Peasants
The Russian peasant, although they were not the leaders of the February revolution, had the most to gain from any change made to the structure of Russia’s political leadership. After being freed from serfdom or ‘legal bondage’ in the 1860’s many rural peasants believed their lives would dramatically change in the economic boom that was to follow, however their dashed hopes were made even greater by the Witte reforms. The idea that rapid industrialisation was the best way to save the Russian peasant, led to over crowded cities and a smaller and more difficult distinction between the urban workers and the peasants, both of which, now formed the ‘proletariat’ sector of the population. Their reputation as being not as “insanely conservative small proprietors” as the French peasant were known to be, it was no surprise that the urban uprising of the 1905 eventually spread to the rural areas of Russia, which had a history of political uprising (Pugachev revolt of 1770). Peasant revolts were wide spread and consisted of burning manor houses and peaked in the late autumn of 1905. Stolypin’s reactionary reforms would mean that the proletariat would lose an important and strong ally in the peasants who had been appeased by the promised removal of mortgages. By 1914, the peasants were no longer seen as a political threat, even though they made up 80 per cent of the Russian population at the beginning of World War 1. With nearly 75% of the male peasantry population going to the front, Lenin believed that they “should play a dominant role in the revolution” as they now were seemingly in the best position to lead the 1917 revolution.
ELLA
ELLA
The Russian peasantry, was for the most part, apathetic about the matters of government and politics. Many peasants supported the land reform policies of the socialist revolutionaries (SR’s) and voted accordingly in election for the Duma and the Constituent Assembly. But the peasantry had no real loyalty to the SR’s of any other party, which was demonstrated by their lack of response when the Bolsheviks closed the Constituent Assembly. Most Russian peasants were insular and resistant to anything that disturbed their communities’ they dislike the national government, bureaucrats, outsider and new ideas. However the lack of food and land provided to peasants in Russia led to a central mass of disaffected peasants, angry at increased attempts to control them, and at people who profited from the land without directly working it. The to the common peasant mindset which was firmly against developments outside the village, and desired autonomy.
PO
PO