Between Two Revolutions: Stolypin and the Politics of Renewal in Russia

by Peter Waldron

Overview

This book, first published in 1998, is an original and comprehensive study of a key period of Russian history, between the success of the autocracy in retaining power in the 1905 Revolution and the debacle of the Tsar’s crushing defeat in 1917. Focusing on Stolypin, Prime Minister between 1906–11, the study explores tsarism’s final attempt to reform Russia. Stolypin seized the opportunity to drive through a programme which would have transformed the social and political structure of Imperial Russia by promoting the development of an independent peasantry and reducing the authority of the traditional elites. The book analyses the weakness of the new parliamentary system and the continuing influence of the traditional elites.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032128467
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/15/2023
Series:	Routledge Library Editions: Revolution
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

1. Reform or Repression? The Dilemma of Tsarism 2. Renewing Russia: Stolypin’s Programme 3. Institutional Failure: The Paralysis of Parliament 4. The Mobilisation of Conservative Opinion 5. Reform Defeated 6. Conclusion: Between Two Revolutions

Editorial Reviews

Examines the program of reform that Russian prime minister Stolypin attempted to implement in the period 1906 to 1911, and seeks to explain the reasons for his failure. The author argues that the failure of Stolypin's attempt to drastically change the nature of agriculture and reform the most egregious examples of Tsarist despotism while maintaining the state intact was due to the following reasons: his position as an outsider to the apparatus of central government led him to attempt to recruit liberal figures to his government while underestimating the power of the traditional conservative elites; the changes in social structures caused by the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and the process of industrialization had failed to be reflected in the political structure of Imperial Russia; and finally, the leaders failed to learn the lessons of the monarchical regimes in Europe, and truly believed that they could rule over an unreformed Russia. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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