Russian Revolution (1905)

Bombs found in the Bolshevik explosives lab. 1907

The 1905 Russian Revolution is a historical term describing a wave of political terrorism, strikes, peasant unrests, mutinies, both anti-government and undirected, that swept through vast areas of the Russian Empire, leading to the establishment of the State Duma of the Russian Empire, multi-party system and the Russian Constitution of 1906.

Contents

Background

The liberal Tsar Alexander II, who had emancipated the serfs in 1861 and passed a range of legal, local government and military reforms, was assassinated on March 1, 1881 by Narodnik (populist) terrorists. His conservative successor, Alexander III, governed with an iron fist. Both the state and the church were subordinate to this autocracy, which in 1905 was headed by Alexander III's son, Nicholas II, of the House of Romanov.

Rise of the opposition

At the start of the 20th century Russian liberals formed Union of Zemstvo constitutionalists (1903) and Union of Liberation (1904) which called for a constitutional monarchy. Russian socialists organised into two major groups: Socialist-Revolutionary Party, following the Russian populist tradition, and Marxist Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party.

In the fall of 1904 liberals started a series of banquets, celebrating 40th anniversary of the liberal court statutes, and calling for political reforms and establishment of constitution. On November 30, 1904 Moscow City Duma passed a resolution, demanding establishment of elected national legislature, full freedom of the press and freedom of religion. Similar resolutions and appeals from other city dumas and zemstvo councils followed.

Nicholas II made move to fulfill much of the demands, appointing liberal Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirskii minister of the interior after the assassination of Vyacheslav von Plehve. On 12 December, 1904, Tsar issued a manifesto promising broadening zemstvo and local municipal councils authority, insurance for the industrial workers, emancipation of inorodtsy and abolition of censorship. Still, crucial point of representative national legislature was missing in the manifesto.

Start of the revolution

In December 1904, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant in Saint Petersburg. Sympathy strikes in other parts of the city raised the number of strikers above 80,000. Controversial Orthodox priest George Gapon, who headed a police-sponsored workers' association, led a huge workers' procession to the Winter Palace to deliver a petition to the Tsar on Sunday, January 22 [O.S. January 9] 1905). Clashes with the police and army, known as a Bloody Sunday, resulted in more than 100 deaths. The events of Bloody sunday are usually considered the start of active phase of revolution.

Events in Saint-Petersburg provoked public indignation and a series of mass strikes throughout Russia. Growing inter-ethnic confrontation throughout the Caucasus resulted in Armenian-Tatar massacres, heavily damaging the cities and the Baku oilfields. Polish socialists - both the PPS and the SDKPiL - called for a general strike; over 400,000 workers became involved in strikes all over Russian Poland.

The government responded fairly quickly. The Tsar dismissed the Minister of the Interior, Pyotr Sviatopolk-Mirskii, on January 18, 1905 O.S. and 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. Commission was headed by Senator N.V. Shidlovsky, a member of the State Council, and included officials, chiefs of government factories, and factory owners. It was also to have included workers’ delegates elected according to a two-stage system. Elections of the workers delegates were blocked by the socialists, trying to divert the workers from the elections to the armed struggle. On February 20 (March 5), 1905, the Commission was dissolved without having started work.

Following the assassination of his uncle, the Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich, on February 4 O.S. Tsar agreed to give new concessions. On February 18 O.S. 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 May 24 and 25, about 300 Zemstvo and municipal representatives held three meetings in Moscow, which passed a resolution, asking for a popular representation at the national level. On June 6, 1905 Nicholas II had received a Zemstvo deputation. Responding to speeches by Prince Sergei Trubetskoi and Mr. Fyodrov, the tsar confirmed his promise to convene an assembly of people’s representatives.

In October, 1905 Saint Petersburg Soviet was formed. It called for a general strike, refusal to pay taxes and withdrawal of bank deposits.

Height of the revolution

Ilya Repin, 17 October 1905

On August 6 O.S. Nicholas II agreed to the creation of a consultative State Duma of the Russian Empire. When the slight powers of this and the limits to the electorate were revealed, unrest redoubled and culminated in a general strike in October.

On October 30, the October Manifesto, written by Sergei Witte and Alexis Obolenskii, was presented to the Tsar. 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 October 30 [O.S. October 17] 1905), owing to his desire to avoid a massacre, and a realisation that there was insufficient military force available to do otherwise. 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 either officially ended or quickly collapsed. A political amnesty 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 Rusissian liberals were satisfied by the October Manifesto and took preparations for upcoming Duma elections, radical socialists and revolutionaries denounced the elections and called for an armed uprisings to "finish off the tsarism".

The November uprising of 1905 in Sevastopol, headed by retired naval Lieutenant Pyotr Shmidt, was only suppressed after a fierce battle. Trans-Baikal railroad fell into a hands of strikers committes and demobilised soldiers, returning from Manchuria after the Russo-Japanese war (See Chita Republic). Tsar had to send special detachement of loyal troops along the Trans-Siberian Railway to restore order.

The uprisings ended in December with a final spasm in Moscow. Between December 5 and December 7 O.S. there was a general strike by the Russian worker class. The government sent in troops on December 7, and a bitter street-by-street fight began. A week later the Semenovskii Regiment was deployed, and used artillery to break-up demonstrations and shell workers' districts. On December 18 O.S., with around a thousand people dead and parts of the city in ruins, the Bolsheviks surrendered.

Duma and Stolypin

Among the political parties formed, or made legal, was the liberal-intelligentsia Constitutional Democratic party (the Kadets), the peasant leaders' Labour Group (Trudoviks), the less liberal Union of October 17 (the Octobrists), and the reactionary Union of Land-Owners.

The electoral laws were promulgated in December 1905—franchise to male citizens over 25 years of age, electing through four electoral colleges. This was a 'weighted' electoral system where the votes of some sections of society were worth more than others. For example, the vote of an landowner was worth more than the vote of a peasant or industrial worker. The first elections to the Duma took place in March 1906 and were boycotted by the socialists, the SRs and the Bolsheviks. In the First Duma there were 170 Kadets, 90 Trudoviks, 100 non-aligned peasant representatives, 63 nationalists of various hues, and 16 Octobrists.

In April 1906 the government issued the Fundamental Law, setting the limits of this new political order. The Tsar was confirmed as absolute leader, with complete control of the executive, foreign policy, church, and the armed forces. The Duma was shifted, becoming a lower chamber below the half-elected, half-appointed by tsar State Council. Legislation had to be approved by the Duma, the Council and the Tsar to become law and in "exceptional conditions" the government could bypass the Duma.

In April, after having negotiated a loan of almost 900 million roubles to repair Russian finances, Sergei Witte resigned. Apparently the Tsar had "lost confidence" in him. Later known as "late Imperial Russia's most outstanding politician", Witte was replaced by seniour Ivan Goremykin. On May 6, 1906 Goremykin was replaced by Pyotr Stolypin.

Demanding further liberalisation and acting as a platform for "agitators", the First Duma was dissolved by the Tsar in July 1906. Despite the hopes of the Kadets and the fears of the government, there was no widespread popular reaction to the Vyborg appeal. However, an assassination attempt on Pyotr Stolypin led to the establishment of field trials for terrorists, and over the next eight months more than a thousand people were hanged.

Rise of terrorism

Years 1906 and 1907 were time of decline for the mass movements, such as strikes and political demonstrations, but also a time of rising political terrorism. SR Combat Organization, PSP Combat organization and Bolshevik terror groups carried out numerous assassinations, targeting civil servants and police, and robberies.

Notable victims of assassins included:

Finland

Demonstrators in Jakobstad

In the Grand Duchy of Finland the Social Democrats organized the general strike of 1905 (October 30 – November 6). First Red Guards were formed, led by captain Johan Kock. During the general strike the Red Declaration, written by Yrjö Mäkelin, was given in Tampere, demanding dissolution of the Senate of Finland and universal suffrage, political freedoms, and abolition of censorship. Leader of the constitutionalists, Leo Mechelin crafted the November Manifesto, that led to the abolition of the Diet of Finland of the four Estates and to the creation of the modern Parliament of Finland. It also resulted in a temporary halt to the russification policy started in 1899.

On July 30 1906, Russian sailors rose to rebellion in the fortress of Viapori (later called Suomenlinna), Helsinki. The Finnish Red Guards supported rebellion with a general strike, but it was quelled by the Baltic Fleet in sixty days.

Estonia

In the Governorate of Estonia, Estonians called for freedom of the press and assembly, for universal suffrage, and for national autonomy. On October 16, Russian army opened fire in a meeting on a street market in Tallinn, killing 94 and injuring over 200. The October Manifesto was supported in Estonia and brought the Estonian flag out publicly for the first time. Jaan Tõnisson used the new political freedoms to widen the rights of Estonians by establishing the first Estonian political party - National Progress Party. Another, more radical political organization, the Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Union was founded as well. The moderate supporters of Tõnisson and more radical supporters of Jaan Teemant could not reach a consensus, how to continue with the revolution, only that they both wanted to limit the rights of Baltic Germans and end Russification. The radical views were publicly welcomed and in December 1905, martial law was declared in Tallinn. A total of 160 manors were looted, resulting in ca. 400 workers and peasants killed by the army. Estonian gains from the revolution were minimal, but the tense stability that prevailed between 1905 and 1917 allowed Estonians to advance the aspiration of national statehood.

See also

References

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