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The foundations for Russia’s industrial growth were laid in the years 1855 to 1895’. Explain why you eitheragree or disagree with this view.
Agree Disagree
• Mikhail Reutern (1862-78) Foreign investment • 1/3 of all government expenditure went on the
was encouraged by state annual dividends repayment of debt.
• Government support was offered for the • The rouble remained unstable during Reutern’s
development of mining industries tenure.
• The railway expanded markedly & during • While oil, coal and iron industries grew, the
Reutern’s tenure there was a 6% annual growth. textiles industry remained the dominant industry.
• Despite the new Land Banks, the peasant class
• Bunge organised the Peasant Land Banks- remained poor and undercapitalised which
better use of land, better fuelled industries. slowed industrial progress.
• Vynshnegradsky (1887-92) Offered foreign • Much of Vyshnegradsky’s industrial
investors bonus incentives. development was funded by selling grain abroad
• Increased taxation to allow for more spending which led to the 1891-92 famine- from which
on the railway network, increased oil production 350,000 people died. (Lost potential for fuelling
in Baku and Coal in the Ukraine. the industrial workforce and becoming part of
• In 1892 Russia’s budget was in surplus for the the industrial workforce).
first time.
• Foundations for growth were not laid because
agricultural developments were slow to match
the new demands from industry
‘There was more continuity than change in Russian society in the years 1855-1894’. Assess the validity of this
view.
Agree Disagree
• Russian society remained strongly divided by • The growth of a new urban working class which
1894, with the peasantry still being the largest made for around 2% of the population in the
social class. This class continued to experience 1890s suggests a significant change.
the same hardships at the end of the period, that
they endured at the beginning of the period- such • From the mid 1860’s Russia saw the
as limited civil rights, poor living & working emergence of a small middle class as a result of
conditions alongside restricted opportunities for industrialisation and increased educational
education. opportunities under Alexander II. 1 in 3
inhabitants of St Petersburg were peasant born-
• Despite being the smallest class throughout the indicating an upward trend of social mobility.
given period, the nobility remained the most
powerful social group because of their wealth and • The growth of an industrial working class saw
status. an increase in the appeal of religion. Conditions
in both the countryside and towns worsened
• As a pillar to autocracy, the Orthodox Church and so the populace became increasingly
continued to dominate the masses. Priests had suspicious of the attempted indoctrination of
close ties with both the church and state. The priests.
importance of the church was also reinforced via
russification- inadvertently supporting the Tsar’s
divine right.
‘The October Revolution was a success because of the efforts of Vladimir Lenin’. To what extent do you agree
with this statement?
, Agree Disagree
• April Theses- Lenin presented this upon his • Utilisation of the Red Guards. Lenin was an
return from exile- outlined ‘Peace, Bread and organiser of the revolution, but he did not ensure
Land’. Following this, the membership of the this single handily (10,000) men were responsible
Bolshevik party increased considerably. This for being stationed around the Winter Palace.
allowed them manpower which would lead to
success in October. • If anything, Lenin’s enthusiasm for instantaneous
takeover created divide prompting members like
• 10th October- Won Central Committee vote to Kamenev and Zinoviev to refrain from supporting.
replace Provisional Government with Petrograd Hence, not a success because of Lenin, he
Soviet. Charismatic leadership ability turned out actually fragmented the party.
a vote of 10-2.
• Failures of dual government- Inability to negotiate
• Lenin’s consistency with him portraying himself terms and work together- divided in ideology. This
as a leader. His strength was supported by afforded Lenin the circumstances for success.
followers of the party which made for a united
force in October 1917. • Petrograd Soviet, with MRC under Dzerzhinsky
and Trotsky made the party more legitimate in its
• Established Sovnarkom- had the power to rule appearance regarding its aim to defend Petrograd.
by decree without the soviet reference.
The emancipation of the serfs caused more problems than it solved, explain why you agree or disagree with
this view?
Agree Disagree
• There were riots in the four months following the • Some such as the kulaks, were able to prosper
implementation of the edict which illustrates that it following the emancipation. They were able to buy
caused more problems as while riots did occur up land and invest in other industries
prior to this, they did not occur in such a • The emancipation solved some political problems
successive fashion led to a more liberal style of governance where
• Displeased landowners = landowners lost a further reforms were introduced
guaranteed labour supply but as peasants usually • Former serfs became a recognised class as they
returned to the same of work, they were paying were now allowed some political representation
former serfs for the same job via the zemstvo system
• Nobility was no longer guaranteed the income • Former serfs began to look for alternative types of
they needed to pay off former debts employment which encouraged social mobility and
• Redemption payments crippled former serfs = 49 therefore the potential for better standards of living
years of such payments exceeded the life • Actually, solved problems in terms of civil liberties
expectancy at this time, ensured that former serfs - serfs could marry, own property and travel.
were trapped in a cycle of impoverishment Creating far more favourable conditions then
• Freedoms awarded were largely theoretical - before
bound by passports and were trapped by the
traditional mir system
Was Lenin more concerned with Marxist Ideology than Pragmatism?
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