Section 6 - Alexander III + Russification

• Alexander II was succeeded by Alexander III and he was crowned in May 1881.
• Alexander III was advised by Konstantin Pobedonostev who was Procurator of the Holy Synod.
• Pobedonostev encouraged the new Tsar to reassert autocracy.
• Alexander III publicly announced that he was "the sole ruler, as only absolute power can safeguard Russia".
• The People's Will had 150 of their members arrested and hanged because they assassinated Alexander II.
• The powers of the police increased and the Department of Police was made to supervise the Okhrana.
• The Department of Police was made responsible to the Ministry of Internal Affairs so activities could be monitored.
• Spies were also widely used and they would secretly watch opposition.
• In 1882, any area could be deemed "subversion" and police agents could arrest, imprison and exile anyone on suspicion in that area.
• Closed courts were reintroduced in 1885.
• Alexander III introduced Land Captains in 1889 who were appointed by the nobility.
• Land Captains replaced magistrates and they could override the Zemstva.
• Land Captains could overturn local court judgement and the flogging of peasants.
• The Zemstva peasant vote was reduced in 1890.
• Outspoken liberals were removed from office.
• Alexander III adopted Pobedonostev's "Autocracy, Orthodoxy and Nationality" creed which meant Russification.
• Russification was the enforcement of Russian language and culture on ethnic minorities.
• Russian was declared as the first language and trials and local government had to be conducted in Russian.
• Public office was closed to non-fluent Russian speakers.
• Adherence to the Orthodox Church was encouraged and 37,000 Lutherans converted to Orthodoxy.
• Monasteries were closed down and non-Orthodox churches were not allowed to build new places of worship.
• The military suppressed any resistance to Russification.
• Poles, Finns, Baltic Germans and Ukrainians suffered the most from Russification.
• Russification had the intention of "uniting" the country but it intensified the national feelings for non-Russians and caused more opposition groups to form.
• The Jews suffered the most from Russification and 5 million lived in Russia.
• Antisemitism was ingrained in Russian society and Jewish pogroms broke out between 1881 and 1884.
• Authorities did not curb antisemitic violence, many Jews were raped or murdered and some Jewish property was destroyed.
• Laws were passed during Alexander III's reign to restrict Jews and Jews were forced to live in ghettos.
• Many Jews emigrated or were expelled from Russia with Leon Trotsky and Julius Martov joining revolutionary groups.
• Historian Martin Sixsmith said that Alexander III "wanted to unify the country by turning an empire into a nation" through Russification.
• Orlando Figes said the central aim of Russification was to "assimilate non-Russian peoples".
• Historian John Gooding says the Jews "were seen as a particular problem".