Revolutionary Upheavals in Russia in the Early 20th Century

Abstract

This chapter examines the social contradictions and the inability of the government to solve the main political problems that led to the deep socio-political crisis of Russia in the early 20th century. This was expressed in the struggle of the workers against the autocratic police system, in the creation of radical, left-wing political parties and liberal opposition unions, in disputes within the ruling elite, and fluctuations in the government's course. All these sociopolitical contradictions and problems were aggravated in the conditions of the deep economic crisis that Russia, like all other European powers, experienced in the early 20th century. Particular attention is drawn to the fact that in the late 19th to early 20th centuries in Russia, as in other capitalist countries, monopolistic associations in industry, commerce, and transport became widespread.