Four Areas of Potential Turmoil

Peasants
Around 80% of the Russian population were peasants. Some peasant farmers were doing better than their counter-parts. These were called Kulaks. But for the rest, conditions were terrible. Population was also on the rise (50% between 1860-1897) and land was becoming scarce. Every time a Russian farmer died, his land was divided between all his sons so their plots inevitably became smaller.
But still the peasants were loved and were loyal to the Tsar. This was mainly due to the church singing his praises. But some peasants weren’t loyal and supported the revolutionaries. However, the main discontent was about how much land the church and aristocracy owned and how little the peasants had, they were the most needy.

Aristocracy
The aristocracy were the nobility and this is where the Tsar draws his ministers from. It’s also where most of the army’s senior members came from. They were concerned about their livelihood. This was because the Tsar had drafted an extra 13.5 million men to fill out his army. This meant they had no workers on their estates anymore. But most of all they were appalled by Rasputin’s influence in court. Also when the Tsar left to go command his army he left his wife to control the country. She was German so many people from all backgrounds despised the Tsar for leaving her in control. Also by 1916 the aristocracy were calling for the Tsar to abdicate.
Middle classes The middle class people did not suffer in the same way as the rest of the population. They were not happy with the Tsar’s rule and how the war was going so they tried to do their bit to help the soldiers by starting up medical organisations and sending clothes and food supplies.
Middle class workers in Russia were complaining about the lack of raw material availability and could not fulfil war contracts. An alliance of Duma politicians were lobbying for the Tsar to work with them in a more representative way. The Tsar dismissed them a month later.

The Educated
In the early 1900 people were more educated. This could create turmoil because they knew how much better off people of their standing were in countries such as Britain, France and Germany. Therefore they would want to improve the lot of the people in Russia and countries under its influence. Unfortunately they couldn’t express their views to the Tsar for fear of punishment and treason.