ulo]1 i1
;:jfi:;:flX,,"fil".,.":ould ft.o,nt,y
Changing. In 1900 Russia was the fastest-growing industrial country in the wor.id peasants
were
the "
*",,";';:Jil:il,1;:J$i,ffiXl.,l",ihTi:,#;;;"
- growing at the rate of 8o%per annum. (Governments today get eKcitedif the
economy grows at 2oZ!) I However, alr political activity.was
ilregal so it all had to be canied
underground, or in exile. Lenin, out
for exampt", ,an tf," notahevik
Witte, the Finance Minister, believed the only way to modemise Russiawas to parfy from exile.
rum it into a great industrial power. Most of this growth was paid for by foreign ' war with Japan and Broody Sunday
were the triggers thar set
loans, lrom France, from Germany and from Britain. ilr; off the events of
Nlost factorieswelc hugs! empioyingmany thousandsofworkers, and What happened?
concentratedin the key citiesof St. Petersburgand lvloscow
' Partly as a means of calming opposition
to his regime, parily as a response
Thousandsof miles of railway were being built, and many peasantsmoved from Japaneseexpansion in Ko."u a.,i tvlanctr*lu, to
rir!.i" **, to war with Japan
the rillages to the towns looking for work. I 904. Russia expectedan easy victory, in
Urtl"rii"aly
There were serious debateswhether it was best to copy the Westernrvay ' The Baltic Fleet sairedhalfway around
of the world only to be tota'y destroved
developing,or to adopt a Russian(Slavophile)meth;d ofdevelopment. inthersushima siralts. j
ev tnemiaar"'"irqo n,r.i; i"* t;::.%hv
:::fiXH!]'
There was one thing nearly everyone agreed on, since her defeat in the
Crimean
War, Russiamust develop to remain a Great power. ' The Minister ofthe Interior, prehve,
a close advisor to the Tsar, was assassinated
by terrorists in July r g04. Most people
tru-.[rr'-'ro. the war with Japanthat
Repressive.N{any people wanted political change,but Tsar Nicholas was was going so badly.
reluctant
to do so.A previousTsar, AlexanderIi haclbeenassassinated in I gg1, and
Govemment officials were often terrorist targets. ' Father Gapon organiseda large demonstration
in support ofstrikers at the
Putilov factory. 150,000,peoptJma*L"Jp"r*H,ijvi5
p."r"n, a petition about
The Okhrana, or secretpolice, had wide powers ofarrest, anciSiberia was wages and working conditions to the
usedto Tsarat the W';nte, puta"e.
hor"rsethousandsofpolitical prisoners.Newspapers were censoredunOf.."
,p."J .
limited. The march.was officially banned by the
authorities but went ahead anyrvay.
troops fired into the demonstration over When
200 p";;1;;." killed and g00 wounded.
There was a very small Marxist group which wanted to get rid of the Tsar This event becameknown as^Bloody
S""d;;.-"' ;;;;i;not
"-"'"- being at the winrer
completely, but most opponentswanted a Constituent Aisernbly, or parliament, Palacethe Tsar was blamed for tt" a"urt..
where they could have a say in running the country.
' strikes' violence and unrest rapidry engulfed
the countryas people were outraged
There had been some small reforms by Govemment - a peasant,sLand Bank that such a peaceful demonstratio. r,"a"u"""
had i""ili,'-o ,nno"".rt women and
been set up, more schools built, etc, but there was no hint ofpolitical reform children killed.
whatsoever.
' Peasantrevortsbrokeour. with randrord's
housesin some areasbeing broken
and bumed down. into
' A Gcneral Strike rapidry spread.A mutiny
aboard the Battreship potemkin red
mutinies in the armed forces, especiaily to
thor"litJy ,."U" sent to fight the
Japanese.
. A railway stike broke out and in October
the St petersburg Soviet was set up
striking workers to co_ordinatefuture by
actions.i*i.tyi".u." its leader.
. It seemedthat all the Tsar,speople _pea:sants,
workers, middle classes,the armed
some of the nobles were united against
him. They wanted political
3:""?."*"
