Editing Alexander III of Russia (section)

===Domestic policies===
[[File:Alexander III reception by Repin.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Alexander receiving rural district elders in the yard of [[Petrovsky Palace]] in Moscow; painting by [[Ilya Repin]]]]

On the day of his assassination, Alexander II signed an [[ukaz]] setting up consultative commissions to advise the monarch. On ascending to the throne, however, Alexander III took Pobedonostsev's advice and cancelled the policy before its publication. He made it clear that his [[autocracy]] would not be limited.

All of Alexander III's internal reforms aimed to reverse the liberalization from his father's reign. The new Emperor believed that the principles of [[Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality]], introduced by his grandfather [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]], would quell revolutionary agitation and save Russia.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-21 |title=Alexander III of Russia - Biography, Policies & Significance |url=https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-rule-of-alexander-iii-of-russia.html |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=Study.com. History courses - help and review}}</ref>

[[File:Keisarintalo Lappeenranta.jpg|thumb|left|Photograph about arriving of Alexander III at the Fontell House (also known as "The House of Emperor") for the first time on August 4, 1885, in [[Lappeenranta]], [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]].]]
Alexander weakened the power of the ''[[zemstvo]]'' (elective local administrative bodies) and placed the administration of peasant communes under the supervision of land-owning proprietors appointed by his government, "land captains" (''zemskiye nachalniki''). This weakened the nobility and peasantry and strengthed the Emperor's personal control. In such policies Alexander III followed the advice of [[Konstantin Pobedonostsev]], who retained control of the Church in Russia through his long tenure as Procurator of the [[Holy Synod]] (from 1880 to 1905) and who became tutor to Alexander's son and heir, Nicholas. (Pobedonostsev appears as "Toporov" in Tolstoy's novel ''Resurrection''.){{citation needed|date=October 2020}} Other conservative advisors included Count [[Dmitry Tolstoy|D. A. Tolstoy]] (minister of education, and later of internal affairs) and [[Ivan Durnovo|I. N. Durnovo]] (D. A. Tolstoy's successor in the latter post). Journalists such as [[Mikhail Katkov]] supported the emperor's autocracy policies.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}

[[File:5 Roubles à l'effigie du Tsar d'Alexandre III, 1888.jpg|thumb|5-ruble coin of Alexander III, 1888]]

The government was overwhelmed in dealing with the [[Russian famine of 1891–92]] and the ensuing [[cholera]] epidemic, which caused 375,000 to 500,000 deaths, and some liberal activity was tolerated, and the zemstvos were recruited to help with relief. Among others, [[Leo Tolstoy]] helped with relief efforts on his estate and through the British press,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kelly|first=Luke|date=November 2016|title=British humanitarianism and the Russian famine, 1891–2|journal=Historical Research|volume=89| issue = 246|pages=824–845|doi=10.1111/1468-2281.12140|via=EBSCO}}</ref> and [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov]] directed anti-cholera precautions in several villages.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Czar Aleksandr III - Trivia |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1640169/trivia/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}</ref>

Alexander had the political goal of [[Russification]], which involved homogenizing the language and religion of Russia's people. He implemented changes such as teaching only the [[Russification|Russian language in Russian schools in Germany, Poland, and Finland]]. He also patronized [[Eastern Orthodox]]y and dissolved German, Polish, and Swedish cultural and religious institutions.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Florinsky |first=Michael T. |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Alexander III |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-III-emperor-of-Russia |access-date=5 September 2019 |date=6 March 2019 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.}}</ref>

Alexander was hostile to Jews, and his reign witnessed a sharp deterioration in their economic, social, and political condition. His policy was eagerly implemented by tsarist officials in the [[May Laws]] of 1882. These laws encouraged open anti-Jewish sentiment and dozens of [[Pogrom|pogroms]] across the western part of the empire. As a result, many Jews emigrated to Western Europe and the United States.<ref>I. Michael Aronson,  "The Attitudes of Russian Officials in the 1880s toward Jewish Assimilation and Emigration." ''Slavic Review'' 34.1 (1975): 1–18. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2495871 online]</ref> The laws banned Jews from inhabiting rural areas and [[shtetl]]s (even within the [[Pale of Settlement]]) and restricted the occupations in which they could engage.<ref>{{cite news|title= This day, May 15, in Jewish history|url= http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/cjnconnect/blogs/article_057a78b4-3f44-5375-a20d-a850a62b2194.html|newspaper= Cleveland Jewish News|access-date= 18 May 2014|archive-date= 19 May 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140519165352/http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/cjnconnect/blogs/article_057a78b4-3f44-5375-a20d-a850a62b2194.html|url-status= dead}}</ref><ref>I. Michael Aronson,  "The Prospects for the Emancipation of Russian Jewry during the 1880s." ''Slavonic and East European Review'' (1977): 348–369. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4207496 online]</ref>

Encouraged by its successful assassination of Alexander II, the [[Narodnaya Volya]] movement began planning the murder of Alexander III. The [[Okhrana]] uncovered the plot and five of the conspirators, including [[Aleksandr Ulyanov]], the older brother of [[Vladimir Lenin]], were captured and hanged in May 1887.