Late Imperial Russia, 1894-1905
The Problems Facing Imperial Russia: 1894-1905
Geography
Russia was a vast country, and it covered around 8 million square miles and two
different continents.
From 1894-1914, the population went from 40 million to 160 million, concentrated
in European Russia.
As such, there was huge varieties in race, language, religion, and culture, which
made it difficult to control.
The Tsar
Since 1613 the Russian tsars had all been members of the Romanov family and by
law and tradition, the tsar was an absolute monarch.
The tsarist ministers were all appointed by the tsar, not elected by the people, and
they didn’t govern anything – their only job was to advise.
Russia’s Political Backwardness
Compared to other European nations Russia had not advanced politically.
Practically all other European countries had some form of democratic
representation, whereas Russia had none.
Although over the years they had been reforming tsars, such as Peter the Great,
Catherine the great, and Alexander II, none of their reforms had extended political
rights.
By 1894, it was still a criminal offence to oppose the tsar and his government, there
was no parliament, and although political parties had been formed, they had no legal
right to exist.
There was no free speech or press, and government censorship was imposed in
published books and journals.
Because of this, many political parties and people with radical or liberal views had to
go underground.
Many of these groups became extremists, such as those who assassinated Alexander
II in 1894.
To oppose these groups, the Okhrana (the tsarist secret police) infiltrated them.
The Church
The tsars are fully supported in their claims to absolute authority by the Russian
Orthodox Church.
The church saw it as their duty to teach the Russian people that the tsar was
anointed by God to be the leader of Russia, and the catechism included a demand
from God to love and obey the tsar.
, Even though the Orthodox Church had been a huge part of Russian culture for
centuries, by the late 19th century it had become deeply conservative and opposed
to political change – it was intent on preserving the tsarist system in its reactionary
form.
As such, the church was starting to hold less and less power over the daily lives of
the urban population.
The Russian Economy
By the late 19th century, 80% of the Russian population were still peasants, showing
that Russia was far behind other nations in terms of industrialization, like Britain,
Germany, and the USA.
That's not to say that there was no industrialization at all, however this was on such
a small scale that it did not mean anything.
Russia's size and poor transportation network hindered development massively.
Another thing that hindered industrialization was the absence of an effective
banking system, as Russia found it hard to raise money for expansion and investment
and had not mastered the art of borrowing and investing.
As such, this had discouraged entrepreneurialism.
Agriculture
Despite 4/5 of the population being peasant farmers, Russian had failed to develop a
thriving agrarian economy. There were several reasons for this:
Much of Russia lay too far north to grow crops or graze animals on, and arable
farming was mainly restricted to the black earth region - the area of Ukraine to
Kazakhstan.
As there were so many peasants, there was not enough fertile land to go around,
and even though they had been permitted to buy land under the emancipation
decree of 1861, the prices were always too high for them to pay.
Strip farming (subsistence farming) was also very popular amongst peasants;
however, it was incredibly inefficient.
The Peasant Problem
Russia’s governing class made up less than 1% of the population, and the peasants
made up over 80% of the population.
As such, the aristocrats despised and feared the peasants, as their sheer size made
them potentially incredibly dangerous.
Therefore, there was usually severe repression, as the upper class felt this was the
only way to control the lower class.
One of these measures of repression was in the emancipation decree. Although this
decree gave peasants the right to buy land, they had to take on a large debt and pay
high land sales taxes to compensate landowners – these were called redemption
payments.
The Problems Facing Imperial Russia: 1894-1905
Geography
Russia was a vast country, and it covered around 8 million square miles and two
different continents.
From 1894-1914, the population went from 40 million to 160 million, concentrated
in European Russia.
As such, there was huge varieties in race, language, religion, and culture, which
made it difficult to control.
The Tsar
Since 1613 the Russian tsars had all been members of the Romanov family and by
law and tradition, the tsar was an absolute monarch.
The tsarist ministers were all appointed by the tsar, not elected by the people, and
they didn’t govern anything – their only job was to advise.
Russia’s Political Backwardness
Compared to other European nations Russia had not advanced politically.
Practically all other European countries had some form of democratic
representation, whereas Russia had none.
Although over the years they had been reforming tsars, such as Peter the Great,
Catherine the great, and Alexander II, none of their reforms had extended political
rights.
By 1894, it was still a criminal offence to oppose the tsar and his government, there
was no parliament, and although political parties had been formed, they had no legal
right to exist.
There was no free speech or press, and government censorship was imposed in
published books and journals.
Because of this, many political parties and people with radical or liberal views had to
go underground.
Many of these groups became extremists, such as those who assassinated Alexander
II in 1894.
To oppose these groups, the Okhrana (the tsarist secret police) infiltrated them.
The Church
The tsars are fully supported in their claims to absolute authority by the Russian
Orthodox Church.
The church saw it as their duty to teach the Russian people that the tsar was
anointed by God to be the leader of Russia, and the catechism included a demand
from God to love and obey the tsar.
, Even though the Orthodox Church had been a huge part of Russian culture for
centuries, by the late 19th century it had become deeply conservative and opposed
to political change – it was intent on preserving the tsarist system in its reactionary
form.
As such, the church was starting to hold less and less power over the daily lives of
the urban population.
The Russian Economy
By the late 19th century, 80% of the Russian population were still peasants, showing
that Russia was far behind other nations in terms of industrialization, like Britain,
Germany, and the USA.
That's not to say that there was no industrialization at all, however this was on such
a small scale that it did not mean anything.
Russia's size and poor transportation network hindered development massively.
Another thing that hindered industrialization was the absence of an effective
banking system, as Russia found it hard to raise money for expansion and investment
and had not mastered the art of borrowing and investing.
As such, this had discouraged entrepreneurialism.
Agriculture
Despite 4/5 of the population being peasant farmers, Russian had failed to develop a
thriving agrarian economy. There were several reasons for this:
Much of Russia lay too far north to grow crops or graze animals on, and arable
farming was mainly restricted to the black earth region - the area of Ukraine to
Kazakhstan.
As there were so many peasants, there was not enough fertile land to go around,
and even though they had been permitted to buy land under the emancipation
decree of 1861, the prices were always too high for them to pay.
Strip farming (subsistence farming) was also very popular amongst peasants;
however, it was incredibly inefficient.
The Peasant Problem
Russia’s governing class made up less than 1% of the population, and the peasants
made up over 80% of the population.
As such, the aristocrats despised and feared the peasants, as their sheer size made
them potentially incredibly dangerous.
Therefore, there was usually severe repression, as the upper class felt this was the
only way to control the lower class.
One of these measures of repression was in the emancipation decree. Although this
decree gave peasants the right to buy land, they had to take on a large debt and pay
high land sales taxes to compensate landowners – these were called redemption
payments.
