Political authority in action

• Forcing everyone within the Russian Empire to think of themselves as 'Russians', by enforcing the Russian language and culture. 


  Russification:
• Exaggerated belief in national security and glory

  Chauvinism
• Means 'round up' or lynching which originally denoted an assault on by one ethnic group on another but after 1881 it's connotations chnaged to just the Jews.

  Pogrom:
• Due to the fact that Russia was multi-national by having over 100 different ethnic groups. They had their own cultures and languages which made it very difficult to control them. 


  Why were ethnic groups such as 'problem' to the Empire?
• • Finns, Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians lived the in north with their own distinct culture
  • Baltic: Lutheran Germans
  • West: Catholic Poles and Jews
  • South and South-West: Ukrainians
  • Expansion into Asia: 10 million Muslin population by 1900 


  Ethnic minorities in Russian Empire:
• • 1830 Polish rebellion
  • 1840s Finnish language pressure group set up and local language newspapers were founded in Baltic regions
  • Ukraine: secret 'Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius' who wanted to be separate from Russia. 


  National rebellions:
• A form of fighting conducted by groups of soldiers and armed civilians using methods such as ambushes, sabotage and raids rather than fighting conventionally.

  Guerrilla warfare:
• • More than 200,000 Poles joined in creating a National Government for Poland and used guerrilla warfare against their Imperial masters and were crushed in 1864 :( 


  How did Alex II deal with the Polish rebellion in 1863
• Alex II didn't persecute ethnic minorities as a means of controlling them and instead he used concessions. Such as allowing Latvians and Estonians to revert to Lutheranism and allowed the Finnish to have their own diet.

  By 1876 Alex II had to tighten his approach to ethnic minorities and imposed the Russian language to the Ukraine and in publications.

  Alex II and concessions
• • Diet was reorganised in 1892 in order to weaken it's political influence
  • Use of Russian language was imposed
  • Independent postal service was abolished and replacement of local currency.


  Russification under Alex III in Finland
• • The Polish National Bank was closed in 1885
  • Schools and universities taught all subjects except for the polish language and religion which had to be in Russian.
  • Polish literature had to be studied in Russian 


  Russification in Poland
• • They previously had special protection
  • 1885-1889 enforced Russian in all state offices, elementary, secondary schools, police force and judicial system.
  • German university of Dorpar was changed to Iurev University 1889-93

  Russification in Baltic Germany
• • further laws limiting the language in 1883 and in 1884 all theatres in the 5 Ukraine provinces were closed
  • Uprisings in Georgia in 1892 were supressed 


  Russification in Ukraine and elsewhere
• The Orthodox Church was more widespread across Russia

  • Lutherans : 37,000 converted to Orthodoxy to benefit from special measures of support
  • Poland: catholic monasteries were closed down and influence of priests was decreased
  • Asia: All-Russian Orthodox Missionary society worked to convert 'heathens and Muslims' and introduced force baptisms.
  • Any attempt to revert from Orthodoxy was punishable by exile to Siberia. 


  Russification and religion
• • June 1888 Department of Police estimated 332 cases of mass disturbances in 61 of 92 Russian provinces.
  • In 51 of these cases, the military was employed.
  • It also caused resentment from the more educated and wealthy Poles, Finns and Baltic Germans
  • People still continued to publish books in their language and some ethnic schools in places like Poland survived and pushed through the resentment against tsarists impositions. 


  Resistance against Russification:
• Believed that Alex III was acting for the greater good of Russia and that it was necessary to unite the country in order to improve admin, allow modernisation and reassert strength of Russia.

  Supporters of Russification
• Jews- this is because they had a distinct ethnic background and religion. There were around 5 million Jews within the Empire and since 1736 they had been confined to an area in Russia known as the Pale of Settlement. 


  Who suffered the most from Russification?
• A region in the South and West part of European Russia created in 1791 (in present day Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova and western Russia which consisted of around 20% of EU Russia. Limited number of Jews were allowed to live outside of Pale.

  Pale of settlement
• • it existed in the poorer elements in society who hated them because of the teachings of the Orthodox Church and their money-lending and riches.
  • Alex II allowed the richer Jews to settle anywhere until Polish revolt which made him withdraw his concessions and reducing Jewish participation in town governments. 


  Alex II and Antisemitism
• • slogans such as 'beat the Yids- save Russia' suggested that one third should emigrate, one third die and the other third to assimilate (convert)
  • He was anti-semitic himself due to religious reasons and even wrote in a the margin of a document urging him to reduce Jewish persecutions 'but we must never forget that the Jews have crucified our Master and have shed his blood.'
  • Russian press helped the people to believe that Jews helped to assassinate Alex II 


  Alex III and Anti-Semitism
• • Due to them being in one area, it made it easier to target them in pogroms which broke out in April 1881.
  • Cause of these were unknown but they could be:
  • wipe out business competition
  • Encouraged by okhrana which published the press about Jews and Alex II 


  Jewish Pogroms 1881-84
• May and Army Laws. The Governor-General of St Petersburg orders 14 Jewish apothhhecaries to shut down their businesses. 


  Anti-Semitic Legislation (ASL) 1882
• Jews engaged in the sale of alcohol can only do so from their own homes or personal property. 


  ASL 1886
• Jews who was obtained university degrees outside of Russia can no longer live outside of Pale.

  Number of Jews admitted to schools and universities were put under a quota system which was 10% within Pale, 5% outside of Pale and 3% from the capitals.

  ASL 1887
• Jews can no longer take part in local elections and the right to be elected to town dumas. 


  ASL 1892
• It is illegal for Jews to adopt a 'Christian' name 


  ASL 1893
• • Many Jews left Russia out of free will and many were exiled such as from Kiev in 1886
  • From 1890 Jews were expelled from Russia and Russian Jews who settled outside of Pale.
  • Winter of 1891-92 around 10,000 Jews were expelled where they had settled legally settled during Alex II reign
  • This drove them to join revolutionary groups like Trotsky and Zinoviev.

  Impact of the Pogroms:
• • Okhrana: led to 10,000 arrests and measures to crack down on terrorist conspirators
  • It become known as a sinister and effective body as it recruited thousands of informers who penetrated revolutionary groups to uncover terrorist action
  • Many went undercover as cab drivers to listen in on conservations and most post offices had a room where mail was read
  • This repressive environment is what caused opposition to rise more than it has before

  What did the assassination of Alex II do to his son