"… this was a predatory state which the Czar and a small group of noblemen and bureaucrats ruled for their own exclusive benefit...The ruling group owned all the wealth, enjoyed all the privileges and monopolized all the political power, and it did not intend to give up any of its prerogatives. It considered the peasants to be little better than animals..."
The peasants presented still another problem. All over Russia they were beginning to feel their power, and they were armed.
An armed peasant is a good peasant. Even if his arms are axes and pitchforks.