Discontent and Opposition to the Tsar Single lesson exercise Use with party reminder sheets, political spectrum, exam question. Link to spec.

Where are we up to? The failure of the August Manifesto; The October Manifesto and the response of opposition groups; the crushing of the Moscow Uprising; the extent of the recovery of Tsarist power. Now on to,…….. Change and continuity in government: the Fundamental Law; the radicalism of the first two dumas; Nicholas II’s relations with the dumas, 1906–14; the nature of Tsarist government and royal power in 1914.

Traditional loyalty The Romanov dynasty maintained its position through the traditional loyalty of powerful sections of Russian society: The most important of these were the aristocracy, the Church, the bureaucracy, the police and the Russian army. Each of these powerful elites was interested in preserving their own positions and the power of the monarchy. By 1914 Russia seemed to be very old fashioned, even medieval, in contrast to the other Great Powers.

Opposition groups Opposition groups such as Kadets, Social Revolutionaries and Social Democrats were suppressed and many of the Tsar’s political enemies were forced to live abroad. The Kadets, (Constitutional Democrats) were a middle-class liberal party that wanted peaceful political change leading to the handover of power to an elected duma. They were the most moderate of the opposition groups. The second major opposition group were the Social Revolutionaries wanted to seize power by revolution. They would change the system of land ownership to make life better for the peasants.

The communists were split amongst themselves: The third group were the Social Democrats. They followed the communist the writings of Karl Marx. He predicted that workers would rise up against the middle and upper classes and seize control of the means of production (factories and land). Eventually a classless society would be created - communism. The communists aimed to overthrow the Tsar, the aristocracy and the Church and replace them with small councils or Soviets, which would represent the ordinary people and control the means of production on their behalf. The communists were split amongst themselves: The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, or Lenin. who believed a communist revolution in Russia could only be achieved by a small elite of professional revolutionaries under his command. The other communist group were the Mensheviks. The Mensheviks also wanted a communist revolution, but one that was democratic and not controlled by one person or a small group.

The Tsar’s Opponents and Supporters Against the Tsar For the Tsar The Kadets The nobles The Social Revolutionaries The Church The Social Democrats The wealthy middle class The Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, (after 1903) Many peasants and workers who were traditionally loyal to the Tsar.

The Tsar’s response to opposition He could be completely ruthless to people who protested. He used the army to put down street demonstrations He had a highly effective secret police force called the Okhrana Once arrested suspects could be tortured, imprisoned or sent into exile in a remote part of the country. The work of the Okhrana kept illegal opposition groups weak and disorganised. By the early 1900s most of their leaders had fled abroad.