1905 revolution

• Long term causes : Peasants

  • Don’t own land
  • Failed emancipation
  • Racting of vote is lower
  • High taxes and indirect
  • No stability or security
• Long term causes : workers

  • Low pay
  • Long hours
  • Terrible conditions
  • No say or input
  • Increasingly politicised as become literate
• Long term causes national minorities

  • poles, finns and Ukrainians
  • autonomy
  • equality
  • independance
  • religous freedoms
• Long term causes : Intelligensia

  • No say in politics but create wealth
  • Liberals - local gov work - Zemstva did relief work - doing gov jobs with no power or pay
  • Students were reading Marx
  • Censorhsip
  • Felt democracy was emergencies anf autocracy was over
• Long term causes ; revolutionary

  • socialist revolutionaries - wanted peasant revolution - assassinated over 2000 officials
  • Social democrats - Marxist - wanted communism and working class revolution
• Government policy : Autocracy

  • weak ruler
  • senseless dreams
  • uses repression
• Gov policy - Russification

  • Jews join revolutionary groups - by default he believes they love tsar if he Russifies - infact opposite and mistreatment anf revoking identities politicises them
• Gov policy : Emancipation

  • Failed as a system
  • He isn’t resolving it
  • Freed up labour which meant they became workers and faced more issues and became politicised
• Gov Policy - Censor ship

  • Lacked basic freedoms
  • Limited education and opportunities to progress
  • Reinforced class system
  • Bad conditions
  • Okrana - lived in fear
• Gov policy - Economic

  • Social policy suicide
  • Used railways as springboard
  • Foreign investment
  • When there’s slumps and recessions there’s mass concentrated unemployment
  • Therefore workers talk and revolutionise and he’s adding pressure
• gOV POLIVY - Foriegn

  • Expansion of empire at cost of people
  • Led to Russo Japanese war - catalyst for 400k strike
  • Led to industrialisation which led to crumbling of tsarism
• Economic discontent turns political

  • Russo Jaoanese war :
  • Schocking defeats as Russia has more troops
  • loss of public support
  • casued economic problems
  • increased pressure on unhappy society
  • shift in anger towards tsar
• Outcome :

  Creation of political parties - Kadets and octoberists were liberal

  Violent backlash as tsar supporters tried to quiet opposition

  Black hundreds formed - paramilitary gang

  Jews were looted and attacked - 3000 die in last weeks of October

  still assumes he’s loved
• Spontaneous - adhoc
• People were vandalising, demonstrating - illustrating frustration
• All the revolutionaries were imprisoned and leaders exiles abroad
• Liberals and student led
• Pushed Intelligensia wants
• May 1905 - Russian fleet sunk so gov is incompetent
• Peasants :

  June and July seize land ans grain - stop paying tax

  Want an end to redemption payments and high rent - not political

  Spontaneous

  Set up unions - July - All Russian peasant union

  Some set up republics - political intentions arising

  Tsar sent in troops who mutinied
• Nationalities :

  • Demanded autonomy - end to Russification and control on culture
  • Poland and Finland demand independance
  • Caucus - became violent as officials were attacked
  • Nationalist demands for language in schools
  • Nicholas sent 10k to Georgia, 300k to Poland - vicious - 93 poles shot - fuelled revolution - ‘down with Tsarism’ - Baltic and Lithuania
• By 1905 - 3500 giv officials killed or injured by minorities or peasants or workers - members of tsarist gov
• Support for Tsarism had weakened by duma and state council were powerless so autocracy wasnt weakened as power was barely dispersed
• Battleship Potenkin - control of areed forces is paramount to tsar staying in power

  • Some of the crew mutinied - ship at Odessa and welcomed warmly - tsar sent troops who shot 200 civilians - sailed to Romania for passage
  • Negotiated treaty of Portsmouth
• September strike :

  Printers disagree with an article - spread to railways and brought transport to a halt and major professions - 2 million striking

  Shortages caused - bodies pile - medical - stealing

  Middle class supported the working class

  Barricades form - political shift - ran until October
• St Petersburg soviet :

  October 13 - driven by Mensheviks - all factoried elected a reperesentative

  • Organised relief and worker strikes -sued Newspapers
  • Highlighted how democracy worked
  • Trotsky was deputy charman - concerning power - around November 80 set up
• October manifesto :

  Nicholas solution - ignore it all

  Witte ultimatum - use troops or reform

  Uncle holds a revolver to his own head - frustration
• 17 October 1905 - manifesto

  Gave Russians civil liberties

  Elected duma ( assembly )

  Devolved power and autocracy shifts
• Reaction :

  Liberals are glad and now support tsar

  Divided opposition - isolated radicals

  Strikes called off - period of testing = new freedom emerged

  Political meetings casual parks and streets

  Newspapers print criticism of tsar

  Creation of political parties - Kadets and Octoberists

  Still thinks hes loved
• Fundamental Laws - 1906 April

  • Right to veto legislation
  • Rule by decree in emergency
  • Appoint and dismiss gov ministers
  • Dissolve Duma as he wishhes
  • Command army, declare war, conclude peace, treaties and foriegn relations
  • Control military and household expenditure
  • Overturn verdicts and sentence given in courts
  • Control church
• Government responsible to crown not Duma

  • Lower chamber - state Duma - elected through indirect voting - favoured nobility and peasants = crown allies
  • Upper chamber - State council - half elected by Zemstva - half by tsar - responsible for major, social, religous and educational institutes
• Liberals haven’t got what they wanted - votes weren’t equal - one deputy for 2k landowners and one for 90k workers
• Legislation wouldn’t pass in unequal chambers - rigged system