The Russian Revolution Of 1905 Was In

Fact No Revolution At All Essay, Research Paper

The revolution of 1905, in Russia, was not a complete revolution at all. To be able to respond to this statement accurately, it is firstly advisable, to look at what a revolution is. It is then best to observe what the Russian society was like before 1905, during 1905 and after 1905, to establish whether or not, a complete revolution had in fact taken place in the so called .revolution of 1905..

To identify what to look for in the Russian revolution of 1905, and to discover if it were or were not a genuine revolution, it is firstly important to define the true meaning of the word .revolution..

In .The Macquarie Dictionary. the word .revolution. means,. a complete overthrow of an established government or political system.. In .The Oxford School Dictionary. it also says a .revolution. is an .overthrow of old government by force and replacing it by a new one.. And in .Chamber.s Twentieth Century Dictionary. it says .. a great upheaval: a radical change, esp. in government..

From each of these different dictionaries; the modern dictionary, to the early 1900.s dictionary, the meaning of the word revolution has been essentially the same. This meaning is that if a revolution was to occur, in a country as a whole, the governmental system is to be abolished, and a new one is to be set in it.s place, (which would in turn create a completely different social structure).

Knowing what the word .revolution. means, confirms that the revolution of 1905 was in actual fact no revolution at all, even though Nicholas himself believed at the time it was, indeed a revolution . This becomes clearer as each stage (ie. before, during and after) of the .revolution of 1905. is uncovered.

Secondly, it is crucial to look at the background of Russia, before 1905, prior to looking at the actual period of the 1905 revolution, as to understand how the events of the revolution of 1905 did not create a revolution in itself.

Before the 1905 revolution, the living conditions of the majority of the public were appalling, and multitudes were unhappy. There were two sides to the Russian society, on one hand there was .privileged Russia. including nobles, bureaucrats, the run of educated Russians, and even the merchants, (who often had risen from the peasants), -they owned most of the land. The peasants, or .dark people., on the other hand, were the bulk of Russian citizenry, -they worked the land that the nobility owned. Chekhov described the peasants in a story that he published in 1897: .. these people lived worse than cattle. The most insignificant little clerk or official treated the peasants as though they were tramps, and addressed even the village elders and church wardens as inferiors, and as though he had a right to do so.. Chekhov was from the privileged Russian society, he came from an educated background (he studied medicine at Moscow University).

Income for most was also severe, from October 1903 to October 1904 real wages declined by between 20 and 25 per cent. Rapid industrialisation caused a number of people to move to the cities and towns, which made them crowded. Many were unsatisfied with the major cultural barrier between Russia and Europe, as Russia was not progressing into .modern times. like them. This was to do with the Tsars lack of effort for reforms.

The Romanov Imperial family had ruled Russia for more than three hundred years by absolute autocracy. (This meant no political power, other than the Tsar, was allowed, and citizens did not possess the ability of free speech, press etc *). In 1894 Nicholas became Tsar, he was determined to rule as harshly as his father did, but his character was weak, and incompetent. He did not posses the qualities needed to lead Russia through such Turmoil of revolutionary acts, and many revolutionaries saw this as an opportunity to act.

Revolutionary parties were illegal up until 1905 but they had gradually becoming more popular in .the underground.. Nicholas and the government ignored the growth of Revolutionary parties through the 1890.s. In 1898 the Social Democratic Labor Party was established, and in 1900 the Social Revolutionaries were formed. They both wanted reform in social and political sectors. The Social Democratic Labor Party split into two groups in 1903, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks . The revolutionary word was beginning to escape from the underground, and an uprising of rebellion was starting to develop.

As the Russian economics were falling into a depression, widespread urban and rural unrest was aroused. Partly due to this unrest the government led Russia into a war with Japan. There were many Russian troops, but they performed very poorly, had insufficient equipment and inadequate clothes. The Russian army suffered a disastrous succession of defeats. The Russian forces were finally beaten . This defeat, in turn, led to the onset of the revolutionary events that were to come, and had already started to occur .

Russia, at this stage, had a dominant power, the Tsar, he had the ability to rule as he pleased, and to get rid of ringleaders of bothersome affairs at any time. Russia was under developed compared to the rest of the world and had extreme class struggles. Many were discontented. By looking at this overview of the Russian society prior to 1905 it will become easier to understand th