Nationalism in Russia

1825-1905

The Modernization of Russia:

McKay (835-838)

Palmer 13.67, 16.84

18.92

Where’s my green sweatshirt

Russia 1815-1905

1815 1825 1853 1861 1881 1905

-Dynastic Crisis-Decembrist Revolt

Holy Alliance Formed

Crimean War (1853-

1856)

Official Nationalism

Alexander II (the Great Reformer)

becomes Tsar (1855)

Emancipation Act

Edicts of 1864 (Legal equality,

political representation

Alexander II assassinated by People’s

Will

Count Witte begins

Industrial reform (1882)

Bloody Sunday begins

Revolution of 1905

Russo-Japanese

War

Russia under Nicholas I• Decembrist Revolt (1825)

– Liberal officers led coup in favor of:• Constantine & Constitution• Elimination of serfdom

– Crushed by Nicholas I (1825-1855)• Nicholas I

– Ruled as autocrat– Disliked serfdom but was afraid of angering

Boyars– Utilized censorship, secret police (Third Section)

• Reform– Codified Russia Law (1833)

• Official Nationality– Program of state controlled Russian nationalism– “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationalism”– Slogan found in schoolbooks, newspapers, etc.– Russian Orthodox Church

• Charged with education & morality– Russians taught to accept place in society (no

upward mobility)– Taught to view Tsar of father figure & protector– Taught to see Mother Russia (language, culture,

customs) as a safeguard against the immorality of the West

It is our common obligation to ensure that the education of the people be conducted, according to Supreme intention of our August Monarch, in the joint spirit of Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality. I am convinced that every professor and teacher, being permeated by one and the same feeling of devotion to the throne and fatherland, will use all his resources to become a worthy tool for the government and to earn its complete confidence. Sergey Uvarov, Minister of Education

Crimean War 1853-1856• War between Russia and England/ France

– Also Ottoman Empire, Piedmont-Sardinia• Exposed how woefully behind Russia was to

the West• Immediate Cause

– War began over dispute between Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox monks over guardianship of Jerusalem’s holy places

– France pressured the Ottoman sultan to grant Catholics special privileges

– Russian demanded Orthodox monks be given priviledges

• Long-term Causes– Napoleon III also looking for glory– The Eastern Question

• weakness of Ottoman Empire– Russia’s desire for war water port,

Constantinople– Great Britain concern of Russian expansion

• When negotiations broke down, Britain and France sent their fleets to the Aegean Sea, and in October 1853 the sultan declared war on Russia

Church of Holy Sepulcher

Characteristics of Crimean War• War noted for tactical and logistical

ineptitude on both sides• Considered first “modern” war

– Use of telegraph, RR– Florence Nightingale

• Founder of modern nursing• Called attention to poor

hygiene of medical staff treating wounded

• “Lady with the lamp”– Title given for her nightly

visits to wounded• 1st War documented, photographed

and reported daily– British press kept public informed

Results of Crimean War• Russia lost • Religious issue settled

– Orthodox and Catholics share hoy sites

• Congress of Paris (1856) – Russia forced to cede

some territory – accepts a ban on

warships in the Black Sea

• exposed the weakness of Russia– Leads new Tsar to

embark on major reform movement

Tsarist Russia after 1856• Outcomes of the Crimean War

showed the strength of the western nations and the backwardness of the “enormous village”

• Huge empire (Poland to Pacific) was unable to repel the limited but efficient attacks of the West

• Illiterate & unmotivated serfs were unproductive famers and poor soldiers

• Alexander II (1855-1881)– Assumed Tsardom during

the war– Not a born liberal but knew

he had to act

Westernizers v. Slavophiles• Two major perspectives of what Russia was:

– Westernizers: Russia is backward• Should be more like the West

• Petr Chaadayev– Philosophical Letters said that Russia

had lagged behind Western countries and had contributed nothing to the world's progress

– Slavophiles: Russia is special• Rejected West (Industrial Revolution,

selfish capitalism)• Celebrated Orthodox faith & extended

family of Russian serfs• “We (AP European Students of LM) are a

backward people and therein lies our salvation. We must thank destiny that we have not lived the life of Europe…we do not want its proletariat, its aristocratic system..

Uniqueness of Russia

• “Three Fundamental Institutions”– Autocracy of Tsar– Serfdom– Intelligentsia

Autocracy of the Tsar• Russia’s 1st fundamental institution was

autocracy– Monopoly of power by Tsar and Boyars– Controlled press, education

• But it wasn’t exactly like absolutism (Louis XIV)• European conceptions were missing

– West viewed spiritual authority as independent of state authority (separation of Church and State)

– West believe People have certain rights or claims for justice (English Bill of Rights, Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, absolutist limited by reason or social contract)

• Rule by law was substituted with ukase (arbitrary laws created by tsar), police action, and the army

• Developing technology was replaced with importing technology and forcing reforms onto the population

• “the Russian empire was a machine superimposed upon its people without organic connection (bureaucracy pure and simple)”

Russian Serfdom• 2nd fundamental institution was serfdom• Majority of population were serfs• Resembled American slavery

– Serfs were owned, could be bought and sold, used in occupation other than agriculture (factories, mechanics, evening migrating city workers)

• Since Pugachev Rebellion, Boyars had nearly absolute control of lives of their serfs

• Many absentee landlords– Not interested in agricultural

improvements• Wasn’t profitable anymore• Made the muzhiks (like Kelly Duffy and

Gabriel Castor) into “illiterate …drudges, without incentive, initiative, self-respect, or pride of workmanship”

• Made for very poor soldiers

Intelligentsia• 3rd fundamental institution (arose in mid 1800s was

the intelligentsia• Educated Russians were full of Western Ideas

– But unlike the West they were estranged from the government, from the Church, from the uneducated peasants, gov. occupations (unlike England and France)

– Free to think but had no vehicle to bring change • Made up of students, university graduates, people

who had time to read• tended to adopt sweeping & all-embracing

philosophies• Land and Freedom- chief radical society

– Intelligentsia radicals– Looked for the “Real Russia” among the peasants

(serfs) during the 1870s– Hoped to instruct them of their role in upcoming

revolution– Most turned over to police

• People’s Will – Splinter group from Land and Freedom– Violent Revolutionaries

The Emancipation Act of 1861• Serfdom was abolished

by an imperial ukase of 1861 decree

• But what would happen to the labor system, the food supply? How would the Boyars be appeased?

• Needed to avoid throwing the labor system into chaos

• Alexander II set up a special branch of gov to figure this out

Act of Emancipation of 1861

• It did:• End serfdom• Allocated about

50% of cultivated land to gentry and 50% to former serfs

• Serf had to pay redemption to gentry

• It did not:• Really “Free” the

peasant– Bound to Mir

• Weaken the gentry– Now had

possession of ½ arable land, received redemption $, free of serf responsibility

The Mir• Peasants did not own property in western

sense (private individual)• Peasant land became Mir or village

(collective) property• Village Elders were responsible to the gov

for payment of the redemption– Could demand forced labor from

members who defaulted on their portion of the redemption

– Could prevent peasants from moving away (would leave them with burden of paying redemption)

• Mir periodically reassigned lands to village members (depending of family size) & supervised cultivation (Open field & Three Field system)

• Land could not be sold outside the village– Discouraged the investment of outside

capital– Discouraged individual initiative

• Result: Agriculture in Russia would lag behind the west

The Kulaks• Most peasants belonged to a Mir• A few became individual landowners

called Kulaks• Kulaks

– Came to mean "tight-fisted"– More well-to-do peasants– Owned and/or rented land from the

gentry – hired other peasants to work– Led to growing resentment– Held up a paradigm by Stolypin

during 1890s– Labeled as “class enemies” by

Marxist-Leninists– Eventually “liquidated” by Stalin in

1931

Ukase of 1864• Ukase (Edict) of 1864

allowed for:– Public trials– Right to representation (with

lawyers of their own choosing)

• Class distinctions in judicial matters were abolished

– clear sequence of lower and higher courts was established

– Training for judges on state salaries

– Jury trials– IE. Established the rule of law

Zemstvos• Another edict of 1864

– established a system of provincial and district councils (IE. Local government)

• Called Zemstvos– Members were elected by

peasants and other elements– A group of Mirs made up a

Volost– A group of Volost made up a

Zemstvos– Took care of education,

medical relief, public welfare, food supply and road maintenance

– Began to develop a sense of civic responsibility among its members

Zemstvo having a dinner by Grigoriy Myasoyedov. 1872

LM Cafeteria

Ukase of 1874 (Military Reform)• Largest army humiliated in

Crimean War• 25 year conscription service

– Village held dirge-like procession for departing soldiers

• Illiterate serfs (like Jordan Freed) did not know their left from their right

• Told to use their “bayonets before bullets”

• Often seized (impressments) serfs from families

• Harsh & brutal discipline• Edict of 1874

– Lessened service to 6 years active (9 years in reserve)

Rise of Revolutionaries• Mikhail Bakunin

– Russian Intelligentsia– Broke with LaSallian Socialist and Marxist at

the First International in Geneva (1866)– Believed there was no compromising no compromising with

existing government – Believed that violence was necessaryviolence was necessary

• Marxism rejects terrorism because socialism needed no prodding (it was inevitable)

• People’s Justice – Bukunin’s pamphlet called for terrorism

against tsarist officials and liberals too!• Catechism of a Revolutionist stated

– that true revolutionary is “devoured by one purpose, one thought, one passion—the revolution.”

– “Everything that promotes the success of the revolution is moral, everything which hinders it is immoral.”

Bakunin speaking to members of the IWA at the Basel Congress in 1869

Assassination of Tsar Alexander III• In order to stem the rise

of radical socialist the Czar turned to the liberalism 1880– Liberals demanded

follow through with earlier reforms

• Czar abolished the secret police (Third Section) of Nicholas I

• Allowed more freedom of the press

• Agreed to a pseudo-parliamentary system on March 13, 1881

• March 13, 1881 Alexander II was assassinated by the People’s Will

The assassination of Alexander II. Drawing by G. Broling 1881

Alexander III(1881 to 1894)• Reactionary son of

Alexander II• Abandoned his father’s

idea of parliamentary-like gov

• allowed peasant emancipation, judicial reform and zemstvos to continue

– Exiled Revolutionaries– People’s Will was

crushed– Jews were subjected to

pogroms

Russification• Alexander III’s forced assimilation into

Russian culture– Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Armenians,

Germans in the east, Muslims in the south central regions made to adopt Russia language and culture

– Konstantin Pobiedonostsev • Russian nationalist and Reactionary

procurator of Holy Synod of Russian Orthodox Church

• Adviser to Alexander II, III, and Nicolas II

• A Russian Fitche/ Turnvater Jahn• main proponent of Russification

– Saw WestWest as a doomeddoomed culture– Attacked rationalism, liberalism– Said Slavs had unique character– Promoted idea of Tsar as divine  

Industrialization before 1914• Russia began to industrialize during the 1880s

– Financed by European capital – $4 billion in Russia by 1914

• Count Witte– reform minister– put Russia on gold standard

• made Ruble convertible into other currencies

– Railway mileage doubled between 1888-1913– Built RR to Vladivostok (transcontinental)– Exports and imports increased

• Ex=400 million rubes (1880) to 1.6 Billion in 1913

• Imports rose 5xs same period• Factories

– Largely foreign (French) owned• highly concentrated into large factories (500+)• Was easiereasier for workersworkers to mobilize politicallymobilize politically

The shell-shop of the Putilov works,

St Petersburg 1903

Russian Tsardom build over a volcano of repressed isms

Peasant Demands Liberal

Cadets Demands

Proletariat demands

Radical Intelligentiademands

Political Parties (1900)“Political Parties” began to

emerge by 1900• Included

1. Constitutional Democrats2. Social Revolutionaries3. Social Democrats

• reflected mounting discontent• Not parties in western sense

– not organized to get a candidate elected

– No elections in Russia except Zemstvo

• Parties were really propaganda agencies

• Worked underground

The “Kadets”• Constitutional Democratic Party

(1905)• Named derived from abbreviation

of Constitutional Democrats (KD)• Formed by business,

professional class and capitalistic landowners, lawyers

• Liberal, progressive, Liberal, progressive, constitutionalistsconstitutionalists

• Favor constitutional monarchy, written constitution, limited enfranchisement

• Not connected to issues/concerns of the urban worker or peasant– Remember Frankfurt

Assembly in 1848

Later disparaged as party controlled by Jews in this anti-Semitic poster by the Bolsheviks

Social Democratic Labor party• Orthodox Marxist• Nonviolent• Admired German Social

Democratic (Lassalians)– Thought Russia must develop

capitalism and an industrialist proletariat, (class struggle) before revolution (Orthodox Marxist)

– Looked to urban proletariat as a support base

– Ridiculed the mir• Disapproved of assassination,

terrorism• Later called the Mensheviks

Tsar Policy• Government refused to make any concessions• 1894 Nicholas II

– Had narrow outlook– Little FatherLittle Father was taught by Pobiedonostsev

(Pobie) that any criticism as un-Russian & democracy was "the insupportable dictatorship of vulgar crowd".

– Pobedonostsev condemned elections, condemned elections, representation and democracy, the jury representation and democracy, the jury system, the press, free education, charities, system, the press, free education, charities, and social reformsand social reforms

– Nicholas II • Similar to Louis XVI (Family man, trained

to rule, but too young, too indecisive) • Promoted autocracy

– God-given, best and only form of gov in Russia

• With growing discontent Nick needed a distraction

• Plehve, the Chief Minister hoped for quick war with Japan that would forge patriotism

Russo-Japanese War• Russia and Japan both wanted Manchuria

– Japanese need natural resourcesnatural resources– Russians wanted a rail way to rail way to

VladivostokVladivostok• Russia needed a distraction from criticisms

of Tsardom at home• Tsar’s advisors were racist and didn’t believe

an Asian nation could mount an fight against the Russia Bear

• Russo-Japanese War (1904)– Japan attacked Port Arthur– Armies entered Manchuria– Battle of Mukden

• 624,000 men were engaged• Largest battle ever• Russia defeated on land

– Russians sent the Baltic fleet to Japan• Tsushima Strait the Russia lost 2/3 of

its navy• Russia humiliated

The Russian Navy socks the Japanese Fleet in the kisser.One of many over-confident pre-war Russian propaganda cartoons

“Bloody Sunday” 1905• Father Gapon

– Orthodox priest– lead peaceful procession

of 200 thousand factory workers & their families to Tsar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

– believed that Little Father would rectify the evils

– Asked for 8 hrs workday, minimum wage (1 ruble), recall of bad officials, a Constituent Assembly

• Sang “God save the Tsar”• Troops shot and killed

hundreds

Reactions to “Bloody Sunday”• Dissolved the moral bond between the

people and the Tsar’s government (Little Father)

• Councils or soviets were formed in formed in Moscow and St. PetersburgMoscow and St. Petersburg

• Peasants erupted in revolt– Burned manor houses, beating up

land owners• Remember the Great FearGreat Fear

• Social Revolutionaries tried to direct the peasant revolts

• Constitutional Democrats tried to seize leadership of the revolution

• All wanted more democratic representation

• 8/1905 the Tsar calls for an Estates General– Peasants, landowners and city people

would vote as separate classes

The October Manifesto• October Manifesto• Tsar proclamation meant to placate the Revolution of 1905• Grants

– ConstitutionConstitution– civil libertiescivil liberties– DumaDuma

• Parliamentary gov. Parliamentary gov. to be elected by all powers alike with powers to enact laws

• Tsar’s real intention was to divide opposition (which it did)• Constitutional Democrats (Kadets)

– Liberal Bourgeoisie liked the the Duma– Feared Social Democrats– Did not identify with workers or peasants

• Social Democrats– (correctly) believedbelieved that the October Man was a October Man was a

deception deception which the Tsar would renege on • Peasants and workers were not satisfied

– wanted more land and less taxes• Workers wanted a shorter working day and a living wage• Social Democratic party splits

Social Revolutionary Party (1906)• Derived from the People’s Will

and Social Democratic Party• Admired mir as a viable form of

communism• Unorthodox Marxist

– Violent Marxist revolutionaries– Believed capitalism stage could

be skipped– Did not need to go from

agricultural to industrial stage to socialist-communist stage

– Russia skip capitalismskip capitalism and go directly to a communist society

– Later known as the Bolsheviks

Europe on Eve of WWI