At the beginning of the 1900's, Russia was still being run by nobility, while the peasants made up more than half of the population. The Russian people didn't see much of the rest of the world outside of their commune way of life. They were hard workers who farmed the land while struggling against the cold and hardships of their life. Czar Alexander II hoping to bring Russia out of the dark ages signed the "…showed first 75 words of 1735 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1735 total…Czar of Russia." Sablinsky, Walter. The Road to Bloody Sunday: Father Gapon and the St. Petersburg Massacre of 1905. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976. Scheer, Matthew. The Markovo Republic: a peasant community during Russia's first revolution, 1905-1906. Slavic Review 53 (Spring 1994): 104-119. Gorden, Philip, Ché: An Illustrated Biography, 1998, Virginia, Virginia Books Inc. New York London. World Book Millennium Ci-CCz vo. 4, 2000, World Book Inc.., Chicago. Volkov, Solomon. St. Petersburg: A Cultural History. New York: The Free Press, 1995.