Causes
Social Causes:
Social Classes &Wealth Gap:
The low class and peasants of Russia had endured centuries of oppression. 75% of the Russian population was made up of poor peasants who, prior to 1861, were called serfs. After finally being emancipated in 1861, the peasants were given land, but were required to pay for it. However, 25% of Russia's land still elongated to 1.5% of the population. The quality of life failed to improve for Russia's poor. Peasants made little money, and revolts and labor strikes among peasants were common. They had practically no voice at all in government affairs. The high levels of inequality in Russia prevailed, and the common people resented the wealthy aristocracy for this. While the wealthy upper class lived lives of luxury, the common people endured deplorable living and working conditions and hopelessly suffered in poverty.
Bloody Sunday:
Angered by Tsar Nicholas II's refusal to reform and oppression of the low class, in January of 1905, a group of 150,000 people led by the radical priest Georgy Apollonovich Gapon went to the tsar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to protest. The tsar's troops opened fire on the crowd, killing thousands of peaceful protestors in the streets. Strikes and riots broke out throughout the country in outraged response to the massacre.
These workers came to the tsar to ask for help and to cry out in desperation for change. The workers' perspective is found in the Workers' Petition of January 9, 1905: "We, workers and inhabitants of the city of St. Petersburg, members of varioussosloviia (estates of the realm), our wives, children, and helpless old parents, have come to you, Sovereign, to seek justice and protection. We are impoverished and oppressed, we are burdened with work, and insulted. We are treated not like humans [but] like slaves who must suffer a bitter fate and keep silent. And we have suffered, but we only get pushed deeper and deeper into a gulf of misery, ignorance, and lack of rights. Despotism and arbitrariness are suffocating us, we are gasping for breath. Sovereign, we have no strength left. We have reached the limit of our patience. We have come to that terrible moment when it is better to die than to continue unbearable sufferings."
Economic Causes:
The New Working Class:
By 1900, Moscow and St. Petersburg were major cities, and 20% of Russians lived and worked in cities. Russia started building iron refineries, textile factories and began engineering projects, such as dams, that urbanized and advanced Russia. The majority of Russia's new factories had at least 1,000 workers, and conditions for these workers were extremely unsafe. Workers had reason for discontent, forced to deal with overcrowding, 10 hour work days- 6 days per week, poor sanitary and safety conditions, and harsh disciplines. When prices rose due to inflation, workers' wages remained the same, and the workers would not tolerate this. They had enough, and they began to protest. Many of these angry workers were exposed to new ideas about social and political order in the process of urbanization and would later form extremist groups that would revolt against the tsar. As many peasants abandoned their agrarian lifestyles to pursue jobs in the cities, food production decreased and inflation increased.
Political Causes:
Poor Leadership of the Tsar:
Tsar Nicholas II, like his father Tsar Alexander III, oppressed the poor and protected the rich with his rule. Nicholas II also censored his people, controlling what they said about him, his family, and the Great War. Tsar Nicholas II sent protestors to Siberia as punishment, had secret police watch the Russian people, and persecuted Jews. From 1905-1914, the wealth gap increased even more, and the Russian people blamed Nicholas II. Nicholas II ruled with absolute power and refused to reform, and when the Duma elections threatened to bring reform, he tampered with the results until it was conservative enough to bring zero reform to Russia.
Social Classes &Wealth Gap:
The low class and peasants of Russia had endured centuries of oppression. 75% of the Russian population was made up of poor peasants who, prior to 1861, were called serfs. After finally being emancipated in 1861, the peasants were given land, but were required to pay for it. However, 25% of Russia's land still elongated to 1.5% of the population. The quality of life failed to improve for Russia's poor. Peasants made little money, and revolts and labor strikes among peasants were common. They had practically no voice at all in government affairs. The high levels of inequality in Russia prevailed, and the common people resented the wealthy aristocracy for this. While the wealthy upper class lived lives of luxury, the common people endured deplorable living and working conditions and hopelessly suffered in poverty.
Bloody Sunday:
Angered by Tsar Nicholas II's refusal to reform and oppression of the low class, in January of 1905, a group of 150,000 people led by the radical priest Georgy Apollonovich Gapon went to the tsar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to protest. The tsar's troops opened fire on the crowd, killing thousands of peaceful protestors in the streets. Strikes and riots broke out throughout the country in outraged response to the massacre.
These workers came to the tsar to ask for help and to cry out in desperation for change. The workers' perspective is found in the Workers' Petition of January 9, 1905: "We, workers and inhabitants of the city of St. Petersburg, members of varioussosloviia (estates of the realm), our wives, children, and helpless old parents, have come to you, Sovereign, to seek justice and protection. We are impoverished and oppressed, we are burdened with work, and insulted. We are treated not like humans [but] like slaves who must suffer a bitter fate and keep silent. And we have suffered, but we only get pushed deeper and deeper into a gulf of misery, ignorance, and lack of rights. Despotism and arbitrariness are suffocating us, we are gasping for breath. Sovereign, we have no strength left. We have reached the limit of our patience. We have come to that terrible moment when it is better to die than to continue unbearable sufferings."
Economic Causes:
The New Working Class:
By 1900, Moscow and St. Petersburg were major cities, and 20% of Russians lived and worked in cities. Russia started building iron refineries, textile factories and began engineering projects, such as dams, that urbanized and advanced Russia. The majority of Russia's new factories had at least 1,000 workers, and conditions for these workers were extremely unsafe. Workers had reason for discontent, forced to deal with overcrowding, 10 hour work days- 6 days per week, poor sanitary and safety conditions, and harsh disciplines. When prices rose due to inflation, workers' wages remained the same, and the workers would not tolerate this. They had enough, and they began to protest. Many of these angry workers were exposed to new ideas about social and political order in the process of urbanization and would later form extremist groups that would revolt against the tsar. As many peasants abandoned their agrarian lifestyles to pursue jobs in the cities, food production decreased and inflation increased.
Political Causes:
Poor Leadership of the Tsar:
Tsar Nicholas II, like his father Tsar Alexander III, oppressed the poor and protected the rich with his rule. Nicholas II also censored his people, controlling what they said about him, his family, and the Great War. Tsar Nicholas II sent protestors to Siberia as punishment, had secret police watch the Russian people, and persecuted Jews. From 1905-1914, the wealth gap increased even more, and the Russian people blamed Nicholas II. Nicholas II ruled with absolute power and refused to reform, and when the Duma elections threatened to bring reform, he tampered with the results until it was conservative enough to bring zero reform to Russia.
The social hierarchy of Russia was clear and this drawing shows the inequality that existed among the people.
"We rule over you.
We govern you.
We pray for you.
We shoot you.
We eat for you.
We feed you.
We work for you."
"We rule over you.
We govern you.
We pray for you.
We shoot you.
We eat for you.
We feed you.
We work for you."
This political cartoon depicts the suffering of the peasants and low-class people of Russia, while the clergy and nobles are unaffected and being carried. The upper classes did not care about the suffering of the Proletariat.