Russian History Gulf Coast Community College Fall Part 2, Class 4

Russian History Gulf Coast Community College Class 4 Fall
From Catherine 1st to Nicholas 2nd
The People – Their Causes
Instructor
Joe Boisvert GCCC Encore

Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883)
Was a German[1] philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism.
Marx summarized his approach in the first line of the first chapter of The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”

Marx

Nicholas 1st(1825–1855)
The result was the Decembrist Revolt (December 1825), the work of a small circle of liberal nobles and army officers who wanted to install Nicholas' brother as a constitutional monarch.
But the revolt was easily crushed, leading Nicholas to turn away from the Westernization program begun by Peter the Great and champion the doctrine "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality."[83]

Ideological Schisms and Reactions
In this setting Michael Bakunin would emerge as the father of anarchism.
(1842 time marker)
Imprisoned and shipped
to Siberia, but eventually
escaped and made his way
back to Europe.
There he
practically joined forces

with Karl Marx

Emancipation of Serfs
When Alexander II came to the throne in 1855, desire for reform was widespread.
A growing humanitarian movement, which in later years has been likened to that of the abolitionists in the United States before the American Civil War, attacked serfdom.
In 1859, there were 23 million serfs (total population of Russia 67.1 Million)[

(ЧтениеПоложения 19 февраля 1861 года). - Reading of the manifesto of February 19, 1861 (on abolition of serfdom in Russia)

The emancipation of the serfs in 1861 was the single most important event in 19th century Russian history. It was the
beginning of the end for the landed aristocracy's monopoly of power.
Alexander 2nd Freed the Serfs like Abraham Lincoln freed the Saves

Although serfdom was abolished, since its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants, revolutionary tensions were not abated, despite Alexander II's intentions.
Revolution was still on the minds of common people

Serfs of Asian Origins

Trotsky’s Original Mission was to the Workers 1897 Not to the Overthrow of the Government

Old Photo Russian Peasants (Serfs)

VasilyPolenov (Russian, 1844-1927) The Crippled Serf (c. 1878) Oil on canvas.

Serfs Worked in all Areas Requiring Labor, in the Fields, Households, Army, Manufacturing, etc.

Typical “Serf” Family – Turn of the 20th Century – Peasants??

EducationThe German Colonies on the Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century, schools arose in the first year the colonists arrived on the Volga.
I, Jacob Miller, as the second to the oldest son of my parents, Johannes Peter and Elisabeth Miller, was born on the 2nd day of July, 1871, in the colony of Norka, State Saratov, Russia, a colony of about 11,000 people at that time.

My father was a well-to-do farmer and was able to give his children an education. There were three large school houses in this colony in which was taught mostly religion and reading, writing and arithmetic.

Schooling was not Universal
The teachers were all German teachers. Only about 75 children, all boys, had a separate schoolroom and were taught history and geography,
in the Russian language, and grammar in both German and Russian.
I and my four brothers were privileged to attend this school. The rest of the children did not know anything about the outside world, only what someone had told them.

The German schools made it compulsory to start classes at the age of six and they were permitted to leave at the age of fifteen. (1861)

German School in Volga Region Mid 19th Century Example

Before serfdom was abolished by the reform act of 1861, peasants had belonged to a landlord.

End of the 19th
Century
Rose – Russians
Rouge – Lithuanians
Orange – Polish
Grey – Finnish
Yellow – Mongols, Muslims

Autocracy and reaction under Alexander III
Unlike his father, the new tsar Alexander III (1881–1894) was throughout his reign a staunch reactionary who revived the maxim of "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and National Character".
Alexander III believed that Russia could be saved from chaos only by shutting itself off from the subversive influences of Western Europe

Population of Russian and Soviet Union in Millions