Nicholas II

• By 1913, how big was the working class in towns and cities

  11 million
• In 1904, how many did the average St Petersburg Apartment house

  16
• How many factory workers was there in 1914

  2.5 million (1.88% of the population)
• Kishinev Pogrom 1903

  • Jewish houses and businesses were broken into
  • 47 murdered
  • when the Cossacks arrived to restore order, they joined in
• Populists


  Narodniks
• Sources of opposition at the beginning of Nicholas' reign

  • The industrial workers working in squalid conditions
  • the educated, free thinking middle class
• populism 


  The term originating from those who 'went to the people', radical intellectuals dominated them
• Populists believes in a society based on village communes where all land was commune
• methods used by populists

  • terrorism
  • assassination
• How many members of the People's Will were arrested after Alex II's death


  150
• Examples of populist terrorism

  • 1882 - shooting of Governor Strelnikov in broad daylight
  • 1880 - Khalturin planting a bomb in the winter palace
• The Socialist Revolutionaries emerged after the famine
• in 1902, Sipyagin, minister of the interior, was assassinated by a young member of the Socialist revolutionaries
• Marx regarded himself as a scientific socialist
• Marx argued that the proletariat would overthrow capitalism and establish communism
• Proletariat


  The slave class
• Bourgeoisie 


  the ruling class in Marx's theory of class struggle under capitalism
• After the famine, Marxism attracted more support from intellectuals who could see their future in a peasant revolution
• What was the first Marxist Group, When was it set up, and by who

  • Liberation of Labour
  • 1903
  • Plekhanov (breakaway from Land and Liberty)
• Union for Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class


  17 intellectuals spread pamphlets and attempted to organise a strike, all arrested
• RSDLP (1898)

  Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
• • In 1903, the RSDLP held its first congress
  • the party divided when they discusses party membership
• What were the divisions of the RSDLP

  Bolsheviks and Mensheviks
• For Lenin, the party was to seize power as soon as possible


  For Martov, the party was to spread propaganda and raise the level of conscientiousness of the proletariat
• In 1902, a new opposition journal called Liberation appeared. It set out to build a common front between all groups opposed to the autocracy of the Tsars. All members of many different groups met in St Petersburg, and set up the Union of Liberation
• Popular Violence

  • serious student disorders in 1899 culminated in February 1901 in the assassination of the Minister of Education
  • Waves of strikes in St Petersburg, especially the Obukhov factory
  • Peasant protests broke out again
• Why did Russia go to war with Japan in 1905


  • Disputes over Korea and Manchuria
  • Russian expansion in the far east
  • prestige for the Tsar
• The building of the Trans-Siberian railway was almost finished in 1904, gave russia the means to attack japan
• Where did Japan attack first


  Port Arthur
• Japan defeated Russia in every single major confrontation
• The final humiliation came in the straits of Tsushima, with the total destruction of Russia's battlefleet
• In 1904 terrorists had a major success, they succeeded in the assassination of Plehve, Minister of the Interior, who most people blamed for the war with Japan
• When was Bloody Sunday


  January 1905
• Bloody Sunday


  • five men were sacked from the Putilov factory in St Petersburg
  • Workers went on strike, demanding their reinstatement, lead by Father Gapon
  • Workers marched through the city, singing hyms and holding pictures of the Tsar and Tsarina
  • armed troops fired into the crowds, 200 killed
• what was the result of bloody sunday


  the october manifesto
• Bloody sunday marked a turning point. Innocent workers, women and children being gunned down in cold blood shocked the nation. The prestige of the royal family and the mystique of the Tsar as the Father of the Nation was destroyed beyond repair
• Consequences of Bloody Sunday


  • Minister of Interior sacked
  • union of peasants set up
  • mutiny of battle ships in the black sea
  • city duma representives demanded met and demanded a constituent assembly and full civil rights for all
• By mid october, Russia was paralysed by a general strike, which was actively supported by the union of unions. The Tsar opponents from all classed were now united
• Political reforms issued by the October Manifesto

  • Civil liberties: Freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association 
  • Elections: Universal manhood suffrage and the creation of an elected national parliament, the Duma, with the power to approve or reject legislation 
  • Legality: No law could be passed without Duma approval 
  • Censorship: Loosening of censorship 
  • Freedom of assembly: People would have more rights to gather for meetings and discussions
• Limitations of the October Manifesto

  • Limited democracy - The manifesto granted some rights to the Russian people, but it did not guarantee a democratic government. The Tsar still had the power to dissolve the Duma, change the electoral system, appoint ministers and veto policies
  • Limited power for peasants and workers - The manifesto did not give more power to peasants or workers. 
  • Limited voting rights