Assess the View That the Tsars Preferred Repression to Reform in the Period 1855 to 1906
Assess the view that the Tsars preferred repression to reform in the period 1855 to 1906 While the reforms between 1855 and 1906 strongly suggest the Tsars preferring a policy of reform rather than repression, the unexpected consequences of many if not all of the reforms lead to repressive policies. Tsar Alexander II in particular, was very determined to modernize Russia but was not prepared for the liberal and democracy encouraging consequences and thus felt the need to counter reform. This was furthered by his far more reactionary son, Alexander III, who desperately tried to re-establish state control with very little success. Initially a significant departure from the previous system, Serf emancipation had the unexpected consequence of substituting the serf’s personal relationship with the land owner with a more formal and commercial relationship with the state. Under the proposed emancipation, the Serfs would receive the land upon which they currently worked and the landowners would be compensated by the government. The newly liberated serfs, would in theory, be able to independently farm and manage their own land which they could use to generate profit. However in reality, the government was woefully short of money and instead of simply granting the new peasants their land, the peasants would now have to pay 49 years worth of redemption taxes as well as paying taxes which they had never had to pay previously. Furthermore, the land owning nobility (who were tasked with formulating the emancipation) greatly overvalued the land and as a result many of the newly liberated peasants were working 20% land then they had previous to their emancipation. Indeed far from receiving more freedoms and liberties, peasants were now legally forced to carry a passport, were unable to freely migrate and, crucially, were now liable for conscription. Yet, to 1881, the peasants were on the whole more autonomous, though in practicality they were limited by having to pay taxes