Social and Political Developments That Undermined Foundations of Tsarist Order after 1905 - Literature review Example

Social and political developments that undermined foundations of Tsarist order after 1905 Introduction The Tsarist order refers to the form of autocracy in Russia which later became Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. This form of governance saw all power and wealth run and controlled by the Tsar. A Tsar was the controlling power and had more power than the constitutional monarchs who are mainly limited and restricted law and also the legislative authority. The Tsars had power on religious matters compared to other monarchs from the west. The Tsarism in Russia originated during the rule of Ivan III and it collapse came in 1917 during the Russian Revolution of 1917. This kind of rule is considered by many as being absolutism or totalitarianism as all powers were vested upon the Tsar. The problem of totalitarian government is that it faces allot of opposition and war from its own subjects. This was no different in Russia during the Tsarism. According to Bradley (2009) the Tsarists in Russia faced oppositions and revolutions from its people eradicated by totalitarianism in the twentieth century. In the start of the 20th and end of 19th Century, the Russian political system was among the most backward in Europe. In Europe, it was one of the few remaining autocracies. The Tsars were bound to only two restrictions; adherence to Russian Orthodox Church and the laws based on succession. At this time, Russia did not have a constitution, there were no democratic processes within its national government, there was also no elected representative’s assembly and there was no high court or even the court of appeal that could help control the powers of the Tsars. According to Barlett (2005) it was only until the first decade of the 20th century that the Russian government agreed to have a constitution. Developments that undermined the Tsarist order. The period ranging between 1905 and 1917 saw fundamental changes and developments that led to the collapse of the Tsarim in Russia. During this period, the Russian government was faced with two major revolutions that collectively forced the monarchy out of power. The first was in 1905 and the final one in 1917. There are several factors that led to the collapse of this regime. They vary from political, social to economic. In this paper, the major political and social factors have been discussed. The political states and the social states of the Russian people were the most affected by the regime. This consequently affected their economic state. Political developments The October Manifesto In October of 1905, a general strike was held in Moscow and abruptly spread to other cities within the Russian empire. People from different manners went to the streets demanding an immediate change; doctors, teachers, students, factory workers. On 26th of October, The St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers Deputies was established. This idea of working class unity and strength spread also to the rest of the cities. This posed a threat to the Tsarist regime. The Tsar at that time, Nicholas II, had two options to consider; either use the military force to shut down all the rebellion, or make a conciliatory offer. The first option was ruled out because he could not rely on the Russian military to fight against the rebellion. He therefore decided to issue the October Manifesto on October 30th. According to Thatcher (2005) the concession given within this manifesto were issued with great reluctance. The Tsar was emotionally moved even while signing the manifesto and hoped that it would help him win some of the people who had joined the rebellion. The manifesto was some form of constitutional reform which was to give the Russian people the following; Civil Liberties Freedom of Speech Freedom of Assembly No law were to be introduced without the agreement of the Duma (The Assembly). However, it is important to note that this manifesto did not stipulate the point from which the Duma could or could not initiate legislation. Nonetheless, the public was given power to express themselves better than before. This created new platforms form people to talk about the social, political and economic injustices by the government. The first Russian Constitution In the eve of the first Duma in 1906, the Russian constitution was officially enacted. This was established after a long period of transformation of the 1832 Fundamental Laws of the Russian empire. The absolutist state was transformed into one where the emperor for the first time allowed the sharing of some powers with the parliament. This is regarded as one of the last efforts of the Russian government to try and preserve its existence and maintain the nation from falling in an all-out anarchy. The main event that led to this establishment was the Revolution of 1905 after the Russo-Japan war in 1904-1905. The Tsar faced allots of opposition and gave in to an establishment of a constitutional monarchy as well as parliamentary system. The new constitution set up a bicameral Russian parliament who had power to approve all laws to be enacted in Russia. The legislature was made up of the upper house known as the state council and a lower house known as the state Duma. Half the number of members of the state council was appointed by the Tsar while the rest were elected by the governmental, commercial and clerical interests. Majority of the Russian political reforms could be possible were it not for the enactment of the first constitution. The constitution provided for more platforms for the nation to grow out of the Tsarist regime Barchet (2015). Electoral legislation and setting up of Duma The Russian electoral laws were first started in 1905 where only male citizen of over 25 years were allowed to vote. This election saw representatives from different constituencies voted to the Duma. The first general elections were held in March 1906 and this saw formation of political parties who wanted representation in the government. The first Duma had been established to be a consultative body within the government. It therefore put forward to the Tsar programme of reforms that they strongly believed would transform and benefit the whole of Russia. The government responded by saying that most of the reforms listed in the programme were inadmissible to the government. This in return created a difference between the Duma and the government. The Duma turned against the government creating enmity with majority of government ministers. According to Melancon (2006) the minister were faced with very hostile atmosphere as they came to the Duma to account for themselves as is required by the law. The state Duma played a key role in transforming Russia. New reforms were later realized that improved the living standards of the Russian citizens. The Duma laid realistic basis for improving workers plight and changing the state-society relations. The state Duma passed laws setting up higher learning institutions for women. World War I The beginning of the World War I in August of 1914 helped quiet the rising social and political protests in Russia against the Tsarism. Nonetheless, this was not a permanent solution. As the war dragged on, most nations experienced war-weariness. The participation and engagement of Russia in the war is greatly considered as the final blow to the Tsarist rule. During the initial engagement with the Germans (who had an alliance with Austro-Hungarian empire), the Russian army was ruthlessly beaten suffering about 120,000 causalities with Germans suffering only 20,000 causalities. Continued loss in the war meant that the then Russian leader Nicholas had to leave St. Petersburg in 1905 in order to take full control of the army. The taking over of personal command over the army by Tsar did not help Russias efforts in the battle. This meant that the leader was going to take personal responsibility for the losses in the war. The Tsar made even a more serious mistake of leaving Tsarina to run the government. She had no leadership skills and incompetent and there let Rasputin to run the government instead. There were also rumours that she was secretly helping the Germans win the war as she was German too. At this time, the Russians were sending conscripts and untrained army troops to war against other nations that were more-trained and well-equipped. The Russian army had no equipment and almost always fought continual retreat. In 1916, the morale reached its record low as pressure waging the war fell harder on families whose sons were being brutally murdered in the war. The army suffered from food shortage while back at home there was also a great shortage of fuel. The war saw about 15 million men go to battle fields from the farms. The trains were also use to transfer the soldiers. This meant that there was little food being produced from the farms and there was also the transport issue as there were no trains to bring food into the cities. Food prices went high leading to famine in the cities. This eventually led to fresh protest and demonstrations in Russia. The Tsar as well as the imperial regime took full responsibility as civil war and other forms of protests starting reaching their all time high. According to Sondhaus (2011) even the leadership of the Tsarist imperial government did not see the abrupt fall of the Tsarist regime of the WWI. The rift caused by the WWI in 1914 did seem beyond any repair, and it could not be supported by any other factor other than the weakening of Tsarism, an issue which Nicholas II refused to accept. Russia was technically headed in one direction due to the nature of Tsarism could jeopardise any form of recovery even if total war had not occurred. WWI ultimately shuttered Tsarism but only did this because Tsarism on its own was so brittle and weakening. After the end of the WWI, the Tsarist officials were thinking on the post war challenges and seemed not to realize that their weakness was too much to recover from. Their reign was going to be short-lived as they had been weakened in terms of the military and the general public was raged and angered by the deteriorating state of the nation Chant (2014). The Revolutions Two major revolutions led to the fall of the Tsarist regime. These are the Revolution of 1905 and the Russian revolution of 1917. After the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japan war (1904-1905), the Tsarist government was faced with allot of opposition from the workers, students and the general public. Nicholas III tried to find a solution for the problem and decided to agree to some of the demands made to the government. He offered the October Manifesto which saw establishment of the first constitution and establishment of a parliament system of governance. This meant that some of the powers that were absolute to the Tsar had been shared with the parliament. The end of the WWI saw Russia loss millions of lives and resources. This angered the general public. There was food shortage in the battlefield as well as in the cities. In March 1917, St. Petersburg come to a standstill as workers in factories went into strike demanding pay rise. A series of strikes from different cities followed leading to a massive revolution all over Russia. As riots took centre stage in St. Petersburg, Nicholas II had left the city to inspect the troops. When things got worse, Duma requested that the Tsar Release emergency food supplies for the people. The leader refused and ordered that the riots be stopped immediately. This event led to death of the civilians causing more outrage from the public. Nicholas ordered that Duma should not meet anymore in the presence of political turmoil in the nation. Duma disobeyed the order and met. This is considered to be first act of revolution. In the absence of the Tsar, Duma formed a Provisional government which ultimately took over the government from Nicholas II. Social developments Oppression of the lower class It is estimated that over 85% of the Russian people were peasants during the period before the Russian revolution. These peasants had experienced a long period of oppression and discrimination from the people of the upper class and the government in general. One of the main problems for peasants is that they did not have their own land. Continued protest led to the Tsarist government setting up laws that would allocate some land to the peasants. However, this was definitely not a long lasting solution as majority of the peasants did not have enough land. This led to massive riot break out. Majority of the Russian land was owned by the few elite people who were in the government or had enough money. This angered the peasants and greatly expressed their demands with the enactments of the new constitution. According to Gaudin (2007) the peasants worked on land that was owned by the people of the upper class and had to pay for it. The argument from the peasants was that land should be owned by the individual working on the land. Consequently, the peasants formed the majority of the participants of the revolutions as a way of finding solutions that would improve and make their lives easier. They continued to put more pressure of the Tsarist regime demanding better reforms in land ownership and general life standards. The conditions of the peasants were also worsened by the primitive farming methods used by the peasants. According to Chamberlin and Koenker (2009) the primitive methods of cultivation contributed largely to the poverty of the Russian peasants. This oppressed group formed the main part of the uprising against the Tsarist regime. During the revolution, it was easy for them to participate as far as the course would lead to the improvement of their state. Unlike the citizens from the upper class and partly the middle class, the lower class was subjected to payment of dues on land they cultivated on as well as work on the owners land four times in a week. During the WWI, majority of the people constricted into the army were peasants. The war led to loss of lives and great defeat of Russia. This further angered the peasants who at this point we’re experiencing shortage in man power. There were no trains to transport food from farms into the city and this meant that the little farm produced would easily get spoilt while still in the farm. The generally weakened the operations in agriculture which was the basic source of income for the peasants. Urbanization During the fall of the 19th Century and the start of the 20th Century, Russia was going through partial industrialization. New industries were being set up in different cities. This consequently led to establishment of working class in cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow. As more industries emerged, there was need for more labour to ensure production in the factories. This led to massive movement of people from the rural areas and upcountry into the cities looking for employment. According to Thackeray (2007) industrialization in Russia had benefits to the government but there were problems that can be associated directly to it. The living standard of the people was improved but this was not done evenly. Majority of the unskilled labour were still suffering. This led to urbanization and increase in population in the cities. The result was overcrowding in cities and high poverty levels. The living standards of people became very poor as cities were full of people. These affected agriculture as there were now few people doing farming back in rural areas. With the beginning of the WWI, there was high demand of tools and equipment in the battlefield. The industries started expanding their operations leading to more people going into the cities where there were jobs. People would prefer working in the factories other than risk their lives in the battlefield. The cities became overpopulated. There were limited social amenities, poor transport and communication systems, very limited health facilities as well. Lillevik (2014) argues that the conditions in the cities were worse during the WWI as there were millions of people in the cities with very limited resources. Shortage of food and fuel became very common because of the demands from the war. Urbanization played key role in undermining the Tsarist regime. This is because it brought together people from all over Russia who had common problems and challenges. This gave the people a chance to take and discuss about their government and the things they feel should be changed. It became easier for the people to work together and cooperate themselves to start demonstrations and protests because of the common problem. Most government offices were also situated in the urban centre and this ensured that their grievances would quickly reach the Tsarist regime. The frustrations faced within the city became a major motivator for the protestors and this led to the revolution eventually. Extrajudicial Killings The number of protest and demonstrations continued over time in break of the 20th century. Workers form the industries, teachers, doctors, students and even the peasants took to the streets to complain of the poor conditions and the worsening circumstances. The response from the government was unwelcoming. Most of the cases, the government would use the military to open fire against the protestors. This led to loss of lives. The government unexpectedly failed take any action against the military personnel responsible. This angered the people even the more. In one of the occasions, the workers union came together and marched to the emperor’s palace in order to share their grievances with the emperor. Unfortunately the emperor was not at the palace. The army guarding the palace intentionally opened fire against the workers and killed several. The emperor on his return did not take any action against the army officers responsible. The workers were angered for the death of their fellow employees. According to Harris (2013) the Tsarist regime used its army to kill innocent citizens who seemed to cause unrest or protest against the government. Just before the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Tsar ordered the army to stop the protestors who were striking demanding for rise in wages from their employees. The army took to the streets with live bullets killing hundreds of workers. The following day, more protestors joined the course demanding the withdrawal of the Tsarist regime. This consequently led to the establishment of provisional government and overthrow of Nicholas from leadership. Prior to that, the regime would use its military to kill innocent civilians at the cost of protecting the Tsar. This lowered the value of the Russian citizens who felt that they were not treated fairly. Emergence of Socialistic and liberal ideologies The workers in factories and other industries established in Russia were working under very poor conditions. The minimum wage set by the Tsarist regime was very little to sustain the difficult lives in the cities. The workers started coming together to form groupings that would help hair their grievances. The first one to be formed in 1905 in St. Petersburg triggered more unions from all over the country. The workers used the unions to pass their grievances to their employees as well as the government. The Unions became the centre stage for organization of strikes and demonstration against the government. The advantage of the unions is that it became a unifying factor among all the employees. The peasants as well as the workers, who formed the largest section of the population, were living miserably, deprived as well as frustrated. The Tsar did not give them the attention require and totally ignored their conditions and situations. At that time, liberal ideas of the west started to get into the workers and this led to growth of socialist ideology leading to formation of many socialist groups. These groups impacted the workers and peasants with revolutionary spirit. According to Hickey (2011) majority of the union leaders were socialists and gradually spread this ideologies to other people including people in the military. Conclusion The Tsarist regime was based mainly on totalitarianism. The Tsar was the absolute leader and had no constitutional obligation. Russia was under Tsarist rule until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Before that, Russia went through several developments both social and political that led to the revolution. The political developments include the October manifesto which saw transformation of the system of government. The first Russian constitution was promulgated, introduction of the parliament and for the first time, the Tsar agreed to share his powers with the Duma (Parliament). Russia got involved in the international politics by participating in the WWI. This is considered a wrong move has the country had other domestic issues to deal with. The participation of Russia undermined the Tsarist rule because it led to massive loss of lives as well as resources. The social developments that undermined the regime include the historical oppression of the people from the lower class which was mainly made up of the peasants. The partial industrialization in Russia led to urbanization which consequently led to massive migration from the upcountry into the cities causing overpopulation and overcrowding in the cities. This affected the living standards as there limited resources. The government was blamed for killing of innocent civilians who participated in the protests and demonstrations. This among other social developments greatly affected the Tsarist regime. With time, this development eventually led to the final fall of the regime in 1917 after the Russian Revolution. Reference list: Bradley, J. (2009). Voluntary associations in Tsarist Russia science, patriotism, and civil society Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press. Bartlett, R. P. (2005). A history of Russia. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, Palgrave Sondhaus, L. (2011). World War I: the global revolution. Cambridge, Cambridge University Chant C. (2014) Austro-Hungarian aces of world war 1London, Osprey Pub. Top of Form Thatcher, I. D. (2005) late imperial Russia: problems and prospects: essay in honour of R.B. McKean. Manchester [u.a.], Manchester Univ. Press Bottom of Form Melancon, M. S. (2006). The Lena Goldfields massacre and the crisis of the late tsarist state College Station, Texas a & M University Press Aguilera Barchet, B. (2015). A history of western public law: between nation and state. Top of Form Gaudin, C. (2007). Ruling peasants: village and state in late Imperial Russia. DeKalb, Ill, Northern Illinois Univ. Press Bottom of Form Chamberlin, W. H., & Koenker, D. (2009) The Russian revolution, 1917-1921 Volume I, Volume I. Princeton, Princeton University Press Top of Form Thackeray, F. W. (2007). Events that changed Russia since 1855 Westport, Conn. [u.a.], Greenwood Press. Bottom of Form Lillevik, R. (2014). Apostates, hybrids, or true Jews Jewish Christians and Jewish identity in Eastern Europe, 1860-1914 Eugene, Or, Pickwick Publications Top of Form Harris, J. R. (2013). The anatomy of terror: political violence under Stalin. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press Top of Form Hickey, M. C. (2011) Competing voices from the Russian Revolution Santa Barbara, Calif, Greenwood Read More