History 0301

Mid-Term EXAM

Instructor: Tony Novosel February 27, 2000

Here are your two essay questions. You are to prepare for both of them and you will be assigned one when you arrive on February 27. You will have from 5:45 to 7:00 p.m. to do your assignment. You can write anything you want on this sheet of paper, but you are only allowed to bring this sheet of paper with you to class

Question #1.

You are S. I. Kanatchikov (Article on reserve in my office.) in Moscow in 1900. After a hard day of working as a pattern-maker you stop in a bookstore in Moscow look for the latest translations of Marx. You find the book you are looking for and sit down at a table with a few other people. They are Sergei Witte, the Tsar=s Minister of Finance who is doing some research, Nikloai Kirsanov (Fathers and Sons), Snitkin, the Slavophile (Fathers and Sons), Alexander Herzen (The Father of Russian Socialism). Seeing what you are reading, some of them engage you in curious conversation, Naturally a bitter argument breaks out concerning Russia and its future when they realize you are an educated and radical worker. Recreate, as best you can, the conversation that takes place that day making sure that you show how each of these individuals views and evaluates the momentous events since Emancipation. (You can do this by recreating the conversation verbatim. Or you can do this by summarizing and comparing each participant's position. If you have another way of doing it then that is up to you. However, what you must do in your essay is deal with how each views the Emancipation, the political and social changes of the past forty years, industrialization, urbanization, the various political movements and their solution for Russia. To do this you need utilize our readings, lectures and discussions. One source only will not enable you to answer these questions.

Question #2.

You are Tsar Alexander II trapped in a Star Trek - The Next Generation episode. AQ@ comes to you and gives you the chance to observe Russian History from 1861-1900 and all the problems and the different crises that resulted from the flawed nature of the Great Reforms through the Economic Reforms of Witte. AQ@ also gives you a second chance to go back and completely recreate Russia, politically, socially, and economically between 1861-1900 to avoid the conflicts and the Revolutions he has told you will in occur in 1905 and 1917. In this essay, explain what you would do differently than was actually done in these years? Why you would do it differently? Finally, explain how what you do now would help you avoid the Revolutionary situations of 1905 and 1917. The following is KEY: What you cannot do is simply graft the Western Experience onto Russia or use a strictly Western or American solution for this problem. You must keep in mind the nature of Russian Culture and Society when redesigning Russia .