The Success and Failure of Alexander III’s Rule

                     Alexander III, seen by many as a reactionary Tzar, ruled Russia from 1881-1894. Alexander was opposed to the stance his father Alexander II had taken in his approach to ruling Russia. Therefore he sought to undo the majority of his father’s reforms. When Alexander III was put into power his first order of business was the undoing of his father’s reforms. As stated by Wolfson/Laver, “It has been said of him [Alexander III] that he set to undo all that his father had done, carrying out a series of measures to reassert the authority of the aristocracy.”(Wolfson/Laver 62) He did, however, attempt to modernize Russia and introduce his Russification to unite the people of Russia.

The first undoing of the reforms was the placement of the police force under the control of the Ministry of Interior; however serious political offences were still dealt with by the court and judges were advised on their verdicts and sentences. Elections for Court Justices and other administrative positions were abolished, instead Land Captains were chosen from the gentry and were given total authority in their local courts and were responsible for the collection of taxes. Prison conditions were made harsher and censorship was increased. Government ministers were given the power to ban publishers and editors for life should they have published a work that was against the approval of the government.

                     Other reforms that were undone include the increased control over library content, loss of university freedom and diversity. University curriculums were closely monitored and inspectors often inquired into the students’ non-academic activities and lower-class children were excluded from secondary education. Peasant representation was reduced and the peasant representatives in the zemtsva were appointed instead of being elected. The peasants appointed were often people whom the government felt they could control and were loyal to them.

                     According to Oxley, however, Alexander III did not dismiss all forms of reform. “The introduction of Land Captains can be seen as a reforming measure, a desperate effort to bring about efficient local government.” (Oxley 45) However, other measures of reform were also introduced by Alexander III to improve the quality of rural life. For example, the peasants’ poll tax was abolished and the Peasants’ Land Bank was formed to assist peasants in the purchase of their landowners land. The combination of these two improvements let the increase of peasant landownership. Oxley also states that, “This [Peasant Land Bank] was so successful that peasants had purchased one-third of all landlord estates by 1904.” (Oxley 45) This also led to the creation of the Kulak class, which was made up of middle-class farmers.

Although there was much success seen in the improvement of rural life, there was one aspect of rural that was left unchanged. That was the backward method of agriculture. The peasants’ plots of land were getting smaller as the population increased and the land redistributed. The introduction of new methods was difficult as a result of the Mirs that were introduced by Alexander II, the Mirs required the agreement of the entire village before change was introduced.

One of the most disastrous occurrences during the reign of Alexander III was the 1891 famine, which Oxley believed was, “the first real test of the reforms to local government.” (Oxley 45) The famine was caused by a combination of unfortunate weather conditions at critical times and the governments heavily increased tax on consumer goods. As a result of the tax the peasants were forced to sell increasing amount of grain to be able to afford their basic necessities, this however left them with no reserves of seed to plant in bad year. As shown by Source 6, “We ourselves will not eat but we shall export.” (Oxley 45) The outbreak of typhus and cholera the following year only worsened the situation.

The government, however, did take actions and attempted to reduce the effects of the famine by creating the Special Committee on Famine Relief, which was led by Alexander III’s son, Nicholas II. Alexander also declared two state lotteries for the purchase of emergency supplies for the peasants. Regardless of the government’s efforts, however, over 350,000 died from starvation or disease, though it did demonstrate that in a crisis situation all the segments of the community were able to work in unison. As shown in an extract from a Report of the Committee of Ministers, 25 Feb 1892, “Never, neither in Russia, nor any other state, has the concern of the central government for helping the population ruined by crop failure been so great and achieved so much as at the present time.” (Oxley 46)

Russia also achieved both economic and industrial growth during Alexander III’s reign as a result of Count Witte’s appointment as Minister of Finance in 1893. According to Wolfson/Laver, “He had a clear plan for the economy to established heavy industry and an extensive railway system, financed by foreign capital.” (Wolfson/Laver 65) Count Witte’s plan was very successful, as shown by Oxley’s figures (Page 46/47) the production of oil was increased from 0.5 million tons in 1880 to 10.2 million tons in 1900 which is the equivalent of a twenty fold increase of twenty years. The amount of railways increased from 27km in 1840 to 53,234km in 1900, which was more than Germany had at the time. However, one must first compare the sizes of both Russia and Germany before making a fair comparison of the amount of railways both countries had. Witte’s plan was also successful in the way he raised his funds by increasing the amount of foreign investment in Russia. As shown by Wolfson/Laver’s figures (Page 66) the amount of foreign investment in Russia increased from 2,500,000 Roubles in 1893 to 2,200,000,000 Roubles in 1913, a tenfold increase over a period of 10 years.

Alexander III’s most controversial reform was the introduction of his Russification. Russification was Alexander III’s reaction to a growing sense of national consciousness of the ethnically and culturally diverse people in Russia, in which he sought to create an autonomous structure by introducing a uniformity of thought and attitude to the people of Russia. Russian culture was and language was forced upon all the people living in Russia, and Russian was the only language allowed to be taught in schools. Also local self-government was withdrawn to increase the autocracy’s power. This however divided Russia further, and considerably increased the opposition to his authority.

Though Alexander III is often criticized for the undoing of his father’s reforms and the failure of his Russification, the reforms he did introduce, such as the improvements to the economy, the peasant land bank, and the appointment of Land Captains were very successful. The history of Russia is rich in revolts and opposition to the autocracy. Rarely has a Tzar received any opposition towards his policies. However Alexander III’s dedication to not follow his father’s footsteps was his ultimate downfall, as he met the same fate as his father and was assassinated in 1994.

Works Cited

1.      Lowe, Norman. Mastering Modern World History. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Print.

2.      Wolfson, Robert, and John Laver. Years of Change. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2004. Print.