How far were divisions among its opponents responsible for the survival of Tsarist rule in the years 1881-1905? Divisions among the Tsars opponents were important to the survival of Tsarist rule. However other elements also affected it, such as the belief in the Russian Orthodox Church and the belief that the Tsar was divinely appointed, poor communication across Russia this included the large the number of different languages and nationalities and the Cossacks which stayed loyal to the Tsar. The growing political opposition to the Tsar affected the stability of the Tsarist regime. Many Russian intellectuals were rising up against the Tsar; they believed that the regime was oppressive and that European countries had more freedom and felt that many Russians lacked basic freedoms seen in other European nations.
Each group had its own ideas on what was needed for Russia and each group wanted change, however, there were many problems within the groups and none of them were willing to work with each other; mostly due to the differences in their policies and how they carried them out. The Social Revolutionaries, who were mainly concentrated on establishing a democratic government, used violent tactics such as terrorism and assassinations, the most famous being the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. However, the Liberals, who also wanted to establish some sort of democracy did not agree on using violent tactics, they preferred to discuss things in meetings and banqueting campaigns. The Liberals were the most moderate of the opposition groups and wanted to keep the Tsar, but remove autocracy and have his current power shared between a democratic government. The Social Democrats, like the other two groups, also wanted to establish some sort of democracy; however, once again, they did not agree on using violence, they preferred to use propaganda campaigns, as did the Social Revolutionaries and Liberals, but not violence.
These men were rivals and each trying to gain control of the White party. A main problem that they faced was that within them there were different groups. These were the Mensheviks, Socialists, Revolutionaries, Cadets and Officers of the old Tsarist army. The problem was that the white party faced was that these groups found it hard to come to decisions and to co-operate with each other. This meant that ordered were not issued promptly due to disagreements.
However, the populist movement developed from here, eventually splitting into two groups; the Black Partition and the People’s Will. The latter was arguably an effective form of opposition as it was responsible for the assassination of Alexander II on the 1st March 1881. Following on from this there was no alternative to the regime on offer as the group lacked any real ideology or popular support and thus the opposition was not truly effective. What followed was the rule
Divisions among the opponents of the Tsar played a large role as to the survival of Tsarist rule. He benefited from the inherent disunity of the opposition. They had different, aims, methods and ideas as of who to target. However Tsarism also survived because of how widespread it was, creating many obstacles for opposition to overcome. So many divisions and factions within the opponents all wanting different things for Russia shows responsibility for the survival of the Tsar as they were too busy against each other, than to unite against the Tsar.
Russia was still an autocratic state (the Tsar held completed political power). The reformist groups wanted to amend this so the Tsar had less power. The reformist groups also known as the radical parties all had various different ideas as to how they were going to go about reforming the country. They grew in numbers from 1881 and gained a lot of support from various different social groups. The Socialist Revolutionary Party wanted to completely abolish the Tsar’s power and give the peasants power to advance Russia.
One is because the Tsar enforced Russification of the country, meaning the people who were not necessarily a true Russian who enforced the Russian Orthodox Church were made to. People were taught about how Russia was great but not taught about the down sides and faults of Russia. The universities were shut down meaning there was less education to make people into the workers that Russia really needed. This resulted in many jobs that were needed to produce essentials had less people to do them so not enough merchandise was
This petition was a kind approach taken by the working seeking “truth, justice and protection from [the Tsar]” because they were “treated as slaves… not recognized as people…. & oppressed”. The Tsar denied their desperate and pleading approach, which soon lead to other rebellions including strikes and Bloody Sunday. There
There were many factors in the survival of Tsarist rule from 1881 – 1905. The divisions among it's opponents played a part, as it meant that Tsarist opposition had no common goals, and couldn't work together to achieve it. The October Manifesto is another factor, it split up Nicholas' opposition even further by dividing the Liberals into two groups. Pobedonostsev & his repressive policies played a large part in the Survival of Tsarist autocracy, as he was able to keep the people down, not giving them enough ground to start a successful revolution. Lastly, Russia's backward society is one of the main reasons Nicholas II survived after 1905.
The division among its opponents were both responsible and not responsible for the survival of the Tsarist rule in the years 1881 to 1905. Each party had played its part in the survival, both good and bad, whether they agreed in the aims fort supporting the Tsar or opposing against the Tsar. One of the parties to play a part in the survival were the Liberals, their aims being they wanted more power in the parliament and also wanting more political freedom. However the division between them of Octobrists and Kadets changed some of their aims, the Octobrists wanted more preservation of the Russian state while the Kadets wanted more change. Their split was due to the October Manifesto by the Tsar Nicholas II, when he said he was willing to share his political power, which to a group in the Liberals they saw as a breakthrough, becoming known as the Octobrists, believing that it would help in the constitutional development.