History Theme 1

• Peasant Opposition Regarding the Emancipation Act

  • 712 Peasant Uprisings 1826-54
  • Following Crimean War, approximately 500 uprisings per year
  • Following Emancipation, 647 in the first 4 months (likely due to redemption payments of 49 years at 6% interest)
• Black Earth Revolts (1906-07)

  • Destroyed 3,000 manors
  • Led to Stolypin Wager on the Strong, allowing peasants to own land outright + leave the mir. (successful - opposition calmed)
• What to Discuss for Peasant Opposition:

  • Peasant revolts around the Emancipation Act
  • 1891 Famine and use of incendiary measures (Can't strike)
  • Black Earth Revolts (1906-07)
  • February Revolution + removal of the PG (Peasant land seizure)
  • Tambov rebellion (1920-21) (=NEP)
  • Halting collectivisation (1930 - temporary change that lasted mere months)
• Morozov Strike (1885)


  8,000 workers strike over long hours, poor working and living conditions as well as low pay
• Witte's Great Spurt (1892+)

  • whilst this increased workers influence, it also worsened their conditions
  • Led to overcrowding - 16 people could be living in one apartment
  • industrial strikes: 1893 = 19 --> 1902 = 522
• Bloody Sunday (1905)

  • 105,000 workers strike over 5 workers being laid off
  • Brutality of the army = over 100 sympathy strikes (200 were killed)
  • Partly contributed to the concession of the October Manifesto
• Lena Goldsfields Strik (1912)

  • Army used to crush the strike: 200-250 killed
  • 4-5 families leave the company in protest, forcing it to close
• February + October Revolutions (1917)

  • Bolsheviks theoretically claiming power on behalf of the workers
• Civil War (1917-21)

  • killed over 5 million Russians, many of whom were workers
  • Workforce replaced by uneducated peasants, greatly reducing the extent of worker opposition for the rest of the period
• FYPs (1928+)

  • Increased the status of the workers
  • However, unrealistic targets + fear of being purged/fined for 10% of already low wages
  • no effective worker opposition during this period
• Novercherkassk (1962)

  • Protest over food prices
  • 20 killed by authorities
  • KGB attempt to cover up the shooting of the citizens
• What to Discuss for Worker Opposition:

  • Morozov Strike (1885)
  • Bloody Sunday (1905)
  • Lena Goldfields Strike (1912)
  • February + October Revolutions (1917)
  • Civil War + FYPs
  • Novercherkassk (1962)
• Emancipation Act (IO)


  Led to some dissent from the elites, yet nothing came of it.
• Witte (1903-06 - IO)

  • Opposed N2 on war with Japan --> removed from position as Finance Minister
  • After loss to Japan --> Made PM 1905
  • Removed as PM in 1906 due to his plans for the Jews
• Coalition (1917 - IO)

  • Kamenev, Zinoviev and Rykov call for a coalition with other socialist groups
  • Lenin has to bully others out of joining them
• Brest-Litovsk (1918 - IO)

  • Opposed by left wing of the party (felt that relinquishing the satellite states would weaken Communism)
  • Lenin forced to threaten resignation to pass the treaty
• Ban on Factionalism (1921 - IO)


  Effectively outlawing all internal opposition
• Stalin's purges of IO (1932-36)

  • 1933 Ryutin purges - targets the right wing of the party (executed in January 1937)
  • 1934 Kirov purges - targeting high-ranking party members such as Kamenev and Zinoviev
  • By 1937, all 1917 Central Committee members had been purged aside from Bukharin
  • So, Stalin did face internal opposition, but like the Tsars, did not have to alter policy to deal with them.
• Khrushchev's removal (1964 - IO)


  Khrushchev removed by the Politburo = the most successful form of internal opposition throughout the entire period.
• Things to Include in an Internal Opposition Paragraph:

  • Emancipation (Briefly)
  • Witte (1903-06)
  • Coalition (1917)
  • Brest-Litovsk (1918)
  • Ban on Factionalism (1921)
  • The Great Terror (1936-38)
  • Khrushchev's removal from the Politburo (1964)
• Third Section (1826-1881)


  Trial of the 50 and 193 1877-78 (40 exiled to Siberia - 18 sentenced to manual labour)

  Often exiled opponents

  Numerous attempts on A2's life + People's Will 1881 suggests that the police was ineffective
• Okhrana (1880-1917)


  Statute of State Security (1881 - almost entirely unrestricted: could intercept mail)

  Period of relative stability in 1890's suggests it was effective A3

  Under N2 - generally used to deal with political opposition e.g., SRs and SDs (e.g., Father Gapon)

  Secret Police abolished by PG under the 8 Principles
• Checka (1917-22)


  Brutal, killed 80,000 people in 1918 alone

  Carried out the 1918-21 Red Terror (first period of terror, BIG CHANGE)

  Estimated 1.3 million purged

  War Communism + dekulakisation + purges

  Provided blueprint for the NKVD
• GPU (1922-24) + OGPU (1924-34), both less brutal than the Checka
• NKVD (1934-40)


  Used to combat Internal Opposition (eliminated high-ranking CPSU e.g., Bukharin, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Trotsky)

  Peoples' Commissariat for internal affairs (1934)

  Great Terror (1936-39: first peacetime/permanent terror)

  40 million+ in the gulags by WW2 + 40,000 NKVD members purged

  Katyn Massacre (1940)
• MGB and MVD (1940-53)


  NKVD replaced due to role in Katyn Massacre

  MGB = keep the people in line

  MVD = Keep internal opposition in line
• KGB (1953+)


  Operated primarily outside of Russia (e.g., Berlin 1953 + Budapest 1956)

  Khrushchev wanted to move away from the repressive era of Stalin, Gulags virtually abolished (only 11,000 left in gulags by the end of the period)
• Things to Discuss (Army - Repression)

  • Bloody Sunday (1905 - 200 killed)
  • Lena Goldfields (1912 - shoot on a crowd of 5,000 - 270 died)
  • PG (used militias to requisition peasant produce, in an attempt to combat food issues)
  • Red Army used in the Civil War to combat political opponents)
  • Berlin 1953 + Hungary (1956)
• Censorship + Propaganda (Tsars)

  • 1855: 140 periodicals (60 official) - 6 newspapers
  • 1855: 1020 books published
  • 1864: 1836 books published – 66 newspapers
  • 1894: 89 newspapers
  • 1894: 10,691 books published
  • 1900-14: 3x the amount of periodicals being published
  • Tercentary celebrations (1913)
• Censorship + Propaganda (Communists)

  • PG 8 Principles = freedom of the press + speech
  • 1917 slogan e.g., "peace, land and bread"
  • Agitprop (1921): Socialist Realism (ONLY ALLOWED TO CREATE MEDIA THAT PROMOTED COMMUNISM)
  • Union of Soviet Writers (1934): Not allowed to be a writer if not in the Union, all work had to be approved
  • Newspapers often edited to exclude those who had been purged under Stalin
  • Censorship eases under Khrushchev (1959 - 10x amount of libraries as under Stalin) HOWEVER, Boris Pasternack (1958)