Was the Tsarist government really modified during the years 1881-1914?

It can be argued that the Tsarist system of government was only moderately modified between the years 1881-1914 as autocracy within Russia prevented any major reforms to take place but there were a few reforms that did take place. The limitations of reforms can be clearly seen with repression, religion, concessions and the reforming minded ministers.

Firstly, when Alexander II came into power, he was in no mood for reform as his father had been assassinated after he had introduced reforms such as the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. As a result, he tightened censorship of the press and sent thousands of revolutionaries to Siberia. Any liberal proposals in the government were quickly dismissed. He refused to give the Russian people any freedom and had complete trust in autocracy. He further repressed people by introducing a policy of Russification which was imposing Russian as the official language in all official documents. This was a tough policy as Russia contained many different nationalities thus this repressed them further as now they were excluded from certain parts of society if they could not understand Russian. Moreover, universities lost most of the freedom gained under Alexander II thus the Tsarist system…