The Russian Peasant Movement In The Early 20^th Century

In end 19th century and early 20th century, Russia is an nation dominated with the agricultural economy and the agricultural population. During the period, the peasant movements had taken place in almost all regions of Russia, and in terms of the scale, the power and the political consciousness of the peasants, they surpassed all previous movements; in terms of its historical significance, they promoted the emergence and development of Russia's first Bourgeois Democratic Revolution in 1905-1907. This thesis tries to conduct a thorough study from 5 aspects on Russia's Peasant Movement of early 20th century.The first part mainly analyzes the social status of Russian rural areas in end 19th century and early 20th century, with the aim to explore the profound origin of the peasants'anti-landlord and anti-monarchy movement from political, social and economic perspectives. The "top-down" reform carried out by the serf owners in 1860's had liberated serfs by giving them personal freedom and promoted the development of capitalism. However, the reform was far more different from the changes that the peasants had anticipated as it still retained numerous remnants of serfdom, making the plight of the peasant class to deteriorate further through its predatoriness, legitimate and spiritual oppression. Less land, heavy taxation,serfdom exploitation and lack of political rights had forceded Russian peasants to the bottom of the society both in economic and political status.The reform failed to meet the requirements of the industrial proletariat and failed to ease the land famine of millions of farmers. Neither as reformers had expected, it did not calm down the increasing peasant movement but on the contrary, resulted in a more sustained and drastic peasant movement. Under the stimulus of the world agricultural crisis, the tsar government's agricultural policies, famine, epidemics, and Russia -Japan war, the peasants were becoming increasingly unsatisfied with growing violations. By the end of 19th century, the revolutionary situation in the rural areas had been formed.The second part of the thesis provides an overview of the overall development of Russian peasant movement in early 20th century. The large-scale peasant movement of 1920's started in 1902 with the peasant uprising of Kharkov and Poltava Provinces. Subsequently, the peasant uprising quickly spread to the Volga River basin, the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea, the Caucasus and other places.The campaign had pushed the land issue to the front-line of social struggle in Russia, which clearly pointed out the new direction: shifted from the land disputes to takeover of all land from the landlord, which was the major turning point of Russian peasants'self-consciousness development. The campaign had also become a prophecy for the peasant revolution in 1905. After January 9, 1905, the "bloody Sunday" , the first Russia Bourgeois-democratic Revolution inevitably broke out in 1905-1907. As an integral part of the revolution, the peasant movement, with the entire revolutionary movement, reached its peak in 1905 fall-winter time. And in 1906-1907, given the retreat of the overall revolution, the peasant movement had gradually moved towards a recession. Undoubtedly the peasant class was the second revolutionary force after the proletariate, and the campaign launched in rural areas had played a decisive role in promoting the whole revolutionary movement.The third part illustrates the main forms of the Peasant Movement in the early 20th century, namely, the most common and most effective forms. The peasant movement had various forms, the "moderate" resistant movement, or the "radical" aggressive movement; the economic-fosused one aiming at combating land ownership and improving the living conditions of the peasants, or the political-focused one which directly fighted against the absolute monarchy system.The "moderate" forms that the peasants usually used included: holding rallies and demonstrations (often in tandem with workers), holding villagers'General Assembly, organizing the anti-government representative Assembly, refusing to pay various taxes, preventing the government from land demarcation and land planning, refusing to rent "someone else's" land, refusing to provide new recruits to resist the government, Land Planning Board and boycott the Duma elections, repealing government-appointed rural officials, electing a new mayor and village head, expulsing the police, establishing farmers'own management institutions, organizing agricultural strikes, protecting advocators, etc. And the "radical" movement included: unauthorized occupation of mowing fields and pastures, farming and occupying the land owned by the landlord (the country, the Crown territories, churches, and monasteries), snatching food and livestock, unauthorized felling of trees of landlords and nation, destroying the landlords'manors through destruction and arson, trampling crops and grasslands of landlords, organizing guerrilla warfare, organizing armed uprising, and so on.The movement was often associated with the armed conflicts between peasants and the government and police, which was by nature, more of anti-regime uprising. In these campaigns the peasants'class consciousness, revolutionary capability and creativity were demonstrated. It would be noted that many forms were not new, but in early 20th century, especially in the first Russian Revolution, they received new content—-which was unprecedentedly sharp, massive, offensive, and political with straightforward purpose and strong organization. Moreover, in the campaign process, there had emerged some new forms—-political movement.Part IV focuses on the Peasant Resolution Movement. the resolution campaign was widely spread during the first Russian Revolution. It was closely connected with February 18, 1905 Act, the establishment and activities of the All Russian Peasants'League , the first and second elections and activities of the State Duma. The peasants'resolution and power of attorney contained a wide range of economic, political and social requests, covering all aspects of social struggle at that time, and was the creed formed during the first Russian Revolution.This movement got an important historical significance: the formulation, discussion, and approval of the resolutions had played an important role in the revolutionary mobilization and training of farmers, because in the process, the peasants needed to express their own requirements accurately and briefly, think about ways to achieve these requirements, and strive to clarify the relationship of economy and politics, which greatly boomed the development of social awareness among peasants, promoted the revolutionary mobilization of the peasants, and influenced the entire process of revolution. The study on the peasants'resolutions showed that the political consciousness of the peasants was largely improved: the peasants firmly hoped to re-establish all of the foundations of the whole social and economic life—from land reform to the extensive democratization of the whole nation.Part V introduces the revolutionary democratic organization of peasants. The revolution had inspired the creativity of the people. During the revolutionary process, the peasants realized the need to establish independent peasants'organizations. With the efforts of various revolutionary parties and pioneering spirit, the peasants set up their own non-partisan organizations: All-Russian Union of Peasants, the Peasants on behalf of Soviet, Revolutionary Peasant Committee, Strike Committee, Fighting team, etc. The democratic organizations of peasants had played a critical role in uniting the peasant class and turning them into a conscious, organized forces. The grass-roots organizations of the revolutionary parties had united the peasants with a higher consciousness, some of which participated in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party local groups, or shared activities with them. A large number of the joint organizations of workers and peasants in the rural areas demonstrated that the revolutionary movement of the peasants and workers were not only to destroy the old authoritarian system, but also to create a new revolutionary regime.Throughout the history of the peasant movement of Russia in early 20th century, though it ultimately failed as a result of weak and inadequate organization, it had made a series of great achievements with important historical significance. First, the peasant movement was an integral part of the First Bourgeois-democratic Revolution in Russia in early 20th century, promoting the development of the revolutionary movement; Second, the peasant class, as a creative revolutionary and democratic force, had stepped on the stage, and actively participated in the revolutionary movement with workers, making the revolution in 1905-1907 a true people's revolution, and enhancing the breadth and depth of the revolution; Third, the peasant movement directly impacted the tzar Government's agricultural policy, forcing the tsar Government to make partial, or sometimes considerable concessions;Fourth, the peasant movement strengthened the attacks to the absolute monarchy, impacted the country's political situation, forcing the tsar government to establish the first All-Russian representative organs - the State Duma; Fifth, the peasant movement promoted the changes in the land tenure structure, making the level of ownership shift from hierarchical to non-hierarchical; Sixth, the peasant movement speeded up the transformation of capitalism, forcing the tsar Government to conduct a new agricultural reform—-Stolypin Reform, creating conditions for the rapid development of agricultural capitalism; Seventh, the peasant movement raised the political consciousness of peasants, arming and training the peasants with the enriched struggling and organizational experience.Overall, the study on the Russian peasant movement of early 20th century has got the significance of theoretical guidance in exploring the history of Russian agriculture and the history of the revolutionary movement.