Revolution 1905-1907 was democratic and had a nationwide character. The revolution took place under the slogans of the implementation of bourgeois freedoms. Under the current conditions, the autocracy tried to use various methods of fighting the revolution - from political terror to political concessions to the masses.

One of these concessions was the attempt by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia A.G. Bulygin to create a State Duma under the tsar - an advisory body without any legislative rights.

The manifesto of August 6, 1905 said: “Now the time has come, following their good initiatives, to call on elected people from the entire Russian land to constant and active participation in the drafting of laws, including for this purpose a special legislative advisory institution in the composition of the highest state institutions, which is granted development and discussion of government revenues and expenditures.”

At the same time, workers and peasants were not allowed to participate in the elections. Of course, this political concession could not stop the further development of the revolution. The “Bulygin Duma,” as the masses called it, was swept away by the All-Russian political strike in October 1905.

A powerful strike movement, which was political in nature, forced the Tsar to sign the Manifesto on October 17, 1905, which promised the convocation of the Legislative Duma.

The manifesto promised the population “the unshakable foundations of civil freedom on the basis of actual personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association.”

In Russia, the State Duma was introduced, which was declared legislative. The Manifesto contained the promise that “no law could take effect without the approval of the State Duma.” It was promised to attract those classes of the population that had previously been deprived of voting rights to participate in the Duma. This concerned, first of all, workers.

The draft of the Tsar's Manifesto was not discussed at the meeting of the State Council, as was customary then. The project was fiercely opposed by the dignitaries closest to the Tsar, the Minister of the Imperial Household Fredericks and others. However, there was no time for debate and reflection. Nicholas II understood this very well. On October 17, 1905, the Manifesto on improving the state order was adopted, proclaiming: 1) the granting of freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and unions; 2) attracting broad sections of the population to the elections; 3) the mandatory procedure for approval by the State Duma of all laws issued.

Numerous political parties are emerging and legalized in the country, formulating in their programs demands and ways of political transformation of society. The Manifesto of October 17, 1905, proclaiming the introduction of civil liberties and the organization of a legislative body (the State Duma), limiting monarchical power, marked the beginning of bourgeois constitutionalism in Russia.

• On December 11, 1905, the law on elections to the Duma was adopted. According to this law, elections to the Duma were multi-stage, class-based and unequal, held by curiae - agricultural, urban, peasant and workers. Representation was unequal: one elector from 2 thousand people in the landowning curia, from 4 thousand in the peasant curia and 90 thousand in the workers’ curia. Thus, one vote of the landowner was equal to three votes of townspeople, 15 votes of peasants and 45 of workers.
• On February 20, 1906, the act “Establishment of the State Duma” was issued, which defined its competence: preliminary development and discussion of legislative proposals, approval of the state budget, discussion of issues on the construction of railways and the establishment of joint-stock companies.

The Duma was elected for five years. Duma deputies were not accountable to voters, their removal could be carried out by the Senate, and the Duma could be dissolved early by decision of the emperor.

With a legislative initiative, the Duma could include ministers, commissions of deputies and the State Council.

Simultaneously with the “Establishment”, a new Regulation on the State Council was adopted, which was reformed and became the upper house, having the same rights as the Duma. The State Council had to approve projects discussed in the Duma.

The revolution of 1905 led to the transformation of unlimited autocratic power into a constitutional monarchy. However, vestiges of unlimited autocracy remained in many areas of life. When discussing in April 1906 the draft Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, which defined the nature of tsarist power, Nicholas II reluctantly agreed to the exclusion of the term “unlimited”. The title “autocratic” was retained, the emperor’s prerogatives included the revision of basic laws, higher state administration, leadership of foreign policy, supreme command of the armed forces, declaration of war and conclusion of peace, declaring the area under martial law and a state of exception, the right to mint coins, dismissal and appointment of ministers, pardon convicts and general amnesty.

Thus, the fundamental laws of April 23, 1906, defined a bicameral parliamentary system, but retained very wide limits for imperial power.

The Basic Laws noted that, together with the Duma and the State Council, the emperor exercises legislative power, but without imperial approval, not a single law gains force. In Chapter 1, the formulation of supreme power was given: “The Supreme Autocratic Power belongs to the All-Russian Emperor.”

The power of administration also belonged to the emperor “in its entirety,” but the emperor exercised legislative power “in unity with the State Council and the State Duma,” and no new law could be adopted without their approval and enter into force.

The State Council was reorganized in February 1906, and in April it was given the state-legal status of the second parliamentary chamber.

The functions of the Committee of Ministers, abolished in April 1906, were transferred partly to the Council of Ministers and partly to the State Council. The ministers were responsible only to the tsar and were appointed by him; the government had not yet acquired the character of a “bourgeois cabinet.”

The October 17 Manifesto created the political conditions for the formation of political parties. The upcoming elections to the State Duma have confronted conservative liberal movements with the task of forming political parties. Political freedoms made it possible to hold legal congresses and publish their political programs and statutes.

I State Duma.

The first “popularly” elected Duma lasted from April to July 1906. Only one session took place. The Duma included representatives of different political parties.

The largest faction were the Cadets - 179 deputies. The Octobrists numbered 16 deputies, the Social Democrats - 18. 63 representatives from the so-called national minorities took part in the work of the Duma, and 105 from non-party members.

An impressive faction was made up of representatives of the Agrarian Labor Party of Russia, or, as they were then called, “trudoviks.” The faction counted 97 deputies in its ranks, and the faction practically retained this quota throughout all convocations. The Chairman of the first State Duma was cadet S. A. Muromtsev, a professor at Moscow University.

From the very beginning of its activity, the Duma demonstrated that a representative institution of the people of Russia, even elected on the basis of an undemocratic electoral law, will not tolerate the arbitrariness and authoritarianism of the executive branch. This trait appeared from the first days of the Russian parliament. In response to the Tsar’s “speech from the throne” on May 5, 1906, the Duma adopted an address in which it demanded an amnesty for political prisoners, the real implementation of political freedoms, universal equality, the liquidation of state, appanage and monastic lands, etc.

Eight days later, Chairman of the Council of Ministers I.L. Goremykin decisively rejected all the demands of the Duma, which in turn passed a resolution of complete no-confidence in the government and demanded its resignation. The ministers declared a boycott of the Duma and demonstratively introduced their first bill to the State Duma - allocating 40,029 rubles 49 kopecks for the construction of a palm greenhouse and the construction of a laundry at Yuryev University. The Duma responded with a hail of requests.

The most acute conflict was between the Duma and the government when discussing the agrarian issue. The government argued that the projects of the Cadets and Trudoviks gave the peasants only a small increase in land, but the inevitable destruction of cultural (landowner) farms would cause great losses to the economy.

In June 1906, the government addressed the population with a message on the agrarian question, which rejected the principle of forced alienation. The Duma, for its part, stated that it would not deviate from this principle, demanding the resignation of the government.

In general, during the 72 days of its existence, the first Duma accepted 391 requests for illegal government actions and was dissolved by the tsar.

II State Duma.

The elections to the Second Duma gave an even greater advantage to the left parties than was the case in the First Duma. In February 1907, the Duma began its work, and attempts were made to cooperate with the government (even the Socialist Revolutionaries announced that they would cease their terrorist activities during the Duma’s activities).

The Second State Duma existed from February to June 1907. One session also took place. In terms of the composition of the deputies, it was significantly to the left of the first, although according to the plan of the courtiers it should have been more to the right.

In the Second State Duma on March 20, 1907, for the first time there was a discussion of recording state revenues and expenses (the country's budget).

The head of government outlined a program of future reforms: peasant equality and peasant land management, classless self-governing volost as a small zemstvo unit, reform of local government and the court, transfer of judicial power to magistrates elected by the population, legalization of trade unions, punishability of economic strikes, reduction of working hours, school reform , financial reform, introduction of water income tax.

It is interesting that most of the meetings of the first Duma and the second Duma were devoted to procedural problems. This became a form of struggle between deputies and the government during the discussion of bills that, according to the government, the Duma had no right to discuss. The government, subordinate only to the tsar, did not want to reckon with the Duma, and the Duma, as the “people's chosen one,” did not want to submit to this state of affairs and sought to achieve its goals in one way or another.

Ultimately, the Duma-Government confrontation was one of the reasons that on June 3, 1907, the autocracy carried out a coup d'etat, changing the election law and dissolving the Second Duma. The reason for the dissolution of the Second Duma was the controversial case of the rapprochement of the Duma faction of the Social Democrats with the “military organization of the RSDLP,” which was preparing an armed uprising among the troops (June 3, 1907).

Along with the manifesto on the dissolution of the Duma, a new Regulation on Elections was published, which changed the electoral legislation. Its adoption was carried out in clear violation of the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which emphasized that “no new laws can be adopted without the approval of the State Duma.”

The Third Duma, the only one of the four, served the entire five-year term prescribed by the law on elections to the Duma - from November 1907 to June 1912. Five sessions took place.

This Duma was significantly more to the right than the previous two. Two-thirds of the electors to the Duma represented directly or indirectly the interests of the landowners and bourgeoisie. The party alignment also testified to this. In the third Duma there were 50 extreme right deputies, 97 moderate right and nationalists. Groups appeared: Muslim - 8 deputies, Lithuanian-Belarusian 7 deputies and Polish - 11 deputies.

Octobrist N.A. was elected Chairman of the Duma. Khomyakov, who was replaced in March 1910 by the prominent merchant and industrialist A.I. Guchkov, a man of desperate courage who fought in the Anglo-Boer War, where he became famous for his recklessness and heroism.

Despite its longevity, the Third Duma did not emerge from crises from the very first months of its formation. Acute conflicts arose on various occasions: on issues of reforming the army, on the peasant issue, on the issue of attitude towards the “national outskirts”, as well as because of personal ambitions that tore apart the deputy corps. But even in these extremely difficult conditions, opposition-minded deputies found ways to express their opinions and criticize the autocratic system in the face of all of Russia. For this purpose, deputies widely used the request system. For any emergency, deputies, having collected a certain number of signatures, could submit an interpellation, that is, a demand for the government to report on its actions, to which one or another minister had to respond.

Interesting experience was accumulated in the Duma during the discussion of various bills. In total, there were about 30 commissions in the Duma. Large commissions, such as the budget commission, consisted of several dozen people. Elections of commission members were carried out at a general meeting of the Duma with the preliminary approval of candidates in the factions. In most commissions, all factions had their representatives.

Bills coming to the Duma from ministries were first of all considered by the Duma meeting, consisting of the Chairman of the Duma, his comrades, the Secretary of the Duma and his comrade. The meeting made a preliminary conclusion on sending the bill to one of the commissions, which was then approved by the Duma.

Each project was considered by the Duma in three readings. At the end of the third reading, the presiding officer put the bill as a whole with the adopted amendments to a vote.

The Duma's own legislative initiative was limited by the requirement that each proposal come from at least 30 deputies.

The fourth and last in the history of autocratic Russia, the Duma arose in the pre-crisis period for the country and the whole world - the eve of world war. From November 1912 to October 1917, five sessions took place.

The composition of the Fourth Duma differed little from the Third. Except that there has been a significant increase in clergy in the ranks of deputies. The Chairman of the Fourth Duma throughout the entire period of its work was a large Ekaterinoslav landowner, a man with a large-scale state mind, the Octobrist M.V. Rodzianko.

The situation did not allow the Fourth Duma to concentrate on large-scale work. She was constantly feverish. There were endless, personal “showdowns” between the leaders of the factions, within the factions themselves. Moreover, with the outbreak of the World War in August 1914, after major failures of the Russian army at the front, the Duma entered into an acute conflict with the executive branch.

Despite all sorts of obstacles and the dominance of reactionaries, the first representative institutions in Russia had a serious impact on the executive power and forced even the most notorious governments to reckon with themselves. It is not surprising that the Duma did not fit well into the system of autocratic power and that is why Nicholas II constantly sought to get rid of it. Eight years and one day after the promulgation of the manifesto of October 17, 1905 - October 18, 1913 - he signed, without putting a date, two decrees. Some imposed a state of siege in the capital of the empire, while others dissolved the then existing Fourth Duma ahead of schedule, so that the newly elected one would no longer become a legislative body, but only a legislative advisory body.

On September 3, 1915, after the Duma accepted the war loans allocated by the government, it was dissolved for vacation. The Duma met again only in February 1916. Enraged deputies, mainly from the cadets, decisively demanded the resignation of the Minister of War. He was removed and replaced by A.F. Trepov.

But the Duma did not work for long, since on December 16, 1916 it was dissolved again for participation in the “palace coup.” The Duma resumed its activities on February 14, 1917, on the eve of the February abdication of Nicholas II from power. On February 25, 1917, the Duma was dissolved again and did not meet officially again. But formally and in fact the Duma existed.

The State Duma played a leading role in the establishment of the Provisional Government. Under the Provisional Government, the Duma worked under the guise of “private meetings.” The Duma opposed the creation of Soviets. In August 1917, she participated in the preparation of the unsuccessful Kornilov campaign against Petrograd. The Bolsheviks more than once demanded its dispersal, but in vain.

On October 6, 1917, the Provisional Government decided to dissolve the Duma in connection with preparations for elections to the Constituent Assembly. As is known, it was dispersed by the Bolsheviks in January 1918 with the active participation of their partners in the government bloc - the Left Socialist Revolutionaries.

A little earlier, on December 18, 1917, one of the decrees of Lenin’s Council of People’s Commissars also abolished the office of the State Duma. This is how the era of “bourgeois” parliamentarism ended in Russia. History of State and Law of Russia./ Ed. Titova Yu. P.. - M., 2006. .

Defeat of the revolution.

The manifesto of October 17, 1905 was the second after the reforms of the 60s. XIX century the biggest step along the path of political transformation of the Russian state.

Under the influence of the October strike, the government was forced to make concessions. On October 17, 1905, the Emperor signed the Manifesto, which promised:

• - convene the State Duma, vested with legislative powers;
• - provide the population with democratic freedoms - speech, assembly, press, conscience;
• - introduce universal suffrage;

Many questions remained unresolved: how exactly the autocracy and the Duma would be combined, what the powers of the Duma would be. The question of the constitution was not raised at all in the Manifesto.

The forced concessions of tsarism, however, did not weaken the intensity of the social struggle in society. The conflict between the autocracy and the conservatives supporting it, on the one hand, and revolutionary-minded workers and peasants, on the other, is deepening. Between these two fires were the liberals, in whose ranks there was no unity. On the contrary, after the publication of the Manifesto on October 17, 1905, the forces in the liberal camp became even more polarized.

In the autumn - winter of 1905, the revolutionary movement reached its highest point; Moscow became the center of the struggle, where a political strike began. The workers demanded an 8-hour working day and higher wages. On October 6, railway workshop workers went on strike. And on October 15, the strike developed into an All-Russian political strike under the slogans: “Down with the autocracy!”, “Long live the nationwide uprising!” Demands for democratic freedoms and the convening of a Constituent Assembly were also put forward. The October political strike was led by the Soviets of Workers' Deputies, formed following the example of the Ivanovo-Voznesensky Soviet. 2 million people took part in the political strike: workers, engineers, doctors, teachers, journalists, actors, students, etc.

Peasant uprisings covered 1/3 of Russia's counties. Nicholas II was forced to issue a decree to stop collecting ransom payments from peasants.

The system of representative institutions was introduced in Russia by a number of state acts, starting with the Manifesto on August 6, 1905 and ending with the “Basic State Laws” on April 23, 1906. According to the original draft (August 6, 1905), the State Duma was supposed to be a “legislative institution” elected based on qualified representation from three curiae. The aggravation of the political situation soon required a revision of the project.

On December 11, 1905, after the defeat of the armed uprising in Moscow, a decree “On changing the regulations on elections to the State Duma” was issued, which significantly expanded the circle of voters. Almost the entire male population of the country over the age of 25, except for soldiers, students, day laborers and some nomads, received voting rights. The right to vote was not direct and remained unequal for voters of different categories (curiae).

Deputies were elected by electoral assemblies consisting of electors from each province and a number of large cities. Electors were chosen by four separate curiae of voters: landowners, city dwellers, peasants and workers. Landowners with a full land qualification (150 dessiatines) directly participated in district congresses of landowners who voted for electors from the province. Small landowners elected representatives to the district congress, one for each full qualification.

The peasant elections were four-stage: first, representatives were elected to the volost assembly, then to the district congress of representatives from the volosts, and at the congress electors were elected to the provincial electoral assembly. The workers elected a congress of their representatives, at which electors were elected to the electoral assembly of the provinces or large cities.

36. Manifesto October 17, 1905 “On improving the state order” History of development, legal nature and political significance

Beginning of the 20th century - the time of the emergence of political parties, the official basis for which appearedManifesto October 17, 1905,proclaimed freedom of speech, assembly and association.

In October, a strike began in Moscow, which spread throughout the country and grew into the All-Russian October political strike. The government and Nicholas II were faced with a choice: to restore order with an “iron hand” or to make concessions. Count Sergei Witte, soon appointed head of government, strongly defended the second possibility. At the beginning of October 1905, Witte submitted to the Tsar a “most submissive report,” in which the Government’s task was declared to be “the desire to implement now, pending legislative sanction through the State Duma,” civil liberties. It was immediately emphasized that “establishing law and order” is a long process. Here Witte called the most important measures to resolve the situation the unification of ministries and the transformation of the State Council. This report was too moderate, and it seemed so even to Nicholas II. As a consequence, on October 14, he ordered Witte to draw up a manifesto on freedoms. Witte, in turn, instructed Finance Minister A.D. Obolensky. On October 17, Nicholas II signed the manifesto in the form in which A.D. had prepared it. Obolensky and N.I. Vuchetich under the leadership of Witte. The Supreme Manifesto on the improvement of state order was promulgated on October 17, 1905. The historical significance of the Manifesto lay in the distribution of the sole right of the Russian Emperor to legislate between, in fact, the monarch and the legislative (representative) body - the State Duma. Thus, a parliamentary system was introduced in Russia. The State Council (the highest legislative body of the Russian Empire, existing since 1810) became the upper house of parliament, the State Duma - the lower house. Segments of the population previously deprived of voting rights were involved in parliamentary elections. No law could come into force without parliamentary approval. At the same time, the Emperor retained the right to dissolve the Duma and block its decisions with his veto. Subsequently, Nicholas II used these rights more than once.

Also, the Manifesto proclaimed and provided civil rights and freedoms, such as freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom to form associations. Thus, the manifesto was the predecessor of the Russian constitution.

The liberal public greeted the manifesto with jubilation. The goal of the revolution was considered achieved, the formation of the Cadets Party was completed, the “Union of October 17” and other parties arose. The left circles, the Social Democrats and the Socialist Revolutionaries, were not in the least satisfied and decided to continue the struggle to achieve their program goals. The publication of the manifesto also led to the most massive pogroms of Jews in the history of the Russian Empire.

Topic 27. FIRST RUSSIAN BOURGEOIS-DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION (1905-1907)

Plan:

Prerequisites for the revolution 5. Formation of liberal parties

Revolutions in Russia (Moscow armed uprising)

Main events of the revolution 7. Decline of the revolution

1. The main prerequisites for the revolution of 1905-1907. there was the preservation of feudal remnants in the economic (landownership, peasant community, striped, labor system) and political (tsarist autocracy, preservation of class privileges, lack of democratic rights and freedoms) system of the country. The accelerator of the revolution was the Russo-Japanese War, which was unsuccessful for Russia.

2. The revolution wore bourgeois-democratic character, since its main task was to eliminate the remnants of the feudal system. However, unlike similar revolutions in the West, it had a number of features:

The main driving forces were the proletariat, the peasantry and the liberal bourgeoisie. Moreover, the main and most consistent political force in the revolution was not the bourgeoisie (in Russia it was indecisive and weak), but the proletariat, ready to go to the end in achieving its goals.

The situation was complicated by the fact that the revolution acquired a national connotation on the outskirts of the country, where representatives of the national bourgeoisie and working class declared their own interests;

In addition, the political parties had different ideas about the revolution that had begun: the Bolsheviks set out to develop the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist one, while the Mensheviks believed that this was out of the question until the proletariat became the majority of the country’s population;

Revolutionary events developed through the interaction and struggle of three political camps: government, liberal and revolutionary.

3. Revolutionary events began on January 9, 1905, when an organized peaceful demonstration of St. Petersburg workers under the leadership of Priest Gapon moved towards the Winter Palace. They brought a petition to the king asking for the establishment of an 8-hour working day and a minimum wage, but in response they were shot by the troops.

The construction of barricades began in the capital, and a wave of indignation swept across the country. The king was nicknamed "Bloody". Mass demonstrations began in various regions.

Two main stages can be distinguished in the revolution: the stage of growth of the revolutionary struggle (January - December 1905) and its decline (end of December 1905 - June 1907).

At the first stage, we should highlight the 72-day strike of Ivanovo-Voznesensk workers, who for the first time put forward, in addition to economic, radical political demands (convening a Constituent Assembly, introducing political freedoms, etc.). The first Council of Authorized Deputies in Russia was formed here.

On June 14, 1905, an uprising began on the battleship Potemkin (Black Sea Fleet), whose participants raised a red flag and counted on the support of other ships of the squadron. The battleship Potemkin sailed along the Black Sea for 11 days - from June 27 to July 7, 1905.

In Lodz, a general strike of workers in June 1905 developed into an armed uprising.

In August 1905, the first mass organization arose in the village - the All-Russian Peasant Union, the leading positions in which belonged to the Socialist Revolutionaries and liberals. They proposed declaring the land the property of the entire people, but opposed violent forms of struggle.

Result: over 2 million people took part in the all-Russian political strike in October 1905. Along with workers, students, teachers, doctors, and government officials also took part in it. The main demands of the strike participants were the establishment of an 8-hour working day, the proclamation of democratic freedoms, and the convening of a Constituent Assembly.

4. In conditions of intense revolutionary struggle, the tsar was forced to sign the manifesto “On Improving the State Order” compiled by S. Yu. Witte, in which he proclaimed political freedoms of speech, conscience, assembly and unions and announced the convening of the legislative body of the State Duma. The liberal opposition perceived this document as the completion of the revolution and the beginning of the constitutional system in Russia. With his manifesto, the tsar essentially won over the liberal camp to his side.

5. The process of forming a legal multi-party system in the country has begun. Two large political parties were created - the “Union of October 17” (the leaders of which were the large factory owner A. I. Guchkov) and the Constitutional Democratic Party (its leader was the famous historian Professor

P.N. Milyukov). The programs of both parties were aimed at the formation of a constitutional-monarchical system.

6. Despite the adoption of the Manifesto, the unrest did not stop. In November, the leadership of the Peasant Union, dissatisfied with the fact that the agrarian question had still not been resolved, announced that it would join a general strike of workers. Performances in the army did not stop either. In November there was an uprising on the cruiser "Ochakov" under the leadership of Lieutenant P.P. Schmidt.

The apogee of the revolution was the December armed uprising in Moscow (December 6-19). Presnya became the center of the struggle. But the forces were too unequal. On December 19, the uprising was stopped by order of the revolutionary council. The victims of this doomed struggle were thousands of workers who were hanged, shot and arrested. By order of the new Prime Minister P.G. Stolypin, about 4 thousand gallows were installed on Presnya, which immediately received the name “Stolypin ties”.

There were also armed uprisings in Sormovo, Krasnoyarsk, and Chita. All of them were suppressed by the troops. There were no other major armed uprisings by workers. However, peasant protests not only did not stop, but also intensified (in April 1906 there were 47 of them, and in June - already 739). There was an urgent need for agrarian reform.

7. The elections and the beginning of the work of the State Duma greatly contributed to the calming of revolutionary activity. But the First State Duma began its work in April 1906 and lasted 72 days (it was dissolved in July 1906). The Second State Duma existed from February to June 1907 and was also dissolved by the Tsar. Both Dumas did not suit the tsar because they brought up the main issue - the question of land, the allocation of land to peasants without ransoms and payments, the transfer of landowners' land into public ownership. The adoption by the tsar of the Basic Laws of the Russian Empire, which limited the power of the monarch and therefore were perceived in the circles of the liberal public as the first Russian constitution, also served as a reason to calm the rebels.

8. Results of the revolution: The first Russian revolution was unfinished, because she could not solve all the problems that gave rise to her. But, nevertheless, the authorities were forced to make concessions. The proletariat managed to achieve a reduction in the working day to 9-10 hours and a slight increase in wages. For peasants, redemption payments that they had made since 1861 were cancelled. Workers were given the opportunity to create trade unions and insurance organizations in case of injury and death. The Tsar granted some democratic freedoms: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, personal integrity, freedom of the press, and assembly. The right to convene the first legislative body - the State Duma - was obtained

The revolution drew large sections of the population into active political life.

Revolution 1905-1907 had great historical significance: it showed the authorities that their choice in pursuing policies lies between reforms and revolution, and if they delay, this threatens a social explosion. In 1905-1906 under the pressure of popular discontent, the tsarist government made serious changes in the political and economic system of the country, which created the opportunity for the progressive and relatively calm development of Russian society.

Questions to test knowledge

1.What were the reasons for the first Russian revolution?

2. Determine the nature and driving forces of the revolution.

3Which social strata took part in the revolution? What demands did they make to the authorities?

4.Trace how the behavior of the authorities changed in the first period of the revolution.

5. Is it possible to agree with the traditional definition of the October strike as an All-Russian political strike?

6.Analyze the Manifesto of October 17, 1905. What concessions was the tsar forced to make and why?

7. Why do you think the Cadets and Octobrists were satisfied with the results of the revolution?

8. How did the system of government bodies change during the revolution? Is it possible to agree with the definition of the political system in Russia given in one of the German newspapers: “Parliamentary empire with an autocratic tsar”?

Related information.

October 30 (new time) 1905 during the revolutionary events of 1905-1907 in Russia, the emperor Nicholas II published the so-called "October 17 Manifesto" (“On improving public order”).

The peak of the thunderous events of the First Russian Revolution occurred in October 1905. More than 2 million workers went on strike across the country. Landowners' estates were burning everywhere. Even the army, which the tsarist government always relied on as a force capable of suppressing any rebellion, no longer seemed as reliable as before (the uprising on the battleship Potemkin, which shook the whole of Odessa, was only the “first sign”).

The reasons lay in serious economic problems caused by the abolition of serfdom in 1861, which did not solve a lot of problems (land shortage of peasants, their economic dependence on both their former landowners and the state) and the inability of the conservative monarchical system to adequately respond to the difficulties that arose. And the economic crisis that swept across Europe and hit Russia hardest, as Lenin put it, which was “the weakest link in the chain of imperialist states,” also had its impact. How can one not recall the three signs of a revolutionary situation, well known to all Soviet schoolchildren, formulated by the same Lenin (remember: “the upper classes cannot” and “the lower classes do not want”?).

The defeat in the “small victorious,” as Minister of Internal Affairs V.K. Plehve put it, the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905, as well as the events of “Bloody Sunday” (January 9, 1905) were the last straw.

However, Plehve himself did not live to see either the defeat of Russia in the war against Japan, or the Manifesto in question, since he was killed by a militant of the Socialist Revolutionary Party E. Sozonov on July 15 (28), 1904 (interestingly, the main organizer of Plehve’s murder was an agent secret police and at the same time a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party E. F. Azef).

Portrait of V. K. Plehve by I. E. Repin (1902):

Initially, the government tried to pacify the people with various decrees and legislative acts (for example, the promise of creating a legislative advisory representative body, which went down in history under the name “Bulyginskaya Duma”, after the name of the then head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), as well as by force.

Of course, the situation when the government either promised its subjects some freedom and civil rights, then canceled its decisions, only contributed to the tension in the situation. When popular uprisings reached their peak, the emperor was forced to order the immediate development of the text of a manifesto that would announce the transition of the government system from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy.

Nicholas II in 1905 (portrait by G. M. Manizer):

In the "Manifesto of October 17", prepared by the head of the Council of Ministers S.Yu.Witte , who considered constitutional concessions the only means of preserving autocracy, it was promised to grant the people “the unshakable foundations of civil freedom.”

S. Yu. Witte on a sketch by I. E. Repin:

The manifesto proclaimed some democratic innovations, such as personal integrity, freedom of speech, assembly, the creation of public institutions and others. In addition, the scope of suffrage was expanded and the first Russian parliament was created. The State Duma , it was recognized by the legislature.

Opening of the State Duma:

Liberal circles of Russian society greeted the proposed transformations with enthusiasm.
The manifesto was in the nature of an interim solution. He managed to somewhat extinguish the fire of the revolution, but the tsar’s reluctance to give up power and his sole right to dissolve the Duma created a contradictory effect that did not fully satisfy the aspirations of the country’s population. And the armed uprising in Moscow in December 1905, organized by the Social Revolutionaries and Social Democrats, is direct confirmation of this.

"Barricades on Presnya" (artist I. A. Vladimirov):

And the electoral law, according to which the first parliament in Russia was elected, was far from democratic (and after the dissolution of the Second State Duma on June 3, 1907, which was followed by a completely illegitimate new (“Stolypin”) electoral law, there were no general and equal elections I have to say it).

The painting, painted by Ilya Efimovich Repin in 1907, was a response to the manifesto of Nicholas II of October 17, 1905, “On the improvement of public order,” published during the days of the revolutionary upsurge in the country.
I. E. Repin wrote: “The painting depicts a procession of the liberation movement of Russian progressive society... mainly students, female students, professors and workers with red flags, enthusiastic; with the singing of revolutionary songs...lifted onto the shoulders of the amnestied and crowds of thousands moving across the square of the big city in the ecstasy of general jubilation.”

Among those depicted in the picture are democratically minded philologist M. Prakhov (left), actress L. Yavorskaya (with a bouquet), critic V.V. Stasov (center).