What was the state of russia in 1914- notes

• He set up field courts in 1906 to crush peasant uprisings. 'Stolypin's neckties (the hangman's noose) dealt with thousands of peasants and nearly and nearly 60 000 political detainees were executed or sent into exile or penal servitude in 'Stolypin carriages' (railway cars).
• Stolypin's objectives: feed the rapidly growing population and avoid the cycle of famine and revolt + create a strong conservative peasantry who would support the regime.
• Stolypin was the Tsar's 'last, best hope'-->
• Abraham Ascher: Stolypin's vision was 'more feasible and more likely to lead Russia out of the abyss than any other'.

Industry Situation

"Could Tsarism have survived? 1906-1917"

• after 1907, industrial production grew steadily at a rate around 6% per annum until 1914, although this high rate was largely due to the start from a low base.
• by 1914, Russia was the world's 4th largest producer of coal, pig-iron and steel, and the Baku oilfields were only rivalled by Texas. Impressive Achievements.
• Gov's rearmament programme- heavy industry
• the downside of this focus on rearmament was that industry could not meet the demands for agricultural tools and machinery
• Industrial Development was largely state sponsored with companies dependent on gov contracts
• Growing internal market and the production of consumer goods rose. As a proportion of total industrial production, however, the share of consumer goods actually fell (52%- 45%)
• For historiography see booklet
• By 1914, industrial workforce had established itself as a distinct section of the pop; level of literacy was high (64% in 1914) (less than 40%= pop in general)
• Things had not much improved for the workers since 1905; workers' wages were less than one third the average in Western Europe+ the Russian gov had made no real attempt to improve their conditions (contrast to other nations in Europe - social reforms)
• 1912, limited insurance for accidents and sickness introduced; but only a minority of the work force.
• some places, work hours had increased since 1905
• no support of old age

Agrarian Situation

"Could Tsarism have survived? 1906-1917"

• Agrarian Reforms. Peasants were allowed to leave the mir, to consolidate their strips of land into a single unit and build a farmhouse or it. A land bank was set up to help the independent peasant buy land. (Stolypin believed that making peasants independent prop. owners + full civil rights would give them a stake in the country and lead them to become supporters of the regime) Encourage peasants to go to Siberia to create new food-growing areas.
• Abraham Ascher's view: if there had been more time - contributed to a more moderate revolution
• by 1914, only about 10% of households in European Russia lived on farms separated from the commune
• those who left were seen as traitors
• reform was more successful in the west- in Ukraine and Belorussia- than in other parts of Russia where reform was most needed.
• Judith Pallot argues that there were alternatives which could have done as much if not more to increase peasant farm productivity. Commune not always backwards + some 'separators' used poor farming methods and exhausted the soil
• by 1914, 20 mil peasant households, most still in communes using the inefficient strip system.
• no major upheavals and disturbances
• peasants not been tied closer to the Tsar by the reforms
• growth in pop had only increased their hunger for land, particularly in the central agricultural province
• main aims had not  changed: getting their hands on the nobility's land and farming it free from gov interference
• Orlando Figes-- landowners felt that 'the next- and imminently more powerful revolutionary outburst by the peasantry would only be a question of time'.
• consequences of Stolypin's reforms: peasants who had left the land as a result of the reforms were often full of resentment and many of these had gone into the towns and cities to become industrial workers
• thousands of peasants who had been encouraged to go to Siberia returned home, having found the land inhospitable or been cheated by land speculators.

Political Situation

"Could Tsarism have survived? 1906-1917"

• after 1905, the labour movement had retreated as repression of trade unions and strikes, but revival of militancy from 1912
• started with Lena Goldfields Massacre in April 1912: striking workers protesting clashed with troops and over  200 people were killed and many injured --> workers' protest
• strikes grew in militancy from 1912 to 1914 (eg. July 1914, general strike in St Petersburg involving barricades and street fighting) (only 1/4 involved; 4/5 in 1917)
• Students' relationship with gov. was bad- supported workers
• regime worried of urban unrest but not ready to be toppled in 1914
• RB McKean argues that most workers did not work in the larger factories targeted by the socialists but in the domestic and service sectors. Most workers were not socialists and strikes were mainly about pay and working conditions.
• increase in section of the labour force that was rootless and disoriented and who provided good material for revolutionary propaganda.
• Liberals were divided and no real threat. Octobrists and Kadets distrusted each other, were out of touch with the masses and refused to seek their support, as they feared mass anarchy and did not support the strike movement.
• SRs were in turmoil after 1908 as a result of the exposure of Azef, especially as the party's terrorist wing had such prestige within the party. SRs became obsessed with the issue of double agents and party organisation broke down + was division between leadership.
• Mensheviks enjoyed popularity in 1905, but Lena blew any illusions about the regime and peaceful change, giving the more radical Bolsheviks their opportunity.
• By 1914, Bolsheviks had more influence over trade unions than Mensheviks. Control over the biggest unions in St Petersburg and Moscow, like the Metalworkers Union. Bolshevik Paper 'Pravda' had achieved national circulation of 40,000 (twice Menshevik rival).
• HOWEVER
• leadership exile or, like Lenin, isolated abroad.
• Lenin had failed to build a national illegal party organisation.
• thorough infiltration by the Okhrana
• in 1914, army remained loyal.
• HOWEVER, Edward Acton points out: experience of 1905-06 and the subsequent reforms had weakened the army;   mutinies not easily forgotten; the cutting of the period of service to 3 yrs bought army into closer contact with the stresses and strains of civilian society; as officer corps became more professional, it became more determined not to be used for crushing civilian disturbances.
• Okhrana--> best secret service to this day. Destroyed morale and comradeship. Malinovsky- leading Bolshevik
• Simon Sebag Montifore argues that the Okhrana were so successful in poisoning revolutionary minds that 'thirty yrs after the fall of the tsars, the Bolsheviks were still killing each other in a witch-hunt for non-existent traitors.'