Alexander III

• The death of Alexander II radicalised the policy of Alexander III
• Before Alex II's death, he had set up a constitution proposal which would have appointed committees to discuss legislation and administration of the country. It would have involved the Zemstva leaders and rendered a representative parliament
• Undoing the judicial reforms

  • All police were centralised under the control of the ministry of the interior
  • Special courts dealt with political offences
  • Judges were given clear advice on sentences and verdicts
• Elected justices of peace were abolished. Land captains were introduced, they were drawn exclusively from the ranks of the gentry
• what rank were the land captains

  gentry
• undoing the press censorship reforms

  • A committee of government ministers was set up with powers to close any publication deemed harmful and put a life ban on editors and publishers
  • libraries faced restrictions of the books they were allowed to stock
• • Peasant representation in the Zemstva was reduced, and the peasant representatives were appointed - no longer elected
  • Provincial governors were given ''supervision over the correctness and legality of Zemstva institutions'' by a new statute in 1890
• Lower class children were essentially banned from receiving secondry education
• The introduction of land captains can be seen as a reforming measure , it was a desperate attempt to bring honest collection to local government
• The taxes paid to Zemstva were always almost in arrears. Absenteeism at all levels from the new assemblies was a problem.
• what year did Alexander II abolish the Poll Tax

  1886
• what was the purpose of the peasant land banks


  To help peasants by land from the landlords. This was so successful as by 1904, peasants had purchases 1/3 of their land
• The Mir was a hindrance to modern agricultural development because they required the agreement of the whole village to introduce change
• How many of Russia's 39 provinces did the 1891 famine hit

  17
• The famine was the defining event of the decade
• The government was responsible for the severity of the famine. In an effort to raise much needed revenue, the government heavily taxed consumer goods. Then, to afford what they needed, the peasants were forced to sell more and more grain
• what made the 1891 famine worse

  • outbreak of Typhus
  • Outbreak of cholera
• The government was so delayed in acting on the famine because censors prevented newspapers carrying reports
• It was not until November that the government gave way and appealed to the public to enagage in voluntary assistance schemes
• Who was put in charge of the Special Committee on Famine Relief

  Nicholas II
• Alexander III announced two state lotteries to raise money to buy emergency supplies for peasants
• how many died from the 1891 famine

  350,000
• The public appeal saw astonishing response from the intelligentsia, led by the Zemstva. Famine reliefs were organised in provinces
• How much did the economy grow per annum under alex III


  8%
• Russia had the highest growth rate of any of the worlds major economies
• Russia became the fourth largest economy
• Who was minster of finance from 1893


  Witte
• Who did Witte turn to for investment


  Westen Europe
• Witte increased foreign investment from 98 million roubles in 1880 to 911 million roubles in 1900
• The result of Witte's economic policy was an increase in annual production
• Who would the railways open up trade with?

  Europe

  China

  USA
• The westernizers saw the railways as one of the most important tools of modernisation
• The centrepiece of Russia's railway expansion was the trans-siberian railway, linking russia and the Far East.
• The Urban Poor


  Running water was only available in 1/3 of St Petersburg houses. Cesspools and polluted water supplies were a constant threat to the health of the poor
• The Urban Poor and revolution

  • they were susceptible to propaganda as they had left the Mir
  • Literacy rates were higher in the cities
  • The Orthodox church used to shape their worldview, they no longer governed daily life
• from 1885 onwards, military spending was never less than 50% of government expenditure
• After the polish revolt, Poland became the Vistula Provinces, and was subject to the same laws as the rest of Russia
• The death of Alexander II was the occasion for widespread attacks on the Jews. These continued throughout Alex II and Nicholas II reign, the most notorious of these outbreaks occurring in Kishinev in 1903.
• The Jews in the reign of Alexander III

  • There were 1,400 statutes regulating their lives
  • They were forbidden to own land
  • they were forbidden to take commissions in the army
• Land Captains

  • New Government agents
  • Chosen from gentry by Provincial governer
  • Replaced Justices of the Peace
  • Their function was to control of peasants, they were greatly resented
  • They could overrule the Mir