He pursued a policy of what has been called ‘counter reform’. Counter-reform was partly a reaction to the murder of Alexander II, but Alexander III also believed that his fathers ‘Great Reforms’ had been a mistake, weakening Tsarism and leaving it vulnerable and insecure. He introduced political repression of opponents, counter-reform, increased central control, financial reform and the policy of Russification as the core stone of his reign. His policy was to undo the reforms as far as possible. In many respects, there is no doubt that Alexander III was the most effective Tsar in such the short reign that he had.
This shows that Alexander was ready to liberate Russia because even though it was risky, it helped to start the liberalisation process because it enabled ex-serfs to work in factories which would help boost the economy, let the gentry to earn their own money and would help advances in industry which in turn help Russia to compete with the western world. However the aftermath of this manifesto was a lot more negative than first appears. Although Alexander helped to abolish Serfdom there were a lot of negatives
However after Karakazov attempts to assassinate the Tsar in 1866, he becomes much more autocratic, revealing that he had no intention of significantly developing politics, his use of the Zemstvas were in fact to help sustain autocracy, through making local administration more efficient. It can be suggested from this that Alexander II had put the Zemstva Act in place to appease the nobles angered by the Emancipation Act. Alexander III was much more of a successful autocrat. His reactionary attitude led to the reversal of many of his father’s liberal reforms, and was in some cases angered by them. Alexander III re-implements Tsarist form, through the use of repression and terror.
The generally chaotic nature of the Empire following Alexander II’s death was suggestive of the need for strong leadership to stabilise the country. Alexander III made a series of conservative adjustments to his father’s reforms through his stern, authoritarian policies between 1881 and 1894. Radical changes to local government took place through the introduction of Land Captains in 1889, which had total authority in local administration and could override the authority of the zemstva. The introduction of Land Captains strengthened the autocracy and the position of the nobility in the countryside, giving peasants less freedom, contradicting the reforms in which Alexander II put in place. The increase of central control through the introduction of Land Captains establishes his power rather than benefiting the people of Russia, therefore making Alexander III a reactionary.
Lenin’s real opinion of Stalin was highly negative. He was so concerned about Stalin becoming leader that he made a plea in his testament to do anything to stop this. ‘I suggest that the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing another man in his stead.’ As well as his view to not see him as leader, Lenin described Stalin as ‘rude’, but more importantly, favored Trotsky to be his successor in the testament, stating that he was ‘most capable’ individual to lead Russia. If it wasn’t for Stalin using his role as secretary of state to keep this document hidden, these opinions of Lenin would have influenced the public hugely, as his death alone attracted millions of people to pay their respects. Stalin not only stopped a negative opinion of him costing leadership, but he completely turned that opinion upside down, persuading the public that he was very close to the much loved Lenin.
The term “reaction” refers to the idea of opposition to the ideals of reform; it refers to the idea of a backwards change, usually a change towards more traditional views and in the case of Alexander III it can be argued to whether his reign was completely reactionary or reformist or to whether only some parts where. When Alexander III took the position of Tsar from his father in 1881; his father Alexander II had started to reform the country of Russia both politically and socially through policies such as the Zemstva Reform in 1864 and the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 but this during Alexander III’s reign this all began to change, which is why his reign is famously known as “The reaction”. When Alexander first became Tsar in 1881 he announced that he wanted autocracy to be upheld and that any proposal of a constitutional government would be rejected; Alexander III appeared to be asserting his power of the country to stabilise it after the assignation of his father. Alexander III made it clear that he was to reverse his father’s reforms; he reversed the zemstva reform which had enabled Russia to have their first elective government, he decreased the power they held in 1890 by placing them under the disciplinary control of the ministry of the interior whilst also decreasing the peasant representation in the court. The 1890 Zemstva Act showed Alexander III as a reactionary by reducing the power people had and upholding the idea of autocracy.
An economic crisis was happening in agriculture and Industry. The Nazi’s under Hitler’s guidance began to claim support from an unlikely source in 1927. The farmers. The SPD has scrapped the policy of protection that had banned the cheap imports of foreign food. While this policy had stood the German farmers were gaining a profit and making a decent living for they were able to sell their produce as it was the best and most locally available to the people.
Lenin was aware that it was the Provisional Government’s unwillingness or inability to act on questions of land and peace that contributed to its unpopularity and allowed the Bolsheviks to take power so easily in October. Lenin’s response to this is represented within the quote by Russian historian Dmitri Olkogonov: “The Russian revolutionaries, including Lenin, rightly exposed the age-old evils of human existence, the exploitation, inequality, lack of freedom”. In response to his Decree on Peace, Lenin created the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that saw the Bolsheviks lose land but ultimately solve external issues with Germany and allowed Lenin to focus all of his efforts on Russia. By acting in ways that the people had demanded from the opposing
During Alexander III reign he was seen to be a reactionary, unlike his father Alexander II who was known as a reformer. Despite their different policies, they had the same ambitions inside their head, and that was to strengthen Autocracy in the Russian empire. However Alexander III did this by reversing what his father had done as he felt he knew better ways of dealing with the situation and strengthening the Tsarist position. One of the many reforms by Alexander II was emancipation of the serfs. The serfs were approximately 85% of the russian population.
In particular, he released the serfs, which is generally seen as one of the most significant social reforms of the nineteenth century. Yet, the fundamental inconsistency between Alexander II's commitment to autocracy and his moves towards liberal reform isolated him from both reformers and conservatives. The growth of radical political opposition during his reign, was arguably given momentum by the liberal reforms he made which still left some radical groups pushing for revolution and eventually led to his assassination by terrorist of 'The People's Will' group in 1881. A great obstacle was that compared to Western Europe, Russia was backward economically, socially and politically in the late 19th Century. Russia was determined to not set up a new system by which the government were modernized and autocratic in which this stopped Russia from industrialising.