Causes.
1. Contradictions between Russia and Japan over spheres of influence in China and Korea.
2. Economic expansion of Russia into China and military expansion of Japan in Korea.
3. For Russian government war as a means of preventing revolution, and for Japan as a vital necessity, because without colonies the rapidly growing Japanese economy was awaiting collapse.
Progress of military operations.
Results
1. By Treaty of Portsmouth Russia ceded Southern Sakhalin and the Liaodong Peninsula with the city of Port Arthur to Japan.
2. The defeat of Russia in the war with Japan was the reason for the start of the First Russian Revolution, because the main argument in favor of autocracy was undermined: maintaining the military power and external greatness of the country.
Causes.
1. The confrontation between a society thirsty for democratic reforms and an autocracy that did not want to make any concessions.
2. Unresolved agrarian question: contradictions between landowners latifundia and the lack of land of the peasants, the desire of the peasants to seize the landowners' lands.
3. Increasing conflict between labor and capital: the plight of workers, the longest working hours and the lowest in Europe wage, lack of social insurance, the right to strike and form trade unions.
4. Exacerbation of the national question: the contradiction between the great power policy of the government and the desire of the national outskirts for autonomy.
5. The defeat of Russia in the war with Japan, which finally undermined the prestige of power and raised the question of changing the existing order in the country.
The main stages of the revolution (January 9, 1905 - June 3, 1907).
Stage I (January - September 1905) - Beginning of the revolution: " Bloody Sunday", rescript Nicholas I with the promise of reforms, the Ivanovo-Voznesensk strike and the emergence of the Council of Workers' Representatives, the uprising on the battleship "Potemkin", congresses of zemstvo representatives and the All-Russian Peasant Congress demanding constitutional reforms, the emperor's decree on the convening of the "Bulygin Duma".
Stage II (October - December 1905) - The highest rise of the revolution: the legalization of political parties, the All-Russian political October strike, the formation of Soviets of Workers' Deputies in Moscow and St. Petersburg, uprisings in Sevastopol and Kronstadt, Manifesto October 17, 1905 and the law on elections to the First State Duma, the December armed uprising in Moscow and its suppression by government troops.
Stage III (January 1906 - June 1907) - Decline of the revolution: Massive peasant unrest and uprising in Sveaborg, Kronstadt and Reval in the summer of 1906, the introduction of military courts, work I And II State doom, the beginning of agrarian reforms P.A. Stolypin, dissolution of the Second State Duma and changes in the electoral law, defeat of the first Russian revolution.
Results of the first Russian revolution
1. Creation of the State Duma - the first representative institution in Russia.
2. Proclamation of a minimum of political rights and freedoms.
3. Cancellation of redemption payments for peasants and permission to create workers' unions.
4. Stolypin’s agrarian reform as a means of solving the peasant question.
5. The experience of political struggle acquired by the people during the revolutionary events of 1905-1907.
The causes of the revolution were rooted in the economic and socio-political system of Russia. The unresolved agrarian-peasant question, the preservation of landownership and peasant land shortages, the high degree of exploitation of workers of all nations, the autocratic system, complete political lawlessness and the absence of democratic freedoms, the arbitrariness of the police and bureaucrats and the accumulated social protest - all this could not but give rise to a revolutionary explosion. The catalyst that accelerated the emergence of the revolution was the deterioration of the financial situation of workers due to the economic crisis of 1900-1903. and the shameful defeat for tsarism in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.
Tasks of the revolution- overthrow of the autocracy, convocation Constituent Assembly to establish a democratic system, the elimination of class inequality; introduction of freedom of speech, assembly, parties and associations; the destruction of landownership and the distribution of land to peasants; reducing the working day to 8 hours, recognizing the right of workers to strike and creating trade unions; achieving equality of rights for the peoples of Russia.
Wide sections of the population were interested in the implementation of these tasks. Participants in the revolution were: workers and peasants, soldiers and sailors, most of the middle and petty bourgeoisie, intelligentsia and office workers. Therefore, in terms of the goals and composition of the participants, it was nationwide and had a bourgeois-democratic character.
Stages of the revolution
The revolution lasted 2.5 years (from January 9, 1905 to June 3, 1907). It went through several stages in its development.
The prologue to the revolution was the events in St. Petersburg - the general strike and Bloody Sunday. On January 9, workers who went to the Tsar with a petition were shot. It was compiled by participants in the “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg” under the leadership of G. A. Gapon. The petition contained a request from workers to improve their financial situation and political demands - the convening of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, equal and secret suffrage, the introduction of democratic freedoms. This was the reason for the execution, as a result of which more than 1,200 people were killed and about 5 thousand were wounded. In response, the workers took up arms and began building barricades.
First stage
From January 9 to the end of September 1905 - the beginning and development of the revolution along an ascending line, its expansion in depth and breadth. More and more masses of the population were drawn into it. It gradually covered all regions of Russia.
Main events: January-February strikes and protest demonstrations in response to Bloody Sunday under the slogan “Down with autocracy!”; spring-summer demonstrations of workers in Moscow, Odessa, Warsaw, Lodz, Riga and Baku (more than 800 thousand); the creation in Ivanovo-Voznesensk of a new body of workers' power - the Council of Authorized Deputies; uprising of sailors on the battleship "Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky"; mass movement of peasants and agricultural workers in 1/5 of the districts of Central Russia, Georgia and Latvia; the creation of the Peasant Union, which made political demands. During this period, part of the bourgeoisie financially and morally supported popular uprisings.
Under the pressure of the revolution, the government made its first concession and promised to convene the State Duma. (It was named Bulyginskaya after the Minister of Internal Affairs.) An attempt to create a legislative advisory body with significantly limited voting rights of the population in the context of the development of the revolution.
Second phase
October - December 1905 - the highest rise of the revolution. Main events: the general All-Russian October political strike (more than 2 million participants) and as a result the publication of the Manifesto on October 17 “On the improvement public order", in which the Tsar promised to introduce some political freedoms and convene a legislative State Duma on the basis of a new electoral law; peasant riots that led to the abolition of redemption payments; performances in the army and navy (uprising in Sevastopol under the leadership of Lieutenant P.P. Schmidt); December strikes and uprisings in Moscow, Kharkov, Chita, Krasnoyarsk and other cities.
The government suppressed all armed uprisings. At the height of the uprising in Moscow, which caused a special political resonance in the country, on December 11, 1905, a decree “On changing the regulations on elections to the State Duma” was published and preparations for elections were announced. This act allowed the government to reduce the intensity of revolutionary passions.
The bourgeois-liberal strata, frightened by the scale of the movement, recoiled from the revolution. They welcomed the publication of the Manifesto and the new electoral law, believing that this meant the weakening of autocracy and the beginning of parliamentarism in Russia. Taking advantage of the promised freedoms, they began to create their own political parties.
In October 1905, on the basis of the Liberation Union and the Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists, the Constitutional Democratic Party (Cadets) was formed. Its members expressed the interests of the average urban bourgeoisie and intelligentsia. Their leader was the historian P. N. Milyukov. The program included the demand for the establishment of a parliamentary democratic system in the form of a constitutional monarchy, universal suffrage, the introduction of broad political freedoms, an 8-hour working day, the right to strikes and trade unions. The Cadets spoke out for the preservation of a united and indivisible Russia with the granting of autonomy to Poland and Finland. The cadet program implied the modernization of the Russian political system along Western European lines. The Cadets became a party in opposition to the tsarist government.
In November 1905, the “Union of October 17” was created. The Octobrists expressed the interests of large industrialists, the financial bourgeoisie, liberal landowners and wealthy intelligentsia. The leader of the party was businessman A.I. Guchkov. The Octobrist program provided for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy with a strong executive power of the Tsar and a legislative Duma, the preservation of a united and indivisible Russia (with the granting of autonomy to Finland). They were willing to cooperate with the government, although they recognized the need for some reforms. They proposed solving the agrarian question without affecting landownership (dissolving the community, returning the plots to the peasants, and reducing land hunger in the center of Russia by relocating peasants to the outskirts).
Conservative-monarchist circles organized the “Union of the Russian People” in November 1905 and the “Union of the Archangel Michael” (Black Hundreds) in 1908. Their leaders were Dr. A. I. Dubrovin, large landowners N. E. Markov and V. M. Purishkevich. They fought against any revolutionary and democratic protests, insisted on strengthening the autocracy, the integrity and indivisibility of Russia, maintaining the dominant position of the Russians and strengthening the position of the Orthodox Church.
Third stage
From January 1906 to June 3, 1907 - the sweetness and retreat of the revolution. Main events: “rearguard battles of the proletariat”, which had an offensive, political nature (1.1 million workers took part in strikes in 1906, 740 thousand in 1907); a new scope of the peasant movement (half of the landowners' estates in the center of Russia were burning); sailors' uprisings (Kronstadt and Svea-borg); national liberation movement (Poland, Finland, Baltic states, Ukraine). Gradually the wave of popular protests weakened.
The center of gravity in the social movement has shifted to polling stations and the State Duma. Elections to it were not universal (farmers, women, soldiers, sailors, students and workers employed in small enterprises did not participate in them). Each class had its own standards of representation: the vote of 1 landowner was equal to 3 votes of the bourgeoisie, 15 votes of peasants and 45 votes of workers. The outcome of the election was determined by the ratio of the number of electors. The government still counted on the monarchical commitment and Duma illusions of the peasants, so a relatively high standard of representation was established for them. The elections were not direct: for peasants - four degrees, for workers - three degrees, for nobles and the bourgeoisie - two degrees. An age limit (25 years) and a high property qualification for city residents was introduced to ensure the advantage of the big bourgeoisie in the elections.
I State Duma (April - June 1906)
Among its Deputies there were 34% Cadets, 14% Octobrists, 23% Trudoviks (a faction close to the Social Revolutionaries and expressing the interests of the peasantry). The Social Democrats were represented by the Mensheviks (about 4% of the seats). The Black Hundreds did not enter the Duma. The Bolsheviks boycotted the elections.
Contemporaries called the First State Duma “the Duma of people’s hopes for a peaceful path.” However, its legislative rights were curtailed even before convocation. In February 1906, the advisory State Council was transformed into an upper legislative chamber. New “Basic State Laws” Russian Empire published in April before the opening of the Duma, preserved the formula of the supreme autocratic power of the emperor and reserved for the tsar the right to issue decrees without her approval, which contradicted the promises of the Manifesto of October 17.
Nevertheless, some limitation of autocracy was achieved, since The State Duma received the right of legislative initiative, new laws could not be adopted without her participation. The Duma had the right to send requests to the government, express no confidence in it, and approved the state budget.
The Duma proposed a program for the democratization of Russia. It provided for: the introduction of ministerial responsibility to the Duma; guarantee of all civil liberties; establishment of universal free education; carrying out agrarian reform; meeting the demands of national minorities; cancellation death penalty and complete political amnesty. The government did not accept this program, which intensified its confrontation with the Duma.
The main issue in the Duma was the agrarian question. The bottom line of the bill was discussed: the Cadets and the Trudoviks. Both of them stood for the creation of a “state land fund” from state, monastic, appanage and part of landowners’ lands. However, the cadets recommended not to touch the profitable landowners' estates. They proposed to buy back the seized part of the landowners’ land from the owners “at a fair valuation” at the expense of the state. The Trudoviks’ project provided for the alienation of all privately owned lands free of charge, leaving their owners with only a “labor standard.” During the discussion, some of the Trudoviks put forward an even more radical project - the complete abolition of private ownership of land, the declaration natural resources and mineral resources are a national property.
The government, supported by all conservative forces in the country, rejected all projects. 72 days after the opening of the Duma, the Tsar dissolved it, saying that it did not calm the people, but inflamed passions. Repressions were intensified: military courts and punitive detachments operated. In April 1906, P. A. Stolypin was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs, who became Chairman of the Council of Ministers in July of the same year (created in October 1905).
P. A. Stolypin (1862-1911) - from a family of large landowners, quickly made a successful career in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and was the governor of a number of provinces. He received the personal gratitude of the tsar for the suppression of peasant unrest in the Saratov province in 1905. Possessing a broad political outlook and a decisive character, he became the central political figure in Russia at the final stage of the revolution and in subsequent years. He took an active part in the development and implementation of agrarian reform. home political idea P. A. Stolypin was that reforms can be successfully implemented only in the presence of strong government power. Therefore, his policy of reforming Russia was combined with an intensified fight against the revolutionary movement, police repression and punitive actions. In September 1911 he died as a result of a terrorist attack.
II State Duma (February - June 1907)
During the elections of the new Duma, the right of workers and peasants to participate in them was curtailed. Propaganda of radical parties was prohibited, their rallies were dispersed. The Tsar wanted to get an obedient Duma, but he miscalculated.
The Second State Duma turned out to be even more left-wing than the first. The Cadet Center “melted” (19% of places). The right flank strengthened - 10% of the Black Hundreds, 15% of the Octobrists and bourgeois-nationalist deputies entered the Duma. Trudoviki, Socialist Revolutionaries and Social Democrats formed a left bloc with 222 seats (43%).
As before, the agrarian question was central. The Black Hundreds demanded that the landowners' property be preserved intact, and that allotment peasant lands be withdrawn from the community and divided into cuts among the peasants. This project coincided with the government's agrarian reform program. The cadets abandoned the idea of creating a state fund. They proposed to buy part of the land from the landowners and transfer it to the peasants, dividing the costs equally between them and the state. The Trudoviks again put forward their project for the gratuitous alienation of all privately owned lands and their distribution according to the “labor norm”. Social Democrats demanded the complete confiscation of landowners' land and the creation of local committees to distribute it among the peasants.
Projects of forced alienation of landowners' land frightened the government. The decision was made to disperse the Duma. It lasted 102 days. The pretext for dissolution was the accusation of deputies of the Social Democratic faction of preparing a coup d'etat.
In fact coup d'etat carried out by the government. On June 3, 1907, simultaneously with the Manifesto on the dissolution of the Second State Duma, a new electoral law was published. This act was a direct violation of Article 86 of the “Basic Laws of the Russian Empire”, according to which no new law could not be adopted without the approval of the State Council and the State Duma. June 3 is considered the last day of the revolution of 1905-1907.
The meaning of revolution
The main result was that the supreme power was forced to change the socio-political system of Russia. New government structures emerged in it, indicating the beginning of the development of parliamentarism. Some limitation of autocracy was achieved, although the tsar retained the ability to make legislative decisions and full executive power.
The socio-political situation of Russian citizens has changed; Democratic freedoms were introduced, censorship was abolished, trade unions and legal political parties were allowed to organize. The bourgeoisie received a wide opportunity to participate in the political life of the country.
The financial situation of workers has improved. In a number of industries, wages increased and the working day decreased to 9-10 hours.
The peasants achieved the abolition of redemption payments. The freedom of movement of peasants was expanded and the power of zemstvo chiefs was limited. Agrarian reform began, destroying the community and strengthening the rights of peasants as landowners, which contributed to the further capitalist evolution of agriculture.
The end of the revolution led to the establishment of temporary internal political stabilization in Russia.
1. In 1905 - 1907 The first revolution took place in Russia, sweeping the entire country. Its main results were:
— creation of a parliament and political parties in Russia;
- carrying out Stolypin reforms. Reasons for the revolution:
- the economic crisis of Russian capitalism at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries;
- the unresolved peasant issue and the too difficult conditions for the abolition of serfdom (peasants for more than 40 years continued to pay redemption payments for land, which was provided for by the reform of 1861 and was a burden for the peasants);
— lack of social justice in most spheres of the country’s life;
— lack of representative bodies, obvious imperfection of the political system;
The day before, in December 1904, a mass strike began in St. Petersburg at the Putilov plant, which grew into a general one. By January 1905, 111 thousand people took part in the capital’s strike.
Pop Gapon, both a provocateur and an agent of the secret police, infiltrated among the workers, organized a procession of people to the Tsar. On January 9, 1905, workers began a mass march to the Winter Palace with a petition to the Tsar for the introduction of fundamental rights and freedoms. The path to the procession was blocked by troops who began shooting at the demonstration.
The shooting of workers in St. Petersburg caused outrage throughout the country and led to the start of revolutionary uprisings. Features of the revolution of 1905 - 1907 :
- its mass popular character - representatives of the most diverse strata of society took part in the revolutionary uprisings - workers, peasants, soldiers, intelligentsia;
- ubiquity - the revolution swept almost the entire country;
- the emergence of new people's bodies - councils, which opposed themselves to the official authorities;
- the organization and strength of revolutionary uprisings - the authorities could not ignore the revolution.
The revolution took place in three stages:
- January - October 1905 - the development of the revolution is increasing;
- October 1905 - summer 1906 - the peak of the revolution, its transition into the political field;
- summer 1906 - summer 1907 - satisfaction of part of the demands of the bourgeois part of the leadership of the revolution, the attenuation of the revolution.
3. The most significant events of the first stage:
— an all-Russian propaganda campaign condemning “Bloody Sunday” and the growth of popular indignation;
- general strike of Ivanovo-Voznesensk weavers in May 1905;
— strikes in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa;
— uprising on the battleship “Prince Potemkin Tauride” in the summer of 1905;
- creation of the first councils, the most influential of which were the Moscow and St. Petersburg councils;
- unrest in Crimea, uprising on the cruiser "Ochakov". The peak of the revolution was:
— All-Russian October strike of 1905;
— December armed uprising in Moscow.
During the All-Russian October Strike, the country's enterprises began to shut down one by one, which threatened economic and political collapse. The strike covered 120 cities; Large enterprises, transport, and media stopped working. The strike participants put forward socio-economic (8-hour working day) and political (providing rights and freedoms, holding elections) demands.
4. On October 17, 1905, Tsar Nicholas II issued a Manifesto, which legitimized fundamental rights and freedoms and established a parliament:
- the State Duma, elected by the people, together with the State Council appointed by the emperor, formed a bicameral parliament - the highest legislative body of the country;
— at the same time, elections to the State Duma were not democratic - universal and equal;
- women and “foreigners” - a number of non-Slavic peoples - were deprived of the right to vote;
- elections were held from different classes, and more deputies were elected from the propertied classes than from the same number of representatives of the poor - which initially reduced the representation of workers and guaranteed a majority to representatives of the middle and large bourgeoisie;
— The Duma was elected for 5 years, but could be dissolved by the tsar at any time.
Despite its half-heartedness, the Manifesto of October 17, 1905 had great historical meaning- Russia moved from autocracy to a constitutional monarchy.
Most of the bourgeoisie was satisfied with the results of the revolution and began to prepare for elections. The formation of bourgeois parties began, the leading of which were:
- “Union of October 17th” (Octobrists) (leader industrialist A. Guchkov) - a right-wing party that advocated the further development of parliamentarism and capitalist relations;
— the Cadet Party (leader is professor of history P. Milyukov) - a centrist party that advocated the improvement of the constitutional monarchy, the continuity of historical traditions, and the strengthening of Russia’s influence in world politics;
- “Union of Michael the Archangel” (finally formed in 1907, popularly called the “Black Hundred”) (leader Purishkevich) - Russian radical nationalist party.
5. The proletariat, whose main socio-economic problems were not resolved by the Manifesto and deprived of electoral prospects by the electoral law, on the contrary, intensified revolutionary activity.
In December 1905, an attempt was made to seize power in Moscow by armed means - the December Armed Uprising. This uprising was suppressed by tsarist troops. The battles between troops and workers' detachments at Krasnaya Presnya were especially fierce.
6. After the suppression of the December armed uprising of 1905, revolutionary actions began to decline, the revolution moved to the political plane.
On April 23, 1906, the Tsar issued the “Basic State Laws,” which became the prototype of the Constitution and established fundamental rights and freedoms and the procedure for electing the State Duma. Also in April 1906, the first elections to the State Duma in Russian history took place. Due to the peculiarities of the electoral legislation (disproportionate representation in favor of the propertied), the party of constitutional democrats - the Cadets - won the elections. Despite the victory of the centrist Cadets and the representation of mainly bourgeois parties, the First State Duma was radical for its time. The bourgeois deputies took a principled position on almost all issues and entered into confrontation with the tsar and the tsarist government, which came as a surprise to him. Having worked for only 72 days, on July 9, 1906, the First State Duma was dissolved ahead of schedule by the Tsar. The Second State Duma, elected in February 1907, again found itself beyond the control of the tsar and laid claim to real power. On June 3, 1907, the Tsar prematurely dissolved the 11th Duma, which had worked for about 100 days.
7. In order to prevent the revolutionary nature of the next Dumas, simultaneously with the dissolution of the Second Duma, a new election law was published, which became even more undemocratic than the first. This law increased the property qualification for participation in elections and further changed the proportion of representation in favor of the propertied (the vote of 1 landowner was equal to the votes of 10 peasants).
As a result of changes in the law /// the State Duma should-. but was to represent only the upper strata of society, at that time the proletariat, peasantry, petty bourgeoisie, who made up the majority of the population, were thrown out of the political process due to their insignificant representation in parliament. The new, III State Duma, elected in 1907 under the new law, became a formal body obedient to the tsar and worked for all 5 years.
The dissolution of the Second Revolutionary State Duma and the introduction of an undemocratic electoral law on June 3, 1907 occurred in violation of the Basic State Laws, which did not allow changing the electoral legislation without the consent of the Duma. These events went down in history as the “June 3rd coup d’etat,” and the reactionary conservative regime that was established after it, which lasted 10 years until 1917, was the “June 3rd monarchy.” Along with the tightening of the political regime, the tsarist government began economic reforms. In 1906, P.A. was appointed the new head of the Russian government. Stolypin, who pledged to carry out agrarian reform and suppress the revolution. One of the first steps of the government was the radical and historic decision, from January 1, 1907, to abolish redemption payments for land, introduced after the abolition of serfdom.
This step meant the final abolition of serfdom and its consequences and removed from the peasants the last burden remaining from serfdom. This decision was approved by the majority of the peasants and reduced the revolutionary intensity among the peasants. At the same time, the government of P. Stolypin began to pursue a policy of brutal suppression of revolutionary uprisings. The justice system was limited and emergency tribunals were introduced for revolutionaries. The number of death sentences and exiles increased sharply. This also contributed to the decline of the revolutionary movement in the country. The coup of June 3, 1907 is considered the end of the first Russian revolution of 1905 - 1907.
The first Russian revolution is a whole chain of events that began on January 9 in 1905 and continued until 1907 in the then Russian Empire. These events became possible thanks to the prevailing situation in the country at the beginning of the 20th century.
The first Russian revolution showed that radical changes were simply necessary for the state. However, Nicholas II was in no hurry to make changes in the country.
Causes of the first Russian revolution:
- economic (world economic crisis at the beginning of the 20th century; underdevelopment both in agriculture, and in industry);
- social (the development of capitalism did not entail any changes in the old ways of life of people, hence the contradictions between new system and old remnants);
- supreme power; the decline in the authority of everyone after the lost victory in the rapid Russo-Japanese War, and, as a consequence, the intensification of leftist opposition movements);
- national (lack of rights of nations and a high degree of their exploitation).
What forces existed in Russia on the eve of the revolution? Firstly, this is a liberal movement, the basis of which was the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Secondly, this is a conservative direction. Thirdly, radical democratic movements.
What were the objectives of the first revolution?
1) solving a number of issues, including agricultural, labor, national;
2) overthrow of the autocracy;
3) adoption of the constitution;
4) classless society;
5) freedom of speech and choice.
The first Russian revolution was bourgeois-democratic in nature. The reason for its implementation was the events of early January, called “Bloody Sunday”. On a winter morning, a peaceful procession of workers headed towards the Tsar, carrying his portrait and chanting “God Save the Tsar...”. At the head of the procession was It is still unclear whether he was an ally of the revolutionaries or a supporter of the peaceful procession, since his sudden disappearance remains a mystery... The events of Bloody Sunday led to the execution of the workers. This occasion gave a strong impetus to the activation of all left forces. The first bloody Russian revolution began.
Nicholas II adopts several manifestos, including the “manifesto on the establishment of the State Duma” and the “manifesto on the improvement of state order.” Both documents are literally the course of events. During the revolution, 2 state dumas carried out their activities, which were dissolved before their completion date. After the dissolution of the second, the “Third of June” came into force politic system", which became possible after Nicholas II violated the manifesto of October 17, 1905.
The first Russian revolution, the causes of which had been on the surface for a long time, led to changes in Russia political situation and citizens. The coup also gave rise to agrarian reform. However, the 1st Russian Revolution did not solve its main problem - the elimination of the autocracy. and autocracy in Russia will last another 10 years.
Chronology
- 1905, January 9 “Bloody Sunday”
- 1905, May Formation of the first Council of Workers' Deputies in Ivanovo-Voznesensk
- 1905, October All-Russian October political strike
- 1905, October 17 Publication of the Manifesto “On Improving Public Order”
- 1905, October Creation of the “Constitutional Democratic Party”
- 1905, November Creation of the party “Union of October 17”
- Creation of the party “Union of the Russian People”
- 1906, April-June Activities of the First State Duma
- 1907, February-June Activities of the Second State Duma
- 1907, June 3 Dispersal of the Second State Duma
- 1907 - 1912 Activities of the III State Duma
- 1912 - 1917 Activities of the IV State Duma
First Russian Revolution (1905 - 1907)
Beginning of the 20th century for Russia it was stormy and difficult. In the conditions of the brewing revolution, the government sought to preserve the existing system without any political changes. The main socio-political support of the autocracy continued to be the nobility, the army, the Cossacks, the police, the extensive bureaucratic apparatus, and the church. The government used the age-old illusions of the masses, their religiosity, and political darkness. However, innovations also appeared. The government camp was heterogeneous. If rights sought to block all attempts at reform, defended unlimited autocracy, advocated the suppression of revolutionary uprisings, then in the government camp appeared liberals, who understood the need to expand and strengthen the socio-political base of the monarchy, the alliance of the nobility with the upper ranks of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie.
Liberal camp developed at the beginning of the twentieth century. Its formation proceeded slowly due to the fact that representatives of the bourgeoisie firmly stood in loyal positions and demonstratively evaded political activity. 1905 was a turning point, but even at that time the Russian bourgeoisie was not particularly radical.
The liberals intensified their activities on the eve of the revolution of 1905. They created their own illegal organizations: “ Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists" And " Liberation Union”.
The real fact of the current liberal opposition became an autocracy 1st zemstvo congress, opened November 6, 1904 in St. Petersburg. It adopted a program that reflected the main provisions of the programs of the Osvobozhdenie and Zemstvo constitutionalists. Following the congress, the so-called “ banquet campaign”, organized by the “Union of Liberation”. The culmination of this campaign was a banquet held in the capital on the anniversary of the Decembrist uprising of 1825, at which 800 participants proclaimed the need for the immediate convening of a Constituent Assembly.
The inglorious defeat on land and sea in the military conflict with Japan inflamed the situation in Russian society and was a catalyst that accelerated the emergence of the revolution. Causes of the revolutionary explosion- unresolved agrarian question, preservation of landownership, high degree of exploitation of workers of all nations, autocratic system, lack of democratic freedoms. The accumulated social protest broke out, uniting various segments of the Russian population under a single slogan “ Down with autocracy!”.
First stage of the revolution
Chronological framework first Russian revolution — January 9, 1905 - June 3, 1907“Bloody Sunday” became the starting point of the revolution.
On January 3, 1905, 12 thousand workers of the Putilov plant stopped working in protest against the dismissal of four comrades. The strike spread to all enterprises in St. Petersburg. During the strikes, the workers decided to petition the tsar. The petition was drawn up by a priest Gapon Society of Factory Workers in St. Petersburg and received 150 thousand signatures. It was an amazing mixture of harsh demands (convening the Constituent Assembly, ending the war with Japan, etc.) and mystical blind faith in the all-powerful king.
In the morning January 9 A stream of people rushed to the Winter Palace, abandoned by Nicholas II on January 6. The workers were greeted by gun shots. On “Bloody Sunday” faith in the Tsar was shot.
The news of the shooting of workers in St. Petersburg caused a huge number of strikes in the country. In January 1905 alone, 440 thousand workers went on strike. In the first third of 1905, 810 thousand people were already on strike. In a number of cases, strikes and demonstrations were accompanied by clashes with police and regular troops. During the revolution, the proletariat created its own democratic bodies for the leadership of the revolutionary struggle - Councils of workers' deputies. The first Council arose in May 1905 during the strike in Ivanovo-Voznesensk.
In the spring of 1905, unrest spread to the village. Three large centers of the revolutionary movement of peasants emerged - the Chernozem region, the western regions (Poland, the Baltic provinces) and Georgia. As a result of these protests, more than 2 thousand landowners' estates were destroyed.
It broke out in June insurrection on the most modern vessel of the Russian Black Sea Fleet “ Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky" Thus, the army also joined the revolution as an opposition force.
August 6, 1905 Nicholas II signed a decree on the establishment State Duma, which would be engaged in “preliminary development of laws.” This project caused widespread outrage Bulygin Duma(named after the Minister of Internal Affairs), because he limited the voting rights of the population by high class and property qualifications.
Second stage of the revolution
In the fall, the first stage of the revolution, which was characterized by the development of the revolution in depth and breadth, ends, and the second stage begins. October - December 1905 - the highest rise of the revolution.
The economic strike of printers, which began in Moscow on September 19, soon turned into a nationwide one mass political strike. At the beginning of October, the Moscow railway junction joined the strike movement, which was a decisive factor in the spread of strikes throughout the country. The strike covered 120 Russian cities. 1.5 million workers and railway workers, 200 thousand officials and employees took part in it government agencies, about 500 thousand representatives of the democratic strata of the city, at the same time about 220 peasant protests took place in the village. Trotsky, one of the leaders of Social Democracy, subsequently wrote about this event: “... this small event revealed nothing more and no less than an all-Russian political strike that arose because of punctuation marks and knocked down absolutism”.
Count Witte presented the tsar with a program of urgent reforms, and on October 13, 1905 he became Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Count Witte accepted this post from the emperor on the condition of approval of his program for improving public order. This program was the basis for the famous Manifesto October 17. It should be emphasized that the concessions that tsarism made when issuing this manifesto were largely determined not by the desire to follow the path of reforms and transformations, but by the desire to extinguish the revolutionary fire. Only under the pressure of events, which were no longer possible to contain through suppression and terror, did Nicholas II come to terms with the new situation in the country and choose the path of evolution towards the rule of law.
In the Manifesto, the Tsar made promises to the Russian people:- Grant freedom of personality, speech, freedom to create organizations;
- Do not postpone elections to the State Duma, in which all classes must participate (and the Duma will subsequently develop the principle of general elections);
- No law can be passed without the consent of the Duma.
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.
This document was highly praised in moderate liberal circles, which immediately expressed their readiness to cooperate with the government and provide it with support in the fight against the revolution. The leader of the radical wing, P.N. Miliukov, having received news of the manifesto, gave an inspired speech in a literary circle in Moscow with a glass of champagne: “Nothing has changed, the war continues.”
Political parties in the revolution
Liberal camp
The process of organizing liberal parties begins. Even during the All-Russian political strike on October 12, the liberal bourgeoisie convened its congress. Everything was ready for the proclamation Constitutional Democratic Party. But they didn’t want to create an illegal party, so they delayed the congress. When the manifesto appeared on October 17, the party was proclaimed on October 18. The congress adopted a program, statutes, and elected a temporary Central Committee. And in November 1905 it was created Octobrist Party(“Union October 17"). These are the two most numerous liberal parties, brought to life by the first revolution in Russia. By the winter of 1906, the number of the Cadet Party was 50-60 thousand people, the “Union of October 17” - 70-80 thousand people.
The social composition of the parties was far from homogeneous. Representatives of different social groups united here. The motives that guided people who joined the Cadets or Octobrists were very diverse.
To the party cadets included color intelligentsia, but in the central and local organizations there were large landowners, merchants, bank employees, and prominent entrepreneurs of that time. There were 11 large landowners in the party's central committee. The most famous surnames in Russia: F.A. Golovin - member of the district and provincial zemstvo, chairman of the Second State Duma; Prince Pavel Dmitrievich Dolgorukov - district leader of the nobility; N.N. Lvov - district leader of the nobility, honorary justice of the peace, deputy of four Dumas; DI. Shakhovskoy - district leader of the nobility, secretary of the First Duma.
The intelligentsia was represented by famous scientists, such as the historian P.N. Miliukov, academician V.I. Vernadsky, famous lawyers S.N. Muromtsev, V.M. Gessen, S.A. Kotlyarevsky. The Central Committee of the Constitutional Democratic Party consisted of at least one third lawyers. Party leader and her main ideologist P.N. spoke Miliukov.
The Cadets considered the main method of struggle to be the legal struggle for political freedoms and reforms through the Duma. They raised questions about the convening of the Constituent Assembly and the need to adopt a Constitution. Their political ideal was parliamentary monarchy. They proclaimed the idea of separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers. The Cadets demanded reform of local self-government, recognized the right to create a trade union, freedom of strikes and meetings, but did not recognize the people’s right to self-determination; they believed that they could limit themselves only to the right to free cultural self-determination. They denied social revolution, but believed that political revolution could be caused by “unreasonable” government policies.
As part of the governing bodies Octobrists Zemstvo figures played a particularly noticeable role: D.N. Shipov- a prominent zemstvo figure, who led the party in 1905; Count D.A. Olsufiev - a large landowner, member of the State Council; Baron P.L. Korf is a comrade of the chairman of the Central Committee of the Union of October 17; ON THE. Khomyakov - provincial leader of the nobility (future chairman of the Third State Duma); Prince P.P. Golitsyn is a member of the State Council. Even the manager of His affairs joined the Octobrist party Imperial Majesty office for accepting petitions Rudolf Vladimirovich von Freyman.
As for representatives of the intelligentsia, scientists and cultural figures, among them were: popular lawyer F.N. Gobber; IN AND. Guerrier - professor general history Moscow University; B.A. Suvorin is the editor of the newspaper “Evening Time”.
And of course, social support of the Octobrist party, first of all, there were representatives of the large commercial and industrial bourgeoisie. In this sense, the party of the “Union of October 17” was much more bourgeois than the Cadet party, which relied mainly on broad layers of the intelligentsia. Many bankers and industrialists became Octobrists, for example, the brothers Vladimir and Pavel Ryabushinsky, owners of a banking house and manufactories; A.A. Knoop - Chairman of the Moscow Bank; A.I. Guchkov (future chairman of the III State Duma), who led the Octobrist party in 1906; his brothers, Konstantin, Nikolai and Fedor, who owned commercial banks in Moscow, tea trade, beet sugar factories, book and newspaper publishing; M.V. Zhivago is the director of the Lena Gold Mining Partnership.
The Octobrists considered their goal to be assistance to the government, which was following the path of reforms aimed at updating social order. They rejected the ideas of revolution and were supporters of slow changes. Their political program was conservative in nature. Opposing parliamentarism, they defended principle of hereditary constitutional monarchy with the legislative advisory State Duma. The Octobrists were supporters of a united and indivisible Russia (with the exception of Finland), the preservation of property and educational qualifications, and residence in order to participate in elections to the State Duma, local government, and the courts.
Conservative camp in the revolution
IN November 1905 the main landowner-monarchist party arose “ Union of the Russian People" Nicholas II called this Union “a reliable support of law and order in our fatherland.” The most prominent figures of the Union were Dr. A.I. Dubrovin (chairman), Bessarabian landowner V.M. Purishkevich, Kursk landowner N.E. Markov. Among the rather extensive network of the government camp, it should be noted such as the “Union of Russian People”, “Russian Monarchist Party”, “Society for Active Struggle against the Revolution”, “People’s Monarchist Party”, “Union of Russians” Orthodox people" These organizations were called Black Hundreds. Their programs were based on the inviolability of autocracy, the privileged position of the Orthodox Church, great-power chauvinism and anti-Semitism. To attract workers and peasants to their side, they advocated state insurance for workers, shorter working hours, cheap credit, and assistance to displaced peasants. By the end of 1907, the Black Hundreds, primarily the Union of the Russian People, operated in 66 provinces and regions, and the total number of their members was more than 400 thousand people.
Revolutionary camp
The leading parties of the revolutionary democratic camp are Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) and Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs).
Held in Minsk V March 1898 1st Congress of the RSDLP only proclaimed the creation of the RSDLP. Having neither a program nor a charter, the party existed and acted separately, in the form of separate organizationally unrelated circles. After the big one preparatory work Russian Social Democrats, who lasted a total of over 5 years, prepared the Second Congress of the RSDLP. The congress took place in July - August 1903 in Brussels, and then in London, and was essentially of a constituent nature. The main task of the congress is to adopt the Party Program and Charter.
The party program consisted of two parts: minimum and maximum programs. Minimum program considered the immediate political tasks: a bourgeois-democratic revolution, which was supposed to overthrow the autocracy and establish a republic. Three groups of issues were identified to be resolved after the immediate political tasks were completed: 1) political demands(equal and universal suffrage, freedom of speech, conscience, press, assembly and association, election of judges, separation of church and state, equality of all citizens, the right of nations to self-determination, abolition of estates); 2) economic workers' demands (8-hour working day, improvement of economic and housing situation, etc.); 3) agricultural demands (abolition of redemption and quitrent payments, return of land plots taken from peasants during the reform of 1861, establishment of peasant committees). Maximum program determined the ultimate goal of social democracy: social revolution, establishment dictatorship of the proletariat for the socialist reconstruction of society.
At the Second Congress of the RSDLP it was also adopted charter, which establishes the organizational structure of the party, the rights and responsibilities of its members.
Social Revolutionary Party organizationally took shape in 1901 as illegal, the basis of which were former populists. Socialist revolutionaries (SRs) fully adopted the populist ideology, supplementing it with new ideas from the radical left-wing bourgeois-democratic strata of Russian society. In general, the party was created from disparate populist groups with different political shades.
The third stage of the revolution. The State Duma is the first experience of Russian parliamentarism
At the height of the December armed uprising in Moscow, the government published a decree “On changing the regulations on elections to the State Duma” and announced preparations for elections.
This act allowed the government to reduce the intensity of revolutionary passions. January 1906 - June 3, 1907 - the third stage of the revolution, its retreat, decline. The center of gravity in social movement moves to State Duma- the first representative legislative institution in Russia. This is the most important political outcome of the events of 1905.
The State Duma existed for about 12 years, until the fall of the autocracy, and had four convocations. In the elections in First Duma in 1906 Legal political parties formed in the country took part. The victory in the elections was won by the left-liberal constitutional democratic party (the Cadets), which received the majority of seats in the Russian parliament. Chairman became a member of the Central Committee of the Cadet Party, professor-lawyer S.A. Muromtsev.
Elections were held according to the class-curial principle: 1 elector from 2 thousand landowners, 1 from 4 thousand city owners, 1 from 30 thousand peasants and 1 from 90 thousand workers. A total of 524 deputies were elected. The socialist parties boycotted the elections to the First Duma, so the victory of the Kadet party (more than 1/3 of the seats), as the most radical of those participating in the elections, turned out to be inevitable. The victory of the Cadet Party was one of the main reasons for Witte’s resignation. The head of government who replaced him, I.L. Goremykin categorically rejected all the demands put forward by radical deputies: general elections, agrarian reform, universal free education, abolition of the death penalty, etc. As a result, on July 9, 1906, the Duma was dissolved. To the new Prime Minister P.A. Stolypin had to subdue the opposition and pacify the revolution.
During the elections in II State Duma in February 1907(revolutionary parties also took part in them), the composition of the deputies turned out to be even more unacceptable for the government (about 100 deputies were socialists, 100 cadets, 100 Trudoviks, 19 Octobrists and 33 monarchists). As a result, the Second Duma turned out to be even more leftist than the First Duma. The main struggle was over the agrarian issue; peasant deputies opposed the government's agrarian program developed by Stolypin.
In the context of the decline of the revolution July 3, 1907 The Social Democratic faction of the Second State Duma was arrested on charges of preparing a coup. Herself The Duma was dissolved and a new electoral law was announced. Thus, the autocracy violated the provision formulated in the Manifesto of October 17 that no new law is valid without the approval of the Duma. Even Nicholas II called the new electoral law “shameless.” This situation in the political history of Russia is usually called “ June 3rd coup" He put an end to the revolution.
III State Duma was elected after the suppression of the revolution and became the first to serve the entire five-year term. Of the 442 seats, 146 were occupied by the right, 155 by the Octobrists, 108 by the Cadets and only 20 by the Social Democrats. The “Union of October 17” became the Duma center, and N.A. became the chairman at first. Khomyakov, then A.I. Guchkov.
In 1912 - 1917 worked IV State Duma(Chairman - Octobrist M.V. Rodzianko).
