Middle class opposition and league of liberation

• Russia's middle class

  industrialists, businessmen and educated professionals such as doctors and lawyers

  • Were small but fast expanding
  • Middle-class Russians were hostile to Tsarism
• Liberalism

  Liberalism in turn-of-the-century Russia had two core principles:

  • A belief in ending autocracy through the adoption of a constitution that transferred power democratically elected institutions and guaranteed basic rights such as freedom of speech
  • A belief in an economic system based on private enterprise rather than public ownership
  • preference for non-violent methods of bringing about political change
• Stronghold of liberalism

  1. University system which in the late 19th century was expanding fast in order to supply the developing Russian economy with the higher-level skilled personnel it needed. The years 1899-1901 saw a series of clashes between university students and the tsarist authorities, one of which left 13 student protesters dead
  2. The zemstva (Russia’s elected local councils)
• What happened in 1904

  • a secret meeting in St Petersburg was held and the league of liberation was formally established.
  • Paul Milyukov emerged as the leading figure.