third Prime Minister of Russia, and Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire
1862 CE
to 1911 CE
Pyotr Arkadyevich (April 14 [O.S. April 2] ,1862 – September 18 {O.S. September 5], 1911) is a Russian politician. He was the third Prime Minister of Russia, and Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire from 1906 to his assassination in 1911.
Born in Dresden, Germany, to a prominent Russian aristocratic family, Stolypin becomes involved in government from his early twenties.
His successes in public service leads to rapid promotions, culminating in his appointment as Interior Minister under Ivan Goremykin in April 1906.
In July, Stolypin succeeds as Prime Minister following Goremykin's resignation.
As Prime Minister, Stolypin initiates major agrarian reforms that grant the right of private land ownership to the peasantry.
His tenure is also marked by increased revolutionary unrest, to which he responds with a new system of martial law that allows for the arrest, speedy trial and execution of accused offenders.
Subject to numerous assassination attempts, Stolypin is fatally shot in September 1911 by revolutionary Dmitry Bogrov in Kiev.
Stolypin is a monarchist and hopes to strengthen the throne by modernizing the backward Russian rural economy.
Modernity and efficiency are his goals, not democracy.
He argues that the land question can only be resolved, and revolution averted, when the peasants communal system is abolished and a stable landowning class of peasants created–the kulaks–who will have a stake in the status quo.
His successes and failures will be the subject of heated controversies among scholars.
They will agree he was one of the last major statesmen of Imperial Russia with clearly defined public policies and with the determination to undertake major reforms.
