Tsar's Survival Politically in 1905

Tsar's Survival Politically in 1905

Firstly, to understand how the Tsarist regime survived in 1905, it is

necessary to answer the question: what, politically and socially,

happened in 1905? It is then possible to see how Nicholas II dealt

with these problems and managed to survive this turbulent year. In the

few years previous to 1905 there was increasing social turmoil caused

by rapid industrialisation in Russia. Furthermore, there was no legal

way of expressing political views as there was no parliamentary system

and as a result there was a discontented and oppressed working class

and a desperate and poverty stricken peasantry. The working classes,

at the time, had to work in very poor conditions for very long hours

and for very little pay which angered them further. Additionally, The

peasants were poor because they owned no land themselves, had poor

harvests and heavy taxation by the Tsar to pay for industrialisation.

The middle classes were also discontent because of the absence of a

political voice for the vast population. Therefore most sectors of

Russian society were in strong opposition to the state. Only the

gentry, the state-dependant industrialists, aristocracy and the army

supported the regime out of self-interest.

After this period leading up to 1905, many people began to rebel

against the oppression that they had suffered and illegal political

parties began to rise in retaliation of the dire situation. One such

party was the Social Democrats, in 1895, which followed the teachings

of Karl Marx. They believed devoutly in a proletarian revolution. In

1903, the Social Democrats split into the Bolsheviks, The Majority,

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revolt had been unorganised and missed their opportunity windows to

launch successful revolts, as well as the fact that the parties did

not combine early on to combat Tsarist Russia. A crucial factor of the

Tsars survival was the fact that Nicholas had his thumb on anyone with

power and could use them accordingly. He had the full support of his

armed forced at the time and this also quashed any resistance to the

Tsar and was a deterrence to any thinking of revolt. He relied heavy

on many of his right hand men to think up great schemes and solutions

to his problems. These people included the likes of Sergei Witte and

Peter Stolypin, whom directed the Tsar in the right direction. If it

wasn’t for these factors then surely Nicholas II would have been

overthrown as he was entirely incapable of running the country alone.