5. Government and Control

• What did Westerners believe?

  Answers:

  • Believed that Russia would be strengthened and modernised by the adoption of some western technical and philosophical ideas.
  • There were 224 new magazines from 1826-1854.
  • Included the 'enlightened bureaucrats' who emerged from the education system into official positions, fully aware of some of the weaknesses of the Russian system.
  • Had no alternative to Tsarist autocracy, but merely sought to give it a more humane or efficient form.
• What did Slavophiles believe?

  Answers:

  • They had conservative, traditionalist principles.
  • Thought that Russian social organisation, religion, government, culture, and philosophy were superior by virtue of their isolation from the mainstreams of western European development.
  • Believed their duty was to protect Russia against all external threats.
• Who were some of the reactionary members of Alexander's court?

  They were:

  • Konstantin Pobedonostsev
  • Dmitri Tolstoy
• Who were some of the revolutionary members of Alexander's court?

  They were:

  • Grand Duke Constantine
  • Elena Pavlovna
  • Catherine Dolgoruky
  • Mikhail von Reutern
  • Alexander Golvonin
  • Dmitri Miliutin
  • Nikolai Miliutin
• Who did Alexander replace Golvonin with?

  Count Tolstoy
• What was Count Tolstoy's role?

  To supress the universities.
• Who was appointed as head of the Third Section?

  Shuvalov
• What did Count Peter Shuvalov create in 1867?

  The first personal bodyguard of 40 men for the Tsar.
• How long was the Personal Chancellery of his Imperial Power in force?

  1855-1861
• What was the role of the Personal Chancellery of his Imperial Power?

  It consisted of:

  • personal secretaries to the Tsar;
  • legal advisers
  • the Third Section (secret police)
• How long was the Council of Ministers in force?

  1861-1882
• What was the role of the Council of Ministers?

  It discussed draft legislation which would be either given immediate royal assent or passed on to the Committee of Ministers for further scrutiny.
• When was the Imperial Council of State established?

  1810
• What was the role of the Imperial Council of State?

  It gave advice to the Tsar on legal and financial matters.
• What was the role of the Senate?

  It was:

  • the final court of appeal on major legal matters;
  • the promoter of manifestos (ukaz) put together by the Tsar;
  • the confirmer of titles and nobility;
  • the adjudicator over disagreements between landowners over boundaries.
• When was the Committee of Ministers established?

  1861
• What was the role of the Committee of Ministers?

  Answer:

  • Initially there were 13 ministers (10 by the 1890s) who each had a responsibility for a particular aspect of the administration of Russian affairs. Each ministry was connected to departments that had very specific responsibilities.
  • 4 of the ministerial posts were considered more important than the others: minister of the interior, minister for war, minister of finance, and chief procurator of the Holy Synod (religion).
• What was the role of ministers in the Committee of Ministers?

  A purely administrative role, as they did not formulate policies and were always answerable to the Tsar.
• What were the weaknesses of the Committee of Ministers?

  Answers:

  • Members seldom consulted each other and often pursued policies that conflicted.
  • Could be argued that their positions were meaningless as the Tsar still had the final say.
  • The system was reliant on the Tsar, with there being no separation of powers and no balance in the government.
  • It was thus abolished in 1906.
• How did censorship change throughout Alexander II's reign?

  Answers:

  • He relaxed them on his accession, but they were briefly tightened again in 1861 in response to student protests against the emancipation degree. This action prompted widespread protest from university professors, so Alexander appointed Golvonin to introduce his educational reforms.
  • After the 1866 assassination attempt, Count Tolstoy replaced Golvonin and university courses became more conservative in nature.
• How did censorship change throughout Alexander II's reign (card two)?

  Answers:

  • From 1860, censorship was the role for the minister of the interior. From 1865, this was Valuev. In 1866, he banned the journal 'The Contemporary' for several months.
  • Letters were also sent to editors if they stepped too far out of line and journals had to lodge funds with the Ministry, which could be confiscated.
  • The number of literature in circulation increased during Alexander's reign (1000 new books published in 1855 to 10,000 in 1894), making it harder to implement censorship.
• What was the role of the Third Section?

  Acted as the regime's intelligence agency, but also had powers of arrest and punishment, until a new system of courts and trial by jury was introduced in 1864 as part of Alexander's legal reforms.
• How did the role of the Third Section change after the 1866 assassination attempt?

  They became more active, hunting down suspected revolutionaries and subversives, even pursuing them into exile. They were instrumental in arresting members of opposition groups in the 1870s, working in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice to organise show trials. From 1878, political trials were heard in secret in front of military courts.
• When was the Third Section abolished and why?

  Answers:

  • Abolished in 1880.
  • Its activities were absorbed into a new section of the criminal policy, named the Okhrana.
• What was the role of Count Loris-Melikov?

  Answers:

  • Appointed minister of interior in 1880.
  • Appointed to head a Supreme Administrative Commission to examine ways of countering revolutionary agitation.
• What minor reforms did Loris-Melikov suggest?

  Answers:

  • Freeing political prisoners
  • Relaxing press censorship
  • Removing salt tax
  • Transferring the powers of the Third Section to the ordinary police
• What major reform did Loris-Melikov suggest?

  Answers:

  • He prepared plans for the creation of a limited representative body to participate central government.
  • It would be a national assembly made up partly of nominated members, but also of elected representatives of the zemstvo and town dumas.
  • Its role would be to consider economic and administrative reforms.
  • Loris-Melikov visited the Tsar to explain his proposals on the 12th March 1881, and Alexander signed his consent on the 13th March 1881.