CLEP Western Civ II

Answer: A - The Stolypin Reforms ended the restrictions on the peasant class by allowing them to sell land and move freely. These measures also expanded the powers of local leaders. The result was an increasingly mobile agricultural workforce. The reforms also moved Russia decidedly in the direction of individual property ownership and independent farming. Although meeting with some success, these reforms failed to adequately address the rural poverty in Russia. Therefore, the revolutionary forces were far from appeased. Despite the “too little, too late” reforms, Stolypin was not a benevolent figure. So many leftists were executed under his authority that the gallows became known as “Stolypin’s necktie.”