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Summary Political Change in Tsarist and Communist Russia (AQA A level)
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This document provides an overview of all the political Change over the entire period of as required in the ALevel Specification
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ChangeRussian Political change Continuity
Alexander II -Criminal cases were heard before barristers and a jury, selected from lists of
-To maintain autocracy the country had developed into a police state(1855). The police state property owners. Judges were appointed by the tsar
prevented freedom of speech, freedom of the press and travel abroad. Political meetings and -courts were opened to the public and proceedings could be freely reported,
strikes were forbidden. Censorship existed at every level of government and the police made sure national trials were recorded in a government newspaper, the national courier
that the censorship exercised by the state and church was enforced. -A new opportunity arose for articulate lawyers of the intelligentsia to criticise the
-Tsar Alexander II emancipated the serfs in 1861, and 1866 for privately owned serfs. It granted regime, becoming ‘celebrities’ in their own right. Furthermore, the new juries often
them freedom and an allotment of land, while landowners received government compensation. acquitted the guilty because they sympathised with their plight, to counter such
Freed serfs were required to play redemption payments to the government for over 49 years, for behaviour a new decree had to be issued to permit political crimes be tried by
their land and were to remain within their peasant commune until these redemption payments special procedures
had been made. - Trial by jury was never established in Poland and the western Caucasus whilst
-There was a 2 year period of ‘temporary obligation’ before freedom was granted, during which ecclesiastical and military courts were excluded from the reforms and the peasantry
allocations were worked out. in the volost courts were treated differently then those of higher status.
- Alexander II said of emancipation ‘It is far better to abolish serfdom from above than wait for it to Education Reforms 1863-1864
abolish itself from below’ Under alexander Golovin (Minister of education 1862-67)
-15% of serfs remained temporary obligated to their landlords until 1881, when redemption was -Universities were given the opportunity to govern themselves and appoint their
made mandatory own staff
Military Reforms -Responsibility for schooling was transferred from the Russian Orthodox Church to
-Conscription made mandatory for all classes including nobles from the age of 21, but length the Zemstvo
reduced from 25 years to 15 years of active service -Primary and secondary education was extended with ‘modern schools’ established
-Punishments were made less severe and the system of military colonies was abandoned. at secondary level for those who did not want the traditional classical education
-Modern weaponry was introduced and a new command structure, military colleges were set up to offered in gimnaziya , students from both could progress to university
provide better training for the non noble officer corps -Schools were declared ‘open to all’ regardless of class and sex , allowing women to
-Literacy was improved with mass army literacy campaigns in 1870s-90s attend secondary school for non vocational training from 1870)
- The army struggled to win in the war against turkey (1877-78) and in the longer term was -Educational provision grew markedly , but new independence given to the
defeated by Japan in 1905 and Germany in 1914-1917 universities had the effect of increasing the number of radical and militant thinkers.
Local Government Reforms Indeed the education reforms were so ‘successful’ that after 1866 it was deemed
-A system of elected local councils was established, both at district and provincial levels. They were necessary to reassert government control.
known as zemstvo. These were chosen through a system of ‘electoral colleges’ with separate Censorship Reform (1858-70)
colleges for nobles, townspeople , church and peasants, however voting procedure was arranged -Restrictions of publishers were reduced, foreign publications were permitted with
in a way that allowed nobles to dominate, e.g 74% of provincial assemblies were made up of government approval, and the press was allowed to print editorials with comment
nobles on government policy.
-In 1870 this reform was extended to towns when elected town councils called dumas were set up -This led to a short lived growth in the numbers of books , journals and newspapers
-However the power of zemstvos’ was strictly limited, they had no control over state and local on sale in Russia. The numbers of books published grew from 1020 in 1855 to 1863
taxes. Provincial governors continued to appoint officials, took responsibility for law and order and in 1864 and 10,691 by 1894. However a growth in critical writing brought a re-
could overturn zemstvo decisions if they chose tightening of government control in the 1870s
- They attracted doctors, lawyers , teachers and scientists who to the dismay of the regime used
meetings as an opportunity to debate political issues and criticise central government.
Judiciary reforms (1864)
-Equality before the law was established with a single system of local, provincial and national
courts. The accused was presumed innocent until proven guilty and could employ a lawyer to
defend himself
, Alexander II and reaction Alexander III
-In 1866 an attempted assassination shook the emperors confidence, after this a more -His reign began with the public hanging of the conspirators involved in his fathers assignation
repressive policy was adopted, interrupted only by a brief flirtation with further and the 1881 ‘Manifesto of unbreakable Autocracy’ He also issued a law on exceptional
constitutional reform in Alexanders II’s final years measures , which declared that if necessary a commander in chief could be appointed to take
-In April 1866 a former student of noble status shot alexander but missed. The following control of a locality using military police courts and arbitrary powers of imprisonment.
year a polish immigrant fired on a carriage carrying Alexander and his sons . In April 1879 - The Loris Melikov proposals were abandoned and reforming ministers including Dmitry
another student shot at him 5 times. In December of the same year a bomb intended to Milyutin resigned
blow up the tsar on a railway journey was planted under the wrong train. In February - A new state- appointed office of ‘Land Captain’ was created in July 1889 with power to
1880 a mine positioned below the dining room in the Winter place came near to success override elections to the zemstvo and village assemblies and to disregard zemstvo decisions,
and killed 12 people. they were in charge of law enforcement and government in the countryside and could ignore
-Alexander II made a series of new appointments in 1866; Dmitry Tolstoy as minister for normal judicial process, overturning court judgements.
education replaced the liberal Golovnin. Aleksandr Timashev as Minister of Internal - A further act in 1890 changed the election arrangements for the zemstvo so as to reduce the
Affairs, to replace Pyotr Valuev peasants vote and placed the zemstvo under central government control, in June 1892 a similar
-Pyotr shuvalov as head of the third section and Konstantin Pahlen as minister of Justice. arrangement was made for towns , the mayor and members of town councils became state
- The Zemstvo’s power over education were reduced, the church regained its authority employees, subject to central government direction
over rural schools and higher gimnazii schools were ordered to follow a traditional Policing
curriculum and abandon teaching natural sciences. From 1871 only students from a -The Okhrana was bly led by Von phleve 1881-84 and from 84 by pyotr durnovo. The number of
gimnazii school could progress to university police increased and new branches of the criminal investigation department were set up. There
-subjects that encouraged critical thought were forced out was also a drive to recruit spies and agent provocateurs who would pose as revolutionaries in
-Pyotr shuvalov strengthened the police, encouraged the third section and stepped up order to incriminate others
the persecution of other ethnic minorities, while Konstantin Pahlen ensured that the - By the 1882 Statue on Police surveillance, any area of the empire could be deemed an area of
judicial system made an example of those accused of political agitation. Searches and subversion and police agents could search, arrest, detain, question, imprison or exile not only
arrests and new governor generals were established in 1879 with emergency powers to those that had committed a crime, but any who were thought likely to, or were related to
prosecute in military courts and exile political offenders. people who had committed crimes.
-Pahlen held show trials with the intention of deterring others from revolutionary activity Changes in the Judicial system
but the whole experiment backfired and in 1878 political crimes were transferred from -In 1885 a decree provided for the Minister of Justice to greater control, for example in the
the civil courts to special secret courts. At the trial of 193 In 1878 a sympathetic jury dismissal of judges. In 1887 the Ministry was granted the power to hold closed court sessions
acquitted 153 of the 193 defendants and gave only light sentences to the rest, while the and in 1889 it became responsible for the appointment of town judges. In 1889 the volost
defence lawyers passionate speeches were reported in the press giving publicity to the courts were put under direct jurisdiction of the Land captains in the countryside and in towns.
revolutionaries ideas. Changes in Education
-The further attempts at the Tsars life in 1879 and 1880 led alexander to accept at least -Delyanovs new university charter of 1884 made appointments of chancellors, deans and
implicitly that the violence and unrest might be better curbed by widening democratic professors based on religious, moral and patriotic orientation rather than academic grounds.
consultation - Universities were closed from women, University students were forbidden from meeting in
- Count Mikhail Loris- Melikov was appointed Minister for internal affairs, he released groups larger than 5 , children from the lowest classes were to be restrcied to primary
political prisoners, relaxed censorship , removed the salt tax and lifted restrictions on the education.
activities of the zemstvo. The third section was abolished and its powers transferred to -Only 21% of the population was literate by 1897
the regular police, although a special section became known as the Okhrana was created -Failure to prevent student involvement in illegal political movements
and soon became just as oppressive Changes in Censorship
- In 1880 Loris Melikov produced a report in response to zemstvo demands, it -Tolstoy established a government committee in 1882 which issued the so called temporary
recommended the inclusion of elected representatives of the nobility, of the zemstvo and regulations, these allowed newspapers to be closed down and a life ban placed on editors and
of town governments in debating the drafts of some state decrees; the Loris Melikov’s publishers
constitution’ Russification
- Alexander II accepted and signed the report the morning of the 13 March 1881, calling -In Finland the diet was reorganised in 1892 to weaken its political influence, the use of Russian
for a meeting of the Council of Ministers to discuss the document, the same day the Tsar language was increasingly demanded, the independent postal service was abolished and the
was killed by a bomb. Russian coinage replaced the local currency
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