October 1905 Revolution and its consequences. Nicholas tries to compromise 6 August : Nicholas issued a manifesto creating State Duma – Consultative –

October 1905 Revolution and its consequences

Nicholas tries to compromise• 6 August : Nicholas issued

a manifesto creating State Duma– Consultative– Elections secret, but not

general, equal, or direct– allowed to discuss

proposals– see budgets– little real power– Called for mid-January

1906

First Soviets created• Origin: Shidlovsky commission

February 1905• Workers began to organize

“councils” – soviets.• Fall 1905: Petersburg and

Moscow soviets well organized.• October strike wave renewed,

Moscow first.• Turned into general strike, over

2 million strikers.• October 14: Petersburg Gov.

Trepov publicly ordered police to decisively suppress the disorder: “if the crowd resists do not use blanks and spare no bullets!”

October Manifesto17/30 October 1905

• “Lofty Manifesto about the improvement of public order”

• Granted freedoms:– personal inviolability– conscience– speech – assembly– association

• Extended suffrage to State Duma

• No law enacted without Duma’s approval

Nicholas’s reaction• Nicholas II’s diary, 17 October 1905 entry:• “Сидели и разговаривали, ожидая, приезда

Витте. Подписал манифест в 5 час. После такого дня голова сделалась тяжелою и мысли стали путаться. Господи, помоги нам, спаси и умири Россию!”

• “We sat and talked, awaiting the arrival of Witte. I signed the manifesto at 5 pm. After such a day [my] head was made heavy and [my] thoughts became confused. Lord, help us, save dying Russia!”

Public reactions• Middle-class liberals reacted very

positively• Workers and socialists of soviets

said “obman” fraud; tried to bankrupt govt.; failed.

• Rightists, especially police and army, responded with pogroms in 660 towns: – 800 Jews killed– 70 million rubles of property

destroyed– Odessa: over 400 Jews killed– Rostov on Don: over 150– Ekaterinoslav: 67– Minsk: 54– etc.

First Calling of State Duma27 April-6 July 1906

• Elections complex and very indirect

• Elected by curia/estate• Every ten male peasant

household heads elected a desiatvornik

• At volost assembly desiatvorniki elected two peasant delegates to a district (uezd) assembly.

• district assembly elected peasant electors to provincial electoral assemblies, which elected deputies to the Duma.

• Of 448 deputies, 153 Kadets, 63 autonomists, 13 Octoberists, 97 Trudoviki, 105 non-party, 7 others (socialists boycotted)

First State Duma opening ceremony, Winter palace, 27 April 1906

First Calling of State Duma27 April-8 July 1906

• 23 April: Nicholas issued Fundamental Law, limiting Duma’s power

• Duma demanded more:• Legislative initiative• Immunity• Question ministers

• Real Focus: Land question• 13 May: government rejected all demands• Duma responded with no confidence vote• 6 June: More radical land proposal

declared (33 “SRs”)• 8 July: claiming the Duma was “not

quieting the people but inciting more sedition, “ Tsar dissolved first calling.

Vyborg Appeal, 9-10 July 1906

• 200 (120 Kadets; 80 Trudoviki) Duma deputies signed

• passive resistance• non-payment of taxes• draft avoidance

“Citizens! Stand up strongly for the violated rights of the people’s representatives, stand up for the State Duma! Russia should not remain even one day without the people’s representatives. You have the means to achieve this: The government does not have the right without the agreement of the people’s representatives to collect taxes or call the people to military service. Therefore, now, when the government has dissolved the State Duma, you have the right not to provide one soldier or pay any money.”

Second calling of State Duma, 20 February-3 June 1907

518 deputies: – 104 Trudoviki, – 98 Kadets, – 76 autonomists, – 65 Social-Democrats– 54 Octoberists, – 50 non-party– 30 Muslim party– 16 people’s socialists– 17 cossack party

• Much more leftist (only 32 from first calling: 6 percent)

• Kadets called for forced sale of all unused land to peasants

• Peasant deputies called for all land without compensation.

3 June counter-revolution

• Petr A. Stolypin, 1862-1911

• 4 January 1906: violent, effective suppression of peasant uprising in Saratov province

• 26 April 1906: Minister of Internal Affairs (MVD)

• 8 July 1906: Prime Minister and MVD