Rise and Rule of Single-Party State in Russia

Rise and rule of single-party state in Russia, 1900-1941

Relevance to exams

o  Paper 1: The USSR under Stalin, 1924-1941:

-  Struggle for leadership

-  Collectivisation, agricultural policies

-  Five Year Plans, industrialisation, rearmament

-  Nature of Soviet state, constitution, extent of Stalin’s power, cult of personality

-  Purges, impact on society

-  Foreign relations, USSR & Nazi Germany, Nazi-Soviet Pact

o  Paper 2:

-  1. Causes, Practices and Effects of War: Russian civil war, Russia in WWI, WWII

-  3. Rise and Rule of Single Party States:

§  Origins of single-party states:

·  Conditions which produce the state

·  Emergence of leader: aims, ideology, support

§  Establishment of single-party states:

·  Methods – force, legal

·  Form of government, ideology

·  Totalitarianism, treatment of opposition

§  Rule of single-party states:

·  Political/economic/social policies

·  Role of education/arts/media/propaganda

·  Status of women/minorities/religious groups

§  Regional and global impact:

·  Foreign policy

·  As factor in Cold War

o  Paper 3:

-  13. Tsarist Russia to Communist USSR:

§  Nature of tsarism; Nicholas II, 1894-1917

§  Growth of revolutionary opposition and Soviets

§  1905 Revolution, reforms and reaction, 1905-1914; impact of WWI

§  1917 February Revolution; Provisional Government

§  1917 October Revolution

§  Formation of Soviet state, Lenin, Trotsky, civil war, communism, NEP

§  Power struggle & emergence of Stalin in 1929

-  16. Totalitarian Europe, 1922-1953: Stalinist Russia:

§  Nature of one-party states, ideologies, repression, propaganda and state control

§  Stalin in power, 1928-1953: domestic and foreign policies

-  USSR, 1941-1995:

§  USSR during WWII

§  Breakdown of wartime alliance & the Cold War

Summary of origins of the single-party state

Long-term weaknesses of monarchy leading to 1917 revolutions

o  Failure to match military strength of European great powers, e.g. Germany, France

o  Failure to address widespread peasant poverty

o  Failure to achieve levels of industrialisation reached by west-European states

o  Inability to broaden its political support through programme of constitutional reform – the monarchy refused to share any power with its subjects until 1905 Revolution.

Long-term military causes of 1917 revolutions

o  Russia had formerly been a strong military empire, defeating Napoleon under Alexander I – during the 19th century, however, Russia fell behind the other Great Powers

o  Russia’s backwardness highlighted in Crimean War (1854-56) – its forces were humiliated on home soil by British and French.

o  Russia’s military backwardness and lack of industrialisation exposed in Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)

o  Russia was unprepared for WWI when it broke out in 1914.

Long-term socio-economic causes of 1917 revolutions

o  Agricultural backwardness:

-  Serfs had only been liberated by Alexander II in 1861, and rural poverty was still a huge cause of social tension.

-  Peasant unrest grew due to:

§  Chronic land shortage

§  Rapidly growing peasant population

§  Low literacy rate

§  Burden of redemption payments due to landlords from the peasants

o  Late but very rapid industrialisation:

-  Russia had been falling far behind industrialising countries – USA, Britain, Germany

-  1890s the government initiates rapid industrialisation programme to retain status as great military power and to catch up to other Great Powers

-  By 1900 it was world’s 5th industrial power, though still behind GB, France, Germany, US

-  World recession in 1900 stuck Russia badly, largely due to its dependence on foreign investment – would have a direct effect on 1905 Revolution

-  Rapid industrialisation caused strain on country – huge rural-to-urban migration caused crowding and immense urban population growth in St Petersburg, Moscow and other cities

-  Industrialisation caused social tensions in urban areas, and worsened plight of the peasants who had to pay large taxes to fund the industrialisation

-  Rural unrest grew with series of famines in 1890s

Long-term political causes of 1917 revolutions

o  Monarchy was an autocracy until 1905 Revolution – political parties were illegal

o  During 19th century, growing sections of educated classes were feeling alienated from monarchy because it refused to share power – meanwhile other European monarchies were granting elected assemblies or delegating power

o  Political opposition:

-  The Liberals:

§  Grew under Alexander II, whose hopes for reform were raised by Alexander’s emancipation of the serfs

§  The zemstva reform (1864), which introduced self-government, aroused hopes for an elected duma, which Alexander II dashed.

§  No chance for constitutional reform after the assassination of Alexander II – Alexander III and Nicholas II followed reactionary courses, completely opposed to sharing power, even with educated classes.

-  The Revolutionaries: two types of revolutionary movement emerged under Alexander II – unlike the Liberals, the revolutionaries sought to overthrow the monarchy.

§  Populists, later Social Revolutionaries (SRs):

·  Aimed at peasant revolution, which would see transfer of land from monarchy and nobility to the peasant masses.

·  Social Revolutionary Party founded in 1901, led by Victor Chernov.

·  SRs campaigned for universal suffrage and a peasant revolution – involved in peasant risings in 1902

§  Marxists:

·  Karl Marx’s ideas attracted growing number of Russian intellectuals from 1883 onwards

·  Sought to transform Russia through revolution of the industrial proletariat

·  1898, Russian Social Democratic Labour Party established, Lenin a founding member

·  The Russian Marxists were very argumentative – remained divided throughout period up to 1917 Revolution, some arguing for socialist revolution and others for improving conditions for proletariat

·  Social Democrats split in 1903 – Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

Late imperial Russia, 1894-1917

The Land, the people and Tsardom

o  Russian geography and peoples:

-  The Russian Empire was huge, with most of the population concentrated in European Russia.

-  The size of Russia tended to give an impression of strength, but this was misleading.

-  The population was made up of a mix of races, languages, religions and cultures.

-  Russian governments had had problems controlling such a varied population over such vast territory.

o  The tsar:

-  The Romanov Dynasty lasted from 1613 to 1917 – under the Fundamental Laws of the Empire, the tsar was given unlimited autocratic power, and that his rule was ordained by God

-  The tsar’s absolute rule was exercised under three official bodies – they were not elected, but appointed, nor did they govern, but merely advised. The bodies were subordinate to the tsar and had no authority over him – he made final decisions regarding governmental and legal matters.

§  The Imperial Court (group of advisors directly responsible to the tsar)

§  The Cabinet of Ministers (ran various government departments)

§  The Senate (supervised operation of the law)

o  Political backwardness:

-  Russia had barely advanced politically compared to other European powers – by beginning of 20th century, all major western-European states had form of democratic/representative government

-  There was no parliament, political parties were illegal, the tsar could not be opposed in government, and there was no free press but government censorship.

-  Repression:

§  Liberal ideas (e.g. limitations on powers of rulers, greater freedom for the people) were not openly expressed – thus, supporters of reform went underground.

§  The state used the tsarist secret police – Okhrana – to infiltrate oppositionist groups and execute raids, arrests, imprisonments and executions. The Okhrana had unlimited powers of arrest and was answerable only to the tsar.

§  Use of the katorga – the precursor to Gulag system – camps in remote Siberia where dissidents were forced to do hard labour.

-  Extremism:

§  Lack of free speech drove political activists towards extremism, e.g. the assassination of Alexander II in 1881

o  Russian orthodox church:

-  Was one of the great pillars of the Russian system, and supported tsarist claim to absolute authority

-  Russian orthodoxy = branch of Christianity independent of outside authority such as the papacy since 15th century.

-  Had become deeply conservative body opposed to political change and determined to maintain tsarist system in its reactionary[1] form – used its spiritual authority to teach Russian population that obedience to the tsar, who governed by divine right, was demanded of them.

-  Highly detached from the industrial population

o  Social structure of tsarist Russia: small commercial, professional and working classes and huge majority of peasantry.

o  Russian economy:

-  Russia was industrially backward, as indicated by its small industrial worker population.

-  Existing industry was small-scale: Russian iron production in the Urals, textile production in Moscow and St Petersburg; smelting works, cottage industry in villages.

-  Russia had an undeveloped transport system which hindered industrial expansion.

-  Lack of effective banking system – made it difficult for Russia to raise large-scale capital, hindering investment and entrepreneurialism.

o  Agriculture:

-  Despite 80% of the population being peasants, an efficient agrarian economy had failed to develop.

-  Much of Russian territory was poor farming country, lacking suitable climate and soil for crop-growing or cattle rearing – arable farming restricted mainly to Black Earth region stretching from Ukraine to Kazakhstan.

-  Emancipation Decree of 1861 had released peasants from serfdom, allowing them to buy land – but the price had been too high – high price due to lack of enough fertile land to meet demand and the government’s taxation of land sales.

-  Peasants were able to buy land by borrowing from government fund – but they were then burdened by large mortgage payments that would take generations to repay.

o  Peasant problem:

-  The governing class made up only 1% of the population, and it was heavily prejudiced against granting rights to the masses.

-  Peasants made up over 80% of population, were generally illiterate and uneducated – their size and manner meant that they were regarded with fear and contempt by governing elite, who saw them as ‘dark masses’ who must be controlled by repression. Elite were unwilling to improve conditions for peasants, in case it might threaten their own privileges.

o  Russian army:

-  Lower ranks of army largely filled through conscription, which was often used as punishment for law-breakers.

-  Life in the armed forces was brutal for common soldiers/sailors – army was notorious for its discipline and poor conditions.

-  Military camps had been set up in remote regions, and worked more as penal camps rather than training facilities.

-  It was believed the army must be large due to Russia’s large territory – this meant the government’s annual expenditure was largely geared towards the military (around 45%), which was huge compared to areas such as education.

-  Weaknesse of army: higher ranks made up of the aristocracy – commissions bought and sold – weakened fighting force, as shown by Crimean War (1854-6)

-  Army mostly used for suppressing disturbances within the empire or on its borders (e.g. Turkey)

o  The bureaucracy:

-  Civil service was a corrupt bureaucracy – suffered from nepotism[2] and incompetence, which accounted for Russia’s backwardness.

-  The civil service was privileged and incompetent, yet controlled the lives of the Russian masses – the law, government, police and militia were controlled by the civil service.

-  Challenges could not be made to system, as any challenges were lost in bureaucratic procedures.

The problem of reform in imperial Russia

o  Barriers to reform:

-  Disagreement in the government elite over Russia’s character as a nation – there were differences between the ‘Westerners’ (who believed Russia had to adopt the best features of the political and economic systems of Western Europe) and ‘Slavophiles’ (who regarded Western values as corrupting – they wanted to revel in the Slav culture and Russia’s separate historical tradition)

-  Autocracy – reform had to come from above, as there were no representative institutions. Generally, tsars were not progressive, but reactionary – they were unwilling to implement measures that would weaken their own authority.

-  Result was that reform was piecemeal, rather than a systematic programme of change – reform usually sprang from national crisis or humiliation (e.g. Alexander II’s accession during Crimean War)

o  Local government reform:

-  After the emancipation of the serfs, Alexander II set up elected rural councils (zemstvos) – they were not truly democratic – as the voting regulations weighed against the poor, thus putting zemstvos power in the hands of the landowners – but provided Russia with form of representative government, which created hope for those seeking extension of political rights.

-  Authorities placed emphasis on the mir (the traditional village community), which officials saw as a local organisation providing effective means of keeping order and collecting taxes, mortgage repayments.

o  Legal reforms:

-  Aim was to simplify the cumbersome court procedures whose delays had led to corruption and injustice.

-  Alexander II relaxed controls over the press and universities – greater freedom of expression encouraged development of intelligentsia.

o  Limited nature of the reforms:

-  Alexander used reform to lessen opposition to tsarism – reforms were not introduced for the sake of reform, but to prevent revolution.

-  Alexander II may have introduced reform, but he remained an autocrat – fearful of his power being compromised, he abandoned reformist policies and returned to oppression.

-  Alexander II’s assassination by the ‘People’s Will’ meant his son, Alexander III, implemented even harsher oppression, which earned the title of ‘the Reaction’:

§  Powers of Okhrana extended

§  Censorship of press extended

§  Universities brought under strict government control (University Act, 1887)

§  Independence of local councils decreased and government officials allowed to interfere in decision-making (Zemstva Act, 1890)

Early reign of Nicholas II, 1894-1905

o  Pressing issues and questions at accession of Nicholas II:

-  Growth of opposition in Russia to tsarist system

-  Russia’s need to modernise to be able to compete with other European nations

-  Would Nicholas II be progressive or reactionary?

o  Nicholas II’s upbringing:

-  Nicholas II was influenced by his father – Alexander III had reacted strongly to his father’s assassination through reactionary policies.