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At the turn of the twentieth century, Russia was a curious society, still stratified into nobility and peasantry. The Russian people seemed to be as immovable as the dark ground which they farmed, welded to the ground by centuries of struggle. While the Europeans fought political battles, the Russians wrestled against the cold and starvation. Four decades earlier, Czar Alexander II signed the ''Emancipation Manifesto'' which freed the serfs from ownership by the nobles. 1 He had hoped to finally bring Russia out of the dark ages.
His bureaucracy continued to elevate the peasants by making all classes of society equal under the law and increasing the availability of education. 2 Nevertheless, the Dark People of Russia remained in their darkness, understanding little besides their own existence in the context of their communes. The commune oriented nature of the Russian peasants made Russia a prime target for Marxist revolutionaries. The uniquely backward culture of Russia spawned a singularly Russian form of Marxism, Narodnichestvo. Russian intellectuals of the 19 th century felt that the socialist revolution must come from the uprising of the rural peasant masses, rather than through the proletariat of the cities.
The peasants were remarkably unreceptive to revolutionary agitators. They were blind to events outside of their own commune. More often than not, the agitators were run out of town by suspicious peasants. 3 By 1900, the remnants of the Narodonik philosophy had melted into the Social Republican party. 4 The ''Emancipation Manifesto'' had marked the beginning of the end for the nobility. Deprived of their serfs and unable to gain any power in the government, the Nobles were forced to sell off their land, little by little, to support their lifestyle. For a government supported by nothing more than the momentum of history and tradition, the decline of the nobility foreshadowed the destruction of the autocracy.
At the turn of the century, the Czar had very little support outside his own bureaucracy. Young Nicholas II, heir to the throne in the late 1800 's, inspired hope in those rallying for governmental reform. Zemstvos and volost's, local governments elected by nobles and peasants, hoped that Nicholas would at least allow these legislatures to have an advisory function for the Czar. 5 They were sadly disappointed once Nicholas II ascended the throne. Upon the death of Alexander III, the zemstvo of Tver petitioned Nicholas II to allow local representative bodies ''to express their opinion on questions of concern to them, in order that...
the Russian people might reach the height of the throne... ''. Nicholas replied, ''I am extremely astonished and displeased with this inappropriate d'emarcheellipses'' 6 To add injury to insult, more than 2000 people were trampled to death early one morning in a massive gathering of over 700, 000 people for the coronation festivities. 7 Nicholas II did not let this tragedy interrupt his celebration, against the bitter opposition of other members of the royal family. 8 Despite the disappointment of the intellectuals and the bloody coronation, Nicholas II remained popular with the general population. A tight control of printed material and a diligent campaign to send revolutionaries into Siberian exile led most Socialist groups into decline. The Social Republicans, with a faith in the popular will of the people, were able to inspire nothing beyond the assassination of minor officials. This terrorism worked against their political goals, by giving the government reason to increase its crack down on the organization (it also inspired a once popular phrase among Russian chess-players for poor chess moves, ''polozhenie khz gubernatorskoe'', which is literally, ''that position is worse than that of a governor). 9 What was to become the most successful Socialist party, the Social Democrats, arose out of an underground organization set up to distribute the Marxist newspaper, Iskra (''The Spark''). 10 Among its chief editors were Lenin and Plekhanov. The Russian Social Democratic Worker's Party officially began with a congress held in Brussels, in 1903.
Dramatic differences of opinion as to how the party should operate soon arose, and a second congress was convened in London. Out of this, the party essentially split into Mensheviks (the minority) and Bolsheviks (''Majority Men''). 11 While the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks struggled to unite the Social Democrats, Nicholas II was busy insulting Japan, hoping to start a war. Nicholas allowed the advice of his more competent advisors to be drowned out by the flattery of his incompetent uncle, the Viceroy of the Far East and by vain imperial ambitions. 12 The cautious and competent Minister of the Interior, Witte was replaced by the more agreeable Pleve, an experienced policeman. Nicholas allowed tension to develop, until Japan had no other choice than to go to war. Pleve felt that a ''small victorious war'' would arouse patriotism and help relieve domestic pressures. Unfortiantly, Russia's single-track, Trans-Siberian railroad could not provide sufficient supplies across 5, 500 miles. 13 Furthermore, it was still over a year from completion. 14 The Czar's ministers eventually convinced Nicholas that war with Japan would be a disaster, but it was too late to stop.
News of Japan's attack on the Russian fleet reversed whatever momentum the revolutionaries had been building. Rumors began circulating that the Japanese fleet had been sunk. A large group of students from St. Petersburg University marched to the Winter Palace, serenading the Czar with hymns of ''God Save the Czar'' and ''Holy Russia'', interspersed with cheers, ''Hail to the Russian Army'', ''Long Live Russia'' and ''Hail to the Czar''.
From there, the procession marched through St. Petersburg, gathering support from all classes of society and walks of life. These patriotic demonstrations spread through other cities, uniting the country in a common emotion. The Czar was not aware of his unanimous support. He was caught up in the midst of the dire predictions of his advisors, warning him that this war may cost him his throne. 15 Where Nicholas II was unaware of the national sentiment, the leaders of the Social Democrats were doubly so.
Lenin became the leader of the Bolsheviks, hoping to unite the party in a military power structure, comprised by only completely devoted revolutionaries. Trotsky lead the Mensheviks, promoting a more open party, permissive of discussion and debate within itself. The debate between Lenin and Trotsky employed all of their energies. Mention of the Russo-Japanese War is all but absent from Lenin's writings. The battle between the two factions became so severe that Lenin had a nervous breakdown. Lenin spent the critical months of the war hiking on deserted trails in Switzerland. 16 To state it kindly, the war did not go well for the Czar.
The Baltic fleet was sent to reinforce the Pacific fleet. They were delayed by the long trip around Africa. War with Britain was narrowly avoided after the fleet accidently sunk a group of British fishing boats in the North Sea, mistaking them for Japanese torpedo boats. When the fleet finally arrived in the Pacific, there was nowhere to refuel or to clean the hulls. 17 One a...
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