Peter stolypin factfile PDF

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PETER STOLYPIN FACT FILE

1862 – Born into an aristocratic (noble) family 1902 – Appointed as a regional governor 1906 – Appointed interior minister and then prime minister 1906-11 – Served as prime minister 1906-7 – Introduced ‘wager on the strong.’ (Aimed to capitalise the economy by assisting and empowering hard-working peasants) 1907 – Effective liaison with the second duma. 1911 – Assassinated

Born into an aristocratic family, he studied agriculture at university and went on to hold minor government posts before rising to become governor of Kovno then Saratov. His experience of the peasants led him to believe that in order to improve their conditions and make them more productive, they needed both encouragement and stern political control.

Stolypin’s aim was to break the peasants’ dependence on collective and communal farming by giving them incentives (motivation) to farm efficiently and profitably. This was not done out of pure altruism; if the peasants were left aggrieved, they would continue to be a dangerous source of social unrest. He played an important role in restoring order and crushing opposition after 1905, and also introducing some reform measures that contributed to relative stability in the years leading up to WW1. Stolypin attempted to get to grips with the deep-rooted problems of Russian agriculture in order to help maintain the tsardom rule.

Stolypin’s complementary policy of suppressing the ‘dark masses’ to prevent their becoming a disruptive force was evident in the harshness of the social policies he enforced, including anti-Jewish pogroms. His political conservatism led him to attempt to manipulate the membership of the duma so that it became not a source of criticism of the tsarist system but a bulwark (wall) in its defence. He was faced by the same problems that had confronted Witte: the leading members of the Russian establishment he was trying to save, never gave him the support he needed. His attempt to convince them of the paradox that in order to conserve they had to be less conservative proved unavailing.

The high price of land, leading to heavy mortgage repayment, had impoverished the peasants. They felt insecure which meant that they farmed inefficiently and were a dangerous social force. One of the reasons why the peasants joined the 1905 Revolution was their fear that the government was about to seize the land of those many mortgage-holders who had fallen behind in their payments. When the government came to understand the fear, it nought off the peasants by announcing that the outstanding payments would be cancelled. This tactic was known as “de-revolutionising+ the peasants. Stolypin built on this successful treatment of the peasantry by introducing measures from 1906-7 which restored the peasants’ sense of security. This policy came to be known as “wager on the strong.” His intention was to create a layer of prosperous (thriving), productive peasants whose new wealth would turn them into natural supporters of the Tsarist system and therefore no longer posed a threat.

Redemption payments to the mir (village community) were cancelled which gave them the option to leave the mir and become individual landowners. Also, a special Land Bank was established to provide funds for the independent peasant to buy his land. Cheap loans were offered by ‘Peasants’ ‘Bank’ to allow more capitalist peasants to buy strips of land from their neighbours and consolidate into larger, more efficient holdings. By 1914 over 1/3 of peasants had left the mir and by 1916, 24% of households in Russia owned

their own land. Huge tracts of the land were still owned by the Tsar and the gentry and only 10% of peasants had managed to consolidate their land into large holdings. Most peasants were reluctant to leave the security of the commune for the uncertainty of individual farming. Indeed, the deep conservatism of the peasants made them slow to respond.

Additionally, the reforms introduced a growing class of alienated poor peasants, some of whom drifted to the cities to work, others who became discontented farm labourers. This was a dangerous class of people, who lacked much in the way of material wealth and stability and were therefore susceptible to revolt and radicalism. Farmers were urged to replace the insufficient strip system with fenced fields, based on the pattern that existed in Western Europe. The strip system was ineffective because there was a lack of space between strips so the farmer could not protect or improve his crops and livestock or expand his output. As a result, agricultural production increased, leading to a record harvest in 1913. However, some historians claim that production was still low compared to western standards and that the success was to do with the weather not the reform. Reform did not address the problems of overpopulation and ‘land hunger’ that this created.

Land reform takes time to work. Stolypin was aware that it would take at least 20 years for the reforms to be effective. His assassination in 1911 left him only 5 years and the coming of war in 1914, only gave Russia 8 years. This was not enough work. However, Stolypin’s land policy shows us the extent to which he had positive working relations with the duma. His success here hinted at how much co-operation might have developed between the government and progressive opinion had the tsarist regime been willing to trust its own ministers. Stolypin’s uncompromising political stance, mixed with a strong sense of economic realism, offered a way out of the institutional crisis that threatened to destroy Imperial Russia. Tsardom’s tragedy was that it never understood this. In 1911 he was assassinated by an SR member who was possibly in the pay of the secret police....