1. CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF RUSSIA Lecture with elements of seminar: Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries
Vera Valentinovna Ageeva
Tomsk Polytechnic University
Institute of Humanities, Social Sciences & Technologies
Department of History and Regional Studies

2. Methodology of history: Formational approach
BASIS
Secondary structure
Economy
Society
Policy
Culture
Formation - a special type of social and economic organization of society, emerging at a certain stage of human development

3. Methodology of history: Civilization approach
There is no single cultural history, history is changing cultures.

4. Methodology of history: Modernization theory (the concept of technocrats)
According to modernization theory the history of mankind can be divided into three stages:
Traditional society
Industrial society
Post-industrial society
The modernization - the transition from a traditional, agrarian society to a modern, industrial one.
V.P. Khudoyarov. Emperor Peter I at work

5. Methodology of history: Modernization theory (the concept of technocrats)
Evidence of modernization:
 in the social sphere - the individualization of society, a clear specialization of people and social structures, increase the value of education, business skills and hard work;
 in the economic sphere - the spread of market relations, competition and private ownership, the transition to industrial production;
 in the political sphere - the transition to a secular state, legislative consolidation of civil and political rights, separation of powers, representative government;
 in the cultural sphere - literacy, religious tolerance, rationalization and secularization of consciousness.

6. Types of modernization
"Organic" modernization is carried out by relying on internal resources and cultural base.
"Inorganic" modernization is secondary, catching character, linked to the "challenge" or a direct threat from the more developed countries.
Monument to Peter I on the territory of the Petropavlovsk fortress. The sculptor G. Shemyakin

7. Stages of Russia's modernization:
Peter's modernization of the first quarter of the XVIII century;
2) modernization, carried out by Alexander II in the second half of the XIX century;
3) Stolypin's modernization beginning of XX century;
4) Stalinist modernization in the 1930s;
5) modernization of modern era opened by B.N. Yeltsin (1990s).

8. Peculiarities of Russian historical process
Multinational state, Multicultural society;
The peculiarity of the geographical location and geopolitical situation;
Contrasting climatic conditions.

9. Lecture 2: Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries
Plan
Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (Review: Problems and Prospective of transition period)
2. Stolypin’s modernization. The agrarian reform of P.A. Stolypin: objectives, activities, outcomes and impacts.
3. Russian political parties in the early 20th century: genesis, classification, programs and tactics.
4. Formation and evolution of the multi-party political system in Russia during the First Russian revolution of

10. Was it inevitable Russian Revolution of 1917, the overthrow of the monarchy and the rise to power of the Bolsheviks?
Could timely reforms to prevent the revolutionary upheaval?
What was the potential for the development of Russia's socio-political and economic system in the early 20th century?
What were the systemic problems?

11. What was Russia in the late 19th century?
What was the level of economic development compared to industrialized European countries?
What was the attitude of the majority of population to the existing power? What was the level of social tension?
What were the prospects of democratization of the political system and the transition to the parliamentary monarchy?

12. Russian Empire at the turn of 19th – 20th centuries
The rapid capitalism development, mainly in industry;
Autocratic monarchy;
Estates social system;
The accumulation of contradictions in all spheres.

13. “There is nothing more permanent than something temporary”: the problem of endless transition periods in Russian history
The most important Russian economic transitions were:
• Reforms of S.Y. Vitte and P.A. Stolypin (1895s );
• The first socialist economic transformations of the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution of 1917;
• The New Economic Policy initiated by the Soviet government, headed by V.I. Lenin and ceased by I.V. Stalin ( );
• Industrialization and collectivization in the USSR under the leadership of I.V. Stalin in the 1930s;
• Liberal economic reforms of the 1990s.

14. Witte’s reforms
Sergei Yulyevich Witte ( ) - a highly influential policy-maker who presided over extensive industrialization within the Russian Empire. He served under the last two emperors of Russia
Construction of Trans-Siberian Railway
Wine monopoly
Financial reform - a gold standard of the ruble
The protectionism of the domestic industry

15. State capitalism
an economic system in which commercial (for-profit) economic activity is undertaken by the state, where the means of production are organized and managed as state-owned business enterprises (including the processes of capital accumulation, wage labor, and centralized management), or where there is otherwise a dominance of corporatized government agencies (agencies organized along business management practices) or publicly listed corporations of which the state has controlling shares.

16. Revolution of 1905-1907 Peasants: Political reasons:
Redemption payments
“Otrezki” (small and fragmented land plots)
“Malozemel’e” (lack of land)
The restriction of freedoms
Political reasons:
Autocracy vs Capitalism
The lack of speech freedom
Immediate reasons:
Economical crisis
Crop failures
The Russian-Japanese War
Proletariat:
Lack of labor laws
Low wages, fines, poor working conditions

17. Pyotr Stolypin Military courts Agrarian reform The Coup of June 1907
“They need great upheavals, we need a great Russia!”

18. Think about the question and write a short report (250-300 words)
Why did  the first Russian Revolution ( ) suffer a defeat?
Why did the government manage to defeat the revolutionaries?
What events became a turning point of the revolution?
Why did Lenin call the revolution of "rehearsal of the February Revolution of 1917"?

19. THANK FOR YOUR ATTENTION! Vera V. Ageeva
Department of History and Regional Studies
+7 (382)