Prince Baryatinsky, a close friend of Czar Alexander II, urged strengthening private ownership by legislative methods and thus "kill the unborn child of communism". In 1883, the Czar's government opened a Peasants' bank. It was to issue credits to independent farmers, who would like to start their own farms out of community boundaries. The bank was to be helpful to the empire in shaping a social class of small owners, which serves as a source of economical well-being and civil stability . Another goal was to prevent stratification of the peasantry, migration of the poorest peasants to the cities, thus prevent ing"the proletarian plague". Over a hundred years ago, Russia has already faced the need for urgent development of industry to avoid further dependency on European countries. Russian nobles, even the poor ones, were ashamed of engagement into business activity. Russian peasants, even the smart ones, usually did not manage to start their own business. This situation lasted till the end of the last century, and it obviously hampered the development of industry and national economy. Europe developed its industry using capital accumulated in agriculture. Russia did not want to accept capitalism, and that pushed it further and further behind. After the 1861 abolition of serfdom (Czar Alexander III set the peasants free having said his famous words, "I'd rather liberate them from the top, then wait until they liberate themselves from the bottom"), forty years got lost for normal development. Violent conservation of peasants' community did not create a social class of farmers interested in market economy, law, and order. Meanwhile, industry was growing, and workers were even more poor and unprotected than peasants.
Bloody Sunday
Czar Nicholas II, fated to be the last czar, began his reign by marrying Alexandra, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Nicholas, a weak and superstitious man, held a paranoid and deep dislike for the intelligentsia and politicians. Proletarian organizations continued to gather. The Social Democratic Labor Party was founded in 1898. In 1903, the Labor Party Congress split into two factions: the Mensheviks, led by Martov, and the Bolsheviks, headed by Lenin. Two years later Nicholas presided over Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. The increasing Russian presence in the far east provoked the hostility of Japan. In January of 1905, the Japanese attacked, and Russia experienced a series of defeats that dissolved the tenuous support held by Nicholas' already unpopular government. Nicholas was forced to grant concessions to the reformers, including most notably a constitution and a parliament, or Duma. The power of the reform movement was founded on a new and powerful force entered Russian politics. The industrialization of the major western cities and the development of the Batu oil fields had brought together large concentrations of Russian workers, and they soon began to organize into local political councils, or soviets. It was in large part the power of the soviets, united under the Social Democratic party, that had forced Nicholas to accept reforms in 1905. In the same year, 1905, Russia's first revolution received a bloody baptism. On Jan. 9, a huge procession of dissatisfied workers, headed by Father Capon, marched into Palace Square. By carrying icons and chanting "God save the Czar," the protesters hoped to get Nicholas's attention. In the czar's absence, the director of the police department commanded his men to open fire on the group. Hundreds were massacred. This watershed event is remembered as Bloody Sunday. The worst situation was in regions along Volga river. Petr Stolypin was one of those who led the repression, as a Governor of Saratov Province. Later on he became a Minister Of Internal Affairs in the Imperial government. However, during the Revolution, Stolypin pointed at worthless of struggle against the effect instead of liquidating the cause. "A wild hungry village that does not respect one's property, and is not afraid of any liability while acting altogether will always be a flammable material ready for fire any time."
On the Edge of Revolution
The State Duma
A tide of strikes and protests ensued, and the czar was forced to establish a limited consultative parliament called the State Duma. The Soviet of Workers and Soldiers became the organ of the proletariat. To gain some control, Nicholas appointed Stolypin his prime minister.After the war with Japan was brought to a close, Nicholas attempted to reverse the new freedoms, and his government became more reactionary than ever. Popular discontent gained strength, and Nicholas countered it with increased repression, maintaining control but worsening relations with the population.
Petr Stolypin
While being a prime minister Stolypin delivered a speech to Duma saying, "The government prefers to see the peasant rich and prosperous. Because well-being means education and, surely, real freedom. That is why we need to give the hardworking farmer - the essence of Russian land - the opportunity to be free from the chains of his hard living conditions. Let him use the results of his labor and make them his own property". Stolypin consolidated government power and proved ruthless in suppressing any further revolutionary activities. During 1907-09, at least 2,000 people were executed. Stolypin himself was shot to death in the Kirov Theater in 1911. One of Stolypin's prposals would, in essence, destroy the community forcefully, and make all farms individually owned. As the future Minister of Agriculture Krivoshein noticed, "The edict ... gives up a wonderful and unreal dream of community where everybody is satisfied and happy. It supposes that those who can not work on the land will not do so. Every peace of land should be given to those who can do their best and produce maximum production." The reasons for the reform (named Stopypin's) was unquestionable. The disadvantage of the project was in time and money. It required more time and more funding than the treasury could not afford. Stolypin was aware of the potential for a revolution and tried to force his reforms into being. Each community was ordered to give strips of land to everyone who wanted to get one once a year. That caused to constant re-distribution of land for those who stayed in the community. The effect led to animosity between community peasants and private owners. The Peasants' bank issued about 1.5 billion rubles worth credits to farmers in 1906-1913 (the whole Budget of Russia in 1911 was about 3 billion rubles). Loans were granted for 50 years, and the sum was supposed to triple by the end of the term. The biggest part of bank's stock was bought by state, and that was getting more and more difficult for treasury. The wealth of Russian villages was constantly growing, not so fast as some post-soviet analysts want to make it look, but it did grow. Starting in 1907, peasants stopped making bail payments to their former masters. In addition, world price of wheat was up, the speculators made fortunes, and the peasants got their share. They got extra money to buy more land and machinery. Peasants began to invest money in loan cooperation funds. The harvests happened to be plentiful in 1909, 1910, 1912, 1913. A few months before his assassination Stolypin said that Russia could live on "his fat" for five more years. He foresaw a new revolution, and guessed the time almost right.
Rasputin
The notorious Rasputin, brought into the court to heal the Imperial Family's hemophiliac son, had a strong influence over Nicholas and Alexandra and practically ran the country for a few years, until his death in 1916.
THE REVOLUTION
In 1912, the Social Democrats split into two camps--the radical Bolsheviks and the comparatively moderate Menshiviks. In 1914, another disastrous war once again brought on a crisis. If the Russo-Japanese war had been costly and unpopular, it was at least remote. The First World War, however, took place right on Russia's western doorstep. Unprepared militarily or industrially, the country suffered demoralizing defeats, suffered severe food shortages, and soon suffered an economic collapse. By February of 1917, the workers and soldiers had had enough. Riots broke out in St. Petersburg, then called Petrograd, and the garrison there mutinied. Workers soviets were set up, and the Duma approved the establishment of a Provisional Government to attempt to restore order in the capital. It was soon clear that Nicholas possessed no support, and on March 2 he abdicated the throne in favor of his brother Michael. No fool, Michael renounced his claim the next day. A provisional government led by Kerensky was established. After 10 years of forced exile abroad, Lenin returned by train to Petrograd and planned the Bolshevik takeover. On Oct. 24, 1917, Lenin gave the command from the Smolny Institute, headquarters of the Red Guard, for the start of the October Revolution. The battleship Aurora sailed up the Neva and fired a blank shot near the Hermitage that signaled the famous beginning of what American writer John Reed termed "the ten days that shook the world." Red Army troops stormed the Winter Palace, and the Bolsheviks took control of the new Soviet state. In 1918, Nicholas and his family were executed in the Ural town of Sverdlovsk; that same year, Lenin moved the capital of the Soviet Union to Moscow.
Bruce R. Schulman