The Russian Peasant Movement of 1905-1907: Social Composition and Revolutionary Significance

Overview

Significance: First simultaneous attack on autocracy by all societal levels in Russia, including professional classes, intelligentsia, urban workers, and peasantry.
Causes: Stemmed from socio-economic changes post-Emancipation of serfs in 1861, with industrialization policies disadvantaging agriculture.
Political Context: Formation of Social Democrats (1898) and Socialist Revolutionaries (1901) amid growing unrest, intensified by Russo-Japanese War (1904).

Land and Peasantry: Post-Emancipation land allotments were inadequate, leading to economic dependency on gentry landowners.
Industrialization: Forced peasants into urban wage labor, creating the "peasant-worker" class.
Social Changes: Increased literacy, improved communications, and influence of the zemstvos on rural education and welfare.

Forms of Protest: Included arson, estate destruction, illicit wood-cutting, and strikes by agricultural workers.
Regional Differences: Strongest in areas with severe land exploitation, such as Central Black Earth, Volga, and Ukraine.

Peasants: Varied participation by socio-economic status; poor and landless were often most active.
Intelligentsia and Outsiders: Played roles in spreading revolutionary ideas, although influence varied.
Kulaks: Sometimes targets of unrest, representing richer peasants, but their role was complex and varied by region.

Social Democrats: Initially cautious, sought to unite peasantry for anti-feudal revolution but focused on organizing rural proletariat separately.
Socialist Revolutionaries: Aimed to integrate peasantry into broader revolutionary movement; formed Peasant Union for organized resistance.

Initiated by Zemstvo Liberals: Aimed to involve peasantry in national professional unions.
Congress Resolutions: Abolition of private land property, constitutional monarchy, but with compensation for land alienation.

Coordination Issues: Lack of synchronization between urban and rural revolutionary actions in 1905.
Government Response: Suppressive military action, concessions like the Stolypin reforms, aimed at stabilizing countryside but inadequate for broader peasant needs.
Legacy: Highlighted revolutionary potential of peasantry, setting the stage for future uprisings as seen in 1917.

The peasant movement was a critical, though not entirely coordinated, component of the broader revolutionary struggle, underscoring systemic socio-political discontent in early 20th century Russia.