How far did Witte improve and modernise the Russian economy? Witte was a major influence in the improvement and modernisation of the Russian economy. Prior to the ‘Witte system’, Russia lacked in key factors required for rapid industrialisation, which would be the starting point of economic growth. Russia had a very little business class with vast numbers of peasants whom did not have complete freedom, which limited their migration. Also they didn’t have the significant funds to invest in an industrial revolution.
This was done by improving law and order, introducing a Parliament or Duma and improving the socio-economic conditions of the peasants and the workers. Some of these brought stability to the Tsarist regime pre 1914 such as the 3rd and 4th Dumas but others did not bring much stability and some were not stable at all. Law and Order did bring stability to the Tsarist Regime as Stolypin established filed court Martials in the countryside. As a result, 1144 died from the months of October 1906 to May 1907. He also introduced a system where there were quick military trials for suspected terrorists and if they were part of a group that were planning a rebellion.
To achieve self- sufficiency: • Stalin wanted to make the USSR less dependent – especially on Western manufactured goods. • It was important that the USSR had a strong industrial base to produce the goods people needed. • He wanted to make Russia more self-sufficient and less dependent. To increase grain supplies: • Stalin wanted to end the dependence of the economy on a backward agricultural system – he did not want the new socialist state to depend on the peasantry for agricultural supplies. To move towards a socialist society: • According to Marxist theory, socialism could only be created in a society where the majority of the population were workers – but in 1928, only 20% were workers in the USSR.
Including the local communities and peasants into many aspects of Russia had some positive impacts on both the government and society. However, although the Zemstva had some arguably important impacts on imperial Russia, many of these were short term. There were practical impacts that developed from the creation of the Zemstva. The Russian famine of 1891 built up after a year of poor weather conditions leading to failure of crops and therefore the main food source for animals used for ploughing, making this an impossible situation for peasants as they were reliant on the animals and crops for their income. The rebuilding of the local areas was a job for the Zemstva, however, none of the peasants ‘knew what was meant by the Zemstvo’ yet ‘the Zemstvo was blamed for everything- for the arrears, and for the oppressions, and for the failure of the crops’.
This was why it was crucial for Lenin to show strong leadership which he did. However, I don’t think that the October/November revolution would have taken place without other factors which contributed to it. Lenin was a key factor in the revolution. His return to Russia in April 1917 was a key reason that the Bolsheviks succeeded. He issued his famous April Thesis, which had his promise of ‘Peace, Land and Bread’ which was cleverly aimed at the majority of Russia (peasants wanted land, everyone wanted peace and there was a bread shortage which made problems for most people).
How Successful was Alexander II’s emancipation of the Serfs? In 1861, the Russian Tsar Alexander II emancipated the Serfs. He felt that this change was necessary to lead Russia to become one of the major powers and remove Russia’s tag of being a very backward country. Overall, the Emancipation of the serfs was to a very large extent not successful, however there were some improvements in Russian society, most notably economically and morally. One of the key reasons Alexander II emancipated the Serfs was due to the fact that he wanted to improve the economy, which was struggling.
A high level of rebellion from the Peasants was during the summer of 1917 under the Provisional Government in which the Peasants started taking over the land from their nobles due to the fact that peasant land seizures occurred. The peasants didn’t fear Kerensky. On the other hand Khrushchev was respected by the peasants especially when de-Stalinisation began providing the Peasants, once again, with legal fairness as well as improving their general living standards. From the scale of terror used under each Russian leader it is clear that the communists were more effective and violent towards the Russian people. The Tsars took minimal amount of action towards opposition compared to the constant threat that was present from the Communist leaders.
He raised the taxes of peasants. The reason for this action was simply because the majority of the population were peasants (82%) and they were not contributing anything to the economy. This was one of the reasons why Russia was economically behind from the rest of Europe. This was a problem for the peasants as they were very poor, and most were unable to pay off the debts they had already owned when they had emancipated. Therefore, paying higher taxes was another struggle for the peasants and their lives had just got harder.
Russian Government And Society History Essay In the hundred year period of 1856 to 1964, Russia had a number of leaders that sought to steer the empire/nation towards a different direction. In assessing the significance of the leaders, it is important to look at what leaders that sought to reform actually managed to achieve and compare their long term effects. Tsar Alexander II is credited for embarking on a series of reforms that laid foundations for governmental and social developments. From 1856, with Alexander II’s announcement of the need for ‘reform from above’, change was on the agenda. Serfdom was abolished in 1861.
A byproduct of this original lack of labor would be each colony’s relationship with the Native Americans. The Southern colonies had a rocky relationship with the Native Americans due to the lack of knowledge of agriculture. This would not have been as big of a problem if they had brought people other than gentlemen and servants. Due to this lack of knowledge, the Southern colonies began to trade with Native Americans in order to gain food in exchange for some of the goods exclusive to the Englishmen. This worked well at first, but as winter came and food became more scarce, the natives were not as willing to part with their food.