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.