1894 October 1904 beginning of the reign of Nicholas II. Recommended by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation as a teaching aid for students of higher educational institutions
The last Russian emperor comes to the throne. In 1888, near the Borki station (45 km from Kharkov), the imperial train crashed. Alexander III held the roof of the car on his shoulders and saved his wife and children, but received several bruises, one of which, apparently, touched the kidneys. The development of kidney disease contributed to the use of alcohol. October 20, 1894 Alexander III died. His eldest son succeeded to the throne Nicholas II (1868-1918).
Nikolai Alexandrovich at that time was 26 years old. Its education was led by K. P. Pobedonostsev. Thin, short, the new emperor looked younger than his years, behaved modestly, even insecurely, and seemed to many to have not matured enough. He has not yet been married. His chosen one, Princess Alice of Hesse, did not like her parents, and the wedding was postponed for a long time. Now, after accession, it was necessary to first arrange a wedding, and then a coronation. In November 1894, the young emperor married a Hessian princess, who took the Orthodox name Alexandra Feodorovna.
On the Nicholas II at the beginning of his reign, great hopes were placed. Willingly or unwittingly, he soon dispelled them. On January 17, 1895, a solemn reception of deputations from the nobility, zemstvos, cities and Cossacks took place. Nikolai, visibly agitated, made a short speech, peeping into a piece of paper hidden in his cap. The key moment of this speech made many people wince. " I know,” said the tsar, “that lately in some zemstvo assemblies the voices of people carried away by senseless dreams about the participation of representatives of the zemstvos in matters of internal administration have been heard; let everyone know that I ... will guard the beginning of autocracy as firmly and unswervingly as my unforgettable parent guarded it».
The cheat sheet written by Pobedonostsev spoke of " baseless dreams". But Nikolai either misspoke, or someone advised him "enhance" this place. Words about " meaningless dreams”, which sounded extremely insulting, immediately and forever pushed the liberals away from Nikolai.
In May 1896, celebrations were held in Moscow on the occasion of the coronation. Folk festivities with the distribution of "royal gifts"(saika, a piece of sausage, a gingerbread and a mug). The field was not leveled, and the kiosks were placed too closely. On May 18, with a huge crowd of people, there was a terrible stampede, 1389 people died. This made an unpleasant impression on the king, but the celebrations continued. In the evening of the same day, Nikolai and Alexandra were at a ball in the Kremlin and danced a polonaise. The next day there was a dinner at the German ambassador's. When the tsar was passing through Moscow, shouts were heard from the crowd: Come to the funeral!», « Find the culprits!»
Several years passed, and once the imperial couple was present at the launching of the battleship " Alexander III". A gust of wind tore off a heavy flagpole, which fell into the audience, killing several people. Since then, the people have developed a belief that the young queen brings misfortune.
Nicholas II at such moments he always remained imperturbably calm. Many spoke of his indifference. But with the same stoic calm he met the fatal end of his reign, his death and the death of his loved ones. The mysterious soul of the last Russian tsar is not easy to understand.
It is clear, however, that Nicholas II was not created for state affairs, although he treated them conscientiously. It was created for the family, for home comfort. His affections were limited only to his family, only to his wife and children did he give love and warmth. Outside the family, the world around him seemed hostile to him. From there, he always expected encroachments on himself, on his loved ones, their peace, peace and property. He considered the autocratic power, which he received from his father and which he considered it his duty to pass on to his son, to be an inalienable, bequeathed property of his family from above.
Nicholas II was just as conservative as Alexander III, although he did not inherit a strong and firm character from his father. Those who, with the accession of the young emperor, connected their hopes for a turn in the direction of long overdue reforms, were very mistaken.
Struggle around reforms (1894–1904). In 1894 Nicholas II ascended the throne. A gentle and educated man, he did not seek power. And having received it, and unexpectedly early, having not yet gained sufficient state experience, Nicholas II looked at power as a heavy burden that he must carry with dignity, observing the precepts of his beloved father, following, especially at first, the advice of his mentor - K. P. Pobedonostsev, and therefore, preserving the autocracy. In this, the king was supported by the traditionalists in every possible way. They had strong positions at the court, their own organizations - the Russian Assembly in St. Petersburg, the Circle of Moscow Nobles, faithful to the oath, the Grazhdanin and Moskovskie Vedomosti newspapers, and the Russian Bulletin magazine.To the need to return to the path begun by the reforms of the 60–70s. In the 19th century, the liberal (zemstvo and city) intelligentsia, the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie, liberal landlords, who were interested in expanding their political rights, urged the tsar and the government. A part of the bureaucracy, which managed to overcome the most odious stereotypes of traditionalism, also advocated the continuation of reforms.
A significant contribution to the modernization of Russia was made by Count S.Yu. Witte, who, according to P.N. As Minister of Finance, Witte carried out a monetary reform prepared by his predecessor I. A. Vyshnegradsky. Following the leading powers, in August 1897 Russia switched to gold money circulation. The ruble became stable and freely convertible. The way was opened for an influx of foreign capital, which Witte called "the only way to bring ... industry" to the required level. He hoped to overcome the economic backwardness of the country in a ten-year period.
Among the internal sources of Witte's industrialization were the redemption payments of the peasants (from 1862 to 1907, 1 billion 540 million rubles were paid), profits from the export of grain, which had grown by the beginning of the 20th century. compared to the 60s. 19th century 4 times, state wine monopoly, indirect taxation. An integral element of Witte's industrial policy was industrial protectionism.
Witte proposed, relying on the idea of state guardianship, to prevent in Russia "that sad discord that arose between manufacturers and workers in the West." In 1897, a law was adopted to limit working hours to 11.5 hours a day, in 1903. - the law on compensation for victims of accidents and on the introduction of the institution of elected elders. But even Witte's cautious social reformism met with resistance. Although both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were convinced of the need to establish relations between workers and entrepreneurs on a legal basis, the corresponding unified legislation was never developed.
The activities of S. Yu. Witte met opposition from the traditionalist-monarchist forces, headed by K. P. Pobedonostsev and V. K. Plehve. The solution of the peasant question was especially hampered. Headed by Witte Special meeting on the needs of the agricultural industry(1902-1905), under whose leadership more than 600 provincial and district committees (consisting of members of the local administration, zemstvos, as well as peasants) worked, made a recommendation to “establish personal, individual property” in order to finally make a peasant “a person ". However, in a manifesto of February 26, 1903, Nicholas II expressed support for the Minister of the Interior Plehve, who defended the idea of the inviolability of the communal system and state assistance to the declining noble households. In part, this decision was supported by the intelligentsia, who sympathized with the community. “The community was on the eve of the end,” wrote N. A. Pavlov, one of the employees of the Special Meeting, on this occasion, “but the bureaucracy and society again defended it.”
Many, even among the recent opponents of the zemstvos, including Witte himself, began to understand that "the zemstvos must become a force that limits the autocracy." But no effective steps were taken to develop zemstvo self-government. This was hindered by the traditionalist-monarchist forces, who considered the zemstvos a "hindrance" to unlimited autocratic power. In 1900, the food business was withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the zemstvos. The planned introduction of elective zemstvo institutions in the Western Territory, as well as the general zemstvo reform, were not implemented.
Minor reforms carried out during the first 5–7 years of the reign of Nicholas II were actually suspended at the beginning of the century. A fatal role in this was played by the murder of the Minister of the Interior D.S. Sipyagin in 1902 by the Socialist-Revolutionary Balmashev. “It,” according to the researcher S. S. Oldenburg, “created a gulf between the sovereign and the opposition society.” The use of the death penalty against terrorists began.
The situation in the country was heating up. The rapidly growing labor movement took on a political character. By 1903, political demands were already characteristic of 53% of all working speeches. Of these, the Obukhov Defense (May 1901), the Rostov strike (November 1902), and the general strike of the workers of the South of Russia (1903) stood out for their scope. For the first time in the post-reform period, a peasant movement becomes a mass movement. The struggle of the peasants of the Poltava and Kharkov provinces in 1902 was especially stubborn. 670 peasant uprisings took place, more than 60% of them were openly anti-landlord in nature.
The increased social activity of the "lower classes" stimulated the growth of oppositional movements to the autocracy. Liberals advocated reforms more and more insistently. In 1899, a circle arose in Moscow Conversation, in which individual representatives of the aristocracy and zemstvos united, criticizing the autocracy and striving to unite the zemstvo movement: the brothers of Prince. Dolgorukov, Prince. Trubetskoy, Prince. D. I. Shakhovskoy, M. D. Stakhovich, N. A. Khomyakov and others.
The more moderate zemstvos were grouped around the Moscow provincial zemstvo council, headed by D.N. Shipov. They advocated the introduction of political freedoms and the establishment of a legislative body of representatives of local governments. Zemstvo at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. inherited from their predecessors - the liberals of the 60-70s. Slavophile views and considered the experience of Western European capitalism inapplicable in Russian conditions. In November 1903 they formed Union of Zemstvo-Constitutionalists.
The radical trend in the liberal movement was represented by the journal Osvobozhdenie, which began to appear in 1902 under the editorship of P. B. Struve. On its basis in 1903, an illegal Liberation Union. He advocated a broad radical program of reforms, for the advancement of Russia along the path of Western European parliamentarism. At the initiative of the former "legal Marxists" (P. B. Struve, M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky), socio-economic demands "in the interests of the working masses" were also put forward, which in general was not characteristic of classical Western liberalism. With the advent of the Union of Liberation, the ideas of protecting individual rights, parliamentarism, and radically understood social justice went beyond the zemstvo noble liberalism, finding their supporters among the urban student intelligentsia, the “third element” of the zemstvos (employees), part of the local nobility and the bourgeoisie.
Earlier and faster than the liberals, the socialists took shape in the party. On the basis of the modernized populist ideology and elements of Marxism, a Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (AKP). In the autumn of 1901, representatives of the "Northern Union of Socialist-Revolutionaries" (Moscow, 1897) and the "Southern Party" (Kharkov, 1900) created a single Central Committee of the party. The newspaper "Revolutionary Russia" became the official organ. The leaders of the party were E. K. Breshko-Breshkovskaya, G. A. Gershuni, B. V. Savinkov, V. M. Chernov.
Recognizing, like the Marxists, classes, the Socialist-Revolutionaries nevertheless believed that they differ not in relation to the means of production, but to labor. The AKP spoke on behalf of the "single working class", which included "all sections of the labor exploited population", from the industrial proletariat to the working peasantry. The core of the program was the idea of a worldwide struggle of labor against the exploitation of man, for the achievement of socialism through a social revolution and the development of cooperation, self-government and the socialization of land (the transfer of landlords and other lands into the hands of peasant communities and their equal distribution). Approximately 45% of party members during the period of the first Russian revolution were peasants, 43% were workers, and 12% were intellectuals and students. The largest Social Revolutionary organizations were in regions where the traditions of the patriarchal peasantry were preserved (the Volga region, the middle and southern Chernozem regions). The AKP assigned a special role to political terror. In 1901, the Fighting Organization of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party was created, headed by G. A. Gershuni, and then by E. F. Azef (who turned out to be an Okhrana agent). Until 1905, the Social Revolutionaries carried out six terrorist attacks.
Developing under the influence of radical Marxism, the social democratic movement led in 1898-1903. to the formation Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDLP). Theorists and organizers of the RSDLP were G. V. Plekhanov, V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin), Yu. O. Zederbaum (L. Martov), and others. ". The number of the RSDLP at the beginning of 1905 was 26.5 thousand people. The proportion of workers (61%) and intelligentsia (33%) was high in the party, while peasants made up only 4%. The Social Democrats considered the class struggle of the proletariat to be the engine of the revolutionary process. Adopted at the Second Congress of the RSDLP in 1903, the program of the party proclaimed the realization of socialism through a social revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the ultimate goal. The overthrow of the autocracy, the establishment of a democratic republic, the improvement of the working and living conditions of the workers and, to a lesser extent, the peasantry (the return of the "cuts") were considered as the minimum program.
In 1903-1904. Russian social democracy was divided into two currents - Bolshevism and Menshevism. The Mensheviks (P. B. Axelrod, Plekhanov, Martov) were generally more oriented towards the ideas of Western European social democracy, striving for an agreement with the liberals and the creation of a broad democratic party. Characteristic features of the Bolshevik ideology (Lenin, A. A. Bogdanov and others) were radicalism and reliance on the traditions of the Russian liberation movement. The idea of a socialist revolution turned for the Bolsheviks into a kind of end in itself, which they sought to achieve with the help of the maximum use of the subjective factor and the super-centralized organization of the party. They preferred the establishment of allied relations with the revolutionary-minded peasantry to an agreement with the liberals.
At the beginning of the XX century. The influence of the revolutionary intellectual tradition on the development of the workers' and peasants' movement was very limited, and between liberals and socialists there was not yet the abyss that formed during the revolution of 1905-1907. The trend towards rapprochement between the revolutionary and reformist forces opposed to the autocracy was especially evident in the summer-autumn of 1904, during the period of the so-called spring Svyatopolk-Mirsky.
On July 15, 1904, the Socialist-Revolutionary Sozonov killed the Minister of the Interior Plehve - one of the pillars of the guard. Having corrected the internal political course, Nicholas II appointed the liberal-minded prince to this key post. P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky. He promised to base his activities "on a sincerely benevolent and truly trusting attitude towards public and estate institutions and the population in general", to give the Zemstvos "the widest freedom", to weaken the oppression of religious and national restrictions. Hopes for reforms intensified the activities of the liberals. Moreover, many of them, and in particular Milyukov (one of the leaders of the Union of Osvobozhdeniye, the future organizer of the Cadet Party), considered “it is beyond doubt that only on the basis of a peace agreement between the “liberals” and the “revolutionaries” can the revolution succeed and achieve its immediate goal - political freedom." Adopting the policy of "no enemies on the left", the leaders of the "Liberation Union" organized on September 30 - October 9, 1904 in Paris a congress of opposition and revolutionary parties, in which almost all left organizations, with the exception of the Social Democrats, took part. It was stated about the need to destroy the autocracy and replace it with a "free democratic system based on the universal suffrage", as well as the right of national self-determination.
The zemstvo-city congress, held in November 1904 in St. Petersburg, spoke in favor of limiting autocracy, class and national equality, freedom of religion, and expanding the rights of local self-government. In support of the resolutions of the congress, the so-called banquet campaign, formally organized in honor of the 40th anniversary of the judicial reform, but in fact resulted in an open demand for a constitution and the convening of a Constituent Assembly. Along with the Zemstvo-constitutionalists and the Osvobozhdeniye, these public actions were supported by a number of Social-Democratic Mensheviks. In the autumn of 1904, the radical liberal newspapers Our Life and Son of the Fatherland began to appear. Thus, the autumn of 1904 became a period of intensified attempts by the opposition to influence government policy with the means available to it.
The pressure of the liberal opposition, as well as the aspirations of Svyatopolk-Mirsky himself, ran into the unwillingness of Nicholas II to make fundamental concessions. Decree of the emperor of December 12, 1904, promising the implementation of certain reforms (freedom of conscience, equality of all before the courts, revision of the laws on the press, peasant legislation, changes in the labor issue, expansion of the competence of zemstvos, etc.), at the same time made it clear that there would be no popular representation in Russia. A government message published simultaneously with the decree warned that "zemstvo and city councils and all kinds of institutions and societies are obliged not to go beyond the limits of their jurisdiction." The authorities closed the Free Economic Society, the Law Society at Moscow University, the St. Petersburg and Moscow Literacy Committees, the Mutual Assistance Union of Russian Writers and other organizations controlled by the liberals. The liberal Tver zemstvo council was also dissolved.
By the end of 1904, the liberal movement had retreated. But energized by the liberal campaign of the autumn of 1904, the working masses, still imbued with monarchical illusions, raised their heads in the hope of obtaining their rights.
A characteristic phenomenon of late 1904 - early 1905 was the movement of St. Petersburg workers led by priest Georgy Gapon. This movement was logically connected with the activities of Colonel S. V. Zubatov, head of the Moscow Security Department. Zubatov's goal was to prevent the labor movement from going beyond certain limits limited by the police. Zubatov believed that in order to prevent revolutionary influence on the workers, “repressive measures alone are not enough, but it is necessary to immediately pull out from under him, the revolutionary ... the very soil”, explaining the possibility of coexistence between workers and authorities and creating workers' associations under the control of the state. Under the auspices of the Security Department, the "Society for the Mutual Assistance of Workers in Mechanical Production" in Moscow, as well as the Jewish Independent Labor Party, were created. For members of the Zubatov organizations, lectures and debates were held on labor issues. Well-known scientists spoke before the workers - V.E. Den, N.Kh. Ozerov, P. G. Vinogradov, A. A. Manuilov. The culmination of the "Zubatovshchina" was a 50,000-strong workers' demonstration on the occasion of the anniversary of the abolition of serfdom (February 19, 1902), which took place on the territory of the Kremlin with the singing of "God Save the Tsar."
However, by depriving the workers of the opportunity to defend their own economic interests, the state, in the eyes of the proletariat, turned out to be responsible for its material well-being. Zubatov's initiatives ended with the removal of Zubatov from office in August 1903: the government considered his activities unnecessary and even dangerous. The reason was that some leaders of the Jewish Independent Party were among the active participants in the revolutionary movement in the South of Russia (1903).
On the basis of the Zubatov society, Gapon organized Meeting of Russian factory workers in St. Petersburg, which united more than 10 thousand members and became the most powerful political organization in the capital. Unlike Zubatov, Gapon used relations with the authorities to his advantage. If Zubatov built purposeful plans for reconciling the workers with the autocracy, then Gapon seemed to go with the flow, expressing the spontaneous social impulse of the working people, who still retained faith in the “tsar-father”.
Beginning of reign ü 1894 - accession to the throne ü 1894 - marriage to Alexandra Fedorovna ü 1895 - delimitation of spheres of influence with England ü 1895 - first official speech; dispelled hopes for constitutional reforms "from above" ü May 14 (26), 1896 - coronation on Khodynka field
Economy ü 1897 - population census ü 1897 - monetary reform, establishment of the gold standard of the ruble ü Rapid growth in agricultural (2%) and industrial (4.5-5%) production ü Expansion of the coal mining industry ü Expansion of the railway network (70 thousand km by 1913)
Labor policy: three lines ü Repressions ü Creation of labor legislation ü "Guardian" policy: creation of legal workers' organizations under the supervision of the police - initiator S. V. Zubatov
Labor policy ü 1897 - law on the limitation of working hours, 11.5 o'clock on weekdays and 10 o'clock on Saturday and pre-holiday days. ü 1900 - cancellation of exile to Siberia ü 1903 - introduction of insurance for accidents at work ü 1906 - creation of trade unions ü 1912 - compulsory insurance of workers against illness and accidents
Peasant question ü Punitive actions in response to peasant unrest ü 1902 - special meeting on the needs of the agricultural industry
The alignment of forces in the Far East ü 1896 - the Russian-Chinese agreement on a military alliance against Japan, the construction of a railway to Vladivostok through Manchuria (CER) ü 1898 - the provision of Russia for 25 years on lease of the ports of Port Arthur and Dalny ü The growing influence of Russia in the Far East clashed with the interests of Japan, which also laid claim to Manchuria.
Causes of the war ü The clash of interests between Russia and Japan in the Far East, the aggravation of economic (construction of the CER, lease of Port Arthur) and political (Russian influence in Manchuria) contradictions. ü The idea of distracting the population of Russia with a “small victorious war” from internal problems (Ministry of Internal Affairs Plehve)
The beginning of the war ü January 26/February 6, 1904 - severance of diplomatic relations with Japan MFA - Lamzdorf) ü January 27 - attack by the Japanese fleet of the Russian squadron of Port Arthur ü January 28 - Nicholas II declared war on Japan
The main events of the Russo-Japanese war on land ü 27. 01 -20. 121904 - defense of Port Arthur ü 11 -21. 08. 1904 - Liaodong military operation, the defeat of Russian troops ü 6 -25. 02. 1905 - the defeat of Russian troops in Manchuria
The main events of the Russian-Japanese war at sea ü 27. 01. 1904 - the attack of the Japanese squadron on the Russian fleet, the death of the cruiser "Varyag" ü 31. 02. 1904 - the death of the commander of the Russian fleet S. O. Makarov ü 14 - May 15, 1905 - the naval battle of Tsushima (Vice Admiral Rozhestvensky) - the almost complete destruction of the Russian fleet
23. 08. 1905 – Peace of Portsmouth ü Korea is recognized as a sphere of influence of Japan ü Japan receives the possession of South Sakhalin ü Japan receives the right to fish along the Russian coast ü Russia leases the Liaodong Peninsula and Port Arthur to Japan ü Russia cedes the southern part to Japan Sakhalin
Causes of the defeat ü Failure of the top state and military leadership ü Underdevelopment of Russia’s weapons and navy ü Remoteness of combat sites from the center of the country, lack of communications ü Unpreparedness of society for war, unresolved internal problems
Causes ü Confrontation between the autocracy and society ü Unresolved agrarian issue: lack of land of peasants, preservation of redemption payments ü Deterioration of the position of workers ü Crisis in the imperial system of relations between the center and the provinces ü Defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War
The nature and goals of the revolution ü Bourgeois democratic, nationwide in composition ü Overthrow of the autocracy, establishment of a democratic republic ü Introduction of democratic freedoms ü Elimination of landownership ü Shortening the working day to 8 hours, recognition of the rights of workers to strike and trade unions
Periodization ü Stage I: January-September 1905 The beginning and development of the revolution in an ascending line. ü II stage: October-December 1905. The highest rise of the revolution. ü Stage III: January 1906 - June 1907 The decline and retreat of the revolution.
Stage I ü January 9, 1905 - "Bloody Sunday" ü February 18, 1905 - rescript of Nicholas II with the promise of reforms ü May-June 1905 - workers' strike in Ivanovo. Voznesensk ü June 1905 - uprising on the battleship "Potemkin" ü August 6, 1905 - decree of Nicholas II on the establishment of the State Duma (the so-called "Bulyginskaya")
Stage II ü Formation of political parties (cadets, Octobrists, Black Hundreds) ü September-October 1905 - All-Russian political strike ü October 17, 1905 - the tsar's manifesto "on improving the state order" ü October-November 1905 - Uprising in the fleet ( Sevastopol, Kronstadt)
Stage II ü November-December 1905 - the formation of Soviets of workers and deputies in Moscow and St. Petersburg ü December 11, 1905 - the publication of a new law on elections to the First State Duma ü December 15-18, 1905 - December armed uprising in Moscow, suppressed by troops
Stage III, revolutionary uprisings ü June 1906 - mass peasant unrest ü July 1906 - uprising of soldiers and sailors of the Baltic Fleet in Sveaborg, Kronstadt and Reval ü 12. 08. 1906 - attempt on Stolypin - led to the creation of military courts (August 19, 1906)
Stage III, parliamentary struggle ü 26. 03 and 20. 041906 - elections to the First State Duma ü 27. 04. 1906 - the beginning of the work of the First State Duma ü 5. 05. 1906 - Duma address to the emperor demanding the introduction of constitutional government ü 10. 07. 1906 - protest of deputies against the dissolution of the First State Duma ü 20. 02 -2. 06. 1907 - II State Duma ü 3. 06. 1907 - dissolution of the new state law
Stage III, actions of the authorities ü 26.02.1906 - transformation of the State Council into the upper house of parliament ü 23.04.1906 - publication of the "basic laws of the Russian Empire", defining the powers of the State Council and the State Duma ü 4.03.1906 - permission to create trade unions ü November 1906 - the beginning of the state reform of Stolypin
Results of the revolution ü Creation of the State Duma, reform of the State Council, approval of the "Basic Laws of the Russian Empire" - restriction of autocracy ü Proclamation of freedom of speech, permission to create trade unions, partial political amnesty ü Stolypin reform, final abolition of redemption payments for peasants ü But: society was not satisfied with the results
Elections to the State Duma ü 4 curia: agricultural, city, peasant, workers ü Indirect ü In 3 stages
I State Duma ü April 24 - July 8, 1906 ü Chairman - Muromtsev (Cadet) ü Political preponderance of the Kader party ü The problem of creating a ministry responsible to the State Duma ü Attempts to resolve the agrarian issue
II State Duma ü February 20 - June 2, 1907 ü Chairman - Golovin (Cadet) ü In the center - the agrarian question ü Refusal to support the Stolypin reforms ü Dissolution by decree of the tsar
Third June Monarchy (1907-1914) ü June 3, 1907 - dissolution of the II State Duma, introduction of a new suffrage without parliamentary approval ü Combination of tendencies to suppress revolutionary uprisings and reforms to expand the social support of the autocracy ü Maneuvering the tsar between the State Duma and the nobility
III State Duma ü November 1, 1907 - June 9, 1912 ü Chairmen: Khomyakov (Octobrist), Guchkov (Octobrist), Rodzianko (Octobrist) ü Agrarian legislation on the Stolypin reform was approved ü Labor legislation was adopted ü Finland's autonomy was limited
IV State Duma ü November 15, 1912 – October 6, 1917 ü Chairpersons 6 Rodzianko (Octobrist) ü Support for Russia's participation in World War I ü Creation of the "Progressive Bloc" in the Duma (1915) and its confrontation with the tsar and government
Stolypin agrarian reform, 1906 -1911 ü The goal is to create a class of landowners as a social support of the autocracy and an opponent of revolutionary movements ü Permission for the exit of peasants from the community ü Transfer of state lands to the Peasant Bank ü Organization of resettlement in Western Siberia ü Construction of rural schools, expansion of public education
Results of the reform ü Acceleration of the process of stratification of the peasantry, destruction of the peasant community ü Growth of agricultural production, increase in grain exports ü Part of the peasants did not accept the reform ü The murder of Stolypin in September 1911 - the incompleteness of reforms
Between revolution and war ü 1907 Treaty with Great Britain delimiting spheres of influence in China, Afghanistan and Persia ü 1911 Potstdam Agreement with Germany ü 1912 Mongolia under Russian protectorate ü Rapprochement with France and Great Britain
Transformations in the military sphere ü The reason is the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War ü Centralization of the highest military administration ü The term of active service is reduced ü The officer corps is rejuvenated ü New programs, charters, instructions ü New educational institutions
Aggravation of the socio-political situation ü Opposition in the IV State Duma, the Progressive Bloc - for organizing a government responsible to the Duma ü Falling authority of the authorities due to G. E. Rasputin ü Loss of people's trust by the monarchical government ü Idea of a coup in the Duma, attempts to unite parties
Hypermarket of Knowledge >>History >>History Grade 9 >>History: Domestic Policy in 1894 - 1904
Domestic policy in 1894 - 1904
1. Nicholas II.
2.Autocracy or "people's representation"?
3. The struggle of conservative and liberal forces in the highest echelons of power.
4. Growth of influence of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
5. "Zubatovsky socialism".
6. The short "spring" of P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky.
7.National policy.
Nicholas II.
On October 20, 1894, the emperor died Alexander III. Her son Nicholas II ascended the throne.
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov was born on May 6, 1868, and the day of St. John the Long-suffering, and therefore considered himself doomed to failure and torment. And there were grounds for such a belief. During the round-the-world trip, which Nicholas made while still a crown prince, an attempt was made on his life in Japan. The coronation of Nicholas II in May 1896 went down in history with the tragedy that happened on that day. About a million people gathered for the festive festivities organized on the occasion of the coronation at the Khodynka field in Moscow. During the distribution of gifts, a stampede began, in which about three thousand people were injured, more than a thousand of them died. Nicholas was destined to go through another shock: his long-awaited only son suffered from an incurable serious illness.
Insofar as Nicholas he never expressed his views and did not seek to make them public, he was considered a weak ruler, who was under the influence of his mother first, and then his wife. It was also said that the last councilor with whom he spoke always had the last word. In fact, the last word was left to those who shared the views of the emperor. At the same time, when determining his own positions, Nikolai was guided by only one criterion: what would his father have done in his place? Those who knew Nikolai closely believed that if he had been born in an ordinary environment, he would have lived a life full of harmony, encouraged by his superiors and respected by those around him. All memoirists unanimously note that Nikolai was an ideal family man, well-mannered, restrained in showing emotions. At the same time, he was characterized by insincerity and a certain stubbornness, even cunning. Contemporaries accused him of being a "medium-sized man" who was burdened by state affairs.
Autocracy or "people's representation"?
The accession of Nicholas to the throne caused a wave of expectations in society. Many hoped that the new emperor would bring to an end reforms, conceived by his grandfather, Alexander II, expected that he would undertake the reorganization of the political system. The main idea of a liberal-minded society was the introduction of "people's representatives" into government bodies. That is why, after the accession to the throne of Nicholas II, numerous petitions from zemstvos began to arrive in his address, in which (in a very cautious form) they expressed hope for the implementation of “the possibility and right of public institutions to express their opinion on issues relating to them, so that up to the height of the throne could achieve the expression of the needs and thoughts of not only representatives of the administration, but also the Russian people.
But on January 17, 1895, in his first public speech, Nikolai declared that he would protect the foundations of autocracy as firmly and unswervingly as her “unforgettable late parent” did. This marked the first split in the new reign between the supreme power and the liberal social forces. And all further political life Russia was under the sign of the struggle for the idea of "people's representation".
The struggle between conservative and liberal forces in the highest echelons of power.
In the immediate environment of the emperor, there were different points of view on the prospects for the development of Russia. Finance Minister S. Yu. Witte was aware of the need for reforms in the country. He stated that "the same thing is happening in Russia now that happened in its time in the West: it is moving to the capitalist system ... This is the world's immutable law." He considered economic reforms to be of priority, and among them - reforms in the field of industrial production and finance. He believed that the industrialization of the country is not only an economic but also a political task. Its implementation would make it possible to accumulate funds for the implementation of urgent social reforms and to engage in agriculture. The result would be the gradual displacement of the nobility, the replacement of its power by the power of big capital. Representatives of big capital in the future would reform the political structure of the country in the right direction.
The main political opponent of S. Yu. Witte was the Minister of the Interior V. K. Plehve, who had a reputation as a firm defender of the “Russian foundations”. S. Yu. Witte. Plehve was convinced that Russia "had its own separate history and special system." Without denying the need for reforms in the country, he considered it impossible for these reforms to be carried out too rapidly, under pressure "from immature youth, students... and notorious revolutionaries. In his opinion, the initiative in the matter of reforms should belong to the government.
Growing influence of the Ministry of the Interior.
In his policy, V. K. Plehve relied on punitive measures: “If we are not able to change the historical course of events leading to the oscillation of the state, then we must put up barriers to it in order to delay it, and not go with the flow, trying to be Always ahead". He began his work by strengthening the positions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Only 125 officials served in the police department, but it was only the headquarters of a whole army of police officers, filers, secret agents. In all provinces, counties, on the railways there were gendarme departments. Russian educated society treated the gendarmes with disgust. However, part of the noble youth, carried away by the halo of mystery and romance, sought to enter the service in the gendarme corps. The government made serious demands on applicants. Only a hereditary nobleman who successfully graduated from a military or cadet school and served in military service for at least six years could become a gendarme. There were other requirements: not to have debts, not to profess Catholicism, it was necessary to pass preliminary tests at the headquarters of the gendarme corps, attend four-month courses in St. Petersburg and successfully pass the final exam.
V. K. Plehve paid special attention to expanding the network of departments for the protection of order and public security, which were popularly called “Okhranok”. So later they began to call the entire secret police. Surveillance agents - filers - according to the instructions were supposed to be "with strong legs, with good eyesight, hearing and memory, with such an appearance that would make it possible not to stand out from the crowd."
V. K. Plehve considered the opening of letters to be one of the most effective methods of detective work. To intercept letters, there were technical means that made it possible to discreetly open and copy the message, forge any seal, develop sympathetic ink, decipher the cryptography, etc. The Minister of the Interior was aware of private correspondence and foreign diplomatic representatives. Only two people in the empire - the king and the minister of the interior - could be calm about their correspondence.
"Zubatovsky socialism".
At the same time, an attempt was made to take control of the labor movement. This idea belonged to the head of the Moscow security department, Colonel S. V. Zubatov.
The idea of S. V. Zubatov was to wrest the workers from the influence of anti-government organizations. To do this, he considered it necessary to instill in them the idea that the interests of state power do not coincide with the narrowly selfish interests of entrepreneurs, and that workers can improve their financial situation only in alliance with the authorities. On the initiative of S. V. Zubatov and with the support of the Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in 1901 - 1902. in Moscow, and then in other cities, legal workers' organizations were created, built on a professional basis.
But for the success of Zubatov's idea, the authorities had to do something real for the workers. The state, however, limited its "protective" policy by the law "On the establishment of elders in factory enterprises" (June 1903). The workers could elect from their midst a headman who monitored the fulfillment by the employer of the conditions of employment. Zubatov's theory did not forbid workers to participate in economic strikes, therefore, in the sweeping in 1902 - 1903. members of the Zubatov organizations took an active part in a wide strike wave. This angered the manufacturers. Complaints about "risky experiments" poured into the government. SV Zubatov was dismissed.
Plehve was also distrustful of Zubatov's initiative. He considered the tactic of destroying revolutionary organizations from within by introducing police agents into them more effective. One of the greatest successes was the introduction of secret police agent E. Azef into the leading core of the largest terrorist organization. However, this did not save V.K. Plehve himself. In 1904 he was killed.
The short "spring" of P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky.
Meanwhile, the situation in the country remained difficult. Worker and peasant uprisings, student unrest did not stop, Zemstvo liberals showed perseverance, the army was defeated in the war with Japan (it will be discussed in § 5). All this brought Russia to the brink of a revolutionary explosion. Under these conditions, when appointed to the key post of Minister of the Interior, the tsar's choice fell on the Vilna governor, Prince P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, known for his liberal sentiments.
In his first public speech in September 1904, the new minister spoke of trust between the government and society as a decisive condition for state policy.
Proclaiming a policy of cooperation between the authorities and the zemstvos, Svyatopolk-Mirsky understood that the zemstvos were the only legal organizations in Russia. He believed that through an alliance with the zemstvo leadership, it was possible to expand and strengthen the socio-political support of power.
In November 1904, Svyatopolk-Mirsky handed the tsar a note in which he listed priority measures in the field of state reorganization. He proposed to include in the composition of the State Council a certain number of elected representatives from zemstvos and city dumas. It was necessary to significantly expand the circle of voters in the zemstvo and city governments, as well as to form volost zemstvos. He intended to extend the zemstvos throughout the empire. Svyatopolk-Mirsky also tried to resolve other issues: to create conditions for bringing the peasants closer in property rights with other estates, to expand the rights of the Old Believers, to issue a law on the rights of the Jewish population, etc.
In early December 1904, Nicholas II gathered the highest state dignitaries and grand dukes to discuss the program of Svyatopolk-Mirsky. The result was an imperial decree of December 12, 1904, promising some changes. However, the decree did not mention popular representation. Moreover, it was emphasized that all reforms must be carried out while maintaining the autocracy in an unshakable form. The resignation of Svyatopolk-Mirsky was a foregone conclusion.
National Policy.
Nicholas II continued the course of his father in the national question. The process of modernization of the country required uniformity in the administrative, legal and social structure of all territories of Russia, the introduction of a single language and educational standards. However, this objective tendency often took the form of Russification.
The problem of unification affected Finland most seriously. In 1899, a manifesto was issued that gave the emperor the right to legislate for Finland without the consent of the Diet. In 1901, the national military units were disbanded, and the Finns were to serve in the Russian army. Office work in public institutions in Finland was to be conducted only in Russian. The Saeima of Finland refused to approve these laws, and Finnish officials boycotted them. In 1903, the Governor-General of Finland was given emergency powers. This significantly aggravated the political situation in the region. The Finnish territory turned into a base for revolutionary groups, where terrorists prepared their assassination attempts, and where revolutionaries and liberals held congresses and conferences.
The Jewish population, who lived in the so-called Pale of Settlement (western provinces of Russia), also experienced national oppression. Only Jews who had converted to the Orthodox faith and had a higher education, or merchants of the first guild and their clerks, were allowed to live in other places. Unable to show their knowledge and talent in the public service, Jewish youth actively joined the ranks of revolutionary organizations, often holding leading positions in them. At the same time, there was a significant increase in the economic influence of Jewish capital in the country. All this caused an increase in anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish sentiments, which often led to pogroms. The first major Jewish pogrom took place in April 1903 in Chisinau. During it, about 500 people were injured, 700 residential buildings and 600 shops were destroyed. At the end of August 1903 bloody events took place in Gomel. The authorities responded with sluggish lawsuits and a decree on the opening of about 150 more cities and towns for Jewish settlement.
It was also restless in the Caucasus. In 1903 there were unrest among the Armenian population. They were provoked by a decree transferring the property of the Armenian Gregorian Church to the authorities. The fact is that the Armenian Church enjoyed a certain independence and existed solely at the expense of donations from parishioners. Church property was managed by persons appointed by the Armenian Patriarch (Catholicos). At the same time, the church received large incomes, part of which, according to the police, was used to support the Armenian national revolutionary organizations. The Armenian population perceived this decree as an encroachment on national values and religious traditions. During the inventory of church and monastery property, clashes broke out, often ending in bloody battles.
The government of Nicholas II continued the policy of settling the national outskirts with the Russian population. By the beginning of the XX century. Russians lived here mainly in the cities and made up a significant part of the industrial workers. Thus, the Russian population prevailed in the cities of Belarus, the Left-bank Ukraine, Novorossia (Black Sea region). The workers in the large industrial centers of the Caucasus - Baku, Tiflis, etc. were also mostly Russian. The exceptions were Finland, Poland and the Baltic provinces, where the composition of the population was more homogeneous, and a sufficiently high level of economic development led to the formation of a national proletariat.
Thus, the domestic policy of Nicholas II was a direct continuation of the previous reign and did not meet the mood of the majority of Russian society, which was waiting for decisive reforms from the new tsar.
Document
L. N. Tolstoy on the political regime of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. From a letter from Leo Tolstoy to Nicholas II (1902)
A third of Russia is in a position of enhanced protection, that is, outside the law. The army of police officers - overt and covert - is increasing. Prisons, places of exile and penal servitude are overcrowded, over hundreds of thousands of criminal, political ones, to which workers are now included. Censorship has gone to absurdities in prohibition, to which it did not reach in the worst times of the 1940s. Religious persecutions have never been so frequent and cruel as they are now, and they are becoming more and more cruel. Troops are concentrated everywhere in the cities and factory centers and are sent out with live ammunition against the people. In many places there have already been fratricidal bloodsheds and everywhere new and even more cruel ones are being prepared and will inevitably be.
And as a result of all this intense and cruel activity of the government, the agricultural people - those 100 million on which the power of Russia is based - despite the exorbitantly increasing state budget, or rather, as a result of this increase, are impoverished every year, so that hunger has become normal. And the general dissatisfaction with the government of all classes and a hostile attitude towards it became the same phenomenon. And the reason for all this, obviously clear, is one: that your helpers assure you that by stopping every movement of life among the people, they ensure the well-being of this people and your peace and security. But after all, it is more likely to stop the flow of a river than the everlasting forward movement of mankind established by God.
Questions and tasks:
1. Describe the personal qualities and political views of Nicholas II. Why was the personality of the monarch of great importance in Russia?
2. What points of view on the prospects for the development of the country existed during this period in Russian society and government? (Use document when answering)
3. What was the main goal of the Zubatov experiment? Why did Zubatov's plans fail?
An emperor who knew his fate. And Russia, which did not know ... Romanov Boris Semyonovich
The beginning of the reign of Nicholas II
The beginning of the reign of Nicholas II
The well-known modern historian Alexander Nikolaevich Bokhanov wrote about Nicholas II and his era as follows:
In the midst of cynicism, unbelief, nihilism, conformism, social demagoguery, and intransigence that characterized the Russian political scene in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the believing in God, honoring tradition, merciful and benevolent politician could not help but lose his historical game. And his loss became the loss of everyone and everything in Russia.
But with regard to timing, it would be more correct to say that before the crisis began (in 1894-1899), Russian politics (if you do not take Nechaev's followers into account) had not yet been struck by all these vices. Of course, there was bribery among officials, and tyranny of superiors, and the “wolf grin” of young capitalism, and for a long time (since the time of Peter I) “disorder in the head and members” of the Russian Orthodox Church has been growing - but in those first years of the reign of Nicholas II mass cynicism, unbelief, social demagoguery and intransigence were not yet inherent in society. In Russia (and throughout Europe) the end of the 19th century was a time of hope for a better future, for scientific, industrial and social progress, moral harmony and technical miracles of the next century.
Of course, as we noted earlier, in those early years the young Sovereign was still very dependent on his uncles (brothers of the late Alexander III) and on his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, but the myth that he was not prepared for the reign is just myth. Nicholas II received a brilliant and versatile education from the best university professors of that time. While still a prince, he participated in meetings of the State Council and the Committee of Ministers, in 1891-1892. he headed the Commission to Combat Famine, and was also an active leader of the committee for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway - in May 1891 he personally laid its foundation in Vladivostok. It goes without saying that, like all men of the Romanov family, he knew and loved military affairs, the army and navy.
The information about the weakness of Nicholas II is also false. Those who knew him poorly could confuse intelligence with gentleness, but those who were close to the Sovereign knew that an iron hand was hidden under a velvet glove: Nicholas II knew his goals and gently, but relentlessly achieved them (we wrote more about this in the first part of the book ).
We will not talk here in detail about the foreign policy of Nicholas II in the first years of his reign (1894-1899), we will only say, developing the main topic of our study, that it was really moral - evidence of this and the convening of the Hague Peace Conference on the initiative of the Sovereign (more details - also in the first part of the book), and the refusal in 1896 to start a war for the partition of the Ottoman Empire, and a similar refusal of England to divide China into spheres of influence (the answer of the Tsar was as follows: “You cannot divide an existing independent state into spheres of influence”), In contrast to the statement about the morality of the policy of Nicholas II, one can, of course, recall the well-known Bezobrazov's scam (adventure with the super-profitable sale of concessions for Korean forests, which greatly aggravated relations with Japan by 1903). It is true that Bezobrazov managed to involve some high-ranking tsarist dignitaries in it, but for some reason they forget that Prime Minister Witte, appointed by the Sovereign, was an opponent of this adventure, and ultimately Nicholas II did not allow state funds to be involved in this matter.
Let's take a closer look at domestic politics.
From 1892 to 1903, the post of Minister of Finance was held by Sergei Yulievich Witte, an energetic and capable financier and statesman of a large scale. Of course, Witte had many personal shortcomings, and in general it was a kind of mixture of Chubais and Yeltsin with the addition of Zhirinovsky, and his relationship with the Sovereign was always difficult (and after his resignation, he hated Nikolai). But Witte, of course, was an outstanding Minister of Finance, and then the Prime Minister, while the Sovereign chose personnel not on the basis of personal loyalty.
The tsarist government took vigorous measures to develop domestic industry. Foreign capital (mainly French and Belgian) was actively attracted, which especially contributed to the development of the South Russian metallurgical industry. Domestic industrialists were granted various benefits, loans and benefits from the treasury; the treasury paid the metallurgical plants very generously for the railroad tracks, and the plants prospered on huge government orders. The treasury took some branches of industry under its special protection.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Russia lagged far behind the advanced capitalist countries in terms of the absolute size of its production, but in terms of the pace of development, already in the 1890s. she greatly outnumbered them. For the decade 1890-1899. iron smelting increased in England by 18%, in Germany by 72%, in the United States by 50%, in Russia by 190%; in 1880, Russia ranked seventh in the world production of pig iron, in 1895 - fifth, in 1900 - already fourth, second only to the three countries mentioned above.
During the same decade, the extraction of hard coal increased in England by 22%, in Germany by 52%, in the United States by 61%, in Russia by 131%. Oil production in Russia was 115 million poods in 1885, 631 million poods in 1900, and 656 million poods in 1904.
It is important to note that, on the advice of Witte and Mendeleev, Nicholas II, back in 1896, introduced significant restrictions on the export of crude oil - in order to develop the domestic oil refining industry.
But oil prices in 1892-1896. grew (from 20 dollars to about 40 per barrel - and these were still those dollars, many times more "weighty" than the current ones), and if the Sovereign did not think about the future of Russia and did not heed the advice of Witte and Mendeleev, Russia missed then there would be a historical chance to start a breakthrough in mechanical engineering and many other industries.
As a result of this decision, almost all the oil from Baku went for processing to the central regions of Russia, stimulating the development of engineering. That is why in Russia, already at the end of the 19th century, the first engineering developments of the great V. G. Shukhov (1853–1939) were needed: an oil pipeline (it was invented by him back in 1878). Even before 1917, he developed and applied in Russia pipeline systems, various types of equipment and technologies for the oil industry, cylindrical oil storage tanks, and river tankers. He also invented methods for deep processing (airlift and thermal cracking) of oil.
V. Rogozin and other Russian engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs also made a great contribution to the technology of the oil refining industry. Not everyone knows that the quality of Russian machine oils and other refined products in the 1900s was the best in the world, and even the world leader in the oil industry Standard Oil (Rockefeller's empire) wrote on the packaging and advertising of their machine oils "The quality of Russian oils"! One of the flagships of the Russian oil industry was the BraNobel company (brothers Ludwig and Robert Nobel). It was they who, by the beginning of the 20th century, completely ousted Standard Oil from the Russian market and began exporting Russian oil products (kerosene, oils, gasoline) to Europe. Not everyone knows that Alfred Nobel (who left for Sweden at the end of the 19th century and engaged in the production of dynamite there) later joined the Russian Branobel, and the Nobel Prize first appeared in this company (the first prize was awarded to three Russian oil engineers ), and that it was the income of BraNobel that became the basis of the famous bonus fund of Alfred Nobel himself. It is also important to note that at all enterprises of the Nobel brothers in Russia the level of concern for workers was very high: high wages, social protection, good housing, hospitals, and sports grounds.
And if tsarist Russia had exported all its crude oil, it would not have happened, and the Russian economic miracle of 1907-1914 would not have happened. (It will be discussed later). Of course, the main export item in tsarist Russia was grain and other agricultural products, but the decree of the Sovereign to restrict oil exports in 1896 turned out to be all the more important and correct. For comparison, over the past ten years (1999-2009) not a single oil refinery has been built in Russia: it is not economically profitable for oil companies to develop new technologies and build factories.
Well, in Russia at the beginning of the last century, the production of consumer goods also increased significantly.
Of course, the development of large-scale factory industry in the initial stages was accompanied in Russia (as in other European countries) by increased exploitation of workers - difficult working conditions, its excessive duration and insufficient pay, which naturally caused discontent and protests of the working masses. In 1884–1885 there were strikes and serious unrest among the factory workers of the Moscow and Vladimir provinces; in 1896 there was a big strike at textile factories in St. Petersburg.
... In the textbook of Russian history for the 6th grade of the tsarist gymnasiums and real schools (1915), we read the following about the workers:
To protect this class on the part of the factory owners, under Emperor Alexander III, a number of laws on factory workers were issued and factory inspectors were established to monitor the implementation of these laws.
We add to this that in order to streamline relations between factory owners and workers, obligatory pay books were introduced back in the 19th century, and factory owners were forbidden to use fines for personal needs - they had to go to improve safety and social needs.
The factory work of minors (under 12 years of age), as well as night work of minors (under 17 years of age) and women (in textile factories) was prohibited. Adolescents from 12 to 15 years old could not work more than eight hours (and they should have been given time, at least three hours daily, to attend school).
On June 2, 1897, already under Nicholas II, a general law was issued on the limitation of working hours "in establishments of the factory industry." The maximum working day for adult males was set at eleven and a half hours (eleven a few years later); on Saturdays and on the eve of the twelfth holidays, as well as for work at least partly carried out at night, the working time should not exceed ten hours (in fact, always less). Overtime work was allowed only by special agreement between the head of the industrial establishment and the worker. The contract of employment could include conditions only on such overtime work that is necessary according to the technical conditions of production. It should be noted that in most advanced Western countries at that time there were no legislative restrictions on the work of adult men.
Although formally the length of the working day since the beginning of the 20th century was limited to eleven hours, in practice in the vast majority of enterprises it was no more than 10 hours, or even less (for example, at the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg, a nine-hour working day was introduced since 1902) .
At the same time, at some enterprises of the mining industry, an eight-hour working day was introduced as early as 1898. The official website of the city of Zlatoust has the following information:
Not having achieved the establishment of a shortened working day through a strike, the workers of the plant transferred the struggle to the meetings of the Mining Association. The guardianship order of the Gornozavodsk Association supported the distributors. The administration made concessions: from May 1, 1898, eight-hour shifts were officially introduced in the blast-furnace, steel-smelting and rolling shops at Zlatoust and other plants in the mining district. On June 22, 1898, following the example of the rolling mills, the workers of the mechanical, tool and carpentry shops turned to the management of the factories with a request to establish eight-hour shifts for them as well. The administrations of the plant and the mining district, not wanting to bring matters to a conflict, supported these demands. From June 30, 1898, by order of the head of the Ural mining plants, an eight-hour working day was introduced at the Zlatoust plant in the main workshops.
Let us note in parentheses that since 1909 eight-hour shifts have been introduced throughout the plant. Even earlier, an eight-hour working day was introduced at some shipyards and state-owned factories (for example, in Nikolaev). Of course, the workers achieved this through legal strikes and difficult negotiations with breeders, but this was the case all over the world. But not all over the world in those years, workers achieved an eight-hour (and even nine-hour) working day.
Thus, by the beginning of the global crisis, the labor issue in Russia could and often was resolved by quite civilized methods, and its general vector was towards an eight-hour working day and a decent standard of living for workers. And, as we noted earlier, even before 1917, high school students were taught that the workers needed the protection of the authorities from the employers-manufacturers.
Let us dwell on the position of the peasantry.
Already at the beginning of the reign of Nicholas II, the government more than once provided the peasants with various benefits (in 1894, 1896, 1899), consisting in the full or partial forgiveness of arrears in government payments. I will give data from the already mentioned book by S. G. Pushkarev "Review of Russian History":
In 1895, a new charter for the Peasants' Bank was issued, allowing the bank to acquire land in its own name (to be sold to peasants in the future). In 1898, annual growth was reduced to 4%. After the reform of 1895, the bank's activities began to expand rapidly. In total, from the time the bank was opened in 1882 to January 1, 1907 (even before Stolypin's reforms), more than 15% of the owner's (lord's) land, in the amount of up to 675 million rubles, of which issued 516 million.
Since 1893, when the active construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began, the government began to patronize the resettlement, trying first of all to populate the areas adjacent to the railway. In 1896, a special "resettlement department" was established as part of the Ministry of the Interior. In 1896, 1899 and 1904 rules on benefits and allowances for migrants were issued; they were supposed to issue a loan in the amount of 30-50 rubles for travel expenses, and 100-150 rubles for the economic arrangement and seeding of fields.
Over the decade from 1893 to 1903, the government allocated up to 30 million rubles to the resettlement business, and by the end of the century this work had developed quite widely (although the full development of the resettlement movement dates back to the Stolypin era). From 1885 to 1895 the total number of settlers beyond the Urals was 162,000; for five years from 1896 to 1900 - 932 thousand. A significant part of the settlers, attracted by rumors about the land riches of Siberia, hurried to move there by gravity, without asking for permission from the government and "passing certificates". The reverse movement of settlers ranged from 10 to 25%. More prudent peasants first sent "walkers" to Siberia for reconnaissance, and only then, upon their return, liquidated their business in their homeland and moved on a long journey - towards the sun ...
The government was also aware of the need to organize small credit in the countryside and tried to promote the creation of this organization. In 1895, the "Regulations on Small Credit Institutions" was published.
Developed in Russia at the end of the XIX century and cooperation. The emergence of the first cooperative organizations in Russia dates back to the 60s of the 19th century, that is, to the same time when they began to spread in the advanced countries of Europe. Moreover, Russia was even ahead of many of them in this respect. Zemstvos, seeing the undoubted usefulness of cooperative associations for peasants, became the initiators of their creation. In addition, they allocated considerable funds to support cooperatives. However, cooperatives gained real strength and spread in Russia under Stolypin, when the peasants themselves realized its advantages. We will tell you more about this.
We will briefly describe here the state economy and finances in the first years of the reign of Nicholas II, which are associated with the name of Sergei Yulievich Witte. Witte's reforms and achievements are well known (state-owned railway facilities, the introduction of a wine monopoly, the reform of the financial system and the gold ruble, government loans). Even before the accession of Nicholas II, being the head of the Department of Railway Affairs, since 1889 he began a policy of buying up the then numerous private Russian railways by the treasury, realizing the importance of their efficiency in a single state complex. In 1891, a new customs tariff for Russia was adopted, developed with his active participation. This tariff played an important role in Russia's foreign trade policy and became a protective barrier for the developing industry. In February-August 1892, as head of the Ministry of Railways, Witte managed to eliminate large accumulations of untransported cargo that had become commonplace. He also introduced railroad tariff reform. On his initiative and under his leadership, many new railways were built, including the Trans-Siberian (and CER). Already under Nicholas II, in 1895, the introduction of a wine monopoly began, it became one of the important sources of replenishment of the state budget (although, we note in parentheses, alcohol consumption in Russia was not high, and with the start of the First World War, after the introduction of Prohibition, Russia was able to successfully do without "drunk money").
Witte's merit is the monetary reform in 1897, as a result of which Russia received a stable currency backed by gold. This contributed to the strengthening of investment activity and an increase in the inflow of foreign capital. Thus, over four years, the amount of gold in circulation increased almost 18 times.
With the active participation of Witte, labor legislation was developed, in particular the law on the limitation of working hours at enterprises (1897). In 1898 he carried out a reform of commercial and industrial taxation. Considering it necessary to reform the peasant community, he spoke in favor of a free exit from it. In October 1898, Witte turned to Nicholas II with a written request, urging him to complete the liberation of the peasants, to make a “person” out of the peasant and free him from the oppressive guardianship of local authorities and the community. He also achieved the abolition of mutual responsibility in the community, the corporal punishment of peasants by the verdict of the volost courts, and the simplification of the passport regime. Not without the participation of Witte, the conditions for the resettlement of peasants on free lands were facilitated, the activities of the Peasant Land Bank were expanded, and laws and regulations on small credit were issued.
Let us note at the same time that Witte, although he did not like Nicholas II, noted in his memoirs that he could not carry out his reforms without his constant support. Nicholas II also did not feel personal sympathy for Witte - but the Sovereign always appointed people not on this basis, but on their business qualities.
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From the book The Reign, Acts and Personality of Louis XI [SI] the author Kostin A LThe beginning of the reign Louis XI's main goal was to immediately collect all the French lands under the royal hand. But the beginning of the reign of Louis XI was unsuccessful. He hurried to purge the army, removing from it officers who were loyal to his father, and wiring some
From the book Theory of Wars author Kvasha Grigory SemenovichCHAPTER 1 ALEXANDER III AND THE BEGINNING OF NICHOLAS II The Fourth Russia began in 1881, when the Fourth England reigned in the world (until 1905). And so, for 24 years, peace was guaranteed to her, born of the notorious two-imperial truce. This world could be used for
author Kerov Valery Vsevolodovich1. The beginning of the reign of Ivan IV 1.1. dynastic crisis. Vasily III did not have children for a long time and even forbade his brothers to marry in connection with this, so that their older sons would not become rivals to his direct heir. In 1525 he took an unprecedented step,
From the book A Short Course in the History of Russia from Ancient Times to the Beginning of the 21st Century author Kerov Valery Vsevolodovich3. Beginning of the board 3.1. Sofia's reign. After the death in 1682 of Fyodor Alekseevich, a struggle began between various factions at the throne for the proclamation of the tsar of 10-year-old Peter - the son of Alexei Mikhailovich from his second wife - N. K. Naryshkina, or 16-year-old sickly Ivan -
From the book Life and customs of tsarist Russia author Anishkin V. G.
