A New Russia
Chapter 1 - The Revolutionaries, Constitutionalists, and Reactionaries
Chapter 1 - The Revolutionaries, Constitutionalists, and Reactionaries
The Parties of Russia: 1900-1904
By Professor Nikita Putin
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
"The political situation in Russia by 1904 was vastly different from 1900 in the least regards. The European War not only changed the landscape of the nation, but also the landscape in political Russia. Prior to the war, very few actual revolutionary groups existed. Ideological groups were prominent with the Populists and the socialists taking much of the field. Small groups such as the tretsobists, meaning Third Way, were very small. Political reform was a growing desire, though most groups believed it worthless. Nicholas II would not budge. A new Russia was not in site for the nation.
Between 1900 and 1904 two major parties rose up to dominate the field of the socialist parties: The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party and the Socialist Revolutionary Party. The first was made in 1898 and had a limited power base, but only in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The SR's, however, were growing with popularity as they campaigned on the idea of neo-populism. The group, headed by Viktor Chernov, was a far-left political group that would come to play a major role in Russia. The other party, RSDLP was a marxist party that shared many ideals with the SR's but not entirely. They were headed by the less famous, Valdmir Lenin. Their ideology of a worker revolution was quite popular in some cities, but it did not spread much. In fact, the party broke apart in 1903 when it split into the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks meaning Majority and Minority Respectively. The Bolsheviks, lead by Trotsky, were a group that believed that the revolution should be natural and that the intermediate government between the Empire and the future communist government needed to exist for its natural discourse. The Mensheviks, lead by Lenin, believed in a top-down revolution. Many historians found this ironic that in the vote in 1903 that the minority party had the leader of the original party. Recent documents have shown that much of Lenin's support was loss to Trotsky as he replaced Julius Martov as the head of the party faction. This split in the party would cause great disruption in the political environment of Russia. This split was believed to come down from the European War, oddly enough. The Bolsheviks gained lots of support with the Trotsky switch as well as with the war strengthening the position of the Tsar. Many revolutionaries were skeptical of being able to force a revolution in Russia due to the Tsar having a better grip on the country.
There was another group, however, that would soon rise to power. Formed in 1903 in the wake of the war was the party known as the Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists. A party that advocated for a constitutional democracy, these were made up of Zemstvo veterans that had local support in the countryside, something the revolutionaries did not. Another party was the Union of Liberation which formed in 1901 originally under the name of ed Liberation. Finally the Union of Unions was an important party as it contained many bourgeois members. The groups came together in January of 1904 in St. Petersburg under the thumb of Leo Mechelin who formally created the new party: The People's Party of Freedom. This became known as the Constitutional Democrats, which became known as the K-D, which became known as the Kadets. This group of high up intellectuals, professionals, professors, and lawyers would play an important part in shaping the future of Russia as well.
The Kadets were a mixed group of people who supported many different policies. Historians now sum them up as social liberalists though at the time they did not call themselves this. One of their many policies was full citizenry to minorities. This gave the party overwhelming support form Jews, Georgians, Poles, and more. Another key element of the party was an eight hour work day. They called for moderation of labor unions and did not agree with the socialist desires of the SDLP and other groups. The party held many policies all introduced by Leo Mechelin. Quite radical, he helped to worsen the situation in Finland. To the surprise of many of his contemporaries, he was permitted to stay in Russia and was never exiled. His creation of the Kadets was the first party he was in since 1885. He would surely not let if fail and thus he would go onto play a great role in the Party and in the nation."
The Men and Women of Tsar Nicholas II's Court
By Professor Aleksander Dracovitch
"One of the many important figures within the Tsar's court was Sergei Witte. An incredibly intelligent figure, he played the single most important role of modernizing Russia. His efforts to do so were not only under Nicholas II, but Aleksander III as well. It was during the previous Tsar's rule did he create the Session for the Modernization of Russia. This plan launched many capitalistic initiatives that succeeded in increasing the industrial power of Russia. Railworks all across Western Russia had increased and now one could ride from Kiev to Moscow to St. Petersburg to Heineken and to many other regions. Factories appeared in these cities as well and with every factory comes its share of socialists.
It was out of these factories in St. Petersburg did the SDLP arise. Though none would consider this a failure on Aleksander's part as the party soon became irrelevant. None the less, his policies did stir up lots of socialistic movements across Russia. Famous socialist Trotsky once said, "The factory I worked in were built from Witte's plan." While his plan did create many more socialists, it also brought about the industrialization of the nation which was instrumental in controlling the revolutionaries for some time.
Beyond his economic successes was the diplomatic pressure he put on the Tsar in 1904. No man shaped Nicholas as much as he did, not even his own father. Many say that without Witte, history would have taken a different course entirely. Some speculate that Witte's ingenious is what lead to Nicholas's change in personality. Even fewer go on to question if he made the medicore man a puppet to his will. No documents have been found saying that he has, but it wouldn't be a far-fetched."
A Meeting between Sergei Witte and Tsar Nicholas II
St. Petersburg, Russia
The room was well lit by the candle on the desk. It was snowing outside, a nice and quite winter night in St. Petersburg. The Tsar was busy with work when he heard a firm knock on the door. "Come in." The door was pushed open in a slow manner and Sergei Witte walked into the office of the Tsar. He took a seat juxtaposed to the Tsar and sat motionless and quite. The Tsar looked up, put his pen down, and sat back in his comfortable chair. They stared at each other for a while, waiting for one to break the silence.
After a few minutes the Tsar sighed. "I suppose I have been waiting for this talk. What is it Witte?"
He had won. It took a bit, he knew that he had won. "Indeed you do. Can you guess?"
The Tsar did not have time for these games and he would make that clear, "Damnit Witte. I don't have time for your games. I have an empire to run and its on the verge of collapse."
"Or is it?"
"Yes! Them damn people out in Kyrgyz want independence. I can't let this happen. Finland was close. This is just too much."
"It is, isn't it."
"It is indeed, but I have no options before me. Its revolutionary or reactionary Witte, you know that."
"Perhaps I don't. Perhaps I actually know more."
"What are you hinting at Witte?"
"The Kadets."
"The cadets?"
"No they are a new political party here. They want a constitutional monarchy."
"I will not give up any of my power to some damn soldiers!"
"They aren't soldiers, it's from the Constitutional Democrats."
"This is ridiculous Witte, what are you even suggesting?"
"That we listen. Look, if we address these concerns soon we can prevent these crises we are having from spreading. The only realistic way to do this is to change the structure of the empire."
"So not a constitutional monarchy?"
"No, we need that too. Without a doubt, no one believes its your divine right to rule. You only rule out of your power you have and that power is shaky. If we make it true in the laws of men, no one will be able to question your power."
"You speak of treason Witte. This can't end well for you."
"And neither can a crumbling empire for you. We must look to new solutions beyond just a constitution. "
"And how would we do that?"
"Federalize." "
What do you mean?"
"We need to break the nation up but keep it together. Federalizing it will do this. With a little bit of redistricting we'll be able to keep Finland, Eastern Europe, the Cacuses, and more. They'll get partial autonomy but work with the national level. Its simple."
"Witte you speak of the talk of revolution."
"But is it revolution if you declare it? Hell does it matter if you are in power?"
Nicholas II sat still. He let it sink in in peace after he gave signal to Witte to leave. It was an interesting proposal none the less but could he seriously imagine it to work? He'd pacify the rebels, or so he hoped. It had many risks, many too dangerous to take. He'd be insulting is faith if he did it and he'd loose influence over the Balkans for sure. Too many issues for him to think about. He'd finish writing his letter before he'd go to sleep. He signed the letter and sent it off.
To: Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia
From: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
Greetings Great African Leader,
We hope that all things regarding the marriage are well and that Ethiopia is continuing to grow. In light of the recent Miami Conference, we believe that Ethiopia is under concern. With the recent partitioning of Africa, we are worried for your nation due to our close ties now. With the timing and lack of reasoning on why they choose to save your nation and not the many others in Africa, one can only assume it is because of the marriage. We do, however, fear that this is not enough to protect your nation. Many countries in the world are Hungary for power and would like to see nothing more than Ethiopia become a colony of their nation. Showing disgust on this issue, we hope to prevent this be cementing our relations through the establishment of concrete ties. With this message will be an ambassador, V.F. Mashkov . He will be willing to discuss and negotiate upon behalf the Tsardom shall you accept. We hope that you do.
Sincerely,
Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia
