However, Nicholas II had no choice to create the Duma because of the 1905 revolution; so he reluctantly did so he did not completely lose his position. The Communists were a lot more willing to reform politically. Krushchev, similar to Lenin, was keen to reform politically for example decentralisation; he transferred economic planning to more local
For example this caused divide within the populists leading to the formation of the Land and Liberty (1876) and the Black Repartition and the radical terrorist group People’s Will (1879). Eventually the Social Revolutionaries formed (1901) they believed that Russia’s future lay with the peasantry and so they wanted to give peasants their own land and improve living conditions for working classes. They used tactics such as terrorism and assassinations. However, the Liberals (Octobrists and Kadets- 1905), who also wanted to establish some sort of democracy did not
Explain why Alexander II introduced further reforms after the emancipation edict of 1861 Emancipation opened many opportunities for further reforms and forced a change in the structure of the Russian society. Serfdom was abolished and the nobility could no longer control them which led to light being shed on other problems in society such as the law, industry and also the military. The most important reason for the introduction of further reforms is that they were a reasonable response to the emancipation of the serfs, but only in short term. The emancipation act gave the serfs power to control their own lives instead of being dictated by people of a higher status, such as the nobility. For this, rural councils known as the Zemstvas were set up in 1864 which offered the serfs a representative government; but they were mostly dominated by the nobility and professionals and many of them resented their loss of power over the serfs.
To the government the whole reason of the law was to guarantee land owners profits of which they had became accustomed to during the war. However opponents of the regime both inside and outside of the regime only saw the law as a class piece of legislation in which the law saved landowners from three things: cheaper foreign grain, stabilised prices and making corn more expensive for the consumer. This concept and idea was not new, a similar law 1804 had been introduced to guarantee 80 shillings a quarter. In spite of this the government had problems to face including riots, petitions and demonstrations. The main protest for this law, was the Luddism riots and machine breaking.
The areas to investigate include political, economic, social and military reforms from the Russian government in order to see if they are ‘reluctant reformers’ or not. Socially, Alexander II introduced arguably the most radical reform in 1861 by emancipating the serfs and granting peasants freedom. This is by far the reform that affected the population most widely in the period – by granting this, peasants were allowed to own themselves in body and soul and could dictate their own lives as far as they could. Class bias was reduced and education was given more widely across Russia, regardless of social standing. This certainly fights against the view that Alexander II was reluctant in his reforms on the surface – however, once investigated, the limits of emancipation are clear.
In England, the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was caused also by aristocratic frustration over the post plague era. English nobles used their power to subdue the peasant fortune through legislation. But the immediate cause to the revolt was the poll tax instated by the government. The peasants reacted and successfully fought back. To stop the madness, King Richard II accepted the peasant demands and eliminated the poll tax (Spielvogel, 280).
The November Revolution 1917 G.C.S.E Sources 1. The three points made by Lenin in April 1917 were attractive to many Russian people because the first point was that, the people wanted the war to end, as clearly Russia was losing, there was plenty of shortages, also shortages of land, and all of the disadvantages were already proven by the March Revolution so, the people and the government knew what was going to happen, so they should have ended it early. The second point was that, the land should be given to the peasants; the people were attracted to this point because, the main population of Russia was the peasants, the peasants were demanding for land in the March revolution, but they weren’t heard. As a result of this, the Peasants were grabbing land because the government didn’t give them the land they requested. The third was that the soviets should take power; the people were attracted to this point because, Lenin was a member of the soviet party, the Russian people were attracted to the soviets as they liked the points they made and also the Soviets were already popular so this means that the people were already supporting the Soviets.
The Hundred Flowers campaign and the Cultural Revolution had several benefits for Mao, in some respects they allowed for Mao to gage the feeling of the country and try to reconnect the party with the people to prevent bureaucracy. Another possible advantage could’ve been the advancement of agricultural and industrial policies given the right outcome. However to ignore the idea that the Cultural Revolution didn’t help Mao consolidate his political control would be foolhardy as both campaigns helped Mao both expose and purge political opponents from within the CCP and from Chinese society as a whole. One point that suggests that the Hundred Flowers campaign was carried out for reasons other than consolidating political control is the idea suggested by Mao's personal physician Li Zhisui which stipulates that Mao hoped that Chinese society would make criticisms of the soviet inspired 5 year plans and that Mao could use this as evidence of popular support to advance his own style industrial and agricultural plans. It is suggested that only after this had failed and criticism began to stack up against the policies of the CCP that Mao decided to begin his anti-rightist campaigns as some form of damage control to lessen the disastrous impact that the hundred flowers campaign had taken on the CCP by 1957.
Lastly, was the Social Revolutionaries, these were the most radical and whose support came from the peasants. They wanted to take the land from the Rich and distribute amongst the peasants. A consequence of the differences in the opposition was that they couldn’t agree on what ways to overthrow the Tsar , the social revolutionaries used terrorism and violence whereas liberals only wanted minor changes therefore such extremes were not needed. As a result the Tsar was able to continue his reign whilst the opposition continued to disagree on the future of Russia.
Many Communists saw the NEP as a retreat from Communist Ideology. It was seen as a promotion of private ownership, trade and profit, as well as being responsible for the rise in new “petty bourgeoisie” classes such as NEP men and Kulaks. It was seen as a policy that promoted the interests of the peasantry, a group that were seen as generally capitalist and potentially threatening to the pace of revolution. Thus a policy of increased state control of industry and commerce would rid the state of these contradictory classes. It would push Russia further onwards in terms of a state free from private trade and ownership.