Stolypin's Necktie

This essay sample essay on Stolypin’s Necktie offers an extensive list of facts and arguments related to it. The essay’s introduction, body paragraphs and the conclusion are provided below.

The 1905 revolution showed that the social and economic structure of Russia was changing; this would necessitate a change in the political structure and if it wasn’t addressed could destroy Tsarism. The Tsar took this as a warning and began to build on the relationships he had with his people.

The October Manifesto of 1905 formalised the change in the relationship between the Tsar and his people. This meant that there was now a Duma in place. After the fall of the first Duma Stolypin was made Prime Minister.

His key strategy was no return to absolutism and he used the motto ‘pacification then reform’, meaning if he could bring about social stability then social and political reform would soon follow. This would reduce the appeal of Revolutionaries and Tsarism would be saved.

The first Duma was introduced by Count Sergei Witte in April 1906. The Duma expected the October manifesto to have changed the way Russian politics were run, however they were disappointed. A large loan from France stopped any chance the Duma might have had of exercising any financial control.

The Fundamental Laws were then introduced and they divided the Duma. No law could be passed now without imperial approval, both sides grew bitter and resented each other. Nicholas dissolved the Duma in July 1906 and made Stolypin Prime Minister. Stolypin kept with his uncompromising approach to revolutionaries and he came down heavily on armed peasant insurrectionists who were protesting about the Duma.

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He had good reason to act like this as a social revolutionary bomb has blew up his house, injuring his daughter, killing 27 others but missing him.

Tsarism Examples

The harshness of Stolypin’s response can be gauged from the term which was used for the hangman’s noose- ‘Stolypin’s Necktie’. This was used right up to April 1907. The British ambassador stated about Russia ‘public opinion is not as revolutionary as it was a year ago’. By using methods which he saw fit Stolypin had secured social stability and was now ready to begin political reform. The second Duma was introduced in February 1907 and lasted only until June 1907, it was a complete disaster. It proposed nothing constructive looking only at civil rights, policing and improvement in workers conditions.

Members of the Second Duma however were now prepared to work with the Tsar so consequently it was dissolved. Stolypin realised that if Tsarism was to be ‘saved’ a Duma had to be created that was willing to work with him. In November 1907 the 3rd Duma came into being. This Duma was put together by Stolypin and Octobrists dominated most of the seats. However their 154 seats feel short of the 222 which were required do they had to combine with the Kadets and create a working majority. This was the first successful Duma to have been created in Russia and this meant a peaceful period in Russian History.

Having secured a working majority, Stolypin set about ‘Reforming’ Russia. Stolypin’s overall aim was to establish a modern constitutional Russian state and rural reforms were necessary to achieve this goal. Stolypin introduced the land law in November 1906 which was passed by decree but not approved by the Duma until June 1910. Redemption payments were abolished in January 1907 and there was an extension of credit through Peasant land Bank- this issued loans to allow peasants to purchase more land.

Crowned state lands were to be made available for this purpose and as a result peasant holdings increased. Stolypin also encouraged peasants to leave commune and become private landowners. This would create a group of private proprietors with a vested interest in maintaining a regime who would hold their revolutionary neighbours in check. Furthermore a resettlement programme was organised to move peasants out of the overcrowded areas of central Russia. During the period 1906 to 1913, three million peasants moved to Siberia and central Asia settling on lands which the government had made available.

Stolypin hope for stability in rural communities and to increase the efficiency of agriculture. Actually in the short term the countryside was successfully pacified and Russian agriculture did become more efficient. On the negative side he only dealt with 10% of the population increase so he never really solved the problem and the exceptionally good harvests marked peasant discontent. After the agrarian reforms Stolypin moved on to urban reforms to help save Tsarism. He sought to bring peace to the industrial workplace.

Between 1907 and 1912 the number of strikes declined and the industrial workforce relatively subdued this however was not due to Stolypin’s reforms. Although trade unions had been made legal there was no strike fun and activities were restricted. Faith in trade unions declined greatly from 1907 onwards till about 1913. To sum up, the proletariat expanded significantly after 1910 and industrial unrest returned with a vengeance from 1912. This gave Stolypin and the Tsar some more time and helped to save Tsarism.

To further delay the downfall of Tsarist autocracy Stolypin looked at the policy of Russification. He was perfectly prepared to accept the distinctive ideas and identities of people within the Russian Empire as long as those same people were prepared to accept their primary identity as Russian. The Russian Nationalists supported Stolypin’s policy of Russification and to implement it he introduced allegedly democratic reforms which were really anti-nationalist policies, this showed how shrewd that Stolypin really was.

He dealt with the National minorities in a reasonably fair way however there was still discontent amongst the people so he could probably have done more. He only found a temporary solution soon everything would fall to pieces once more. Stolypin was keen to eradicate ignorance, which he believed was at the root of Russia’s social and political distress. He believed that an educated population could supply Russia with the desired workforce. This in turn would improve the Russian economy.

In the Duma year’s pre 1914, expenditure on education quadrupled and literacy increased from 30% in 1900 to 40% in 1914. Given time Stolypin’s work probably would have “saved Tsarism”. He successfully stopped all who presented a threat to the Tsar, by introducing Urban and rural reforms. These were also very important in preventing the downfall of Tsarism. However his assassination ended a peaceful transition to a modern constitutional regime. If his assassination had not happened Tsarist authority may have lasted for longer in Russia.