One of the most tragic events that took place in the history of Russia - Bloody Sunday. Briefly speaking, on January 9, 1905, a demonstration was executed, in which about 140 thousand representatives of the working class took part. This happened in St. Petersburg during the time of which people began to call it Bloody. Many historians believe what exactly served as the decisive impetus for the start of the 1905 revolution.
Brief background
At the end of 1904, political ferment began in the country, this happened after the defeat that the state suffered in the notorious Russian-Japanese War. What events led to the mass execution of workers - a tragedy that went down in history as Bloody Sunday? Briefly speaking, it all started with the organization of the “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers.”
It is interesting that the creation of this organization was actively promoted. This was due to the fact that the authorities were concerned about the growing number of dissatisfied people in work environment. The main goal of the “Assembly” was initially to protect representatives of the working class from the influence of revolutionary propaganda, organize mutual assistance, and educate. However, the “Assembly” was not properly controlled by the authorities, as a result of which there was a sharp change in the direction of the organization. This was largely due to the personality of the person who led it.
Georgy Gapon
What does Georgy Gapon have to do with the tragic day that is remembered as Bloody Sunday? Briefly speaking, it was this clergyman who became the inspirer and organizer of the demonstration, the outcome of which was so sad. Gapon took the post of head of the “Assembly” at the end of 1903, and it soon found itself in his unlimited power. The ambitious clergyman dreamed of having his name go down in history and proclaiming himself a true leader of the working class.
The leader of the “Assembly” founded a secret committee, whose members read forbidden literature, studied the history of revolutionary movements, and developed plans to fight for the interests of the working class. The Karelin spouses, who enjoyed great authority among the workers, became Gapon's associates.
The "Program of Five", including the specific political and economic demands of the members of the secret committee, was developed in March 1904. It was she who served as the source from which the demands that the demonstrators planned to present to the Tsar on Bloody Sunday 1905 were taken. In short, they failed to achieve their goal. On that day, the petition never fell into the hands of Nicholas II.
Incident at the Putilov plant
What event made workers decide to demonstrate massively on the day known as Bloody Sunday? You can briefly talk about it like this: the impetus was the dismissal of several people who worked at the Putilov plant. All of them were participants in the “Meeting”. Rumors spread that people were fired precisely because of their affiliation with the organization.
The unrest did not spread to other enterprises operating at that time in St. Petersburg. Mass strikes began and leaflets with economic and political demands on the government began to be distributed. Inspired, Gapon decided to submit a petition personally to the autocrat Nicholas II. When the text of the appeal to the Tsar was read to the participants of the “Meeting”, the number of which already exceeded 20 thousand, people expressed a desire to participate in the meeting.
The date for the procession was also determined, which went down in history as Bloody Sunday - January 9, 1905. The main events are summarized below.
Bloodshed was not planned
The authorities became aware in advance of the impending demonstration, in which about 140 thousand people were supposed to take part. Emperor Nicholas left with his family for Tsarskoe Selo on January 6. The Minister of the Interior called an emergency meeting the day before the event, which is remembered as Bloody Sunday 1905. In short, during the meeting it was decided not to allow the rally participants to go not only to Palace Square, but also to the city center.
It is also worth mentioning that bloodshed was not initially planned. Authorities had no doubt that the crowd would be forced to disperse by the sight of armed soldiers, but these expectations were not justified.
Massacres
The procession that moved to the Winter Palace consisted of men, women and children who did not have weapons with them. Many participants in the procession held portraits of Nicholas II and banners in their hands. At the Neva Gate, the demonstration was attacked by cavalry, then shooting began, five shots were fired.
The next shots were heard at the Trinity Bridge from the St. Petersburg and Vyborg sides. Several volleys were fired at the Winter Palace when the demonstrators reached the Alexander Garden. The scene of the events soon became littered with the bodies of the wounded and dead. Local clashes continued until late in the evening; only by 11 p.m. did authorities manage to disperse the demonstrators.
Consequences
The report that was presented to Nicholas II significantly downplayed the number of people injured on January 9. Bloody Sunday summary which is recounted in this article, killed 130 people and injured another 299, according to this report. In reality, the number of killed and wounded exceeded four thousand people; the exact figure remained a mystery.
Georgy Gapon managed to hide abroad, but in March 1906 the clergyman was killed by the Socialist Revolutionaries. Mayor Fullon, who was directly related to the events of Bloody Sunday, was dismissed on January 10, 1905. The Minister of Internal Affairs Svyatopolk-Mirsky also lost his post. The meeting of the emperor with the working delegation took place during which Nicholas II expressed regret that so many people had died. However, he still stated that the demonstrators had committed a crime and condemned the mass march.
Conclusion
After Gapon's disappearance, the mass strike ended and the unrest subsided. However, this turned out to be only the calm before the storm; soon new political upheavals and casualties awaited the state.
Revolution of 1905 First Russian Revolution |
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Russian empire |
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Land hunger; numerous violations of workers' rights; dissatisfaction with the existing level of civil liberties; activities of liberal and socialist parties; The absolute power of the emperor, the absence of a national representative body and constitution. |
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Primary goal: |
Improving working conditions; redistribution of land in favor of peasants; liberalization of the country; expansion of civil liberties; ; |
Establishment of Parliament; June 3rd coup, reactionary policy of the authorities; carrying out reforms; preservation of land, labor and national issues. |
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Organizers: |
Socialist Revolutionary Party, RSDLP, SDKPiL, Polish Socialist Party, General Jewish Labor Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, Latvian Forest Brothers, Latvian Social Democratic Labor Party, Belarusian Socialist Community, Finnish Active Resistance Party, Poalei Zion, “Bread and Freedom” " and others |
Driving forces: |
Workers, peasants, intelligentsia, parts of the army |
Number of participants: |
Over 2,000,000 |
Opponents: |
Army units; supporters of Emperor Nicholas II, various Black Hundred organizations. |
Dead: |
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Arrested: |
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Russian Revolution of 1905 or First Russian Revolution- the name of the events that took place between January 1905 and June 1907 in Russian Empire.
The impetus for the start of mass protests under political slogans was “Bloody Sunday” - the shooting by imperial troops in St. Petersburg of a peaceful demonstration of workers led by priest Georgy Gapon on January 9 (22), 1905. During this period, the strike movement took on a particularly wide scale, in the army and There were unrest and uprisings in the fleet, which resulted in mass protests against the monarchy.
The result of the speeches was the enacted constitution - the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which granted civil liberties on the basis of personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and unions. A Parliament was established, consisting of the State Council and the State Duma.
The revolution was followed by a reaction: the so-called “June Third Coup” of June 3 (16), 1907. The election rules in State Duma to increase the number of deputies loyal to the monarchy; local authorities did not respect the freedoms declared in the Manifesto of October 17, 1905; the most significant agrarian issue for the majority of the country's population was not resolved.
Thus, the social tension that caused the First Russian Revolution was not completely resolved, which determined the preconditions for the subsequent revolutionary uprising of 1917.
Causes of the revolution
The development of forms of human activity into a new infrastructure of the state, the emergence of industry and types of economic activities that were radically different from the types of economic activities of the 17th-19th centuries, entailed an increased need to reform the activities of government and government bodies. Termination of period of significant significance subsistence farming, intensive form of progress industrial methods, already in the 19th century required radical innovations in administration and law. Following the abolition of serfdom and the transformation of farms into industrial enterprises, a new institution of legislative power and normative legal acts regulating legal relations were required.
Peasantry
Peasants constituted the largest class of the Russian Empire - about 77% of the total population. Fast growth population in 1860-1900 led to the fact that the size of the average allotment decreased by 1.7-2 times, while the average yield over the specified period increased only 1.34 times. The result of this imbalance was a constant drop in the average grain harvest per capita of the agricultural population and, as a consequence, a deterioration in the economic situation of the peasantry as a whole.
The course towards active stimulation of bread exports, taken since the late 1880s Russian government, was another factor that worsened the food situation of the peasantry. The slogan “we won’t finish eating, but we’ll export it,” put forward by Finance Minister Vyshnegradsky, reflected the government’s desire to support grain exports at any cost, even in conditions of internal crop failure. This was one of the reasons that led to the famine of 1891-1892. Since the famine of 1891, the crisis Agriculture was increasingly recognized as a protracted and profound malaise of the entire economy of Central Russia.
The motivation of peasants to increase their labor productivity was low. The reasons for this were stated by Witte in his memoirs as follows:
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How can a person show and develop not only his work, but initiative in his work, when he knows that the land he cultivates after some time can be replaced by another (community), that the fruits of his labors will be shared not on the basis of general laws and testamentary rights , and according to custom (and often custom is discretion), when he can be responsible for taxes not paid by others (mutual responsibility) ... when he can neither move nor leave his, often poorer than a bird’s nest, home without a passport, the issuance of which depends on discretion, when in a word, its life is to some extent similar to the life of a domestic animal with the difference that the owner is interested in the life of the domestic animal, because it is his property, and Russian state At a given stage of state development, there is a surplus of this property, and what is in surplus is either little or not valued at all. |
The constant reduction in the size of land plots (“land shortage”) led to the fact that the general slogan of the Russian peasantry in the 1905 revolution was the demand for land, through the redistribution of privately owned (primarily landowner) land in favor of peasant communities.
Industrial workers
By the 20th century, there was already a real industrial proletariat, but its situation was approximately the same as that of the proletariat in a number of other European countries in the first half of the 19th century: extremely difficult working conditions, a 12-hour working day (by 1897 it was limited to 11.5) , lack of social security in case of illness, injury, old age.
1900-1904: Growing crisis
The economic crisis of 1900-1903 aggravated all social political problems countries; the general crisis was also aggravated by the agrarian crisis that affected the most important agricultural areas.
The defeat in the Russo-Japanese War showed the urgent need for reform. The authorities' refusal to make any positive decisions in this direction also became one of the reasons for the start of the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907.
Progress of the revolution
After the events of January 9, P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky was dismissed from the post of Minister of Internal Affairs and replaced by Bulygin; The post of St. Petersburg Governor-General was established, to which General D. F. Trepov was appointed on January 12.
By decree of Nicholas II of January 29, a commission was created under the chairmanship of Senator Shidlovsky with the aim of “urgently clarifying the reasons for the discontent of the workers of St. Petersburg and its suburbs and eliminating them in the future.” Its members were to be officials, factory owners and deputies from St. Petersburg workers. The elections of deputies were two-stage: electors were elected at enterprises, who, united in 9 production groups, were supposed to elect 50 deputies. At the meeting of electors on February 16-17, under the influence of the socialists, it was decided to demand from the government the transparency of the commission’s meetings, freedom of the press, the restoration of 11 departments of Gapon’s “Assembly” closed by the government, and the release of arrested comrades. On February 18, Shidlovsky rejected these demands as beyond the competence of the commission. In response to this, the electors of 7 production groups refused to send deputies to the Szydlovsk Commission and called on the workers to go on strike. On February 20, Shidlovsky presented a report to Nicholas II, in which he admitted the failure of the commission; on the same day, by royal decree, Shidlovsky’s commission was dissolved.
After January 9, a wave of strikes swept across the country. On January 12-14, a general strike of protest against the shooting of a demonstration of St. Petersburg workers took place in Riga and Warsaw. The strike movement and strikes began in railways Russia. All-Russian student political strikes also began. In May 1905, a general strike of Ivanovo-Voznesensk textile workers began; 70 thousand workers went on strike for more than two months. Councils of Workers' Deputies arose in many industrial centers.
Social conflicts were aggravated by conflicts on ethnic grounds. In the Caucasus, clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis began, which continued in 1905-1906.
On February 18, a tsar’s manifesto was published calling for the eradication of sedition in the name of strengthening a true autocracy, and a decree to the Senate allowed the submission of proposals to the tsar for improving “state improvement.” Nicholas II signed a rescript addressed to the Minister of Internal Affairs A.G. Bulygin with an order to prepare a law on an elected representative body - the legislative advisory Duma.
The published acts seemed to give direction to the further social movement. Zemstvo assemblies, city dumas, the professional intelligentsia, which formed a number of various unions, and individual public figures discussed issues of involving the population in legislative activities, and the attitude towards the work of the “Special Meeting” established under the chairmanship of Chamberlain Bulygin. Resolutions, petitions, addresses, notes, and projects for state transformation were drawn up.
The February, April and May congresses organized by the zemstvos, the last of which took place with the participation of city leaders, ended with the presentation to the Sovereign Emperor on June 6 through a special deputation of an all-subject address with a petition for popular representation.
On April 17, 1905, the Decree “On Strengthening the Principles of Religious Tolerance” was adopted, proclaiming freedom of religion for non-Orthodox faiths.
On June 21, 1905, an uprising began in Lodz, which became one of the main events in the revolution of 1905-1907 in the Kingdom of Poland.
On August 6, 1905, the Manifesto of Nicholas II established the State Duma as “a special legislative establishment, which is provided with the preliminary development and discussion of legislative proposals and consideration of the breakdown of state revenues and expenses”. The convocation date was set - no later than mid-January 1906.
At the same time, the Regulations on the Elections of August 6, 1905 were published, establishing the rules for elections to the State Duma. Of the four most well-known and popular democratic norms (universal, direct, equal, secret elections), only one was implemented in Russia - secret voting. The elections were neither general, nor direct, nor equal. The organization of elections to the State Duma was entrusted to the Minister of Internal Affairs Bulygin.
In October, a strike began in Moscow, which spread throughout the country and grew into the All-Russian October political strike. On October 12-18, over 2 million people went on strike in various industries.
On October 14, St. Petersburg Governor-General D.N. Trepov posted proclamations on the streets of the capital, in which, in particular, it was said that the police were ordered to decisively suppress the riots, “if the crowd shows resistance to this, do not fire empty volleys or fire bullets.” don't regret."
This general strike and, above all, the strike of railway workers, forced the emperor to make concessions. The Manifesto of October 17, 1905 granted civil liberties: personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and union. Trade unions and professional-political unions, Councils of Workers' Deputies arose, the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Revolutionary Party were strengthened, the Constitutional Democratic Party, the "Union of October 17", "The Union of the Russian People" and others were created.
Thus, the liberals' demands were fulfilled. The autocracy went to the creation of parliamentary representation and the beginning of reform (see Stolypin agrarian reform).
Stolypin's dissolution of the 2nd State Duma with a parallel change in the electoral law (June Third coup of 1907) meant the end of the revolution.
Armed uprisings
The declared political freedoms, however, did not satisfy the revolutionary parties, who intended to gain power not through parliamentary means, but through an armed seizure of power and put forward the slogan “Finish off the government!” Ferment swept through the workers, army and navy (uprising on the battleship Potemkin, Vladivostok uprising, etc.). In turn, the authorities saw that there was no further way to retreat, and began to resolutely fight the revolution.
On October 13, 1905, the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies began its work, which became the organizer of the All-Russian October Political Strike of 1905 and tried to disorganize the country's financial system, calling for not paying taxes and taking money from banks. The Council deputies were arrested on December 3, 1905.
The unrest reached its highest point in December 1905: in Moscow (December 7 - 18) and other large cities. In Rostov-on-Don, militant detachments fought with troops in the Temernik area on December 13-20. In Yekaterinoslav, the strike that began on December 8 developed into an uprising. The working-class district of the city of Chechelevka was in the hands of the rebels until December 27.
Pogroms
After the publication of the Tsar's manifesto on October 17, 1905, Jewish pogroms occurred in many cities in the Pale of Settlement. The largest pogroms took place in Odessa (over 400 Jews died), in Rostov-on-Don (over 150 dead), Ekaterinoslav - 67, Minsk - 54, Simferopol - over 40 and Orsha - over 30 dead.
Political assassinations
In total, from 1901 to 1911, about 17 thousand people were killed and wounded during revolutionary terrorism (of which 9 thousand occurred directly during the revolution of 1905-1907). In 1907, an average of 18 people died every day. According to the police, from February 1905 to May 1906 alone, the following were killed: governors general, governors and mayors - 8, vice-governors and advisers to provincial boards - 5, police chiefs, district chiefs and police officers - 21, gendarmerie officers - 8 , generals (combatants) - 4, officers (combatants) - 7, bailiffs and their assistants - 79, police officers - 125, policemen - 346, constables - 57, guards - 257, gendarmerie lower ranks - 55, security agents - 18, civil officials - 85, clergy - 12, village authorities - 52, landowners - 51, factory owners and senior employees in factories - 54, bankers and large merchants - 29.
Known victims terror:
Socialist Revolutionary Party
The militant organization was created by the Socialist Revolutionary Party in the early 1900s to fight against the autocracy in Russia through terror. The organization included from 10 to 30 militants, led by G. A. Gershuni, and from May 1903 - E. F. Azef. She organized the murders of the Minister of Internal Affairs D.S. Sipyagin and V.K. Pleve, the Kharkov governor Prince I.M. Obolensky and the Ufa governor N.M. Bogdanovich, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich; prepared assassination attempts on Nicholas II, Minister of Internal Affairs P. N. Durnovo, Moscow Governor-General F. V. Dubasov, priest G. A. Gapon and others.
RSDLP
The combat technical group under the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b), headed by L. B. Krasin, was the central combat organization of the Bolsheviks. The group carried out massive supplies of weapons to Russia, supervised the creation, training and arming of combat squads that participated in the uprisings.
The Military Technical Bureau of the Moscow Committee of the RSDLP is the Moscow military organization of the Bolsheviks. It included P.K. Sternberg. The bureau led Bolshevik combat units during the Moscow uprising.
Other revolutionary organizations
- Polish Socialist Party (PPS). In 1906 alone, PPS militants killed and wounded about 1,000 people. One of the major actions was the Bezdan robbery in 1908.
- General Jewish Workers' Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia
- Socialist Jewish Workers Party
- "Dashnaktsutyun" is an Armenian revolutionary nationalist party. During the revolution, she actively participated in the Armenian-Azerbaijani massacre of 1905-1906. The Dashnaks killed many administrative and private individuals who were disliked by the Armenians: General Alikhanov, governors: Nakashidze and Andreev, colonels Bykov, Sakharov. The revolutionaries accused the tsarist authorities of inflaming the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
- Armenian Social Democratic Organization "Hnchak"
- Georgian National Democrats
- Latvian forest brothers. In the Kurland province in January - November 1906, up to 400 actions were carried out: they killed government officials, attacked police stations, and burned landowners' estates.
- Latvian Social Democratic Labor Party
- Belarusian socialist community
- Finnish Active Resistance Party
- Jewish Social Democratic Party Poalei Zion
- Federation of Anarchists "Bread and Freedom"
- Federation of Anarchists "Black Banner"
- Federation of Anarchists "Anarchy"
Representation in fiction
- Leonid Andreev's story “The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men” (1908). The story is based on real events- hanging on Lisiy
- Nosu, near St. Petersburg 02/17/1908 (old style) 7 members of the Flying Combat Detachment of the Northern Region of the Socialist Revolutionary Party
- Article by Leo Tolstoy “I Can’t Be Silent!” (1908) about government repression and revolutionary terror
- Sat. stories by Vlas Doroshevich “The Whirlwind and other works of recent times”
- Poem by Konstantin Balmont “Our Tsar” (1907). A famous accusatory poem.
- Poem by Boris Pasternak “Nine Hundred and Fifth” (1926-27)
- Boris Vasiliev's novel “And there was evening, and there was morning” ISBN 978-5-17-064479-7
- Stories by Evgeny Zamyatin "The Unlucky" and "Three Days"
- Varshavyanka - a revolutionary song that became widely known in 1905
First Russian Revolution (1905-1907).
1. Reasons.
2. Periodization of the first Russian revolution.
3. Main events. General characteristics.
4. Outstanding political figures of the era of the first Russian Revolution.
5. Results of the first Russian Revolution.
6. Consequences.
7. List of references.
1. Causes:
The reasons should be sought in the socio-economic and socio-political development of Russia in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
1. The unresolved agrarian question, it was very important, since at that time the majority of the population in the country were peasants. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the struggle of the peasantry for land has intensified significantly. Peasant protests increasingly began to develop into uprisings.
2. The unresolved national question.
3. Unresolved labor issue (low wages, lack of a social insurance system).
4. Unresolved political issue (lack of bourgeois-democratic rights and freedoms in society). (Prohibition on creating political parties and trade unions; freedom of speech and religion, demonstrations, rallies, processions; lack of a constitution, suffrage and representative bodies).
Conclusion: without solving socio-economic and political problems, imperial Russia accumulated anti-monarchist and anti-government potential. The catalyst for discontent was defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. External danger and class struggle pushed Russia onto the path of decisive change.
Russia remained the only one of the main capitalist powers in which there was no parliament, no legal political parties, no legal (comparable to the level of development of other states) freedoms of citizens. Creating conditions for rule of law was one of the most important tasks, on which the resolution of other contradictions in Russia largely depended.
2. Periodization:
The revolution began on January 9, 1905 (Bloody Sunday) and ended on June 3, 1907 with a coup d'état and the dissolution of the 2nd State Duma.
Divided into 2 stages:
Stage 1 - January 9 - October 17, 1905 - a period of rapid development of the revolution. The main driving force is the working class, the intelligentsia, the bourgeoisie, and the bourgeoisie.
Main events: January 9, 1905, uprising on the battleship Potemkin, all-Russian October political strike, manifesto of October 17, 1905.
Stage 2 – October 17, 1905 – June 3, 1907 – gradual extinction of the revolution. The main driving force is the peasantry.
Main events: uprising in the Black Sea Fleet, uprising at the bases of the Baltic Fleet, December armed uprising in Moscow, convening and dissolution of the 1st and 2nd State Dumas, June 3rd coup.
Character of the revolution:
1). Bourgeois-democratic, whose goals were:
Limitation and elimination of autocracy;
Proclamation of democratic rights and freedoms;
Creation of representative bodies and electoral system;
Complete or partial solution to agrarian, labor and national issues.
2). Popular in the form of rebellion, accompanied by senseless violence, pogroms and destruction.
3). It was during this revolution that the peak of development of revolutionary terror (radicalism) occurred.
Revolution and Russo-Japanese War interconnected:
Defeat in the war accelerated the start of the revolution. The outbreak of the revolution forced the government to seek peace with the Japanese.
The key event of the revolution was the publication of the manifesto on October 17, 1905. This manifesto soon changed the political situation in the country. It represented the entire scope of political freedoms.
3. Main events:
The democratic intelligentsia feared possible reprisals against the demonstrators. The delegation headed by M. Gorky was not received by the Minister of Internal Affairs Svyatopolk-Mirsky, and Witte stated: “The opinions of the ruling spheres are irreconcilably at odds with yours, gentlemen.”
On the night of January 9, the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP decided to participate in the procession along with the workers. A peaceful demonstration in which 30 thousand Putilov workers (Kirov plant) took part. They and their families went to the Winter Palace to present petitions to the Tsar (to sort out security, wages), not knowing that the Tsar had left the capital. The demonstration took place under martial law (the garrison commandant had the right to use emergency measures - weapons), but the workers were not notified about this. From Narvskaya Zastava, Fontanka, fence Summer Garden. The demonstration was led by priest Gapon. The demonstration was attended by Social Democrats who tried to dissuade Gapon. The approach to the Winter Palace was blocked by troops, Cossacks and police, and the emperor was told that the demonstration was anti-government.
The first volley was fired at the fence of the Summer Garden, many children were killed. The second salvo is fired at the demonstrators. After this, the demonstrators were attacked by Cossacks. As a result, according to official data, 1.5 thousand were killed and wounded, according to unofficial data - more than 3 thousand people.
Gapon wrote an appeal to the Russian people calling for a general uprising. The Social Revolutionaries printed it in large quantities and distributed it throughout the country. After this, strikes began throughout Russia in January–March 1905.
On January 19, 1905, Nicholas II received a delegation from the workers, whom he “forgave for the riot,” and announced a donation of 50 thousand rubles to be distributed to the victims on January 9.
On February 18, the tsar, at the insistence of Bulygin, published a decree allowing private individuals and organizations to submit proposals to the tsar to improve state improvement. In the evening of the same day, the Tsar signs a rescript on the creation of a legislative body for the development of legislative proposals - the Duma.
The socio-political forces of Russia have united into three camps:
The 1st camp consisted of supporters of autocracy. They either did not recognize the changes at all, or agreed to the existence of a legislative advisory body under the autocrat. These are, first of all, reactionary landowners, the highest ranks government agencies, army, police, part of the bourgeoisie directly connected with tsarism, many zemstvo leaders.
The 2nd camp consisted of representatives of the liberal bourgeoisie and liberal intelligentsia, the advanced nobility, office workers, the city petty bourgeoisie, and part of the peasants. They advocated the preservation of the monarchy, but a constitutional, parliamentary one, in which legislative power is in the hands of a popularly elected parliament. To achieve their goal, they proposed peaceful, democratic methods of struggle.
The 3rd camp - revolutionary democratic - included the proletariat, part of the peasantry, and the poorest layers of the petty bourgeoisie. Their interests were expressed by Social Democrats, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists and other political forces. However, despite the common goals - a democratic republic (anarchists have anarchy), they differed in the means of fighting for them: from peaceful to armed, from legal to illegal. There was also no unity on the question of what the new government would be like. However, the common goals of breaking the autocratic order objectively made it possible to unite the efforts of the revolutionary-democratic camp.
Already in January 1905, about half a million people went on strike in 66 Russian cities - more than in all previous decades. In total, from January to March 1905, about 1 million people went on strike. 85 districts of European Russia were engulfed in peasant unrest.
2). Mutiny on the battleship Potemkin.
By the summer of 1905, revolutionary parties were preparing an uprising in the Black Sea Fleet. It was assumed that it would begin in July - August 1905, but on June 14, an uprising spontaneously began on the battleship Prince Potemkin Tauride.
Reason: Sailors Russian fleet They refused to eat borscht with wormy meat. The commander ordered the guard to surround the group of “refuseniks” and cover them with a tarpaulin, which meant execution. But the guard refused to shoot at their own people. Sailor Grigory Vakulenchuk protested loudly. Senior officer Gilyarovsky shot Vakulenchuk. The sailors disarmed the officers and captured the ship. The organizers of the uprising are considered to be: Vakulenchuk and Matyushenko. From Sevastopol the ship leaves for Odessa, where mass demonstrations were taking place. The ship has minimal supplies of water and provisions. On June 17, Odessa was blocked by the Black Sea Fleet, which remained loyal to the emperor (13 warships). The battleship came out to meet the squadron. The gunners on the squadron refused to shoot at their own. At this moment, the crew of the cruiser "George the Victorious" captured their ships. Arrested most of the officers. The battleship is allowed to pass through the squadron's formation without firing; the "George the Victorious" was run aground by one of the officers. "Potemkin" goes to Feodosia for food, where it is fired upon by coastal artillery, then to Romania, the port of Constanta. But Russia managed to warn them and they were denied refueling.
In Constanta, the crew leaves the ship. Punishments: from lifelong hard labor to execution.
3). Creation of the First Council.
In May, there was a massive strike movement in the central industrial zone. (from 220 to 400 thousand people); driving forces- textile workers.
The strike lasted 72 days. Center – Ivanovo-Voznesensk.
During the strike, the workers seized power in the city. The workers create the first council (Council of Workers' Deputies). The council is an elected body consisting of two parts:
1. Legislative branch.
2. Executive power. (Executive Committee)
The council was divided into several commissions:
1. Financial.
2. Food.
3. For the protection of order.
4. Propaganda.
The Council published its own newspaper, Izvestia. Subordinate to the Council were militant workers' squads. One of the founders of the first council was Mikhail Ivanovich Frunze (hereditary worker).
Lenin considered the creation of the First Council one of the main achievements of the revolution.
After the Revolution, the Council was dissolved.
"Union of Unions". Back in October 1904, the left wing of the Liberation Union began work to unite all streams liberation movement. On May 8-9, 1905, a congress was held at which all unions were united into a single “Union of Unions.” It was headed by P.N. Milyukov. The Bolsheviks accused the congress of moderate liberalism and left it. The “Union of Unions” tried to unite all the forces opposing tsarism. He proposed a peaceful, legal way of struggle.
Causes: 1) main reason the revolution was the preservation of feudal-serfdom remnants that hampered the further development of the country; 2) an unresolved work issue; 3) national question; 4) difficult service conditions for soldiers and sailors; 5) anti-government sentiment of the intelligentsia; 6) defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.
The nature revolution 1905–1907 was bourgeois-democratic.
The main tasks of the revolution: 1) overthrow of the autocracy and establishment of a constitutional monarchy;
2) solution of agrarian and national issues;
3) elimination of feudal-serfdom remnants. The main driving forces of the revolution: workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie. An active position during the revolution was taken by the working class, which used various means in their struggle - demonstrations, strikes, armed uprising.
The course of revolutionary events. Rising stage, January–October 1905 The beginning of the revolution was the events in St. Petersburg: the general strike and Bloody Sunday. On January 9, 1905, workers who went to the Tsar asking for an improvement in their lives were shot. The petition was drawn up by members of the “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg” under the leadership of G.A. Ga-pona. Bloody Sunday shook the whole country. Mass riots began in different regions of the country. Gradually, strikes and demonstrations acquired a political character. The main slogan was: “Down with autocracy!” The revolutionary movement also captured the army and navy. In June 1905, there was an uprising of sailors on the battleship Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky. The peasantry took part in the revolutionary unrest. The rebellious peasants destroyed the landowners' estates, seized warehouses and grain barns.
Climax, highest rise of the revolution, October – December 1905 In the autumn and winter of 1905 the revolutionary movement reached highest point. Moscow became the center of revolutionary actions at this time. A political strike began here, which grew into an all-Russian political strike.
Nicholas II was forced October 17, 1905 sign the Manifesto"About improvement public order", according to which: 1) the State Duma should have been convened; 2) the population of the country was granted democratic freedoms - speech, assembly, press, conscience; 3) universal suffrage was introduced.
In December 1905 A strike began in Moscow, which grew into an armed uprising. Presnya became the center of the uprising. To suppress it, the Semenovsky Guards Regiment was sent to Moscow. This prompted the Moscow Council of the RSDLP to decide to end the uprising, after which the uprising gradually began to decline.
Descending stage, January 1906 – June 1907 The labor movement has begun to decline, and the intelligentsia is also tired of revolutionary instability. Although it was precisely at this time that the peak of the peasant movement, the seizure of landowners' land, and the burning of landowners' estates was observed.
On April 23, 1906, new “Basic Laws” were adopted: 1) the tsar received the right of “emergency legislation” without the approval of the State Duma; 2) the State Council became the upper chamber, approving all decisions of the Duma; 3) the decisions of the Duma did not receive legal force without the consent of the tsar.
Revolution 1905–1907 was unfinished. However: 1) it limited the autocracy to some extent; 2) led to the establishment of legislative representation; 3) proclamation of political freedoms, creation of political parties; 4) during the revolution, peasants achieved the abolition of redemption payments (1906).
28. The beginning of Russian parliamentarism: the first State Dumas
The Manifesto of October 17, 1905 was a major step along the path of political reform. The Council of Ministers was formed as a permanent body. The ministers were responsible for their actions before the king. The State Council remained, but now it is
gained the rights of the upper house of the Duma. Half of its members were appointed by the emperor, half were elected from the nobles. The State Council had the right not to approve bills proposed by the Duma. Documents received the force of laws only after their approval by the king. Between sessions of the Duma, the tsar could single-handedly issue decrees, which were then submitted for approval by the Duma. Its legislative powers were few. Nevertheless, the empire ceased to be a classic autocratic monarchy. Opportunities for the convocation and work of the Duma were created. Despite all its limitations, this was the first experience of Russian parliamentarism in history.
The First State Duma was elected on the basis of the electoral law on December 11, 1905. 25 million people received the right to vote. Farmers, women, soldiers, sailors, students, and workers employed in small enterprises did not participate in the elections. Age (25 years) and property qualifications were introduced. The elections were multi-stage, and the rights of voters were unequal. The landowner's vote was equal to 3 votes of the bourgeoisie, 15 votes of the peasants and 45 votes of the workers.
On April 27, Nicholas II solemnly opened the State Duma. The main victory in the elections was won by the Cadets party, which received more than a third of all seats. The Trudoviks, who expressed the interests of the peasantry, won a fourth of the mandates. 15 Social Democrats entered the Duma. Moderate liberal S.M. Muromtsev was elected Chairman of the Duma. The general mood of the Duma members was opposition to the government.
A week after the start of work, the Duma adopted an appeal to Nicholas II. Deputies demanded the introduction of general elections, the creation of a ministry responsible to the Duma, and the abolition of Goremykin; these demands were rejected. The Duma demanded the resignation of the government. The situation has escalated.
The agrarian question caused great controversy in the Duma. The Trudoviks proposed transferring all lands to a “national land fund.” The fund was to be administered by local governments. This meant the nationalization of land and the abolition of landownership. The Duma adopted a more moderate draft law proposed by the Cadets, according to which peasants could
kup receive landowners' lands. The Duma members were confident that the tsar would make concessions. That did not happen.
July 9, 1906 new minister Internal Affairs P.A. Stolypin dissolved the State Duma. Some of the deputies went to Vyborg. They adopted the “Vyborg Appeal”, in which they called on the people not to pay taxes and not to send soldiers to the army. Goremykin was forced to resign. Stolypin became the new chairman of the Council of Ministers. The drafters of the appeal were persecuted and lost the opportunity to get into the next Duma.
In November 1906, the election campaign to the Second State Duma began. The Cadets received only about 20% of the seats, the Black Hundreds and Octobrists 10%. The left forces won a big victory:
The Social Democrats won 12.5% of the seats, and the Trudoviks and Socialist Revolutionaries won about 30%. As a result, candidates from government parties formed an insignificant faction in the Duma.
The Second Duma opened on February 20, 1907. The agrarian question again became central. The government's proposals were not supported. A real possibility of adopting the Trudoviks' project had been created. They demanded the abolition of landownership. In the face of a decline in revolutionary events, the government decided to go on the offensive.
On June 1, 1907, Stolypin demanded that deputies from the Social Democratic faction be expelled from the Duma, accusing them of preparing a military conspiracy. The Duma demanded evidence. Without waiting for the results of the investigation, on June 3, 1907, Nicholas II announced the dissolution of the Duma and the introduction of a new electoral law. The change in law was carried out in violation of the October 17 Manifesto and was perceived as a coup d'etat.
The Social Democratic faction was arrested. New elections were scheduled for November 1. There were no unrest or demonstrations on this matter. According to the new electoral law, a majority in the Duma was guaranteed to nobles and entrepreneurs. The representation of peasants and national minorities was declining. Even Stolypin agreed that the new electoral law was shameless.
The first Duma experiments were unsuccessful. Neither the government nor the two Dumas were able to find a reasonable compromise. Coup d'etat June 3, 1907 meant the end of the first Russian revolution
Reforms of P. A. Stolypin
After the revolutionary events of 1905–1907. the most far-sighted politicians understood that in order to prevent a social explosion it was necessary to reform many aspects of social life, first of all, to resolve the peasant issue. The initiator of the reform was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1906-1911) P.A. Stolypin. P.A. Stolypin, the former governor of Saratov and later minister of internal affairs, was appointed prime minister at age 44. He was an authoritarian reformer. Stolypin was convinced that without stabilizing the situation in the country, without “calming” the people, even through cruel measures, the planned transformations were doomed to failure. For his tough policies in liberal and radical circles, he gained fame as a “hangman.”
November 9, 1906 a decree was issued that: 1) granted peasants the right to freely leave communities, securing the ownership of the due part of the communal land; 2) the peasant could receive land in the form of a separate plot (cut), to which he could move his estate (farm).
Thus, the decree did not specifically destroy peasant communities, but freed the hands of peasants who wanted to farm independently. Thus, it was planned to create in the village a layer of strong, homely owners, alien to the revolutionary spirit, and generally increase agricultural productivity. The decree, adopted during the inter-army period, immediately came into force as an “emergency”.
A major role was assigned to the Main Directorate of Land Management and Agriculture(since 1908 - Ministry of Agriculture), which organized the correct demarcation of land on the ground.
It was planned to develop medicine and veterinary medicine, provide social assistance peasants.
To resolve the issue of land shortage, resettlement of peasants from zones with acute land shortages to Siberia, Kazakhstan, and other areas was organized. In addition, immigrants were exempted from taxes for a long time and were given a cash allowance of 200 rubles. for one family.
