Jake Kaufman

AP Euro Assignment #61/4Ru

Mrs. Nierman

#61= 4 Russia

Different Russians confront their environment Sp 707, 729 and R 429-32 1. a. Show that Alexander III was a reactionary. b. Be able to cite evidence of Russias backwardness. 2. Describe the policies of Serge Witte. 3. Regarding Russian socialists, a. What are the views of the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs)? B. Trace the development of Marxism in Russia (Include G. Plekhanov and steps abroad). C. What were the differences between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. 4. Regarding Lenin, a. What is said about his tactics? B. What were his ideas? Which of these deviate from Marx?

3/20

1a)

Alexander III and the officials beneath him did everything they could to

wipe out liberalism in Russia. Alexander III continued with his predecessors policy of expelling people for openly liberal views. Revolutionary groups and advocates of social reform were persecuted. The secret polices power was increased, and entire districts could be placed under martial law if the government so much as suspected the locals of treason. The zemstvos power was reduced, the press was increasingly censored, and people were attacked solely for their religious beliefs. Specifically Jews were subject to brutal pogroms. 2) Sergei Witte was Russias minister of finance from 1892 to 1903, when he

acted based on his views that industrial growth was crucial to Russias overall betterment. Witte saw railroads as highly important to economic development, and so pushed he government towards extensive railroad construction. By 1900, 35,000 miles of railroad had been built all across Russia, from Moscow to Siberia. Witte encouraged a system of protective tariffs and persuaded Nicholas II that foreign capital was needed for fast industrial growth. Wittes policies enabled the rapid growth of a modern steel and coal industry in the Ukraine, making Russia the fourth-largest steel producer in the world by 1900.

3a)

Socialist Revolutionaries aimed to introduce socialism and a democratic

government to Russia. They believed that existing peasant communes could evolve to become the basis of a socialist economy. Peasants in these communes had had common ownership of the land, shared produce and income, and paid taxes and land payments jointly. Socialist Revolutionaries also saw targeted political assassinations as an acceptable method to bring about their goals. 3b) A group of exiled Russians living in Switzerland brought about the

development of Marxism in Russia. The group, the Liberation of Labor, was founded and led by George Plekhanov, Paul Axelrod, and Vera Zasulich in 1883. Other exiled Russians who ended up in Switzerland joined the first Russian group to advocate Marxian ideas. By 1895 the League of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Classes was founded inside of Russia, where Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov, later known as Lenin, became active in the movement. Lenins activity with this group led to his exile to Siberia, from where he went to Switzerland to join with Plekhanov and the various communist groups that had joined up to become the Social Democrats. Lenin and Plekhanovs weekly publication, the Iskra, was smuggled into Russia to spread Marxist ideas there. In 1903, the Russian Social Democrats met in Brussels and London, where a split formed between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks within the group. 3c) The Mensheviks, meaning minority, and Bolsheviks, meaning majority, had

their differences. Counter-intuitively, the Bolsheviks were actually a smaller group within the Russian Social Democratic Party than the Mensheviks. Both groups shared the ideas of Marx and the goal of the overthrow of the tsar, but disagreed on the methods to do so. Mensheviks wanted to open the party to whoever wanted to join, while Bolsheviks wanted to limit the group to a small core of professional revolutionaries. Mensheviks believed lasting change was only possible after the masses were carefully educated about democracy and socialism. Bolsheviks, on

the other hand, did not want to wait, and called for a swift overthrow of the current political and social systems by force. 4a) A defining feature of Lenin is his refusal to compromise with those who

disagreed with him. Talks between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks often broke down over Lenins unyielding attitude. 4b) Lenins ideas were as follows: 1) A small, professional revolutionary elite should control the party to lead the proletariat in economic and political action. 2) The group was to be extremely organized, secretive, and centrally controlled, with orders coming from a central committee and to local councils in factories. 3) Those who disagreed with orders (deviationists) or called for cooperation with moderate liberals were to give in or get out- accept his view or leave, no compromise. 4) The revolution was to be two-pronged: First the workers and poor peasants would join the bourgeoisie against the tsarist government. Then, the workers and poor peasants would turn against their bourgeoisie former allies and the socialist revolution would be achieved. 5) Worldwide (or really Europe-wide) socialist revolution would occur simultaneously with Russias. 6) A complete extermination of anti-revolutionary groups would swiftly follow the revolution.