Week XIV: 30 Nov. Alexander III, Nicholas II, and Counter-Reform II
(Social Groups, Social Change, and more on the Revolutionary Movement)
Assignment: Linc. pp. 192-203; Dmyt. pp. 400-405, 425-431
Term Paper Readings discussion by Mary Jo Larcom, Jenna Corbett, Nicole Voyce, Katie Catizone, Erika Van der Mark-Geary, Andy Hemsarth, and Ryan Kennedy, James Potteiger, Nicole Delosier, and Brian Bishop. PLEASE SEE INSTRUCTIONS AT BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE!
Lincoln, pp. 192-203:
*Did public-minded educated Russians who wanted the peasants to join a revolution in the 1870s find much support among the peasantry? How does Lincoln explain this, and what does he see as the results?
* Why did the educated public begin focussing on urban issues in the 1880s, and what sorts of urban problems drew their attention?
*What sort of state policies helped to promote industrialization in the 1880s and 1890s?
*According to Lincoln, why was there a famine in 1891 and what effect did the famine and subsequent typhus epidemic have on educated society? In what ways did the educated public become more civically active after 1891?
*What does Lincoln consider to be socially and politically important about the growth of voluntary associations and societies after 1891?
*Was Nicholas II willing to grant the educated public a greater role in public affairs ? Explain.
*According to Lincoln, how did Nicholas II see his role as Autocrat?
*Lincoln says that the Russo-Japanese War revealed the "limits of individual initiative without politics" (p. 194)--what does he mean by this?
*How does Lincoln explaint he goals of the liberal Liberation Movement and the Union of Liberation?
*Lincoln, quoting historian S. Gali, says that "the most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it suddenly starts to yield to public opinion" (p. 201). How does that help explain Russia's situation in late 1904?
*What does Lincoln consider most important to understanding the 1905 Revolution?
*Does Lincoln seem to think that after 1905 it was inevitable that Russia would have another revolution?
Dmyt. pp. 400-405, 425-431
**Program of Plekhanov's Group for the Emancipation of Labor, 1884 (pp. 400-405).
This document actually deals with material from our last unit's readings, since it lays out the ideas of Russia's first Marxist organization, the Emancipation of Labor Group formed in Switzerland in the early 1880s by the exiled revolutionaries G. Plekhanov, P. Akselrod, and V. Zazulich.
*What kind of society did the Group hope would be created in Russia?
*What social group did the Group expect would make the revolution that created this future democratic, socialist society?
*What did the Group say revolutionary activists had to do to promote the cause of revolutionary socialism among the Russian working class?
*Did the Group expect that Russia would have a socialist revolution right away? What political changes did they argue would have to take place before there could be a socialist revolution?
*What demands did the Group lay out in the name of Russia's workers?
*Did the group ignore the peasantry? Explain.
*In the 1880s, did the Russian Marxists consider the socialist revolution a matter just for Russia? How did they understand the relationship between the movement in Russia and the movement in the rest of Europe?
PP. 425-431 is the program of the RSDLP-Bolsheviks in 1903, right after the split between the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions of Russia's Social Democratic Labor Party. [Next week we will read documents on the programs of the PSRs, the Kadets, and the Union of Russian People, but the documents do not include the program of the RSDLP-Mensheviks, who actually had more members in 1903-1916 than did the Bolsheviks].
*How does the program explain the logic behind the the demand for a socialist society?
*In 1903, did the Bolsheviks consider the socialist revolution a matter just for Russia? How did they understand the relationship between the movement in Russia and the movement in the rest of Europe?
*Did the 1903 Bolshevik program call for an immediate socialist revolution in Russia? Why not?
*The Bolsheviks argued that the Autocracy must be overthrown and a democratic republic established in Russia. In 1903, what demands did they lay out regarding the constitution of this democratic republic? Were these demands in and of themselves socialist? Explain.
*In 1903, what demands did the Bolsheviks lay out with the aim of protecting the rights of the working class under the future democratic republic? Were these in and of themselves socialist? Explain.
*In 1903, what demands did the Bolsheviks lay out with the aim of "remov[ing] the vestiges of serfdom" in rural Russia?
*In 1903 did the Bolsheviks reject the idea of cooperation with other political parties or movements? Explain.
Term Paper Readings discussion by Mary Jo Larcom, Jenna Corbett, Nicole Voyce, Katie Catizone, Erika Van der Mark-Geary, Andy Hemsarth, and Ryan Kennedy, James Potteiger, Nicole Delosier, and Brian Bishop.
Larcom and Fiodor
Be ready to discuss the following issues:
**What do the authors tell us about Nicholas II's attitude towards his own power as autocrat and his attitude towards the idea of constitutional limits on his powers before 1905?
**What was Nicholas II's attitude regarding industrialization and other social changes taking place in Russia before the Russo-Japanese War?
**What do the authors see as the most important turning points in Nichols II's reign before the Russo-Japanese War?
**Do the authors consider Nicholas II a competent ruler before the Russo-Japanese War? Explain.
**How did Nicholas II understand the causes of the revolutionary movement? On whom did he pin blame for political and social unrest in Russia?
Pottiger and Delosier
Be ready to discuss the following issues:
For both of you:
**Did the basic ideas of Russian Conservativism/ Marxism change in the 1890s? Explain.
**How did the Conservatives/ Marxists understand the changes that were taking place in Russian society at the turn of the century (for instance, industrialization, urbanization, the growth of the working class, changes in the rural economy and in peasant culture)?
For James: How did Plehve understand the relationship between repression and reform?
What sort of repressive policies did he endorse and why?
What sort of reforms did he endorse and why?
By Russian standards, was Plehve a Conservative? Explain.
For Nicole: Did all Russian Marxists in the 1890s think that Russia had to have a revolution? Explain.
In 1900-1904, did Russian Marxists think that Russia had to have a socialist revolution right away? Explain why they thought that Russia would have to have two revolutions.
How did the Russian Marxist leaders in exile keep in contact with party members back in Russia, and did the worker members of the RSDLP simply do whatever the intellectuals in the party leadership told them to do? Explain.
What caused the split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks?
Bishop:
Be ready to discuss the following issues:
**What reforms were taking place in the military from the 1890s to the start of the Russo-Japanese War, who was promoting these reforms, and why?
**How were changes in the military related to large changes taking place in Russian society before the Russo-Japanese War?
**Who (what social groups) served as officers in the Russian army and what their political views? Did different levels in the officer corps have different political views? Explain.
**Who (what social groups) served as soldiers in Russian army and what do we need to know about everyday life for soldiers (in particular as it might relates to their political views)?
Hemsarth:
Be ready to discuss the following issues:
** Who were the key figures in the RSDLP (RSDRP) in 1898-1904? What do other students need to know about the backgrounds of Lenin and Martov before the split between the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks?
**Did the RSDLP really function as a "dictatorship" of the intellectuals, in which a few figures like Lenin and Martov imposed their view on all party members and every party cell in Russia automatically fell in line with whatever the leaders in exile said? Explain.
**Until their 1903 split, did Martov and Lenin agree or disagree on fundamental issues regarding social conditions in Russia, the best way to organize the social democratic movement in Russia, and the idea that Russia would have to make two revolutions (first a "bourgeois democratic" revolution and then a "socialist" revolution)? Explain.
**What caused the split between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, and what were the real differences between the two movements in 1903-1904?
Kennedy:
Be ready to discuss the following issues:
**In 1901-1904, what were the main goals of the SRs (Party of Socialist Revolutionaries), how did they understand the type of revolution (or revolutions) Russia should have, and was their concept of socialism the same as that of the Marxists? Explain.
**In 1901-1904, were the SRs only concerned with peasant issues? Who (what social groups) actually belonged to the PSR? Explain.
**In 1901-1904, how did the PSR leaders in exile stay in contact with local party groups in Russia, and did the intellectuals in the exile leadership really "control" the local organizations in Russia?
**How did SR-Terrorists justify the use of revolutionary terror, what kinds of terrorist acts did they commit, and did all SRs agree with the use of terror as a political weapon? Explain!
Voyce:
Be ready to discuss the following issues:
**What aspects of peasant life seemed to be changing most in the last 1800s and at the turn of the century, and what aspects of peasant life seemed to be changing least? Explain (and give specific examples).
**What should other students in the class know about Russian peasant family life and community life in this period?
**Were "big social forces" (e.g., education, labor migration, access to consumer goods) changing the values of young Russian peasants in the late 1800s and at the turn of the century (to 1904), and if so, were these changes eroding the "traditional" peasant world view? Explain.
**What did peasants want from the government in the 1890s-1904 and what changes did most peasants hope to see take place in rural society? What should we know about peasant politics in this period? (Also, should we assume that all peasants shared the same views? Explain)
Catizone:
Be ready to discuss the following issues:
**What "big social forces" (e.g., education, labor migration, access to consumer goods) were transforming peasant women's work and family lives in the 1880s-1904, and how did peasant women often respond to these changes. (What generalizations can we make?)
**In what industries were women workers most commonly employed in Russia in the 1880s-1904, what kinds of working and living conditions did "factory women" face, and how did that shape their political views?
**(This is a multi-part question!) Who worked as prostitutes in Russia's cities in 1880-1904, what does the history of prostitution tell us about changes in Russian urban society, how and why did the state try to regulate prostitution, and what does that tell us about elite perceptions of changes taking place in Russian society?
**Do the authors you have read think that, in general, lower class Russian women workers were socially/politically passive "victims" of a patriarchal society, or do the authors suggest other ways of understanding the lives of women in the lower classes in this time period?
Corbett:
Be ready to discuss the following issues:
** Why did literacy among peasants and workers increase around the turn of the century, what sorts of books were common people actually reading, and what might this tell us about their aspirations and values?
**What were the most important kinds of "cultural conflicts" in Russian rural society in the 1880s-1904, and did peasants understand the nature of justice and law (and law enforcement) in the same way that the government did? Why is that important?
**Who were the "hooligans: in St. Petersburg in the early 1900s (before 1905), what were they doing to cause trouble, and how did "polite society" (the educated public/middle classes) understand the causes of hooliganism? Why is that important?
**Do the authors you have read think that the emergence of new Russian popular cultures was creating greater social cohesion, greater social stability and social order, or do they argue that it was contributing to social breakdown and serious tensions that would contribute to revolutionary unrest? Explain.
Van der Mark-Geary:
Be ready to discuss the following issues:
**In the late 1800s, did Russian women inteligentsii tend to come from particular social backgrounds, how did their backgrounds influence their political views, and were they passive bystanders in the revolutionary movement? Explain.
**Who were the most important figures in the Russian feminist movement at the turn of the century, what were their main arguments regarding women's rights, and did the main revolutionary parties take feminism seriously? Explain.
**What were the main aspirations of Russia's women teachers at the turn of the century, how and why did the government try to regulate women's participation in the teaching profession, and why are these issues important?
**Do the authors you have read think that the growing political and social activism of educated women and demands for women's equal rights at teh turn of the century was contributing to greater social cohesion, greater social stability and social order, or do they argue that it was contributing to social breakdown and serious tensions that would contribute to revolutionary unrest? Explain.