opposition to nicholas ii

opposition to nicholas ii

- opposition to the tsar arose partly in the form of political groups which had started to form, albeit illegally, during the rule of alexander iii. they were tolerated as long as they acted within the bounds of the law. in 1905, nicholas ii made political parties legal in the hope that they would continue to act responsibly. the groups that arose are usually categorised as liberals, populists and marxists. 

liberals

- by 1894 liberal 'westernisers' (as opposed to slavophiles) continued to demand that russia should be governed in a similar way to western european democracies such as britain. liberal ideas were supported by the emergence of the zemstva and the mid-1890's revival of the concept of a zemstvo union. in 1904 pyotr struve founded the union of liberation, which demanded greater freedoms and justice for all russians. in particular, the union wanted fairer and more land distribution for peasants, a representative constituent assembly, and improved conditions for industrial workers. 

kadets and octobrists

- after the so-called revolution of 1905, the clamour for a constitutional monarchy gathered pace with the formation of the constitutional democrats (kadets). led by paul milyukov , this was the intellectual arm of the liberal movement, and went on to play a very important role as opposition within the first duma. a more moderate liberal group emerged at this time, called the octobrists. these were individuals, such as alexander guchkov and mikhail rodzianko, who displayed loyalty to the tsar, but who wanted changes to the system of government. the octobrists, in particular, supported nicholas ii's october manifesto and were therefore more maligned by more revolutionary organisations. 

populists

- the populists were revolutionaries, operating in the 1870's, who believed that agricultural communes and co-operative workshops would provide a base for the russian economy to develop without resorting to capitalism. the socialist reviolutionaries (sr's) of the early twentieth century emerged from the populist movement. 

the socialist revolutionaries

- the socialist revolutionaries continued to focus on improving the living conditions of the poorest people in society, including the growing urban proletariat. the socialist revolutionary party was formed in 1901, led by the intellectual victor chernov. by 1905 the group had split into the more radical left wing sr's and the moderate right wing sr's. the left employed direct action; from 1901 to 1905 they were responsible for about 2000 political killings, including those of grand duke sergei and vyacheslav plehve. the right worked with other parties and groups, gathering support and momentum after the 1905 revolution. the right appealed to peasants, whereas the left focused on the plight of industrial workers. despite the divisions, the sr's had the most support and were the biggest threat to tsarist rule before the october 1917 revolution.

marxists

- another revolutionary group, the social democrats (sd's), emerged at the same time as the sr's. the sd's based their ideology on the writings of karl marx, believing that the proletariat could be 'educated' to overthrow russian autocracy by way of a revolution.

the social democrats

- in 1898 the all-russian social democratic workers' party was founded in minsk. the group was influenced by an interpretation of karl marx's work made by george plekhanov, who emphasised the need to encourage working-class consciousness. - however, since few workers had the time or inclination to engage with marxist theory, some sd supporters (labelled mensheviks) focused on improving pay and lowering working hours. - by 1903 there were signs of division between the mensheviks and an opposing faction, the bolsheviks. the latter argued that workers were capable of being sufficiently politically educated to create a revolution.