Various Opposition groups, Narodniks, People's Will, SRs, SDs, Liberals.
SRs held most widespread support up until 1917 revolution
Bolsheviks were able to exploit the negative effects of War and Industrialisation to gain popular support for the party and the revolution
Communist Era
Opposition largely absent due to repression
Kulaks with capitalist sentiments opposed collectivisation
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Aims and Motives
People's Will broke away from 'Land and Liberty' , were successful in assassinating Alexander II , However in reality the effect of this was 'The Reaction' Under Alexander III
Social Democrats were founded in 1898, but split into the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks in 1905
The Bolsheviks remained largely a minority group up until the revolution
The SRs divided into left and right factions in 1905
During the Civil War, Opposition to the Bolsheviks was split into Whites + Greens. Whites were conservative, Greens were mainly peasants who resented Bolshevik policies
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Government Repression
Govt. Repression:
Secret Police used throughout the 109 year period, with the exception of the brief liberal era of the Provisional Government.
Secret Police under the Tsars (Okhrana, Third Section) largely used to put down strikes and riots.
Communist Secret Police (Cheka, NKVD) used to implement a class war against so-called 'Anti-Revolutionary' and 'Bourgeois' groups
Communist Secret Police systematically removed suspected 'wreckers' and 'rightists', i.e during the 'Ezovchina' or the Great Purges during 1936-38.
40 million sent to Gulags during the great purges.
'Guests of the Tsar' - Political Dissidents sent into prison or exiled under Alexander II
Stalin's Show trials
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Use of Military force
1905 - Bloody Sunday - 200 protesters shot dead
1921 - Kronstadt uprising ruthlessly dealt with. Rebels were executed or deported to concentration camps in the Arctic Circle
1956 - Hungarian Uprising - Khrushchev stated 'My arms are up to my elbows in blood'
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Impact Of War
Crimean War - Emancipation Decree issued as a result.
The Zemstva proved useful as a platform to challenge the ruling élite
Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, 1905, October Manifesto issued.
Duma allowed the previously banned political opposition groups to express their views freely.
The Great Patriotic War - Time of liberalisation with regard to the arts.
The war was used to promote a feeling of national unity, and there was almost no domestic opposition to the regime
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