All Power to The Soviet

The history of a "Soviet" in Russia has extensive roots.  The word itself is  in reference to a "council" and the term became widely used in the lead up to the 1905 Revolution.  The Soviets were primarily founded in major cities where industry was prevalent due to the amount of disgruntled workers.  Workers would typically elect representatives to these Soviets and the would, in turn, advocate on the behalf of the industrial proletariat.  There was a number of parties from which representatives were elected from.  Just to name a few: the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and the Socialist Revolutionaries.  The Bolsheviks sought a violent revolution led completely by the proletariat while the Mensheviks sought the involvement of the bourgeois in such a revolution.  The Socialist Revolutionaries continued the populist legacy by continuing to advocate for the peasant population of Russia.  Initially, the Mensheviks maintained the majority favor among the industrial proletariat, however, the Bolsheviks would overtake them and lead Russia's final chapter of socialist revolution.

The most influential Soviet was probably in St. Petersburg and it was also one of the first Soviets to form.  The Soviets were repressed to a degree until the complete abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917.  The duma sensed that total political collapse was on the horizon and quickly established a democratic "Provisional Government" just days before the Tsar's abdication.  Although the new government had many democratic and liberal policies, the Soviet emerged as its primary political rival due a disagreement over Russia's continued involvement in WWI.  Much of the Russian population fiercely opposed Russia's involvement in WWI because of its dire drain on the economy.  The Soviet, on behalf of the people, urged Russia's immediate exit from the war while the Provisional Government sought to remain in the war.  In fairness, the new government was in a very difficult situation.  Britain and France urged Russia to stay in the war and the Central Powers were still all ruled by monarchs.  If the entente were to lose the war, it could result in dire consequences for the newly established government.  However, resistance from the Soviet resulted in a stand still, resulting in political inertia.

Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, was able to effectively gain majority support of the masses by urging his party and all its supporters to completely withdraw support for the new government.  At the same time, workers took control factories, peasants took control over land, and national minorities broke away from their central powers, declaring their autonomy.  Bolshevik support of these mass movements actually drove the people to push the Bolsheviks into taking power.  "All power to the Soviets" was the slogan that fueled Lenin into fully supporting the proletariat and he eventually come to form the Soviet Union.

Petrograd Soviet meeting in 1917.

St. Petersburg Soviet members exiled to Siberia.

Antisemitism in the Turn of the Century

Antisemitism in Russia has roots that stretch far back into its history.  It is evident that the turbulence of the late 19th and early 20th century resulted in the scapegoating of Jewish populations.  The assassination of Alexander II in 1881 resulted in a significant amount of unrest throughout the country, including violent pogroms directed at the Jews.  In these particular incidents it is estimated that some 200 villages were attacked, 40 were killed, and hundreds of women were raped.  It is speculated that the misdirected rage was instigated by the government in an attempt to deflect national attention from the government.  In any case, Alexander III (who was antisemitic himself) actually took measures to stop the unrest as a means of cracking down on an unruly population.  The next and much more devastating pogrom took place on October 18, 1905, a day after the the October Manifesto had been signed.  Over a two week period 690 pogroms occurred, 876 people were killed, 70,000-80,000 were injured, and Jews lost over one million rubles in property.  It is speculated that a number of people who had enjoyed the monarch's position before the signing of the October Manifesto feared declining status.  Many Jews were apart of the populations turning against Russia's government at the time.  The Jewish position in Russia is not much different from how Jews have always been perceived in Europe: the outsiders.  They will always be recognized as being Jewish before being recognized as a fellow citizen.  This level of xenophobia allows groups that have perceived some sort of wrong-doing against them to easily vent their anger on the "others."  

Stolypin: The Tsar's Hail Mary Pass

The Revolution of 1905 came to a stand still with an attempted violent overthrow led by the Bolsheviks.  This overthrow was ultimately unsuccessful and the government assumed the offensive and responded to the possibility of future sedition with terror.  Although these methods were effective  they did not go back on the promises made in the October Manifesto.  The people responded by electing parties to the duma that would not be necessarily cooperative with the tsarist government.  Subsequently, The Fundamental Laws of 1906 ensured that the tsar could retain his own cabinet and veto legislative measures, along with other executive powers.  The relationship between the duma and the state quickly deteriorated and eventually resulted in the dissolving of the second duma.  A conservative by the name of Pyotr Stolypin was declared Prime Minister by Nicholas II.  Stolypin sought to give the peasant class a stake in society.  He believed that this most doable by eliminating the collectively owned mir and declare private land ownership among the peasants.  He felt that this would dissuade tensions within the peasant class, empower the monarch, and re-invigorate the economy.  His ambitious reform would prove to be largely ineffective with a lackluster amount of peasants abiding by the program and resulted in an only poorer outlook on the current government.  


https://prezi.com/mh0r_kd2fzfg/the-stolypin-agrarian-reform/
November 9, 1906, Stolypin speaks on land reform

Sources:

Ascher, Abraham. Russia: A Short History. (Oxford:One World). 147-150.

1905: The Liberal Revolution

Growing resentment of the government resulted in banquets where liberal revolutionaries would openly discuss their discontent with the government.  Although these meetings were illegal they were permitted by the government with the understanding that the meetings were "private."  On January 9, 1905, a group of fifty to one hundred thousand protesters gathered for a peaceful march at the Winter Palace.  For reasons unknown government officers, after being disobeyed by protesters to disperse, fired indiscriminately into the crowd and killed 130 people while wounding approximately 300.  Known as "Bloody Sunday," this event would accelerate the revolution and expand the demographics of people disgruntled with the government.  For the first few months of the new and inspired revolution fueled by 'Bloody Sunday', many of the worker movements were not politicized.  By the summer of that same year many of the movements became politicized.  In October of that year the October Manifesto would be passed by the tsar in which the tsar conceded power by empowering an elected legislative body called the duma.  A period known as 'The Days of Liberty' directly followed the October Manifesto.  Political parties could be formed, the press was free to print whatever it pleased, and workers could form trade unions.  This period of bliss would be quickly extinguished with another wave violent pogroms against the Jews.

        

Bringing in the New Century Wrong: Pacific Woes

On January 26, 1904, Japan declared war on Russia as a result of disputed territory in Korea and Manchuria.  For the past 40 years Japan had been an emerging power in the Pacific due a spur of hyper-industrialization.  Japan grew to the point where Russia invited a conflict with them as a means solidifying grasp in the regions mentioned above.  The Russians were subsequently embarrassed and suffered defeat at the hands of Japanese.  This conflict only depend the public's grievances against the government and fueled the liberal led revolution at hand.  

Industrialized Russia-An Ideological Shift

The industrialization of Russia can be traced back to the reforms of Alexander II in 1860.  It was clear to him the Russia's current agrarian economy was bogging the nation down both politically and economically.  Russia had suffered an embarrassing defeat in the Crimean War because their military was not on par with the other belligerents.
Alexander II set Russia down the path of industrialism that would be continued well into the 20th century.  Understanding that Russia's economy was sluggish, Alexander initiated the building of railroads which allowed farmers to ship their crop further, a much needed boost in the economy.  The expansion of the railway system breathed life into the coal, iron, and steel industries, therefore, increasing the number of factories in major cities and the number of industrial workers.  In the early 1860s, Russia had about 1,200 miles of railroad track.  By the 1880, there was 15,500 miles of track.  Although Alexander III introduced a significant amount of counter-reform that reversed much of his father's policy, Alexander III continued to pursue Russia's industrialization process by further expanding the railway system and under the Minister of Finance, S.I.u Witte, the Trans-Siberian Railway was initiated while the metallurgy and textile industries also experienced a significant boost (by 1899 the state purchased one-third of all metallurgical products and by 1894 72 percent of workers in the textile industry were employed in factories with a minimum of one hundred workers).  It is important to note, however, that by the onset of the 20th century only 2.4 percent of Russian population was employed in factories yet there was a growing movement for the advocacy of worker's rights.  The government did virtually nothing about the poor conditions under which industrial laborers worked and by 1905 failed to acknowledge that there was even a growing problem regarding worker's rights.  This was fertile ground for the democratic movements that would arise with the onset of the 20th century (with influence from the populists).  The new democratic movements, however, focused more on the growing (but still very small) bourgeois that was heavily concentrated in Russia's major cities.  Although they still advocated a violent revolution, the new democrats shifted their focus from encouraging the proletariat to revolt to the bourgeois, the opposite of their populist forefathers.

The Liberalization of Russia-Take 3: Conservatism Strikes Back

On March 1, 1881, after two unsuccessful assassination attempts Tsar Alexander II was finally assassinated by way of bombs being thrown into his carriage.  The day he was attacked happened to be the eve of the signing of Russia's first constitution.  His son, Alexander III, would not take the actions of the assassins lightly.  He reversed many of his father's reforms by strengthening the government and reverting back to many of the harsh autocratic practices that had preceded him.  Through his enactment of a statute that gave the authority to local officials to enact martial law arbitrarily, the reformation of zemstvos (he cut back on their influence and power, especially the already limited representation of the peasants), and harsh limitation of peasant freedoms Alexander III did all of the things that the populists opposed.  Although they were disgruntled with Alexander II their qualms could be voiced without threat of imprisonment or exile.  It seems as though the revolutionary strategy was counter-intuitive to Russian reform.  However, the democrats would come upon a great deal of luck with Alexander III's successor, Nicholas II.  It is important to note that Alexander III took steps to shield the Jewish populations from the violent pogroms that occurred a s result of his father's death, in-spite of his personal anti-Semitism.  His rationale was that if the masses saw that violent unrest would go unpunished by the state, what was to keep the people from moving against the government? It is important to note that Alexander III did carry on the industrialization process in Russia that had been initiated by his father.  Although the autocrat believed that liberal and democratic reform would lead to the weakening of Russia, it was no secret that Russia needed to industrialize in order to remain among the world's top powers.  In a way, Alexander III set a precedent for the looming Bolsheviks that would eventually seize power in 1917.  Industrialization and submission to state were two fundamental similarities between Alexander III and the eventual communist regime.  Alexander sought to impose direct government control the economy as well.  With the onset of the 20th century, Russia was one of the leading industrial powers in the world and with this sudden shift from an agrarian to an industrial economy, much of Russia's population moved to the cities in order to work in factories.  This is one factor that can account for the ideological shift in the social democratic movement from the peasant farmer to the urban worker.  The onset of industrialization shifted the battleground for power from the alienated farmer to the over-burdened factory worker.
          

The Liberalization of Russia-Take 2: Battle for the Mind of the Peasant

The newly emancipated peasant attracted the attention of many intellectuals that began to emerge in 19th century Russia.  Although the reforms of Alexander II were claimed to apart of an effort to socially modernize Russia, it was evident that the wealthy dvorianstvo were the mantlepiece of an evolving Russian state.  While it is true that the peasant population (the vast majority of the Russian population) was bearing the brunt of concession to the nobility, middle class Russians had (or at least they felt they had) a significant grievance against the tsar as well.  The middle class was still underrepresented in the zemstvo and many socio-political movements gained traction as a result of heightening class tension.  One such movement was the populist movement.  The narodniki (populists) believed that the true potential for revolution lay with the downtrodden peasant population.  Over the next decade or so, the populist movement made attempts to incite the peasant population into revolt against the Tsar.  In 1866, the narodniki initiated the "Go-to-the-People" movement in which educated members of society would travel to rural areas in an attempt to to turn the minds of the peasant against the tsar.  This attempt was somewhat ineffective in its beginnings as the peasants responded to the movement with hostility and viewed the narodniki as interlopers.  By 1879, two groups -The Black Partition (peaceful resistance against the government) and the People's Will (violent resistance)- had found some success in infiltrating the rural areas of Russia and inciting sedition against the tsar.

Notable Populists:

Nikolay Chernyshevsky (1828-1889)- Russian revolutionary democrat that supported overthrow of the govenrment by the peasant class,  He believed that Russian economy and politics should revolve around the concept of the mir- the old peasant commune.  Author of What is to be Done?

Mikhail Bakunin(1814-1876)- A radical thinker that promoted anarchism on the basis that anyone in power (regardless of class, status, and wealth) would eventually lead an oppressive state solely based on the nature of ruling.  He opposed democracy because he believed that the bourgeoisie would come to rule in any and every scenario.

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1870/on-elections.htm

Alexander Herzen(1812-1870)- Author of the Polyarnaya Zvyezda (or Polar Star), and the Kolokol (The Bell).  Herzen was an ardent supporter of personal freedoms (especially for peasants) and heavily lobbied for the abolition of serfdom.  Although he rejected the notion of state rule and sought self-rule for the people of Russia he initially had faith in the liberal movement (which was despised by the radical Marxist movement under the notion that the liberals would establish a bourgeois democracy) and did not side with the more radical socialists for fear of replacing one dictatorship with another.  Although he rejected the notion of state rule, he understood cooperation with the state was necessary in order to achieve personal liberties for all peoples.  He lost a degree of support in expressing sympathy for the insurgents in the January Uprising of 1863.

http://spuscizna.org/spuscizna/1863-yt.html
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1912/may/08c.htm