What reaction was there to Alexander's reforms?

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  • Created by: jaaaz_v
  • Created on: 24-11-16 10:36
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  • Reaction to Alexander's reforms
    • The peasantry
      • Would seem the most obvious group to react badly and criticise the Tsar
        • No huge rebellion; more disgruntled acceptance
      • Were some "benefits"
        • Reform of local government meant they were "more involved" in decision making at a local level
        • However, changes remained distant from the struggles of their everyday lives
      • Why no reaction?.
        • Rather than fighting against the system, peasants bypassed official structures
        • NOT because they were happy with reform
        • Little time in their lives for political involvement
        • Knew from past experience that protest brought harsh punishments
        • Group showed deference to authority
          • Tsar was the "little father", appointed by God
      • Some small groups showed opposition
        • Peasant uprisings after the Emancipation Edict was passed
        • Largest rebellion in Kazan (200 peasants)
          • Pathetic numbers
          • Harshly punished for their actions
        • Explains why peasants were reluctant to become involved with Intelligentsia attempts to encourage rebellion in the countryside
    • The nobility
      • Reform had weakened their position
        • Emancipation forced them to give up free labour
          • Forced to give up land
        • Despite compensation from the government, many were unhappy with the manor of change
      • Other reforms were heavily influenced by the conservative pressure amongst the nobility
        • Noble dominance remained in new systems of local government
          • Provincial governors
          • Dominance of nobility in the Zemstva
        • Untitled
      • Why no major reaction?
        • Balance of power didn't shift away from the nobility in many areas
        • Continued to dominate the higher echelons of the military and the judiciary despite reform
    • Demands for further change
      • Strongest amongst the intelligentsia, educated middle class, and students
      • Some opposed with radical political stances
        • Rejecting state control completely
        • Nihilists rejected all traditional ways of thinking and political structures in support of a revolution
        • Anarchists believe that society should have no government and that it should be a collection of independent communities
      • Some became liberals
        • Not wanting to completely rejecting existing society and government
        • Wanting to work withing current framework to lead Russia into development
      • Groups weren't large; hundreds rather than thousands
    • Slavophiles
      • Rejected western ways as corrupt
        • Wanted to seek Russia's future in traditional institutions
      • Populism
        • Agrarian socialists
          • Motivated by writers like Alexander Herzen and Nikolai Chernyshevsky
        • Launched a movement in the 1870s called "to the people"
          • Dressed as peasants and then officials or teachers
            • Neither ploy worked
        • Populists were treated with hostility by peasants
          • Who refused to take part in radical ideas
        • In 1876 over 1600 had been arrested and 800 put on trial
        • Trial of the fifty
          • Dealt with Moscow-based populists
        • Trial of the 193
          • 1877-78
          • Defendants made long speeches critical of government
          • Censorship reform meant defendants pleas were reported in the press
            • Spreading populist ideas
          • 153 were acquitted and those convicted got light sentences
      • Land and Liberty
        • Slavophiles regrouped in 1877
        • Assassinated several prominent government officials
        • Disagreement over tactics that the group should use
        • This group split into 2: Black partition and the Peoples Will
      • Black Partition
        • Rejected the use of terror
          • Non-violent
        • Main focus on raising awareness amongst Russian peasants
        • Focused on the redistribution of land to peasants
      • The Peoples Will
        • Wanted to end Tsarism
        • Focused on the assassination of Alexander ii
        • Bomb attempt on the tsars train in 1879
        • Bomb on the winter palace in 1880
        • Finally killed him on 13th March 1881
    • Westerners
      • Wanted to adopt western liberal ways
        • Reform rather than abolish the political system
      • Inspiration
        • Key beliefs came from the Enlightenment
        • French revolution
      • Liberal movement was small
      • Bases in local government (the Zemstva and Duma)
      • Majority of liberals were gentry or professionals
        • Active in universities and professional bodies
      • Censorship reform allowed liberal material to become widely available

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