The reign of the Emperor Alexander III (1881-1894) - the time of political and social stability, the time of reaction. Many reforms of Alexander II, such as judicial, zemstvo, university, have been revised: the powers of zemstvo, courts, and city dumas have been limited, the autonomy of universities has been curtailed, a restriction has been made in obtaining higher education by representatives of the lower classes, and censorship of the press has been strengthened. The reforms of Alexander III, although they slowed down the revolutionary movement in Russia, at the same time freeze the accumulated social contradictions and made the situation in the country, especially in the countryside, even more explosive.
