Bloody Sunday (1905)
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- For other incidents referred to by this name, see Bloody Sunday.
Bloody Sunday (Russian: Кровавое воскресенье) was an incident on 22 January 1905 [O.S. 9 January]in St. Petersburg, Russia, where unarmed, peaceful demonstrators marching to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II were gunned down by the Imperial Guard. The event was organized by Father Gapon, who was paid by the Okhranka, the Tsarist secret police, and thus considered to be its agent provocateur. Bloody Sunday was a serious blunder on the part of the Okhranka, and an event with grave consequences for the Tsarist regime, as the blatant disregard for ordinary people shown by the massacre undermined support for the state. Despite the consequences of this action, the Tsar was never fully blamed because he was not in the city at the time of protest.
[edit] Preludes
Father George Gapon founded the Assembly of Russian Factory and Plant Workers, an officially sanctioned and police-sponsored organization designed to divert unrest away from revolutionary activities. In late December, there was a strike at Putilov plant. Sympathy strikes in other parts of the city raised the number of strikers above 80,000. By January 8, the city had no electricity and no newspapers. All public areas were declared closed. Father Gapon organized a peaceful 'workers' procession' to the Winter Palace to deliver a petition to the Tsar that Sunday. He was warned not to act. Troops had been deployed around the Winter Palace and at other key points. The Tsar left the city on January 8 for Tsarskoe Selo.
[edit] Bloody Sunday
On the fated Sunday, striking workers and their families gathered at six points in the city. Clutching religious icons and singing hymns, they proceeded towards the Winter Palace without police interference. The demonstrators deliberately placed women and children in the front ranks of the procession in the hope that it would prevent troops from attacking. However, the army pickets near the palace fired warning shots, and then fired directly into the crowds to disperse them. Gapon was fired upon near the Narva Gate. Around forty people surrounding him were killed, but he was uninjured.
Estimates of the number killed are uncertain. The Tsar's officials recorded 96 dead and 333 injured; anti-government sources claimed over 4,000 dead; moderate estimates still average around 1,000 killed or wounded, both from shots and trampled during the panic. Nicholas II described the day as 'painful', but as reports spread across the city, disorder and looting broke out. Gapon's Assembly was closed down that day, and he quickly left Russia. Returning in October, he was assassinated by his friend Pinhas Rutenberg when Gapon revealed that he was working for the Secret Police.
This event sparked revolutionary activities in Russia that resulted in the Revolution of 1905.
