A Study On Aristocratic Political Activities In Late Imperial Russia(1881-1917)

The research object of this paper is the political activities of the nobility in late imperial Russia,with a time span of 1881-1917.The research content is the political activities carried out by the nobility to consolidate their primacy in Russia,and the impact of these activities.The structure of this paper includes three parts:introduction,main body and conclusion.The introduction part defines the concept of aristocracy and the time period of this research,describes the significance of the topic of this paper,reviews the research on the history of Russian aristocracy at home and abroad,and introduces the research methods,characteristics of historical materials,innovations and deficiencies of this paper.The main body includes the following five areas:The first chapter mainly introduces the political and economic status of the nobility after the reform in 1861.The author focuses on sorting out the basic conditions and characteristics of the aristocracy after the great reform,which mainly includes three aspects:Political status,which introduces the reduction of the privileges of the aristocracy and the diminished role of the nobility in the management of the state;The economic situation,which introduces the reduction of noble estates,the decline in the yield of noble business activities,and the increase of noble debts;The division within the class introduces the division of property,occupation and political position of the nobles.The analysis of the above three aspects shows that the great reform has profoundly shaken the absolute dominance of the nobility in Russia’s political and economic fields,and then it shows the necessity of the nobility to actively engage in political activities in the late period of imperial Russia and strive to consolidate their primacy.The second chapter mainly introduces the nobles’ attempts to strengthen their local power and their results.The Great Reform weakened the local power of the nobility,and the nobility continued to make demands for local power.These demands have achieved the following results.First,the Russian government abolished county peasant affairs agencies,implemented the system of local governors,and further strengthened the role of nobility in peasant management;Second,the Russian government implemented a counter-reform of the local self-government agency,and the influence of the nobility in the agency was strengthened.The Russian government,through the local governor system and the counter-reform of local self-government institutions,gave the power of local governance to the nobility.Although the nobility can effectively help the government to stabilize the region,it also weakens the degree of centralization,and the local governance system that follows the old system has serfdom residual,contradicting the socio-economic development process.The third chapter mainly introduces the nobility’s efforts to strengthen the privileges of the class and its results.During this period,the nobility demanded to retain and strengthen its monopoly position in the state apparatus,maintain the purity of its hierarchy,and strengthen the importance of the aristocratic class affairs in state affairs.In response to these demands,the Russian government has long regarded origin as the main criterion for selecting and appointing officials,and tried its best to retain the privilege of nobility;Take multiple measures to strengthen the education privilege of the nobles;Raise the threshold for bureaucrats to become nobles,and do not allow emerging landowners to be promoted to nobles;set up the highest institution to deal with affairs related to noble rank-a special conference on noble affairs.Thanks to these measures,the nobility to a certain extent consolidated its privileged position,maintaining its importance in the state apparatus.The fourth chapter mainly introduces the economic demands of the aristocracy and its influence on Russia’s economic policy.The main economic demands of the aristocracy during this period were to formulate preferential credit policies for the aristocracy;to restore the one-son inheritance system,to limit the division of real estate,and to supplement the land for the aristocracy;to protect the industrial and commercial activities of the aristocracy.The Russian government has formulated many specific measures in response to the above-mentioned economic demands.In terms of credit,the Noble Land Bank was established,the new regulations of the Farmers Land Bank were promulgated,and the provincial aristocratic groups were supported to establish the Noble Mutual Credit Institution;In terms of real estate,the nobles are allowed to establish a one-child inheritance system for temporary estates and implement noble estates in Siberia;In the field of industry and commerce,through legislation,the aristocrats are given the privileges in the field of winemaking,the development of state-owned resources,and the right to contract orders from the state.The "Peasant Hire Regulations" were promulgated in favor of the nobility,and the nobility business owners were tacitly allowed to use their close relationship with the ruling elite to carry out business activities.While introducing the above measures,it also focuses on analyzing the degree to which the nobles benefited from these measures.The fifth chapter mainly introduces the political activities and influence of the the All-Russian Federation of Noble Associations in the early 20 th century.The author first describes the process of the establishment of the All-Russian Federation of Noble Associations in order to expand the influence of the provincial nobility on the Russian political stage by seeking common ground while reserving differences,and points out that the important conditions for the nobility federation to participate in politics are:the articles of association support this,rational and favorable organizational structure,financial well-being and high literacy of the staff,recognition by the tsarist authorities.Secondly,it sorts out the main propositions put forward by the Noble Association on major national issues such as the state system,political reform,agricultural issues,and ethnic issues,and the influence of these propositions on the Russian government’s policies.Furthermore,it analyzes how the nobility federation used its close ties with the State Duma,the Council of State,the Council of Ministers and the Tsar himself to exert important influence,and indirectly contributed to the implementation of the resolutions of the nobility congress.Finally,it explained the process of the division of the Noble Association due to political differences and the final dissolution.The conclusion part summarizes the full text and evaluates the political and economic activities of the aristocracy in the late period of imperial Russia in combination with the content of the text,summarizes the evolutionary characteristics of the relationship between the Russian nobility and the government,and points out that although the aristocracy declined seriously in the late period of imperial Russia,the The class has always had a significant influence in the Russian political and socio-economic fields.