THE FIRST REVOLUTION OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Show The Roots of Otherness: Russia's Turn of the Century by Teodor Shanin. This two-volume work is not only "a distinguished piece of scholarship" (Dennis Wrong), representing "historical sociology at its best" (William G. Rosenberg). It is all that and also something else: a radical change of paradigm in the historical and sociological understanding of the Russian Revolution. Real breakthroughs in social sciences are rare and should not be overlooked: Shanin's book is one of them. From the late nineteenth century to 1917 most scholars, historians, political leaders, and social philosophers saw Tsarist Russia as either totally unique or as a backward section of Europe. It was neither. As Shanin persuasively shows, Russia at the turn of the century was not unique, nor was it on the threshold of becoming another England; it was the first country in which the specific social syndrome of what we call today a "developing" society had materialized. The Russian Revolution of 1905-1907 marked the time and the place of the first fundamental challenge to the relevance of the Western experience for the rest of humanity. It was not the last of the European revolutions of the nineteenth century but the first of a new series of revolutionary movements in the dependent, peripheral, "developing" societies which unfolded during the twentieth century. What is at issue is not just a historical debate, since up to now the conventional wisdom--the so-called Modernization Theory--has tried to interpret such "developing" societies simply as backward, that is, as societies proceeding toward modernity along a necessary scale of social and economic advances but for some reason not yet "there" or else moving "there" too slowly. What is needed is a different approach which considers the possibility of different models of development, not necessarily following the Western (European and North American pattern. Inspired by Paul Baran's pioneering work on imperialism and underdevelopment, as well as (with some reservations) by Gunder Frank's dependency theory, Shanin's first volume presents dependent development as Russia's major characteristic. The centerpiece of this demonstration is a remarkable analysis of the Russian countryside at the turn of the century, incorporating historical, sociological, economic, and anthropological elements, and focusing on the "rural triangle of (mutual) determination" between capitalism, the state, and the peasantry. Criticizing the linear conception of both liberals and Second International Marxists in their interpretation of Tsarist Russia and its future--in particular their prediction that capitalism soon would "disintegrate" the peasantry--Shanin rescues the fruitful intuitions of the revolutionary populists and the late Marx. Drawing on his previous work (Late Marx and the Russian Road, Monthly Review Press, 1983)--a brilliant piece of unorthodox Marxology--he shows that both Marx (in his later years) and his friends from The People's Will (Narodnaya Volya) considered the peasant commune (obschchina) as the source for the regeneration of Russian society; for them post-capitalist society would dialectically resemble the communalism of capitalism's predecessors. In the 1905-1907 Revolution, the Russian peasant commune would dramatically reveal its characteristics as at once...
The following texts are the property of their respective authors and we thank them for giving us the opportunity to share for free to students, teachers and users of the Web their texts will used only for illustrative educational and scientific purposes only. All the information in our site are given for nonprofit educational purposes The information of medicine and health contained in the site are of a general nature and purpose which is purely informative and for this reason may not replace in any case, the council of a doctor or a qualified entity legally to the profession. Chapter 33 Russia and Japan: Industrialization Outside the West Russia and Japan managed to avoid Western dominance and industrialize to achieve economic autonomy. Japan proved to be the most flexible politically, whereas the strain of industrialization produced a series of revolutions in Russia. As late industrializers, however, the were substantial similarities between Russia and Japan. Both nations had prior experience with cultural imitation: Japan from China, Russia from Byzantium and the West. Both had achieved more effective central governments during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As both countries industrialized, they came into conflict over territorial ambitions in Asia.
Russia moved into active reform after 1861 and provided the foundation for industrialization. Russian leaders in the eighteenth century sought to isolate Russia from the waves of western European revolution. The Napoleonic invasions of 1812 completed the shift toward conservatism.
Russia's economy remained primarily agrarian and fell behind the West in terms of production and trade. To maintain the profitability of grain exports, tighter labor obligations were imposed on the peasantry. The Crimean War, 1854-1856, demonstrated how far Russia had fallen behind the West. British and French forces drove the Russians from the Crimea. The loss convinced Tsar Alexander II that reform was badly needed. In order to establish a more vigorous economy, some attempt had to be made to resolve the peasant crisis. A freer labor force, it was believed, could increase profitability. Western criticism of Russian social injustice also stung Russian sensibilities. A series of minor peasant rebellions in the 1850s also stimulated the movement for reform.
Tsar Alexander II emancipated the serfs in 1861. The freed serfs got most of the land, but the aristocracy retained essential political and economic power. Serfs remained tied to their villages until they could pay for the land they received. High redemption payments and state taxation kept most peasants in an abject state of poverty. The emancipation did produce a larger urban labor force, but failed to stimulate agricultural production. The slow pace of change engendered social dissatisfaction and regional peasant uprisings. In addition to freeing the serfs, Alexander II carried out other reforms. The tsar issued new law codes, established regional councils, or zemstvos, for input on local decision making, and began military reforms. Literacy spread more widely in Russian society with the development of a mass market in popular literary forms. Women gained slightly through greater access to education and somewhat loosened patriarchal authority. Industrialization was part of the pattern of change in reformed Russia. Lacking a substantial middle class, the state played a critical role in capital formation and investment. Russia created a substantial railroad network in the 1870s. Better transportation permitted more efficient use of Russia's abundant natural resources. The railroad also facilitated shipment of grain to the West, which in turn helped finance industrialization. By the 1880s, modern factories had begun to develop in major Russian cities. Count Witte, the Russian minister of finance from 1892 to 1903, enacted high tariffs to protect the new industries. Witte also encouraged Western investment in Russian industrialization. As a result, nearly one half of Russia's industrial businesses were foreign-owned. By 1900, Russia ranked fourth in steel production and second in petroleum production. Russian factories were typically enormous, but technologically inferior. Agriculture also lagged behind Western standards of productivity. The masses of Russian citizens were only slightly affected by industrialization. Military reforms did not substantially alter the concept of peasant conscripts serving aristocratic landlords. Nor did Russian industrialization produce a substantial middle class.
During and after the 1880s, Russia became politically and socially unstable. Ethnic minorities in Russia began agitation for national recognition after the 1860s. Recurrent famines produced peasant unrest. At the same time two strands of intellectual protest began. Business and professional people sought further liberal reforms, while a more radical intelligentsia demanded revolution. Intellectual radicalism shaded off into terrorism and anarchism as a means of fundamentally restructuring Russian society. Initially Russian radicals sought to spread their message among the peasants, but found the masses unreceptive. Given lack of popular support, anarchists fell back on political assassination as a tool to unseat the government. Terrorism convinced the tsarist government to pull back from reform. When Alexander II was assassinated in 1881, his successors imposed repressive policies to dampen unrest. In the 1890s, intellectuals picked up Marxism from the West as a means of organizing the revolution. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known as Lenin, introduced innovations in Marxist theory to accommodate the social theory to the Russian situation. Lenin's organization called for small, disciplined cells of Marxists to organize the revolution. Lenin's approach was accepted by the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Marxists. Radicalism spread rapidly among urban workers, who formed unions and engaged in strikes. Marxism was one of several doctrines that spread among the labor force. An intransigent government faced with mass protests in the cities and the countryside produced a situation that could not be adjusted by reform. Russian military expansion came to an end in the first decade of the twentieth century. Japan and Russia came into conflict over both nation's plans for expansion in northern China. To the surprise of almost all observers, the Japanese quickly defeated Russian forces in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904. Military defeat unleashed all of the dissenting force in Russia.
Many of the new nations emerging in the Balkans replicated Russian patterns of political autocracy, although many did establish parliaments. Most eastern European nations abolished serfdom in 1848 or shortly thereafter. Industrialization was less thorough in the nations of eastern Europe, and landlords continued to wield the majority of economic and political power. The Slavic nations did enjoy an era of great cultural productivity during the nineteenth century. By 1900, principles of political autocracy confronted growing opposition in Russia and elsewhere in eastern Europe.
Faced with European and American demands for more open trade, Japan underwent industrialization. Transformation in Japan was in some ways less difficult, but industrialization produced strains.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Tokugawa shogunate continued to combine a central bureaucracy with alliances with feudal magnates in the countryside. The government was chronically short of funds due to limited income from taxes on the agrarian economy and payments made to feudal lords for their loyalty. Shortages of income led to reform movements, which weakened the shogunate and made it vulnerable to external threats. Despite the ongoing deterioration of strength, the political alliance between bureaucracy and the samurai worked well. The growth of neo- Confucianism made Japanese life more secular and precluded a religious opposition to change. Literacy rates in Japan were much higher than in the West. Several strains of intellectual pursuit developed. The national school emphasized essentially Japanese culture, while the Dutch Studies school represented Japanese attempts to keep abreast of Western science and technology. The Japanese economy expanded on the basis of commercial growth. Manufacturing began to extend into the countryside, just as proto-industrialization had occurred in the West. Economic growth slowed by the middle of the nineteenth century, producing some rural protests and further weakening the shogunate.
In 1853, the American commodore Matthew Perry arrived and demanded that Japan be opened to trade. By 1856, Japan was forced to receive Western consuls and to open ports to foreign trade.
The Meiji government abolished feudalism and replaced the daimyo states with regional prefectures. The government sent samurai abroad to study political institutions and economic organization. Foreign observations were used to restructure the state. In order to improve their fiscal situation, the new government abolished payments to the samurai in return for grants of government bonds. Conscription provided a new army. Some samurai fell into poverty, others found avenues of employment in the government and business. In 1884, the government created a new nobility to staff a House of Peers. Civil service examinations were utilized to open the bureaucracy to men of talent. The new constitution, issued in 1889, recognized the supremacy of the emperor, but gave limited powers to an elected lower house of representatives within the Diet.
The new government imposed military reforms to modernize Japan's army and established the foundation for industrialization. An internal infrastructure was created, guilds and internal tariffs were abolished, and clear title to land was granted to individuals. Lack of capital dictated direct government involvement in the stages of industrialization. Japan established the Ministry of Industry in 1870 to oversee economic development. The government built model factories to provide experience with new technology. Education was extended as a means of developing a work force. Private enterprise soon joined government initiatives, particularly in textiles. By the 1890s, industrial combines, or zaibatsus, served to accumulate capital for major investment.
Social change led to rapid population growth that strained Japanese resources but sustained a ready supply of cheap labor. The education system stressed science and loyalty to the emperor. Western culture arrived in Japan along with models of constitutional structure and industrialization. As industrialization progressed, population growth dropped off. Patriarchal households remained the norm, but divorce rates indicated increasing instability within family life. Shintoism, as an expression of indigenous culture, gained new popularity.
Industrialization and successful imperialism had costs for the Japanese. Conservatives were appalled at the trend to imitate the West. The carefully contrived political balance began to become unwieldy. Ministries were forced to call more frequent elections to achieve working majorities in the Diet. Some intellectuals bemoaned the loss of an authentic Japanese identity and the creation of a Japan that was neither traditional nor Western. To combat the malaise, leaders urged loyalty to the emperor and the nation. Nationalism became a strong force in Japanese politics.
The addition of Russia, Japan, and the United States to the world diplomatic picture increased competition. Some nations in the West feared the "yellow peril" represented by Japan's emergence as an international power. The need to direct attention away from internal stresses led to colonial acquisitions by the new powers and heightened the competitive atmosphere, particularly in the Far East. Source : http://soyoungkim.wikispaces.com/file/view/ch33.doc Web site link: http://soyoungkim.wikispaces.com/ Google key word : Russia and Japan Industrialization Outside the West summary file type : doc Author : not indicated on the source document of the above text If you are the author of the text above and you not agree to share your knowledge for teaching, research, scholarship (for fair use as indicated in the United States copyrigh low) please send us an e-mail and we will remove your text quickly. CHAPTER 27: RUSSIA AND JAPAN –INDUSTRIALIZATION OUTSIDE THE WEST SUMMARYRussia’s Reforms and Industrial Advances After half a century of conservatism, in which the official national ideology was represented by the phrase “autocracy (tsar’s absolute authority), orthodoxy (conservatism and Orthodox Christianity) and nationality (Great Russian nationalism and a Pan Slavist foreign policy) and the humiliating loss in the Crimean War, Russia moved into an active reform period in 1861. Social and political changes beginning with the emancipation of the serfs set the basis for industrialization by the 1890s. But social strain persisted as Russian leaders tried to defend the tsarist autocracy. Protest and Revolution in Russia Japan: Transformation without Revolution Like Russia, Japan faced new pressure from the West during the 1850s, although this pressure took the form of a demand for more open trade rather than outright military conflict. Japan’s response was more direct than Russia’s and more immediately successful. Despite Japan’s long history of isolation, its society was better adapted than Russia’s to the challenge of industrial change. Market forms were more extensive, reaching into peasant agriculture, and literacy levels were higher. Nevertheless, Japan had to rework many of its institutions during the final decades of the 19th century, and the process produced significant strain. Conclusion: Growing International RivalriesThe beginning of serious industrialization in Russia and Japan, and the unprecedented entry of Japan into world affairs, contributed important new ingredients to the world diplomatic picture by the early 20th century. These developments, along with the rise of the United States, added to the growing sense of competition between the established powers. Outright colonial acquisitions by the new powers added directly to the competitive atmosphere, particularly in the Far East. CHAPTER REVIEW Describe Russian society between 1815 – 1860. What constituted the “peasant problem” in Russia? Why did the Russians emancipate their serfs and with what results? What reforms did Alexander II attempt and with what results? How did Russian industrialize and how did it have on society? What radical groups arose in Russia and what did they advocate? What caused the 1905 Russian Revolution and what results did it achieve? What effects did Russian nationalism have on Eastern Europe? Describe Japanese society during the late Tokugawa Shogunate. How was Japan opened to foreign influences and with what results? Why was Japan better able to modernize than China? How did Japan change politically after the Meiji Restoration? Describe the industrialization of Japan. What social and cultural effects and conflicts did modernization cause in Japan? How did Japan create an empire between 1895 and 1910? VOCABULARY Russo-Japanese War Holy Alliance Decembrist Uprising Crimean War Emancipation of the Serfs Zemstvo Trans-Siberian Railroad Intelligentsia Anarchists Lenin and the Bolsheviks 1905 Russian Revolution Duma Kulaks Dutch Studies 1853 and Matthew Perry Meiji Restoration Diet Zaibatsu Sino-Japanese War Yellow Peril VISUALIZING THE PAST: Two Faces of Western Influence (Page 662) What values do the two images convey? Of Commodore Perry? Of Parliament? Why would the artists want to depict each scene in the way that they did? PHOTO ESSAY: Russia in Turmoil (Pages 650, 652, and 653) What aspects and problems about Russian society do these photos reflect? If these photos are typical of 19th century Russian history, what could you predict about future Russian history? (Consider the Document on page 654) MAP EXERCISES Map 27.1: Russian Expansion 1815 – 1914 (Page 651, map at the back of book) What modern states did the Russians rule in 1914 but not 1999? In Europe In the Caucasus area In Central Asia Geo-Politics and Geo-Economics How far is it from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok in East Asia? How would the size and distances in Russia make government difficult? What relationship is there between Russian ports and access to seas? Why would ports on the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean not be practical? Map 27.2: Japanese Colonial Expansion (Page 665) Geography and Japan What lands block Japanese expansion? If Japan were to expand abroad, what would she need? Why would Japan covet Korea? Geography and War (Use map on page 651, also) If Japan expanded into Korea, what countries would contest the move? What two wars did Japan fight? What geographic problems plagued Russia but helped Japan? DOCUMENT ANALYSIS: Russia’s Industrialization (Page 654) Document Analysis
Who was the intended audience?
ESSAY QUESTIONS Compare and contrast Japanese and Russian paths to modernization. Compare and contrast Japanese and Chinese responses to the western threat. How did Japan change socially, politically, and economically from 1500 – 1900? Compare and contrast Russia’s reaction to westernization or modernization with the reaction of any one of these: Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Egypt, Ottoman Empire, or China. How did Russia change socially, politically, and economically from 1400 – 1900? Compare and contrast Russian society and its changes with any one West European nation. Compare and contrast the emancipation of the Russian serfs, American slaves, and end to slavery in the Americas. Compare and contrast the Industrial Revolution in Russia with the British Industrial Revolution. Compare and contrast Russian imperialism with the expansion of Great Britain in the 19th century. Compare and contrast the demographic shift in Japan with similar changes in one of these: China, Russia, Western Europe, or any Latin American nation. Source : http://mrbowersclassroom.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/5/7/15576618/chapter_27.doc Web site link: http://mrbowersclassroom.weebly.com Google key word : Russia and Japan Industrialization Outside the West summary file type : doc Author : not indicated on the source document of the above text If you are the author of the text above and you not agree to share your knowledge for teaching, research, scholarship (for fair use as indicated in the United States copyrigh low) please send us an e-mail and we will remove your text quickly. If you want to quickly find the pages about a particular topic as Russia and Japan Industrialization Outside the West summary use the following search engine: Please visit our home pageLarapedia.com Terms of service and privacy page |