In the process of the changes and preparing for the revolution in Russia they had to formally change some of their traditions. The Russians had to change a major factor which would be the abolishment of the serfs. It is sadly to know that even though they were finally given their freedom after so many years they had not totally. Due to that they were initially still entitled to pay or give their masters (landowners) a debt they were entitled to pay. This rose a lot of resentment and a major change in political, economic, and social changes. It is important to keep in mind that the previous king of Russia during this time was Alexander III that proudly believed in an autocracy government just like his grandfather Nicholas I. The major conflict that took place during this time was the industrialization power that people were for and against although it is important to keep in mind that Alexander III was not in favor of this which slowed Russia on everything.
The economic changes that took place during this period in time was initially the abolishment of the serfs. To begin with we must acknowledge that the Russians had lost the Crimean War and were compelled by the Treaty of Paris. The abolishment of the serfs was announced in March 1856 by Alexander II he proclaimed that it would help Russia. This can be relevant as well to the fear that the Russians had towards the serfs of revolt. Although it is needless to say that the serfs were never useful to Russia and they were forced to help out with the Crimean War. With all this accumulated in February 1861 when the serfs were finally proclaimed free by law and were granted personal rights. These are some of the events that took place during this period in history although with the abo...
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...ng out the working class. With the changes politically it had it led to a lot of conflicts that would try to better the conditions of the working class. The one example we all know of would be Bloody Sunday were workers were fired at by the troops of Nicholas II because of an attempt to better their working and living conditions. To sum this all up all of this political tactics that were built were for an attempt to better the working class in which they lived in.
To sum up all of this it is needless to say that all of these events that took place helped the Russian people to build up to a revolution. All of these consecutive events led to major consequences for the Russian people. As we encounter throughout with the social, economic and political changes. These are all fundamental factors that played a key role for the Russian people and throughout the century.
m taking place in Russia, some aspects of life stayed the same. Generally in Russia, there was some kind of repression occurring. Although the Duma was meant to represent the people of Russia, the tsar still had the power to simply over rule any decisions. Also, the average peasant life was not much better than pre emancipation as they were crippled by redemption payments. In conclusion, Russia changed immensely between 1856 and 1894.
Russia's industries were beginning to develop and the number of people living in towns was increasing. These people were the urban working class of Russia and they were not as eager to accept the poor wages and conditions as the peasants were.
Russia, industrialized as a result of many peasant revolts. The revolts led to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, they received land but the political chains were still in place. Many reforms were still needed. The military became based on merit, education was increased, transportation became more efficient with the introduction or railroads, and law codes were improved with local councils put in place called zemstvoes. These reforms and the great size and natural resources of Russia allowed it to build factories. Yet, the change experienced by the West had not, yet, occurred.
... food making it into the cities and towns and the little food that was already there was now overly expensive due to inflation. There was trouble in the countryside, peasants had started demanding land in order to grow their own food to survive. The people in Russia were fed up with how things were going and were ready for a revolution.
The Russian Revolution occured in two stages/times, February nd October of 1917. As cited in document 1, "Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown and a liberal democratic government came to power." What lead to the Febraury Revolution was the peasant agriculture to the Russian population, autocracy, and the outbreak of WW1. A long-term cause was the peasant agriculture to the Russian population. As said in document 1, "For all of its history before the 20th cwntury, 80-95% of the population were poor pasants, farmers just barely scratching a living form the land. For most of that history (between 1694-1861) the majority of these peasants were enserfed." to enserf means to be aprovd of liberty and personal rights. Before 1917 peasants recieved sympathy from
While most of Europe had develop strong central governments and weakened the power of the nobles, Russia had lagged behind the times and still had serfs as late as 1861. The economic development that followed the emancipation of peasants in the rest of Europe created strong industrial and tax bases in those nations. Russian monarchs had attempted some level of reforms to address this inequality for almost a century before, and were indeed on their way to “economic maturity” (32) on par with the rest of Europe. But they overextended themselves and the crushing defeats of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and the First World War in 1917 lost them the necessary support from their subjects and created “high prices and scarcity” which were by far “the most obvious factors in the general tension”
"Oppression can only survive through silence" said Carmen de Monteflores and history proved this concept most thoroughly. However, the oppressed groups are generally not silent at all. They revolt, get violent, and are repressed again. This is not a rule, just a simple generalization and, of course, there are numerous exceptions. There is always a possibility that these downtrodden factions will get together to form a strong opposing force that will be an equal or almost equal rival to those that oppress. The coercion of the working class continued throughout the eighteenth century. Horrible working conditions, poverty, and hunger were blooming in the world of the industrial proletariat. The fruitless revolts did not change the situation and just when it seemed like the treatment of the waged people could not get any worse, the resolution appeared in all its glory. This historical period (1860-1914) could be best described using the Hegelian philosophy. The constant oppression of the working class will serve as thesis. The antithesis would come with the unification of the proletariats, forming the trading unions. The role of synthesis is given to the emergence of political democracy and mass political parties.
After the crippling defeat in the Crimean War, Alexander II knew that Russia could not be allowed to lag behind the Western world any longer if it was to maintain its independence. The reform of the state had been advisable for a long time, but for Alexander III it was necessary. He knew that before any real changes could be achieved, the main problem had to be solved: the problem of serfdom. However many limits and imperfections his edict of Emancipation carried with it, most importantly it allowed for further modernizing reforms in the legal, government, education and military spheres.
...Landless peasants were now working in factories, the economy was more stable, government and the military was stronger then ever, and Europe was one step closer to more modernized countries.
With this in mind, some perspective on the society of that time is vital. During this time the industrial revolution is taking place, a massive movement away from small farms, businesses operated out of homes, small shops on the corner, and so on. Instead, machines are mass-producing products in giant factories, with underpaid workers. No longer do people need to have individual skills. Now, it is only necessary that they can keep the machines going, and do small, repetitive work. The lower working class can no longer live a normal life following their own pursuits, but are lowered to working inhumane hours in these factories. This widens the gap between the upper and lower class-called bourgeois and proletariat-until they are essentially two different worlds. The bourgeois, a tiny portion of the population, has the majority of the wealth while the proletariat, t...
Through these decrees we see how Russian social class is very stratified and there are more high official roles but more people in poverty. Russia still had to serfs until 1861. Also the state of the Russian economy was probably very limited to do the fact that there was no manufacturing company to provide for the empire. The Russian economy was very isolated and they go to areas where they can trade. With Russia’s subsistence economy, they were not able to specialize in other areas.
It is the accumulation of these factors that highlighted Lenin’s leadership and practicality following the seizing of power as a well as changes to society with War Communism and the NEP and the use of terror which were all vital to consolidate Bolshevik power.
Furthermore, the farming methods were still old - fashioned and life barely rose above the starvation level. The peasants were dissatisfied. with the situation, leading to social difficulties within Russia. Working conditions for both peasants and the working class have barely improved, resulting in an urge for change among many Russians. Their most important desire was the longing for a new leader to replace the Tsar.
These are some of the many reasons, along with the Romanov family’s inability to lead either troops in modern warfare or the Russian population into a modern industrialised society, that brought about the inevitability of the 1917 Russian revolution and thus, the USSR.
The need to modernise in Russia was a problem that the tsar had to face between the years, at the time in question, Russia was very backwards in the way that it farmed its lands, its economy was behind that of the rest of Europe, this meant that action had to be taken, in this area the tsar did have some successes.