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131-670: Coming under pressure from the Russian Revolution of 1905 , on August 6, 1905 (O.S.), Sergei Witte (appointed by Nicholas II to manage peace negotiations with Japan after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905) issued a manifesto about the convocation of the Duma, initially thought to be a purely advisory body, the so-called Bulygin -Duma. In the subsequent October Manifesto , the emperor promised to introduce further civil liberties , provide for broad participation in

262-523: A Bolshevik who was a double agent for the secret police. In March 1913 the Octobrists , led by Alexander Guchkov , President of the Duma, commissioned an investigation on Grigori Rasputin to research the allegations being a Khlyst . The leading party of the Octobrists divided itself into three different sections. The Duma "met on 8 August for three hours to pass emergency war credits, [and] it

393-542: A massacre and his realisation that there was insufficient military force available to pursue alternative options. He regretted signing the document, saying that he felt "sick with shame at this betrayal of the dynasty ... the betrayal was complete". When the manifesto was proclaimed, there were spontaneous demonstrations of support in all the major cities. The strikes in Saint Petersburg and elsewhere officially ended or quickly collapsed. A political amnesty

524-550: A central role in the 1905 revolution, would write several proclamations urging for improved economic conditions , political rights and the use of strike action against the Tsarist regime on behalf of workers. Many socialists view this as a period when the rising revolutionary movement was met with rising reactionary movements. As Rosa Luxemburg stated in 1906 in The Mass Strike , when collective strike activity

655-733: A citywide general strike) and Tiflis , where commercial workers gained a reduction in the working day, and were joined by factory workers. In 1904, massive strike waves broke out in Odessa in the spring, in Kyiv in July, and in Baku in December. This all set the stage for the strikes in St. Petersburg in December 1904 to January 1905 seen as the first step in the 1905 revolution. Another contributing factor behind

786-492: A constitution. In November 1904 a Zemsky Congress  [ ru ] ( Russian : Земский съезд )—a gathering of zemstvo delegates representing all levels of Russian society—called for a constitution, civil liberties and a parliament . On 13 December [ O.S. 30 November] 1904, the Moscow City Duma passed a resolution demanding the establishment of an elected national legislature, full freedom of

917-403: A crash governmental program was proposed to promote industrialization. His policies included heavy government expenditures for railroad building and operations, subsidies and supporting services for private industrialists, high protective tariffs for Russian industries (especially heavy industry), an increase in exports, currency stabilization, and encouragement of foreign investments. His plan

1048-478: A focal point of political resistance. On 3 September 1915 the Duma prorogued. On the eve of the war the government and the Duma were hovering round one another like indecisive wrestlers, neither side able to make a definite move. The war made the political parties more cooperative and practically formed into one party. When the tsar announced he would leave for the front at Mogilev , the Progressive Bloc

1179-548: A general strike at Rostov-on-Don in November 1902. Daily meetings of 15,000 to 20,000 heard openly revolutionary appeals for the first time, before a massacre defeated the strikes. But reaction to the massacres brought political demands to purely economic ones. Luxemburg described the situation in 1903 by saying: "the whole of South Russia in May, June and July was aflame", including Baku (where separate wage struggles culminated in

1310-591: A manifesto promising the broadening of the zemstvo system and more authority for local municipal councils, insurance for industrial workers, the emancipation of Inorodtsy and the abolition of censorship. The crucial demand—that for a representative national legislature—was missing in the manifesto. Worker strikes in the Caucasus broke out in March 1902. Strikes on the railways, originating from pay disputes, took on other issues and drew in other industries, culminating in

1441-742: A minute proportion of the population. "The tactics of the left-wing students proved to be remarkably effective, far beyond what any of the students would have dreamed. Sensing that neither the university administrations nor the government possessed the will or authority to enforce regulations, radicals simply went ahead with their plans to turn the schools into centres of political activity for students and non-students alike." They took up problems that were unrelated to their "proper employment", and displayed defiance and radicalism by boycotting examinations, rioting, arranging marches in sympathy with strikers and political prisoners , circulating petitions , and writing anti-government propaganda . This disturbed

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1572-432: A multi-ethnic empire. Nineteenth-century Russians saw cultures and religions in a clear hierarchy. Non-Russian cultures were tolerated in the empire but were not necessarily respected. Culturally, Europe was favored over Asia, as was Orthodox Christianity over other religions. For generations, Russian Jews had been considered a special problem. Jews constituted only about 4% of the population but were concentrated in

1703-570: A new "State Duma", and endow the Duma with legislative and oversight powers. The State Duma was to be the lower house of a parliament, and the State Council of Imperial Russia the upper house . However, Nicholas II was determined to retain his autocratic power (in which he succeeded). On April 23, 1906 ( O.S. ), he issued the Fundamental Laws , which gave him the title of "supreme autocrat". Although no law could be made without

1834-471: A new consciousness after discipline was relaxed in the institutions, and as increasingly radical ideas gained attention. Significantly, this was a period of disaffection in the Russian military. Soldiers returning from a bloody and disgraceful defeat with Japan found inadequate factory pay, shortages, and general disarray, and organized in protest. Because the Russian economy was tied to European finances,

1965-843: A number of raids (with unofficial government approval) against revolutionary groups as well as pogroms against Jews. After the October Manifesto created the State Duma , he was elected as a deputy for the Bessarabian and Kursk province. He became one of the founders of the Union of the Russian People and served as its deputy chairman until 1907, when he split to form the Union of the Archangel Michael. In

2096-521: A petition to the Tsar on Sunday, 22 January [ O.S. 9 January] 1905. The troops guarding the Palace were ordered to tell the demonstrators not to pass a certain point, according to Sergei Witte , and at some point, troops opened fire on the demonstrators, causing between 200 (according to Witte) and 1,000 deaths. The event became known as Bloody Sunday , and is considered by many scholars as

2227-528: A private meeting. According to Buchanan: "It was an act of madness to prorogue the Duma at a moment like the present." "The delegates decided to form a Provisional Committee of the State Duma . The Provisional Committee ordered the arrest of all the ex-ministers and senior officials." The Tauride Palace was occupied by the crowd and soldiers. "On the evening the Council of Ministers held its last meeting in

2358-400: A professional and a rebellious student body in centers of political power, industrialization infuriated both these new forces and the traditional rural classes." The government policy of financing industrialization through taxing peasants forced millions of peasants to work in towns. The "peasant worker" saw his labor in the factory as the means to consolidate his family's economic position in

2489-460: A resolution, asking for popular representation at the national level. On 6 June [ O.S. 24 May] 1905, Nicholas II had received a Zemstvo deputation. Responding to speeches by Prince Sergei Nikolaevich Trubetskoy and Mr Fyodrov, the Tsar confirmed his promise to convene an assembly of people's representatives. Tsar Nicholas II agreed on 2 March [ O.S. 18 February] to

2620-502: A separate issue, was similar to its policies in dealing with all national and religious minorities. Historian Theodore Weeks notes: "Russian administrators, who never succeeded in coming up with a legal definition of ' Pole ', despite the decades of restrictions on that ethnic group, regularly spoke of individuals 'of Polish descent' or, alternatively, 'of Russian descent', making identity a function of birth." This policy only succeeded in producing or aggravating feelings of disloyalty. There

2751-410: A speech in the Duma that denounced Rasputin and the conduct of the government. He compared Rasputin with the " False Dmitri ", and argued that Rasputin's influence over the tsarina had made him a threat to the empire. He stated that the monarchy was becoming discredited: The Tsar's ministers who have been turned into marionettes, marionettes whose threads have been taken firmly in hand by Rasputin and

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2882-563: A transition to constitutional monarchy and thus betray the revolution; instead he argued that the proletariat would have to build an alliance with the peasantry to overthrow the Tsarist regime and establish the "provisional revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry." In December 1904, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant (a railway and artillery supplier) in St. Petersburg. Sympathy strikes in other parts of

3013-661: The Caucasus resulted in Armenian–Tatar massacres , heavily damaging the cities and the Baku oilfields . With the unsuccessful and bloody Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) there was unrest in army reserve units. On 2 January 1905, Port Arthur was lost; in February 1905, the Russian army was defeated at Mukden , losing almost 80,000 men. On 27–28 May 1905, the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated at Tsushima . Witte

3144-615: The First Russian Revolution , began on 22 January 1905. A wave of mass political and social unrest then began to spread across the vast areas of the Russian Empire . The unrest was directed primarily against the Tsar , the nobility, and the ruling class. It included worker strikes , peasant unrest, and military mutinies . In response to the public pressure, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to go back on his earlier authoritarian stance and enact some reform (issued in

3275-557: The Iskra split would see the likes of Julius Martov and Georgi Plekhanov spar with Lenin . Leon Trotsky , who felt a strong connection to the Bolsheviki, had not given up a compromise but spearheaded strike action in over 200 factories. By 26 October [ O.S. 13 October] 1905, over 2 million workers were on strike and there were almost no active railways in all of Russia. Growing inter-ethnic confrontation throughout

3406-559: The Marinsky Palace and formally submitted its resignation to the tsar when they were cut off from the telephone. Guchkov, along with Vasily Shulgin , came to the army headquarters near Pskov to persuade the tsar to abdicate. The committee sent commissars to take over ministries and other government institutions, dismissing Tsar-appointed ministers and formed the Provisional Government under Georgi Lvov . In

3537-472: The October Manifesto ). This took the form of establishing the State Duma , the multi-party system , and the Russian Constitution of 1906 . Despite popular participation in the Duma, the parliament was unable to issue laws of its own, and frequently came into conflict with Nicholas. The Duma's power was limited and Nicholas continued to hold the ruling authority. Furthermore, he could dissolve

3668-735: The Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party had boycotted the election, leaving the moderate Constitutional Democrats (Kadets) with the most deputies (around 184). Second came an alliance of slightly more radical leftists, the Trudoviks (Laborites) with around 100 deputies. To the right of both were a number of smaller parties, including the Octobrists . Together, they had around 45 deputies. Other deputies, mainly from peasant groups, were unaffiliated. The Kadets were among

3799-541: The Russian Revolution of 1905 . He later served in the State Duma , where he gained a reputation for courting of public controversy. Together with Felix Yusupov and Dmitri Pavlovich he took part in the assassination of Grigori Rasputin in late 1916. After the February Revolution , Purishkevich was one of the only leaders of the Black Hundreds to remain politically active. He eventually joined

3930-731: The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party ) and the Socialist Revolutionaries all abandoned their policies of boycotting elections to the Duma, and consequently won a number of seats. The election was an overall success for Russian left-wing parties: the Trudoviks won 104 seats, the Social Democrats 65 (47 Mensheviks and 18 Bolsheviks), the Socialist Revolutionaries 37 and the Popular Socialists 16. The Kadets (by this point

4061-685: The Russian populist tradition, and the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (founded in 1898). In late 1904 liberals started a series of banquets (modeled on the campagne des banquets leading up to the French Revolution of 1848 ), nominally celebrating the 40th anniversary of the liberal court statutes, but actually an attempt to circumvent laws against political gatherings. The banquets resulted in calls for political reforms and

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4192-781: The Russification undertaken since Alexander II . The Poles, Finns, and the Baltic provinces all sought autonomy, and also freedom to use their national languages and promote their own culture. Muslim groups were also active, founding the Union of the Muslims of Russia in August 1905. Certain groups took the opportunity to settle differences with each other rather than the government. Some nationalists undertook anti-Jewish pogroms , possibly with government aid, and in total over 3,000 Jews were killed. The number of prisoners throughout

4323-624: The Urals and beyond. In March, all higher academic institutions were forcibly closed for the remainder of the year, adding radical students to the striking workers. A strike by railway workers on 21 October [ O.S. 8 October] 1905 quickly developed into a general strike in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. This prompted the setting up of the short-lived Saint Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Delegates, an admixture of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks headed by Khrustalev-Nossar and despite

4454-543: The Vyborg Appeal , which called for civil disobedience and a revolution. Largely ignored, it ended in their arrest and the closure of Kadet Party offices. This, among other things, helped pave the way for an alternative makeup for the second Duma. The Second Duma (from 20 February 1907 to 3 June 1907) lasted 103 days. One of the new members was Vladimir Purishkevich , strongly opposed to the October Manifesto . The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks (that is, both factions of

4585-644: The White movement and died from typhus in 1920. Born as the son of a poor nobleman in Kishinev , Bessarabia (now Moldova ), Purishkevich graduated from Novorossiysk University with a degree in classical philology . Around 1900, he moved to Saint Petersburg . He became a member of the Russian Assembly group and was appointed under Vyacheslav von Plehve . Purishkevich was a hardline supporter of Russification and sacerdotal autocracy. Purishkevich

4716-837: The Bolsheviks split completely with the Mensheviks; many Bolsheviks refused, and both groups attended the Third RSDLP Congress , held in London in April 1905 at the Brotherhood Church . Lenin presented many of his ideas in the pamphlet Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution , published in August 1905. Here, he predicted that Russia's liberal bourgeoisie would be sated by

4847-667: The Cossack leader to come and restore order in Petrograd . He became the first person to be tried in the Smolny Institute by the first Revolutionary Tribunal. He was condemned to eleven months of 'public work' and four years of imprisonment with obligatory community service and won the admiration of his fellow prisoners in the Fortress of St Peter and St Paul by his courageous bearing. He was given an amnesty on May 1 after

4978-537: The Duma exclude 55 Social Democrats from Duma sessions and strip 16 of their parliamentary immunity . When this ultimatum was rejected by Duma, it was dissolved on 3 June by an ukase (imperial decree) in what became known as the Coup of June 1907 . On June 3, 1907, the Second Duma was dissolved. The reason was an alleged insurrection attempt planned by Social Democrat members of the Duma based on dubious evidence. In

5109-401: The Duma's assent, neither could the Duma pass laws without the approval of the noble-dominated State Council (half of which was to be appointed directly by emperor), and the emperor himself retained a veto. The laws stipulated that ministers could not be appointed by, and were not responsible to, the Duma, thus denying responsible government at the executive level. Furthermore, Nicholas II had

5240-446: The Duma, he gained fame and infamy for his flamboyant speeches and scandalous behaviour, such as speaking on International Workers' Day with a red carnation in his fly . When the first Russian women's congress convened in 1908, Purishkevich sent a letter to several of the participants calling it "an assembly of whores". One of the recipients of the letter, Anna Filosofova , made the letter public and took Purishkevich to court; he

5371-400: The Duma, on the other hand, wanted continuing reform, including electoral reform, and, most prominently, land reform. Sergei Muromtsev , Professor of Law at Moscow University, was elected Chairman. Lev Urusov held a famous speech. Scared by this liberalism, emperor dissolved the parliament, reportedly saying "Curse the Duma. It is all Witte's doing". The same day, Pyotr Stolypin was named as

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5502-477: The Duma, which he did three times in order to get rid of the opposition. The 1905 revolution was set off by the international humiliation that resulted from the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War , which ended in the same year. Calls for revolution were intensified by the growing realisation of the need for reform by a variety of sectors of society. Politicians such as Sergei Witte had succeeded in partially industrializing Russia but failed to adequately meet

5633-540: The Duma: "maybe [we will be] dismissed to 9 January, maybe until February", but in the evening the Duma was closed until 12 January, by a decree prepared on the day before. A military guard had been on duty at the building. The February Revolution began on 22 February when the tsar had left for the front, and strikes broke out in the Putilov workshops. On 23 February ( International Women's Day ), women in Petrograd joined

5764-487: The Empire. Vladimir Purishkevich Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich ( Russian : Владимир Митрофанович Пуришкевич , [pʊrʲɪˈʂkʲevʲɪt͡ɕ] ; 24 August [ O.S. 12 August] 1870 – 1 February 1920) was a Russian politician and right-wing extremist known for his monarchist , ultra-nationalist , antisemitic and anticommunist views. He helped lead the paramilitary Black Hundreds during

5895-577: The Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna—the evil genius of Russia and the Tsarina... who has remained a German on the Russian throne and alien to the country and its people. He concluded that "While Rasputin is alive, we cannot win". Prince Felix Yusupov was impressed by Purishkevich's speech criticizing Rasputin. He visited Purishkevich, who quickly agreed to participate in the killing of Rasputin. Also, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich joined

6026-694: The Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907) ). Half of European Russia's industrial workers went on strike in 1905, and 93.2% in Poland. There were also strikes in Finland and the Baltic coast. In Riga , 130 protesters were killed on 26 January [ O.S. 13 January] 1905, and in Warsaw a few days later over 100 strikers were shot on the streets. By February, there were strikes in the Caucasus , and by April, in

6157-594: The Minister of the Interior, Pyotr Sviatopolk-Mirsky , on 18 February [ O.S. 5 February] 1905. He appointed a government commission "to enquire without delay into the causes of discontent among the workers in the city of St Petersburg and its suburbs" in view of the strike movement. The commission was headed by Senator Nikolay Shidlovsky, a member of the State Council , and included officials, chiefs of government factories, and private factory owners. It

6288-545: The Ministers! Down with Protopopov!" The prime minister was not allowed to speak and had to leave the rostrum three times. Trepov threatened to shut the troublesome Duma completely in its attempt to control the tsar. The tsar, his cabinet, Alexandra, and Rasputin discussed when to open the Duma, on 12 or 19 January, 1 or 14 February, or never. Rasputin suggested to keep the Duma closed until February; Alexandra and Protopopov supported him. On Friday, 16 December Milyukov stated in

6419-632: The Motherland's Salvation". He was joined by a number of officers, military cadets, and others. At the time, Purishkevich was living in the Hotel Russia at Moika 60. He had a false passport under the surname "Yevreinov". On 18 November 1917, Purishkevich was arrested by the Red Guards for his participation in a counterrevolutionary conspiracy after the discovery of a letter sent by him to General Aleksei Maksimovich Kaledin in which he urged

6550-1019: The Provisional government decided that the Duma would not be reconvened. Following the Kornilov affair and the proclamation of the Russian Republic , the State Duma was dissolved on 6 October 1917 by the Provisional Government; a Provisional Council of the Russian Republic was convened on 20th October 1917 as a provisional parliament, in preparation to the election of the Russian Constituent Assembly . Russian Revolution of 1905 [REDACTED] Russian Empire Supported by: [REDACTED] Revolutionaries Supported by: The Russian Revolution of 1905 , also known as

6681-413: The Romanians returned her to Imperial Russian authorities on the following day. Some sources claim over 2,000 sailors died in the suppression. The mutinies were disorganised and quickly crushed. Despite these mutinies, the armed forces were largely apolitical and remained mostly loyal, if dissatisfied—and were widely used by the government to control the 1905 unrest. Nationalist groups had been angered by

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6812-411: The Russian Empire, which had peaked at 116,376 in 1893, fell by over a third to a record low of 75,009 in January 1905, chiefly because of several mass amnesties granted by the Tsar; the historian S G Wheatcroft has wondered what role these released criminals played in the 1905–06 social unrest. On 12 January 1905, the Tsar appointed Dmitri Feodorovich Trepov as governor in St Petersburg and dismissed

6943-439: The Russian economy until the 1890s. Meanwhile, "agricultural productivity stagnated, while international prices for grain dropped, and Russia's foreign debt and need for imports grew. War and military preparations continued to consume government revenues. At the same time, the peasant taxpayers' ability to pay was strained to the utmost, leading to widespread famine in 1891 ." In the 1890s, under Finance Minister Sergei Witte ,

7074-399: The Russian people, the navy , and the army ; the war could be won. For the Octobrists and the Kadets, who were the liberals in the parliament, Rasputin, and his support of autocracy and absolute monarchy, was one of their main obstacles. The politicians tried to bring the government under control of the Duma. "To the Okhrana it was obvious by the end of 1916 that the liberal Duma project

7205-415: The Russian-controlled Congress Poland culminated in June 1905 in the Łódź insurrection . Surprisingly, only one landlord was recorded as killed. Far more violence was inflicted on peasants outside the commune: 50 deaths were recorded. Anti-tsarist protests displaced onto Jewish communities in the October 1905 Kishinev pogrom . The October Manifesto , written by Sergei Witte and Alexis Obolenskii,

7336-493: The Tsar made new concessions. On 2 March [ O.S. 18 February] 1905 he published the Bulygin Rescript , which promised the formation of a consultative assembly, religious tolerance , freedom of speech (in the form of language rights for the Polish minority) and a reduction in the peasants' redemption payments. On 24 and 25 May [ O.S. 11 and 12 May] 1905, about 300 Zemstvo and municipal representatives held three meetings in Moscow, which passed

7467-407: The abolition of the Soviets , who were, in turn, calling for the abolition of the Duma. In August 1917, he wanted a military dictatorship; he was arrested over the Kornilov Affair but was released. Following the failure of the putsch, he collaborated with Fyodor Viktorovich Vinberg in forming an underground monarchist organisation. During the October Revolution , he organized the "Committee for

7598-433: The agrarian problem, the most serious issues plaguing the country were those of the Jews, the schools, and the workers, in that order. Any residual popular loyalty to Tsar Nicholas II was lost on 22 January 1905 , when his soldiers fired upon a crowd of protesting workers, led by Georgy Gapon , who were marching to present a petition at the Winter Palace. Every year, thousands of nobles in debt mortgaged their estates to

7729-434: The attention of the government, so it created many committees to investigate the causes. The committees concluded that no part of the countryside was prosperous; some parts, especially the fertile areas known as the " black-soil region ", were in decline. Although cultivated acreage had increased in the last half century, the increase had not been proportionate to the growth of the peasant population, which had doubled. "There

7860-434: The boots in her small fireplace in the ambulance train, the conspirators went back to the palace with the larger items. Yusupov and Dmitri were placed under house arrest in the Sergei Palace . The tsarina had refused to meet them but said that they could explain to her what had happened in a letter. Purishkevich assisted them and left the city to the Romanian front at ten in the evening. Because of his popularity, Purishkevich

7991-463: The borders would be defended better if the borderland were more "Russian" in character. The culmination of cultural diversity created a cumbersome nationality problem that plagued the Russian government in the years leading up to the revolution. The economic situation in Russia before the revolution presented a grim picture. The government had experimented with laissez-faire capitalist policies, but this strategy largely failed to gain traction within

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8122-404: The city raised the number of strikers to 150,000 workers in 382 factories. By 21 January [ O.S. 8 January] 1905, the city had no electricity and newspaper distribution was halted. All public areas were declared closed. Controversial Orthodox priest Georgy Gapon , who headed a police-sponsored workers' association, led a huge workers' procession to the Winter Palace to deliver

8253-424: The community of peasants; individual peasants would have rights to strips of land to be assigned to them under the open field system . A peasant could not sell or mortgage this land, so in practice he could not renounce his rights to his land, and he would be required to pay his share of redemption dues to the village commune. This plan was intended to prevent peasants from becoming part of the proletariat . However,

8384-443: The conspiracy. Purishkevich talked to Samuel Hoare , the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service in Petrograd . On the evening of 16 December 1916, the conspirators gathered in the Moika Palace and eventually killed Rasputin. A curious policeman on duty on the other side of the Moika had heard the shots, rang at the door, and was sent away. Half an hour later, another policeman arrived, and Purishkevich invited him into

8515-431: The contraction of Western money markets in 1899–1900 plunged Russian industry into a deep and prolonged crisis; it outlasted the dip in European industrial production. This setback aggravated social unrest during the five years preceding the Revolution of 1905. The Tsarist government did recognise some of these problems, albeit shortsightedly. The Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav von Plehve had said in 1903 that, after

8646-443: The countryside looking for work and sometimes walked hundreds of kilometers to find it. Desperate peasants proved capable of violence. "In the provinces of Kharkov and Poltava in 1902, thousands of them, ignoring restraints and authority, burst out in a rebellious fury that led to extensive destruction of property and looting of noble homes before troops could be brought to subdue and punish them." These violent outbreaks caught

8777-444: The creation of a State Duma of the Russian Empire but with consultative powers only. When its slight powers and limits on the electorate were revealed, unrest redoubled. The Saint Petersburg Soviet was formed and called for a general strike in October, refusal to pay taxes, and the en masse withdrawal of bank deposits. In June and July 1905, there were many peasant uprisings in which peasants seized land and tools. Disturbances in

8908-447: The disintegration of the state.” The new Duma, according to the Tsar (and Stolypin), “must be Russian in spirit,” and the electoral law for the Third Duma reduced the size of the assembly, cutting the representatives in non-Russian regions and cities to prevent the election of Liberals, Socialists, and local Nationalists. The tsar was unwilling to be rid of the State Duma, despite these problems. Instead, using emergency powers, Stolypin and

9039-520: The dissolution of the Second Duma, to the funeral of the Speaker of the First Duma, Muromtsev, and the funeral of Leo Tolstoy , to the fanatical [right-wing] monk Iliodor , or to the notorious agent provocateur , Yevno Azef . Stolypin was assassinated in September 1911 and replaced by his finance minister Vladimir Kokovtsov . It enabled Count Kokovtsov to balance the budget regularly and even to spend on productive purposes. The Fourth Duma of 15 November 1912 – 6 October 1917, elected in September/October,

9170-423: The empire's stability. After the rebellion was crushed, the government implemented policies to reduce Polish cultural influences. In the 1870s the government began to distrust German elements on the western border. The Russian government felt that the unification of Germany would upset the power balance among the great powers of Europe and that Germany would use its strength against Russia. The government thought that

9301-401: The end of 1903. The Minister of the Interior, Plehve, designated schools as a pressing problem for the government, but he did not realize it was only a symptom of antigovernment feelings among the educated class. Students of universities, other schools of higher learning, and occasionally of secondary schools and theological seminaries were part of this group. Student radicalism began around

9432-412: The exception of night work in glass factories. Employment of children aged 12 to 15 was prohibited on Sundays and holidays. Workers had to be paid in cash at least once a month, and limits were placed on the size and bases of fines for tardy workers. Employers were prohibited from charging workers for the cost of lighting of the shops and plants. Despite these labour protections, the workers believed that

9563-424: The famous question "Is this stupidity or treason?" Alexander Kerensky called the ministers "hired assassins" and "cowards" and said they were "guided by the contemptible Grishka Rasputin!" Stürmer and Alexander Protopopov asked in vain for the dissolution of the Duma. Stürmer's resignation looked like a concession to the Duma. Ivan Grigorovich and Dmitry Shuvayev declared in the Duma that they had confidence in

9694-453: The final evacuation of Denikin 's Army. Purishkevich was described by contemporary Russian politician Vladimir Kokovtsov as a charming, unstable man who could not stay a single minute in one place. In 1925, Soviet writer Liubosh described Purishkevich as the 'first' fascist . He was subsequently referred to as a "leader of early Russian fascism" by Semyon Reznik , who also claimed that Purishkevich participated in numerous pogroms and

9825-499: The first ever student demonstration, held in St. Petersburg , which led to a two-year closure of the university. The consequent conflict with the state was an important factor in the chronic student protests over subsequent decades. The atmosphere of the early 1860s gave rise to political engagement by students outside universities that became a tenet of student radicalism by the 1870s. Student radicals described "the special duty and mission of

9956-478: The first time in his life, the tsar made a visit to the Tauride Palace , which made it practically impossible to hiss at the new prime minister. On 1 November 1916 ( Old Style ) the Duma reconvened and the government under Boris Stürmer was attacked by Pavel Milyukov in the State Duma, not assembled since February. In his speech he spoke of "Dark Forces", and highlighted numerous governmental failures with

10087-473: The fourth from 19 July 1915 to 3 September, the fifth from 9 February to 20 June 1916, and the sixth from 1 November to 16 December 1916. No one exactly knew when they would resume their deliberations. It seems the last session was never opened (on 14 February), but kept closed on 27 February 1917. There was one promising new member in Alexander Kerensky , a Trudovik , but also Roman Malinovsky ,

10218-489: The government, but it believed the cause was lack of training in patriotism and religion . Therefore, the curriculum was "toughened up" to emphasize classical language and mathematics in secondary schools, but defiance continued. Expulsion , exile , and forced military service also did not stop students. "In fact, when the official decision to overhaul the whole educational system was finally made, in 1904, and to that end Vladimir Glazov , head of General Staff Academy,

10349-469: The idea of police socialism failed. From 1900 to 1903, the period of industrial depression caused many firm bankruptcies and a reduction in the employment rate. Employees were restive: they would join legal organisations but turn the organisations toward an end that the organisations' sponsors did not intend. Workers used legitimate means to organise strikes or to draw support for striking workers outside these groups. A strike that began in 1902 by workers in

10480-607: The largest, with around one-third of all the deputies. This Duma, less radical and more conservative, left clear that the new electoral system would always generate a landowners-controlled Duma in which the tsar would have vast amounts of influence over, which in turn would be under complete submission to the Tsar, unlike the first two Dumas. In terms of legislation, the Duma supported an improvement in Russia's military capabilities, Stolypin's plans for land reform, and basic social welfare measures. The power of Nicholas' hated land captains

10611-560: The laws were not enough to free them from unfair and inhumane practices. At the start of the 20th century, Russian industrial workers worked on average 11-hours per day (10 hours on Saturday), factory conditions were perceived as grueling and often unsafe, and attempts at independent unions were often not accepted. Many workers were forced to work beyond the maximum of 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours per day. Others were still subject to arbitrary and excessive fines for tardiness , mistakes in their work, or absence. Russian industrial workers were also

10742-583: The lowest-wage workers in Europe. Although the cost of living in Russia was low, "the average worker's 16 rubles per month could not buy the equal of what the French worker's 110 francs would buy for him." Furthermore, the same labour laws prohibited the organisation of trade unions and strikes. Dissatisfaction turned into despair for many impoverished workers, which made them more sympathetic to radical ideas. These discontented, radicalized workers became key to

10873-428: The manifesto dissolving the Duma, Nicholas II went into considerable detail to explain his action: “To Our regret, a significant portion of the members of the second Duma did not justify Our expectations. Many of those sent by the people to work [for them] did not go with a pure heart, with a desire to strengthen Russia and to improve its system, but [went rather] with an explicit intention to increase unrest and to promote

11004-556: The mediation of Felix Dzerzhinsky and Nikolay Krestinsky , as he refrained from any political activity. In jail, he had written a poem describing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as 'The Trotsky Peace'. After his release, he moved to White Army -controlled Southern Russia . There, during the Russian Civil War he published the monarchist journal Blagovest and returned openly to his traditional political stance of support for

11135-651: The monarchy, a unified Russia, and opposition to the Jews. In some of the towns occupied by the Volunteer Army, he gave lectures in which he denounced the British policy towards Russia. In 1918, he formed a new political party, the People's State Party, and called for an "open fight against Jewry"; the party collapsed after his death. Vladimir Purishkevich died from typhus that raged Novorossiysk in 1920, just before

11266-572: The most moderate and centrist party), found themselves outnumbered two-to-one by their more radical counterparts. Even so, Stolypin and the Duma could not build a working relationship, being divided on the issues of land confiscation (which the socialists and, to a lesser extent, the Kadets, supported but the tsar and Stolypin vehemently opposed) and Stolypin's brutal attitude towards law and order. On 1 June 1907, prime minister Stolypin accused Social Democrats of preparing an armed uprising and demanded that

11397-467: The needs of the population. Tsar Nicholas II and the monarchy narrowly survived the Revolution of 1905, but its events foreshadowed what was to come in the 1917 Russian Revolution . Many historians contend that the 1905 revolution set the stage for the 1917 Russian Revolution, which saw the monarchy abolished and the Tsar executed. Calls for radicalism were present in the 1905 revolution, but many of

11528-423: The new prime minister who promoted a coalition cabinet , as did Vasily Maklakov , Alexander Izvolsky , Dmitri Trepov and the emperor. In frustration, Pavel Milyukov , who regarded the Russian Constitution of 1906 as a mock-constitution, and approximately 200 deputies mostly from the liberal Kadets party decamped to Vyborg , then part of Russian Finland , to discuss the way forward. From there, they issued

11659-586: The noble land bank or sold them to municipalities, merchants, or peasants. By the time of the revolution, the nobility had sold off one-third of its land and mortgaged another third. The peasants had been freed by the emancipation reform of 1861 , but their lives were generally quite limited. The government hoped to develop the peasants as a politically conservative, land-holding class by enacting laws to enable them to buy land from nobility by paying small installments over many decades. Such land, known as "allotment land", would not be owned by individual peasants but by

11790-457: The only political parties capable of consistently drawing voters due to their relatively moderate political stance. The Kadets drew from an especially urban population, often failing to draw the attention of rural communities who were instead committed to other parties. The Duma ran for 73 days until 8 July 1906, with little success. The emperor and his loyal prime minister Ivan Goremykin were keen to keep it in check, and reluctant to share power;

11921-470: The palace. Purishkevich told him that he had shot Rasputin and asked him to keep it quiet for the sake of the tsar. They had planned to burn Rasputin's possessions. Sukhotin put on Rasputin's fur coat, rubber boots, and gloves. He left with Dmitri and Dr. Lazovert in Purishkevich's car, which suggests that Rasputin had left the palace alive. Because Purishkevich's wife refused to burn the fur coat and

12052-403: The peasants were not given enough land to provide for their needs: Their earnings were often so small that they could neither buy the food they needed nor keep up the payment of taxes and redemption dues they owed the government for their land allotments. By 1903 their total arrears in payments of taxes and dues was 118 million rubles. The situation worsened as masses of hungry peasants roamed

12183-539: The policy of "Russification " of the Empire: this represented discrimination and repression against national minorities, such as banning them from voting, serving in the Imperial Guard or Navy, and limiting their attendance in schools. A nascent industrial working class resented the government for doing too little to protect them, as it banned strikes and organizing into labor unions . University students developed

12314-523: The power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished; article 87 allowed him to pass temporary (emergency) laws by decrees. All these powers and prerogatives assured that, in practice, the Government of Russia continued to be a non-official absolute monarchy . It was in this context that the first Duma opened four days later, on April 27, 1906. The first Duma was established with around 500 deputies; most radical left parties, such as

12445-471: The press , and freedom of religion . Similar resolutions and appeals from other city dumas and zemstvo councils followed. Emperor Nicholas II made a move to meet many of these demands, appointing liberal Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirsky as Minister of the Interior after the July 1904 assassination of Vyacheslav von Plehve . On 25 December [ O.S. 12 December] 1904, the Emperor issued

12576-530: The railroad shops in Vladikavkaz and Rostov-on-Don created such a response that by the next summer, 225,000 in various industries in southern Russia and Transcaucasia were on strike. These were not the first illegal strikes in the country's history but their aims, and the political awareness and support among workers and non-workers, made them more troubling to the government than earlier strikes. The government responded by closing all legal organisations by

12707-693: The resignation of all members of the Council of Ministers was needed, "to make it clear that they want to go in a new way." On Monday soldiers of the Volhynian Life Guards Regiment brought the Litovsky, Preobrazhensky , and Moskovsky Regiments out on the street to join the rebellion. On the 27th the Duma delegates received an order from his Majesty that he had decided to prorogue the Duma until April, leaving it with no legal authority to act. The Duma refused to obey, and gathered in

12838-764: The revolution by participating in illegal strikes and revolutionary protests. The government responded by arresting labour agitators and enacting more "paternalistic" legislation. Introduced in 1900 by Sergei Zubatov , head of the Moscow security department, "police socialism" planned to have workers form workers' societies with police approval to "provide healthful, fraternal activities and opportunities for cooperative self-help together with 'protection' against influences that might have inimical effect on loyalty to job or country". Some of these groups organised in Moscow , Odessa , Kyiv , Mykolaiv , and Kharkiv , but these groups and

12969-729: The revolution was the Bloody Sunday massacre of protesters that took place in January 1905 in St. Petersburg sparked a spate of civil unrest in the Russian Empire. Lenin urged Bolsheviks to take a greater role in the events, encouraging violent insurrection. In doing so, he adopted SR slogans regarding "armed insurrection", "mass terror", and "the expropriation of gentry land", resulting in Menshevik accusations that he had deviated from orthodox Marxism. In turn, he insisted that

13100-419: The revolutionaries who were in a position to lead were either in exile or in prison while it took place. The events in 1905 demonstrated the precarious position in which the Tsar found himself. As a result, Tsarist Russia did not undergo sufficient reform, which had a direct impact on the radical politics brewing in the Russian Empire. Although the radicals were still in the minority of the populace, their momentum

13231-494: The rioting by force. Mutinous soldiers of the fourth company of the Pavlovsky Life Guards Regiment refused to fall in on parade when commanded, shot two officers, and joined the protesters on the streets. Nikolai Pokrovsky believed that "no one neither the Duma, nor the government cannot do anything one without the other one." The liberal Vasily Maklakov and Bloc spokesman, expressed his opinion that

13362-516: The second half of the nineteenth century, had political motives. After the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, the Russian state was compelled to take into account public opinion, but the government failed to gain the public's support. Another motive for Russification policies was the Polish uprising of 1863 . Unlike other minority nationalities, the Poles, in the eyes of the Tsar, were a direct threat to

13493-496: The seventeen months of the "Tsarina's rule", from September 1915 to February 1917, Russia had four Prime Ministers, five Ministers of the Interior, three Foreign Ministers, three War Ministers, three Ministers of Transport and four Ministers of Agriculture. This "ministerial leapfrog", as it came to be known, not only removed competent men from power, but also disorganized the work of government since no one remained long enough in office to master their responsibilities. On 2 March 1917

13624-562: The start of the active phase of the revolution. The events in St. Petersburg provoked public indignation and a series of massive strikes that spread quickly throughout the industrial centers of the Russian Empire. Polish socialists—both the PPS and the SDKPiL —called for a general strike. By the end of January 1905, over 400,000 workers in Russian Poland were on strike (see Revolution in

13755-402: The strike, demanding woman suffrage , an end to Russian food shortages, and the end of World War I. Although all gathering on the streets were absolutely forbidden, on 25 February, some 250,000 people were on strike. The tsar ordered Sergey Semyonovich Khabalov , an inexperienced and extremely indecisive commander of the Petrograd military district (and Nikolay Iudovich Ivanov ) to suppress

13886-550: The student as such to spread the new word of liberty . Students were called upon to extend their freedoms into society, to repay the privilege of learning by serving the people, and to become in Nikolai Ogarev 's phrase 'apostles of knowledge'." During the next two decades, universities produced a significant share of Russia's revolutionaries. Prosecution records from the 1860s and 1870s show that more than half of all political offences were committed by students despite being

14017-549: The time Tsar Alexander II came to power. Alexander abolished serfdom and enacted fundamental reforms in the legal and administrative structure of the Russian empire, which were revolutionary for their time. He lifted many restrictions on universities and abolished obligatory uniforms and military discipline. This ushered in a new freedom in the content and reading lists of academic courses. In turn, that created student subcultures, as youth were willing to live in poverty in order to receive an education. As universities expanded, there

14148-432: The tsar changed the electoral law and gave greater electoral value to the votes of landowners and owners of city properties, and less value to the votes of the peasantry, whom he accused of being "misled", and, in the process, breaking his own Fundamental Laws. This ensured the third Duma (7 November 1907 – 3 June 1912) would be dominated by gentry, landowners and businessmen. The number of deputies from non-Russian regions

14279-418: The tsarist government. On 17 July 1915 the Duma reconvened for six weeks. Its former members became increasingly displeased with Tsarist control of military and governmental affairs and demanded its own reinstatement. When the tsar refused its call for the replacement of his cabinet on 21 August with a "Ministry of National Confidence", roughly half of the deputies formed a "Progressive Bloc", which in 1917 became

14410-451: The village and played a role in determining the social consciousness of the urban proletariat. The new concentrations and flows of peasants spread urban ideas to the countryside, breaking down isolation of peasants on communes. Industrial workers began to feel dissatisfaction with the Tsarist government despite the protective labour laws the government decreed. Some of those laws included the prohibition of children under 12 from working, with

14541-556: The western borderlands . Like other minorities in Russia, the Jews lived "miserable and circumscribed lives, forbidden to settle or acquire land outside the cities and towns, legally limited in attendance at secondary school and higher schools, virtually barred from legal professions, denied the right to vote for municipal councilors, and excluded from services in the Navy or the Guards". The government's treatment of Jews, although considered

14672-471: Was a rapid growth of newspapers , journals , and an organisation of public lectures and professional societies . The 1860s was a time when the emergence of a new public sphere was created in social life and professional groups. This created the idea of their right to have an independent opinion. The government was alarmed by these communities, and in 1861 tightened restrictions on admission and prohibited student organisations; these restrictions resulted in

14803-584: Was also meant to have included workers' delegates elected according to a two-stage system. Elections of the workers delegates were, however, blocked by the socialists who wanted to divert the workers from the elections to the armed struggle. On 5 March [ O.S. 20 February] 1905, the commission was dissolved without having started work. Following the assassination of his uncle, the Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich , on 17 February [ O.S. 4 February] 1905,

14934-458: Was also of limited political influence. The first session was held from 15 November 1912 to 25 June 1913, and the second session from 15 October 1913 to 14 June 1914. On 1 July 1914 the tsar suggested that the Duma should be reduced to merely a consultative body, but an extraordinary session was held on 26 July 1914 during the July Crisis . The third session gathered from 27 to 29 January 1915,

15065-456: Was also offered. The concessions came hand-in-hand with renewed, and brutal, action against the unrest. There was also a backlash from the conservative elements of society, with right-wing attacks on strikers, left-wingers, and Jews. While the Russian liberals were satisfied by the October Manifesto and prepared for upcoming Duma elections, radical socialists and revolutionaries denounced the elections and called for an armed uprising to destroy

15196-437: Was consistently reduced. It also supported more regressive laws, however, such as on the question of Finnish autonomy and Russification , with a fear of the empire breaking up being prevalent. Since the dissolution of the Second Duma a very large proportion of the empire was either under martial law, or one of the milder forms of the state of siege. It was forbidden, for instance, at various times and in various places, to refer to

15327-478: Was dispatched to make peace, negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth (signed 5 September [ O.S. 23 August] 1905). In 1905, there were naval mutinies at Sevastopol (see Sevastopol Uprising ), Vladivostok , and Kronstadt , peaking in June with the mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin . The mutineers eventually surrendered the battleship to Romanian authorities on 8 July in exchange for asylum, then

15458-402: Was formed, fearing Rasputin's influence over Tsarina Alexandra would increase. The Duma gathered on 9 February 1916 after the 76-year-old Ivan Goremykin had been replaced by Boris Stürmer as prime minister and on the condition not to mention Rasputin. The deputies were disappointed when Stürmer held his speech. Because of the war, he said, it was not the time for constitutional reforms. For

15589-400: Was general agreement at the turn of the century that Russia faced a grave and intensifying agrarian crisis due mainly to rural overpopulation with an annual excess of fifteen to eighteen live births over deaths per 1,000 inhabitants." The investigations revealed many difficulties but the committees could not find solutions that were both sensible and "acceptable" to the government. Russia was

15720-496: Was greatly reduced. The system facilitated better, if hardly ideal, cooperation between the Government and the Duma; consequently, the Duma lasted a full five-year term, and succeeded in 200 pieces of legislation and voting on some 2500 bills. Due to its more noble, and Great Russian composition, the third Duma, like the first, was also given a nickname, "The Duma of the Lords and Lackeys" or "The Master's Duma". The Octobrist party were

15851-405: Was growing impatience with their inferior status and resentment against " Russification ". Russification is cultural assimilation definable as "a process culminating in the disappearance of a given group as a recognizably distinct element within a larger society". Besides the imposition of a uniform Russian culture throughout the empire, the government's pursuit of Russification, especially during

15982-512: Was growing. Vladimir Lenin , a revolutionary himself, would later say that the Revolution of 1905 was "The Great Dress Rehearsal", without which the "victory of the October Revolution in 1917 would have been impossible". Many factors contributed to unrest across the Russian Empire of 1905. Newly emancipated peasants earned too little and were not allowed to sell or mortgage their allotted land. Ethnic and national minorities resented

16113-522: Was hostile towards Jews , who he believed to be the "vanguard of the revolutionary movement". He wanted Jews to be deported to Kolyma . He believed that the " Kadets , socialists, the intelligentsia , the press and councils of university professors" were all under the control of Jews. During the Russian Revolution of 1905 , Purishkevich helped organise the Black Hundreds , a reactionary, monarchist and ultra-nationalist militia that carried out

16244-499: Was met with what is perceived as repression from an autocratic state, economic and political demands grew into and reinforced each other. Russian progressives formed the Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists in 1903 and the Union of Liberation in 1904, which called for a constitutional monarchy. Russian socialists formed two major groups: the Socialist Revolutionary Party (founded in 1902), which followed

16375-405: Was neither punished nor exiled. During the February Revolution in 1917, many right-wingers were arrested but Purishkevich was tolerated by the government and so was "virtually the only former national Black Hundred leader to maintain an active political life in Russia after the tsar's downfall". However, the revolution meant that Purishkevich initially had to moderate his politics. He called for

16506-601: Was not asked to remain in session because it would only be in the way." The Duma volunteered its own dissolution until 14 February 1915. A serious conflict arose in January as the government kept information on the battlefield (in April at Gorlice ) secret to the Duma. In May Guchkov initiated the War Industries Committees in order to unite industrialists who were supplying the army with ammunition and military equipment, to mobilize industry for war needs and prolonged military action, to put political pressure on

16637-619: Was presented to the Tsar on 14 October  [ O.S. 1 October]. It closely followed the demands of the Zemstvo Congress in September, granting basic civil rights , allowing the formation of political parties, extending the franchise towards universal suffrage , and establishing the Duma as the central legislative body. The Tsar waited and argued for three days, but finally signed the manifesto on 30 October [ O.S. 17 October] 1905, citing his desire to avoid

16768-422: Was selected as Minister of Education, the students had grown bolder and more resistant than ever." The events of 1905 came after progressive and academic agitation for more political democracy and limits to Tsarist rule in Russia, and an increase in strikes by workers against employers for radical economic demands and union recognition, (especially in southern Russia ). As an example, Trotsky who would assume

16899-529: Was sentenced to one month in jail. During World War I , Purishkevich became critical of the performance of the government, although not of the tsar himself; he saw the rise of pro-Russian sentiment during the war as a popular expression of support for the tsar. Purishkevich was particularly critical of the roles of Empress Alexandra and her close advisor Grigori Rasputin . On 3 November 1916, Purishkevich went to Mogilev and talked with Tsar Nicolas II about Rasputin. On 19 November, Purishkevich delivered

17030-399: Was successful and during the 1890s "Russian industrial growth averaged 8 percent per year. Railroad mileage grew from a very substantial base by 40 percent between 1892 and 1902." Ironically, Witte's success in implementing this program helped spur the 1905 revolution and eventually the 1917 revolution because it exacerbated social tensions . "Besides dangerously concentrating a proletariat,

17161-443: Was superfluous, and that the only two options left were repression or a social revolution." On 19 November Vladimir Purishkevich , one of the founders of the Black Hundreds , gave a speech in the Duma. He declared the monarchy had become discredited because of what he called the "ministerial leapfrog". On 2 December, Alexander Trepov ascended the tribune in the Duma to read the government programme. The deputies shouted "down with

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