Alex II - how liberal was gov?

• Traditionally, he was viewed as ‘The Tsar liberator‘
• Emancipation edict 1861
• Some historians say that he intentionally carried out reforms that granted Russians greater freedoms so they could live better lives
• Personal chancellory of his imperial majesty was abolished in 1861 and replaced with a council of ministers, showing willingness to debate proposed policies
• Zemstva did much ‘good work’ in the fields of education, public health and local economies
• Zemstva so effective that from 1870 onwards, the model was copied and applied to town and cities
• Some say he never wavered from being an autocrat
• Other say that Alex was concerned only with making some concessions to win support
• Some Historians argue that Alex II was forced to introduce an element of democracy at a local level but then seemed to regret this immediately
• Liberal members started to question the ‘administrative monopoly of the officialdom‘ and were critical of a regime that they perceived to be unresponsive to demands
• Both the district and provincial zemstva were dominated by the nobility
• The extent to which democracy was introduced was questionable
• The zemstva appeared to divert the attention of the reformist nobility away from wanting changes to central government
• Some claim the creation of the zemstva resulted in the emergence of the populist movement
• Many attempts to assassinate him
• When the populists failed, in the mad summer of 1874, to gain support from peasants some of them turned to ‘revolutionary terror‘
• 1877 trial of the 50 led to long-term imprisonment of key populists
• Emancipation gave the serfs more land, less likely to revolt
• Establishment of the Mir meant there were still restrictions
• Released all Decemberists who tried to overthrow his father, and showed amnesty towards the polish revolts
• Censorship: Russian free press 1858, number of books trebled 1864-81
• Legal system: introduced the bar, juries and wages