Apprendisti Storici

In 1862 the tzar Alexander the 2° abolished the serfdom in order to transform the country in an industrial power (until the middle of the XIX century the economy of Russia was predominantly agricultural with primitive tools.

(NOTE: serfdom is a legal status according to which a man belongs to the land and not to a master. Between slavery and liberty).

The majority of the industries were situated near Petrograd (but also around Moscow and Rostov.

Alexander dreamt Russia to become a great military power so all the industries were heavy (infrastructure, steel, military).

The first consequence of this decision was that peasants in the rural areas lost their economic security: previously they were considered to be workforce and therefore job security was ensured to all; from then on, that was no longer the case. 

He totally destroyed the MIR experiences (MIR were rural areas where peasants used to share fields and tools).

This revolution was inspired by Marxist theories but, paradoxically, these theories wanted a revolution in an industrial country with workers and bourgeoisie. 

Encouraging the military industry was Tsar’s decision aimed at leading Russia to be a world power and in 1904 the Tzar Nicola the II invaded Manchuria (China) against Japan. Russia was defeated and this humiliation brought numerous protests calling for political reforms. Nicola did not want to satisfy any of these requests. That is why workers start the "Russian revolution" (as written in several Newspapers in Europe). It was during that revolution that the factories lead by workers with the assemblies of Soviets appeared for the first time.

Nicola decided to adopt some reforms, one of which was aimed at establishing a parliament (DUMA) by universal suffrage.

Actually, this Duma was closed many times (every time it took wrong decisions in Tzar's opinion) but it made it possible to maintain a period of internal peace until 1917.