Revolutionary events of 1905. Main events of the first Russian revolution

Lecture 46

Revolution of 1905-1907 in Russia: causes, main political forces, worker and peasant movement, anti-government protests in the army

Causes:

By the beginning of the 20th century, the following contradictions became extremely aggravated in Russia, which were the causes of the first Russian revolution.

1) The contradiction between landowners and peasants. The land question was the main socio-economic issue of the First Russian Revolution.

2) The contradiction between workers and capitalists due to the high degree of exploitation of workers in Russia.

3) The contradiction between the autocracy and all segments of the population due to the complete political lack of rights of the vast majority of the country

4) The contradiction between the autocracy and all non-Russian nations and nationalities due to the Russification policy pursued by the autocracy. Non-Russian nations and nationalities demanded cultural and national autonomy from the autocracy.

One of the main issues of any revolution is the question of power. In relation to him, various socio-political forces in Russia united into three camps.
First camp were 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 of state bodies, the army, the police, part of the bourgeoisie directly connected with tsarism, and many zemstvo leaders.
Second 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 third camp - revolutionary-democratic - included the proletariat, part of the peasantry, the poorest layers of the petty bourgeoisie, etc. Their interests were expressed by Social Democrats, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists and other political forces.

First Russian Revolution , which had a bourgeois-democratic character, lasted for 2.5 years - from January 9, 1905 to June 3, 1907.

Conventionally, the revolution can be divided into 3 stages:

Stage I . January 9 – September 1905- the beginning of the revolution and its development along an ascending line.

Stage II . October–December 1905- the highest rise of the revolution, the culmination of which was an armed uprising in Moscow.

Stage III. January 1906 – June 3, 1907- the period of the descending line of the revolution.

“Does history teach? In the most general sense, numerous aphorisms on the topic of “history lessons” cannot be considered either true or false. The truth is that some people and groups of people succeed in “learning from history” and some do not. After the defeat of the First Russian Revolution of the 20th century, the most important question became how capable or unable the different parties to the conflict were to abandon old ideas and reconsider their positions, i.e. who learned what lessons, who didn’t learn them and why” (T. Shanin “Revolution as the moment of truth. Russia 1905 -1907”).

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Russian Empire was an absolute monarchy, in which all power belonged to Emperor Nicholas II.

When it comes to such large-scale events as revolution, war or reforms, it is impossible to judge them from one position, since these events are usually formed as a result of the interaction of many individuals, circumstances and situations. It is extremely difficult in a tangle of contradictions to find that thread that, by pulling, can easily unravel this tangle. However, what certainly cannot be ignored is the role of the individual in the events taking place.

So, an absolute monarchy headed by Emperor Nicholas II. There are several articles about Nicholas II on our website: , . Therefore, in order not to repeat ourselves, let's say in general: Emperor Nicholas II had to reign at a time when it was necessary to make complex and uncompromising decisions, but he was not ready for this. Why? There are many reasons. And some of them are the characteristics of his personality. He was well-mannered, educated, reserved - the evenness of his character was sometimes mistaken for insensibility. An excellent family man, a deeply religious man, he highly understood his duty to serve his country. Opponents of Nicholas II usually reproach him for the fact that he did not want to limit his autocracy, but he could not shift the responsibility of rule from himself to anyone else, because he believed that responsibility for the fate of Russia lay with him - this is how he understood faith in God and in your destiny.

Causes of the revolution

"Bloody Sunday"

Historians call the impetus for the start of mass protests under political slogans “Bloody Sunday” on January 9 (22), 1905. On this day, a peaceful demonstration of workers led by the priest G. Gapon, who headed to the Winter Palace, was shot. Columns of workers numbering up to 150,000 people moved from different areas to the city center in the morning. At the head of one of the columns, priest Gapon walked with a cross in his hand. As the demonstration progressed, the officers demanded that the workers stop, but they continued to move forward, heading towards the Winter Palace. To prevent the accumulation of a crowd of 150 thousand in the center of the city, troops fired rifle salvos at the Narva Gate, at the Trinity Bridge, on the Shlisselburgsky tract, on Vasilyevsky Island, on Palace Square and on Nevsky Prospekt. In other parts of the city, crowds of workers were dispersed with sabers, swords and whips. According to official data, in total on the day of January 9, 96 people were killed and 333 wounded, and taking into account those who died from wounds - 130 killed and 299 wounded.

The dispersal and execution of unarmed workers made a strong impression on society. In addition, as usual, the number of victims in the spreading rumors was repeatedly overestimated, and propaganda, fueled by party proclamations, placed responsibility for what happened entirely on Nicholas II. Priest Gapon managed to escape from the police, but his calls for an armed uprising and the overthrow of the royal dynasty were sent to the masses and were heard by them. Mass strikes under political slogans began in Russia, the influence of revolutionary parties began to grow, and the importance of autocracy began to fall. The slogan “Down with autocracy!” was gaining popularity. Many contemporaries believed that the tsarist government made a mistake by using force against unarmed people. It itself understood this - soon after the events, Minister Svyatopolk-Mirsky was dismissed.

The personality of the priest G. Gapon

G.A. Gapon

Georgy Apollonovich Gapon(1870-1906) - Russian Orthodox priest, politician and trade union leader, outstanding speaker and preacher.

Born in the Poltava province into the family of a wealthy peasant and a volost clerk. His ancestors were Zaporozhye Cossacks. Since childhood, G. Gapon was distinguished by curiosity and learning abilities. He graduated from theological seminary, but was strongly influenced by Tolstoy's ideas. After his ordination to the priesthood, he showed talent as a preacher, and many people flocked to his sermons. Trying to coordinate his life with Christian teaching, Gapon helped the poor and agreed to perform spiritual services for poor parishioners from neighboring churches free of charge, but this led him to conflict with the priests of neighboring parishes, who accused him of stealing their flock. In 1898, Gapon's young wife suddenly died, leaving two small children. To get rid of difficult thoughts, he went to St. Petersburg to enter the theological academy. But studying at the theological academy disappointed Gapon: dead scholasticism did not give him an answer to the question of the meaning of life. He took up Christian preaching among workers and the disadvantaged; these sermons attracted many people. But this activity did not satisfy him either - he did not know how to really help these people return to human life. Gapon's popularity in society was quite high: he was invited to serve at solemn holidays with St. John of Kronstadt and with the future Patriarch Sergius of Stragorod. Already in these years, G. Gapon was known for his ability to control the crowd.

In February 1904, the Ministry of Internal Affairs approved the trade union charter written by Gapon, and soon it was inaugurated under the name “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg.” Gapon was the creator and permanent leader of this workers' organization. He launched active activities. Formally, the Assembly was engaged in organizing mutual assistance and education, but Gapon gave it a different direction. From among the faithful workers, he organized a special circle, which he called a “secret committee” and which met in his apartment. At the circle meetings, illegal literature was read, the history of the revolutionary movement was studied, and plans for the future struggle of workers for their rights were discussed. Gapon's idea was to unite the broad working masses and organize them to fight for their rights, for their economic and political interests.

G. A. Gapon in “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers”

On January 6, Gapon arrived at the Narva department of the “Assembly” and made an incendiary speech, in which he urged the workers to address their needs directly to the tsar. The essence of the speech was that the worker is not considered a person, the truth cannot be achieved anywhere, all laws have been violated, and the workers must put yourself in such a position that they are taken into account. Gapon called on all workers, with their wives and children, to go to the Winter Palace on January 9 at 2 pm.

The preface to the petition stated: “Do not refuse to help Your people, bring them out of the grave of lawlessness, poverty and ignorance, give them the opportunity to decide their own destiny, throw off the unbearable oppression of officials. Destroy the wall between You and your people, and let them rule the country with You." And in conclusion, Gapon, on behalf of the workers, expressed his readiness to die at the walls of the royal palace if the request is not fulfilled: « Here, Sovereign, are our main needs with which we came to You! Command and swear to fulfill them, and You will make Russia happy and glorious, and You will imprint Your name in the hearts of us and our descendants for eternity. But if you do not command, if you do not respond to our prayer, we will die here, in this square, in front of Your palace. We have nowhere else to go and no need to! We have only two paths: either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave. Point out, Sovereign, any of them, we will follow it unquestioningly, even if it is the path to death. Let our lives be a sacrifice for suffering Russia! We don’t feel sorry for this sacrifice, we willingly make it!”

On January 6, Gapon announced the start of a general strike, and by January 7, all factories in St. Petersburg were on strike. The last to stop was the Imperial Porcelain Factory. Gapon wanted to ensure the peaceful nature of the movement; he entered into negotiations with representatives of the revolutionary parties, asking them not to bring discord into the popular movement. “Let us go under one banner, common and peaceful, towards our holy goal,” said Gapon. He urged others to join the peaceful march, not to resort to violence, not to throw red flags and not to shout “down with autocracy.” Contemporaries testify that Gapon expressed confidence in success and believed that the tsar would come out to the people and accept the petition. If the tsar accepts the petition, he will take an oath from him to immediately sign a decree on a general amnesty and the convening of a national Zemsky Sobor. After that, he will come out to the people and wave a white handkerchief - and a national holiday will begin. If the tsar refuses to accept the petition and does not sign the decree, he will go out to the people and wave a red handkerchief - and a nationwide uprising will begin. “Then throw out the red flags and do whatever you find reasonable,” he said.

Many were amazed by the organizational skills of Gapon, who subjugated not only the workers, but also party workers, who even copied Gapon and spoke with his Ukrainian accent.

Gapon foresaw that the Tsar would not want to go out to the people out of fear for his life, so he demanded that the workers swear that they would guarantee the Tsar’s safety at the cost of their own lives. “If anything happens to the king, I will be the first to commit suicide before your eyes,” said Gapon. “You know that I know how to keep my word, and I swear to you about this.” By order of Gapon, special squads were allocated from all departments, which were supposed to provide security for the king and monitor order during the peaceful procession.

Gapon sent letters to the Minister of Internal Affairs P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky and Tsar Nicholas II with an appeal to avoid bloodshed: “Sire, I’m afraid that Your ministers did not tell You the whole truth about the current state of affairs in the capital. Know that the workers and residents of St. Petersburg, believing in You, irrevocably decided to appear tomorrow at 2 o’clock in the afternoon at the Winter Palace to present to You their needs and the needs of the entire Russian people. If You, wavering in soul, do not show yourself to the people and if innocent blood is shed, then the moral connection that still exists between You and Your people will be broken. The trust he has in You will disappear forever. Appear yourself tomorrow with a courageous heart before Your people and accept with an open soul our humble petition. I, the representative of the workers, and my courageous comrades, at the cost of our own lives, guarantee the inviolability of Your person.”

After the shooting of the demonstration, Gapon was taken away from the square by the Socialist Revolutionary P. M. Rutenberg. On the way, he was shaved and dressed in secular clothes given by one of the workers, and then brought to the apartment of the writer Maxim Gorky. Here he wrote a message to the workers, in which he called on them to take up armed struggle against the autocracy: “Dear fellow workers! So we no longer have a king! Innocent blood lay between him and the people. Long live the beginning of the people’s struggle for freedom!”

Soon Gapon was transported to Geneva, where he met the Social Revolutionaries and was engaged in revolutionary propaganda, created a new organization, the All-Russian Workers' Union, and wrote an autobiography and a small brochure against Jewish pogroms.

On October 17, 1905, Emperor Nicholas II issued the Highest Manifesto, which granted civil liberties to the inhabitants of Russia. One of them was freedom of assembly. After the Manifesto, he began to receive letters from workers calling on him to return to Russia and head the opening departments of the Assembly. In November 1905, Gapon returned to Russia and settled in an illegal apartment in St. Petersburg. On March 28, 1906, Georgy Gapon went to a business meeting with representatives of the Socialist Revolutionaries, left St. Petersburg along the Finnish Railway and did not return. He did not take any things or weapons with him and promised to return by evening. And only in mid-April did newspaper reports appear that Gapon had been killed by a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Pyotr Rutenberg. The murder of Georgy Gapon is one of the unsolved political murders in Russia.

But Bloody Sunday was only the impetus for the revolution. What was the situation in the country that was ready to succumb to this impulse?

The state of Russia on the eve of the revolution

Peasants constituted the largest class of the Russian Empire - about 77% of the total population. The population grew, which led to the fact that the size of the average plot decreased by 1.7-2 times, and the average yield increased by only 1.34 times. The result of this was a deterioration in the economic situation of the peasantry.

Communal land tenure was preserved in Russia. The peasants could not refuse the land they received or sell it. There was mutual responsibility in the community, and redistribution of land on the basis of equal land use did not improve the situation. The community also dictated the timing of agricultural work. The work system was maintained. The peasants suffered from landlessness, taxes, and redemption payments. About the peasant situation S.Yu. Witte said the following in his memoirs: “ 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 the Russian state has this property in excess at this stage of development of statehood, and what is available in excess is either little or not valued at all.” . And those peasants who went to the city to earn money were forced to agree to any job. This slowed down the introduction of advanced technology, because the qualifications of such workers were very low.

In 1897, an 11.5-hour workday was established, but 14-hour workdays were also common. According to a secret circular from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, workers were subject to administrative expulsion without trial or investigation for participation in strikes, as well as imprisonment for a period of 2 to 8 months.

B. Kustodiev “The Bogeyman of the Revolution.” The bogeyman in Church Slavonic is burning brimstone. In a figurative sense, a bogeyman is something frightening, inspiring horror, fear; often in an ironic sense - a scarecrow (propaganda bogeyman)

The degree of exploitation of the proletariat in Russia was very high: the capitalists took 68 kopecks from every ruble earned by a worker in the form of profit. in mineral processing, 78 in metal processing, 96 in the food industry. Expenses for the benefit of workers (hospitals, schools, insurance) amounted to 0.6% of the current expenses of entrepreneurs.

The year 1901 was marked by mass political demonstrations. Demonstrations in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kharkov, Kyiv took place under the slogans of political freedoms. On May 1, 1901, 1,200 workers at the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg went on strike. In the summer of 1903, the entire south of Russia from Baku to Odessa was engulfed in a huge strike, in which from 130 to 200 thousand people took part. In December 1904, a political strike was held, which ended with the signing of the first collective agreement in the history of the Russian labor movement between workers and oil industrialists.

In 1905, the knot of contradictions in Russia tightened especially strongly. Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War revealed its technical and economic backwardness compared to advanced countries. Both external and internal circumstances pushed Russia onto the path of decisive changes. But the authorities were not ready for them.

Free market competition was constrained by both feudal remnants and artificial monopolization as a result of the economic policies of tsarism. The development of the country's productive forces was slowed down by the system of production relations supported by the authorities.

A whole complex of contradictions existed in the field of social-class relations. The most acute of them was the contradiction between the peasantry and the landowners.

The contradictions between capitalists and workers could be softened by more favorable conditions for the sale of labor: an 8-hour working day, the right to strike, the protection of women and the prohibition of child labor, etc.

The contradictions between tsarism and the peoples of the Russian Empire were especially acute: the peoples put forward demands ranging from cultural-national autonomy to the right to self-determination up to and including secession.

In the political sphere, there was a contradiction between the authorities and the emerging civil society. Russia remained the only major capitalist power in which there was no parliament, no legal political parties, no legal freedoms of citizens. Creating conditions for a rule of law state was one of the most important tasks, on which the resolution of other contradictions in Russia largely depended.

V. Kossak “Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg 1905”

In such a situation, a powerful labor movement broke out in St. Petersburg.

Progress of the revolution

On December 21, 1904, news of the fall of Port Arthur was received. On December 28, a meeting of 280 representatives of the “Gapon” society took place: it was decided to start a speech.

On December 29, the management of the Putilov plant was presented with a demand for the dismissal of one foreman, who allegedly dismissed four workers without reason. On January 3, 1905, the entire Putilov plant went on strike. The demands were still of an economic nature: an 8-hour working day, a minimum wage. The “Society of Factory Workers” took over the leadership of the strike: its representatives, led by Gapon, negotiated with the administration, organized a strike committee and a fund to help strikers.

On January 5, several tens of thousands of workers were already on strike. Minister of Finance V.N. Kokovtsev presented a report on this to Nicholas II, pointing out the economic impracticability of the requirements and the harmful role of “Gapon’s” society.

On January 7, newspapers were published for the last time—from that day on, the strike spread to printing houses. The idea of ​​going to the Winter Palace excited and excited everyone. The danger that arose so quickly took the authorities by surprise.

The only way to prevent the crowd from taking control of the city center was to establish a cordon of troops on all the main routes leading from the working-class neighborhoods to the palace.

And the leaders of the labor movement spent the whole day on January 8 driving around the city and at numerous rallies calling on the people to go to the palace. On the night of January 9, the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP decided to participate in the procession along with the workers. In the morning, about 140 thousand workers with their families moved to the Winter Palace. They walked with banners, icons, portraits of the Tsar and Tsarina, not knowing that the Tsar had left the capital.

Nicholas II was put in a hopeless situation. He could not accept the demands of the workers, so he decided to leave, giving his government complete freedom of action, naturally, hoping for a peaceful outcome.

V. A. Serov “Soldiers, brave boys, where is your glory?”

When the procession led by Gapon from the Narva outpost approached the Obvodny Canal, a chain of soldiers blocked its path. The crowd, despite warnings, moved forward, holding up a sign: “Soldiers, do not shoot at the people.” First a blank salvo was fired. The ranks of the workers wavered, but the leaders moved on, singing, and the crowd followed them. Then a real salvo was fired. Several dozen people were killed and wounded. Gapon fell to the ground; there was a rumor that he had been killed, but his assistants quickly threw him over the fence, and he escaped safely. The crowd rushed back in disorder.

The same thing happened in other parts of the city. There was a feverish excitement in the city until late at night.

After the events described, Gapon wrote an appeal to the Russian people calling for a general uprising. The Social Revolutionaries printed it in large quantities and distributed it in large quantities throughout the country.

One of the main issues of any revolution is the question of power. First camp were supporters of autocracy. They either did not recognize the changes at all, or agreed to the existence of a legislative body under the autocrat, which would include landowners, high-ranking government officials, the army, the police, part of the bourgeoisie directly associated with tsarism, and many zemstvo leaders.

Second 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.

To the third camp- revolutionary democratic - included the proletariat, part of the peasantry, the poorest layers of the petty bourgeoisie, etc. Their interests were expressed by Social Democrats, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists and other political forces. However, despite the common goals (a democratic republic or anarchy among anarchists), they differed in the means of struggle: from peaceful to armed (armed uprising, terrorist acts, riot, etc.), from legal to illegal. There was also no unity on the question of what the new government would be - dictatorship or democracy, where the boundaries of dictatorship were and how it could be combined with democracy. 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 the entire previous decade.

G. K. Savitsky “General railway strike. 1905"

Peasant uprisings were initially spontaneous, although later the All-Russian Peasant Union was formed - the first political organization of peasants. His activities were influenced by the liberal intelligentsia, which was reflected in his demands: abolition of private ownership of land (nationalization of land), confiscation without ransom of monastic, state, appanage lands, confiscation of landowners' lands, partly for free, partly for ransom, convening of the Constituent Assembly, provision of political freedoms.

The intelligentsia actively participated in the revolutionary events. Already on the first day of the revolution, January 9, employees and students took part not only in the procession to the Winter Palace, but also in the construction of barricades and providing assistance to the wounded. In the evening of the same day, the capital's intelligentsia gathered in the building of the Free Economic Society, where they sharply condemned the activities of the tsarist authorities. Immediately, fundraising began to help the wounded and families of killed workers; a mug with the inscription “For weapons” walked through the rows. Representatives of the creative and scientific intelligentsia V. A. Serov, V. G. Korolenko, V. D. Polenov, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, K. A. Timiryazev, A. M. Gorky and others appeared in print and on meetings with strong condemnation of the massacre of unarmed workers.

Armed uprisings

So, political freedoms were declared. But the revolutionary parties sought to gain power not through parliamentary means, but through an armed seizure of power. Uprisings began in the army and navy.

Mutiny on the battleship Potemkin

The battleship "Prince Potemkin Tauride" was the newest and one of the strongest ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. At the time of entry into service in May 1905, the crew consisted of 731 people, including 26 officers. Due to prolonged contacts with workers at shipyards, the ship's crew was disintegrated by revolutionary agitation. On the afternoon of June 13 (26), 1905, the commander of the battleship, captain of the first rank E. N. Golikov, sent destroyer No. 267 to Odessa to purchase provisions. It was not possible to find a sufficient amount of meat for almost 800 people from Odessa suppliers of provisions for the Black Sea Fleet and in the city's bazaars, and only in the evening of the same day, midshipman A. N. Makarov, an auditor, and crew sailors managed to purchase 28 pounds of beef in one of the stores. Flour, fresh vegetables, delicacies and wine for the wardroom were also purchased. On the way back, the destroyer collided with a fishing boat, was forced to delay to provide assistance to the victims, and take the damaged boat itself in tow, which reduced its speed. Since there were no refrigeration chambers in those days, the meat, which had lain first all day in the store and then all night on board the destroyer, given the hot June weather, arrived on board the battleship by the next morning already stale.

Members of the crew of the battleship Potemkin

On June 14 (27), 1905, there was an uprising of sailors on the battleship who refused to eat borscht made from rotten meat. The organizer and first leader of the uprising on the battleship was a native of Zhitomir, artillery non-commissioned officer Grigory Vakulenchuk. The team refused to take containers for borscht and defiantly ate crackers, washing them down with water. There was a queue at the ship's store. Thus began the riot. During the uprising, 6 officers were killed, the surviving officers were arrested. The rebel battleship was then joined by the crew of the battleship Georgy Pobedonosets, while, unlike the Potemkin, the uprising on the Pobedonosets was not accompanied by the beating of officers - all of them (except for Lieutenant Grigorkov, who committed suicide) were put on a boat and towed by the destroyer No. 267 was sent ashore, landing seven miles east of Odessa. But later “St. George the Victorious” surrendered to the authorities. For 11 days the rebel battleship Potemkin was at sea under a red flag, and when fuel and food ran out, it surrendered to the Romanian authorities. In the Romanian port of Constanta, the sailors drafted an appeal “To the entire civilized world,” in which they demanded an immediate end to the Russo-Japanese War, the overthrow of the autocracy, and the convening of a Constituent Assembly. After this, the Potemkin was towed from Constanta to Sevastopol. Court cases against the rebels began. 28 sailors out of 47 defendants were sentenced: four to death, 16 to hard labor, one to prison correctional facilities, six to disciplinary battalions, one to arrest, the rest were acquitted. Three leaders of the uprising on the St. George the Victorious were also sentenced to death.

Uprising on the cruiser "Ochakov"

It began on November 13, 1905. The officers and conductors left the ship. The uprising was led by S.P. Chastnik, N.G. Antonenko and A.I. Gladkov. In the afternoon of November 14, Lieutenant Schmidt arrived on the Ochakov, raising a signal on it: “Command of the fleet. Schmidt." On the same day he sent a telegram to Nicholas II: “The glorious Black Sea Fleet, sacredly remaining faithful to its people, demands from you, sovereign, the immediate convocation of the Constituent Assembly and no longer obeys your ministers. Fleet Commander P. Schmidt.” On the night of November 15, the strike forces captured the mine cruiser Griden, the destroyer Ferocious, three destroyers and several small ships, and seized a certain amount of weapons in the port. At the same time, the crews of the gunboat "Uralets", the destroyers "Zavetny", "Zorkiy" and the training ship "Dniester", and the mine transport "Bug" joined the rebels.

P.P. Schmidt

In the morning, red flags were raised on all the rebel ships. In order to win over the entire squadron to the side of the rebels, Schmidt went around it on the destroyer “Ferocious”. Then “Ferocious” headed towards the Prut transport, which had been turned into a prison. An armed detachment of sailors led by Schmidt freed the Potemkin residents on the ship. The crew of the “Saint Panteleimon” joined the rebels, but the battleship itself no longer represented a great military force, since it was disarmed even before the start of the uprising.

On the afternoon of November 15, the rebels were given an ultimatum to surrender. Having received no response to the ultimatum, troops loyal to the tsar began shelling the rebel ships. After a two-hour battle, the rebels surrendered. Lieutenant P. P. Schmidt, sailors A. I. Gladkov, N. G. Antonenko, conductor S. P. Chastnik were sentenced to death (shot on March 6, 1906 on the island of Berezan), 14 people - to indefinite hard labor, 103 person - to hard labor, 151 people were sent to disciplinary units, more than 1000 people were punished without trial.

There were also three armed uprisings in Vladivostok - in 1905, 1906, 1907, in which sailors, soldiers and workers mainly participated. They ended with the victory of the royal troops.

In July 1906, the garrison in Sveaborg rebelled. Up to 2 thousand soldiers and sailors of the fortress took part in the uprising. They were helped by detachments of the Finnish Red Guard. On July 18 and 19, there was a fierce artillery exchange between the rebel fortress and troops loyal to the government. A squadron approached Sveaborg and began direct fire on the rebel soldiers and sailors. Despite the support of the sailors of Kronstadt, the uprising in Sveaborg on July 20 was suppressed, and its leaders were executed.

Anti-government demonstrations began, in which the Jewish population took an active part. They ended with Jewish pogroms. The largest pogroms were in Odessa, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinoslav, Minsk, and Simferopol. Political murders also became more frequent: in 1904, the Minister of Internal Affairs V.K. Plehve, Minister of Internal Affairs D.S. Sipyagin, several governors and mayors, etc.

G. N. Gorelov "Attack of peasants on a landowner's estate in 1905"

From the very beginning of the revolution, tsarism combined the tactics of repression with the tactics of concessions. Soon after Bloody Sunday, reshuffles and reorganizations in the highest spheres of government followed. Such figures as D. F. Trepov and A. G. Bulygin, who replaced P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky as Minister of Internal Affairs, come to the fore. According to the reviews of people who knew him closely, the new minister was an honest man, with fairly extensive knowledge, but at the same time “compassionate, not liking a particularly difficult situation, nor struggle, nor political fuss.” 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 of 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 advisory body for the development of legislative proposals - the Duma. But at the same time, in response to student strikes and demonstrations, the tsarist authorities closed all educational institutions in the capital on January 17, 1905.

The culmination of the First Russian Revolution is an armed uprising in Moscow

In October 1905, a strike began in Moscow, the purpose of which was to achieve economic concessions and political freedom. The strike covered the entire country and grew into the All-Russian October political strike: over 2 million people went on strike on October 12-18.

The "General Strike" leaflet stated: “Comrades! The working class rose up to fight. Half of Moscow is on strike. All of Russia may soon go on strike. Go to the streets, to our meetings. Make demands for economic concessions and political freedom!”

This general strike and, above all, the strike of railway workers, forced the emperor to make concessions - on October 17, the Manifesto “On the Improvement of State Order” was published. The October 17 Manifesto granted civil liberties: personal integrity, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association. The convening of the State Duma was promised.

The October 17 manifesto was a serious victory, but the extreme left parties (Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries) did not support it. The Bolsheviks announced a boycott of the First Duma and continued the course towards an armed uprising, adopted back in April 1905 at the Third Congress of the RSDLP in London (the Menshevik Party did not support the idea of ​​an armed uprising, which the Bolsheviks were developing, and held a parallel conference in Geneva).

The armed uprising in Moscow began on the night of December 7-8, 1905. Vigilantes broke into a weapons store and seized weapons. The first barricade appeared on November 9 on Tverskaya Street.

In the evening, a detachment of Sumy dragoons laid siege to a barricade erected near the Aquarium by vigilantes from stones, driven crowbars, gratings, lanterns, logs, etc., and began to fire at it. Eyewitnesses say that they saw... piles of corpses of 5-10 people nearby.

December 12-15 – the highest intensity of the struggle. The rebels are pushing back the troops in the Arbat area, but the Semenovsky and Ladoga regiments arrive from St. Petersburg, and on December 16, the tsarist troops go on the offensive. The uprising split into several isolated centers, the most important of which was Presnya. The tsarist troops tightened the ring around the Prokhorovskaya manufactory, the factories of Shmita and Mamontov, which were blazing with fire.

Under these conditions, it was inappropriate to continue the uprising, and the executive committee of the Moscow Soviet decided from December 18 to 19 to end the uprising, which was defeated.

An important event in the history of the 1905 revolution was the creation of the first Council of Workers' Deputies. On May 12, a strike began in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. It was headed by the head of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk organization of the RSDLP F.A. Afanasyev and 19-year-old student of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute M.V. Frunze.

To lead the strike movement, it was decided to elect a Council of Workers' Deputies, which soon turned into a body of revolutionary power in the city. The council took control of the protection of factories and factories, banned for a certain period the eviction of workers from their apartments, the increase in food prices, closed state-owned wine shops, kept order in the city, creating detachments of workers' militia. The Council formed a financial, food, investigative, agitation and propaganda commission, and an armed squad. All over the country, funds were being collected for striking workers. However, tired of more than two months of strike, the workers agreed to go to work at the end of July, as the owners of a number of factories made concessions.

"Union of Unions"

Back in October 1904, the left wing of the Liberation Union began work to unite all streams of the liberation movement with the aim of creating professional and political unions. By 1905, unions of lawyers, engineers, professors, writers, medical staff, etc. already existed. On May 8-9, 1905, a congress was held at which all unions were united into a single “Union of Unions,” headed by P. N. Milyukov. The Bolsheviks accused the congress of moderate liberalism and left it. Four unions in the “Union of Unions” were created not on professional grounds: “Peasant”, “Zemtsev-Konstitutsionalistov” (landowners), “Union of Jewish Equality” and “Union of Women’s Equality”.

"Bulyginskaya Duma" (State Duma of the Russian Empire1st convocation)

On August 6, 1905, the highest manifesto on the establishment of the State Duma was published. The Manifesto said: “The State Duma is established for the preliminary development and discussion of legislative proposals, ascending, by the force of fundamental laws, through the State Council to the Supreme Autocratic power.” This is the first representative legislative body elected by the population in Russia, the result of an attempt to transform Russia from an autocratic into a parliamentary monarchy, caused by the desire to stabilize the political situation in the face of numerous unrest and revolutionary uprisings. The Duma of the first convocation held one session and lasted 72 days, from April 27 (Old Style) 1906 to July 9, 1906, after which it was dissolved by the emperor. The emperor's manifesto was developed mainly by the Minister of Internal Affairs A.G. Bulygin, which is why it was called the “Bulygin Duma.” The State Duma was assigned the role of not a legislative, but a legislative institution with very limited rights, elected by limited categories of persons: large owners of real estate, large payers of trade and housing taxes and, on special grounds, peasants.

The Duma was supposed to discuss issues of the budget, states, and some laws, but remained a legislative advisory body. In the elections, preference was given to the peasants “as the predominant... most reliable monarchical and conservative element. Most of the Russian population was deprived of voting rights: women, military personnel, workers, students, wandering “foreigners,” etc.

With such an election system, St. Petersburg, with a population of more than 1.5 million people, would provide only 7 thousand voters.

Naturally, a significant part of the supporters of the liberal and revolutionary camp spoke in favor of a boycott of the “Bulygin Duma.”

Revolutionary organizations

Cadet Party

On October 12, 1905, the founding congress of the Constitutional Democratic Party (Cadets), the first legal political party in Russia, opened. Its Central Committee included 11 large landowners and 44 representatives of the intelligentsia (V.I. Vernadsky, A.A. Kizevetter, V.A. Maklakov, P.N. Milyukov, P.B. Struve, I.I. Petrunkevich and etc.).

Their political ideal: constitutional structure based on universal suffrage. They used the same principle to select their allies.

"Freedom of Russia". Poster of the cadet party

Cadet program: equality of all before the law, abolition of estates, freedom of conscience, political freedoms, personal integrity, freedom of movement and travel abroad, free development of local languages ​​along with Russian; Constituent Assembly; development of the local government system, preservation of state unity; abolition of the death penalty; alienation of part of the landowner's property (primarily leased to peasants on enslaving conditions), the entire state land fund and its provision to land-poor and landless peasants; freedom of workers' unions, the right to strike, 8-hour working day, labor protection for women and children, workers' insurance; freedom of teaching, reduction of tuition fees, universal free compulsory primary education, etc. government structure determined by fundamental law.

Although the Cadets recognized the need for a constitutional monarchy, they were not monarchists. They treated it as inevitable: “monarchy was for us... a matter not of principle, but of political expediency.”

In the stormy days of October 1905, the cadets were often inclined to the most radical measures, including even supporting an armed uprising.

Party "Union of October 17" (Octobrists)

Soon after the publication of the Tsar's Manifesto, the party "Union of October 17" (Octobrists) took shape, which included A.I. Guchkov, D.N. Shipov and other large industrialists, traders, and landowners. The Octobrists fully supported the Tsar's manifesto.

Requirements of the Octobrist program: preservation of the unity and indivisibility of the Russian state in the form of a constitutional monarchy; universal suffrage; civil rights, inviolability of person and property; transfer of state and specific lands to the state fund for sale to landless and land-poor peasants; development of local self-government; freedom of workers' unions and strikes; a classless court independent of the administration; the rise of productive forces, the development of the credit system, the dissemination of technical knowledge, the development of railways. Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov became the head of the party.

The Russian bourgeoisie did not consider the Octobrist and Cadets parties to be “their” parties and preferred to create their own Commercial and Industrial Party in 1906. The Octobrists very soon turned three-quarters into a landowner party. The bourgeoisie considered the Cadets a party of intellectuals, far from real life, fruitlessly and dangerously flirting with the masses. The Cadets were a bourgeois party only in the sense that their demands were aimed at improving the bourgeois system in the country.

The far-right forces in the country took the October 17 Manifesto as a signal for open action against democratic forces in support of the shaken autocracy. Back on October 14, 1905, the Governor-General of St. Petersburg D.F. Trepov issued the famous order: “... when providing... resistance - do not fire blank volleys, do not spare cartridges...”. The most reactionary part of the bourgeoisie even demanded the introduction of martial law.

"Union of the Russian People" (Black Hundreds)

Badge of the Odessa branch of the "Union of Russian People"

In October 1905, the organization “Union of the Russian People” (URN) emerged - a right-wing monarchist (Black Hundred), Orthodox-conservative socio-political organization that operated in the Russian Empire from 1905 to 1917. The initiative to create the “Union of the Russian People” belonged to several prominent figures of the monarchist movement of the early 20th century - the doctor A. I. Dubrovin, the artist A. A. Maykov and the abbot Arseny (Alekseev). "Union" grew at a rapid pace, regional departments were opened in many regions of the empire - it had more than 900 branches. It was headed by A. I. Dubrovin, V. M. Purishkevich and others. The Black Hundred newspaper “Russian Banner” often published messages of the following nature: “... in honor of the predatory cadet, social democratic, social revolutionary and anarchist movement, called in Jewish jargon “liberation”, in one day 2 were killed, 7 were wounded, a total of 9 people.”

The social composition of the Black Hundreds was heterogeneous - from workers to aristocrats, but a significant part consisted of representatives of the petty bourgeoisie.

On November 26, 1906, on the day of the feast of St. George the Victorious, John of Kronstadt, who was extremely popular, arrived at the Mikhailovsky Manege. The “All-Russian Father” said a welcoming speech to the monarchists, of whom about 30 thousand people were present at the event, and recalled the great role of Orthodoxy in the life of Russia. Subsequently, he himself joined the “Union” and was elected an honorary member for life on October 15, 1907. Then Bishop Sergius (Stragorodsky), the future patriarch, appeared, a service was served, which ended with the singing of many years to the Sovereign and the entire Royal House, the founders and leaders of the “Union”, as well as eternal memory to all those who fell for the faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland.

The goals, ideology and program of the “Union” were contained in the Charter, adopted on August 7, 1906. Main goal it focused on the development of national Russian self-awareness and the unification of all Russian people for common work for the benefit of Russia, united and indivisible. This benefit, according to the authors of the document, lay in the traditional formula “Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality.” The Black Hundreds were patronized by Nicholas II himself, who wore the badge of the “Union of the Russian People.”

Nicholas II greets the Black Hundreds

Particular attention was paid to Orthodoxy as the fundamental Christian denomination of Russia.

Over time, the situation in the organization worsened, which led to the final split of the Union. The stumbling block was the attitude towards the State Duma and the Manifesto of October 17.

Almost immediately after the February Revolution of 1917, almost all monarchist organizations were banned, and trials were initiated against the leaders of the “Union”. Monarchical activity in the country was almost completely paralyzed. The subsequent October Revolution and the “Red Terror” led to the death of most of the leaders of the Union of the Russian People. Many former “allies” took part in the White movement.

Defeat of the revolution

The dispersal of the First Duma was perceived by the revolutionary parties as a signal for action and active action. Although the Mensheviks did not proclaim a course towards an armed uprising, they called on the army and navy to join the people; The Bolsheviks intensified preparations for a nationwide uprising, which, in their opinion, could begin in the late summer - early autumn of 1906. On July 14, a meeting of revolutionary parties was held in Helsingfors (the Social Democratic faction and the labor group of the Duma, the Central Committee of the RSDLP, the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the All-Russian teachers' union, etc.). They called on the peasantry to seize the land of the landowners and to fight for the convocation of the Constituent Assembly.

In 1906, Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin became chairman of the Council of Ministers.

P.A. Stolypin

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Stolypin's activities aroused the hatred of revolutionaries. Several attempts were made on his life, as a result of the last one he was killed. Stolypin initiated a number of important decisions.

On June 3 (16), 1907, the Second State Duma was dissolved early, accompanied by a change in the electoral system. This event is called the “June Third Coup”.

The reason for the dissolution of the Second Duma was the impossibility of establishing constructive interaction between the government, headed by Prime Minister P. A. Stolypin, and the Duma, a significant part of which were representatives of the extreme left parties (Social Democrats, Socialist Revolutionaries, People's Socialists) and the Trudoviks adjoining them . The Second Duma, which opened on February 20, 1907, was no less oppositional than the previously dissolved First Duma. She rejected all government bills and the budget, and the bills proposed by the Duma obviously could not be approved by the State Council and the Emperor. The current situation constituted a constitutional crisis. Basic state laws (in fact, the Russian Constitution) allowed the emperor to dissolve the Duma at any time, but he was obliged to convene a new Duma and could not change the electoral law without its consent; but at the same time, the next Duma, presumably, would not differ in opposition from the dissolved one.

The government found a way out of the crisis by simultaneously dissolving the Duma and changing the electoral law for elections to the next Duma. The pretext for dissolution was a visit to the Social Democratic deputies of the Duma by a delegation of soldiers from the St. Petersburg garrison, who gave them a “soldier’s order.” P. A. Stolypin used this insignificant event in order to, on June 1, 1907, presenting this episode in the form of an extensive conspiracy against the political system, to demand from the Duma the removal from participation in meetings of 55 deputies of the Social Democratic faction and the lifting of parliamentary immunity from sixteen of them. The Duma, without giving an immediate response to the government, established a special commission, the conclusion of which was to be announced on July 4. Without waiting for the Duma's response, Nicholas II dissolved the Duma on June 3, published an amended electoral law and called elections to a new Duma, which was to meet on November 1, 1907. The Second Duma lasted 103 days.

The dissolution of the Duma was the prerogative of the emperor, but the simultaneous change of the electoral law was a violation of the requirements of Article 87 of the Basic State Laws, according to which the electoral law could be changed only with the consent of the State Duma and the State Council; for this reason these events became known as "June 3rd coup".

Results of the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907.

The result of the speeches was octroied constitution(the adoption of a constitution by the current head of state - the monarch, the president, or the granting of a constitution to a colony, dependent territory by the metropolis) -Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which granted civil liberties on the basis of personal integrity, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and unions. A Parliament was established, consisting of the State Council and the State Duma. For the first time, the monarchical government was forced to come to terms with the existence in the country of elements of bourgeois democracy - the Duma and a multi-party system. Russian society has achieved recognition of fundamental individual rights (although not in full and without guarantees of their observance). There was experience in the struggle for freedom and democracy.

Changes in the village: redemption payments were cancelled, landlord arbitrariness was reduced, the rental and sale price of land was reduced; peasants were equal to other classes in the right to movement and residence, admission to universities and the civil service. Officials and police did not interfere in the work of peasant gatherings. But the main agrarian question was never resolved: the peasants did not receive land.

Some workers received voting rights. The proletariat was given the opportunity to form trade unions, and workers no longer bore criminal liability for participating in strikes. The working day in many cases was reduced to 9-10 hours, and in some even to 8 hours. During the revolution, 4.3 million strikers through persistent struggle achieved a wage increase of 12-14%.

The Russification policy had to be somewhat moderated; the national outskirts received representation in the Duma.

But the revolution was followed reaction: “The Third June Coup” of June 3 (16), 1907. The rules for elections to the State Duma were changed 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.

So, the social tension that caused the First Russian Revolution was not completely resolved, which created the preconditions for the subsequent revolutionary uprising of 1917.

G. Korzhev “Picking Up the Banner”

Suggested answer:

Character of the revolution: bourgeois-democratic, i.e. demands were put forward for democratic freedoms, the establishment of a democratic revolution, the formation of a representative form of government, the confiscation of landownership, and the establishment of an 8-hour working day.

Causes:

1. The global economic crisis has become protracted in Russia, affecting first one or another area of ​​production
2. The concentration of capitalist production led to the concentration of the working class, which became involved in the political struggle.
3. The discrepancy between a dynamically developing capitalist economy and the conservatism of the political system
4. The Russian bourgeoisie had no political influence
5. The acute land need of the peasants
6. Defeats in the Russo-Japanese War undermined the prestige of the autocracy and worsened the socio-economic situation in the country.

In its development, the revolution went through 2 stages:

Stage I: January 1905 - December 1905 (from Bloody Sunday to the December armed uprising)

The revolution began on January 9, 1905 - "Bloody Sunday". Apogee - October political strike. The highest rise of the revolution was the general political and economic strike, which took on an all-Russian character on October 7-13. Schools, post offices, telegraphs, banks, etc. did not operate in the country.

As the revolution grew, on October 17, Nicholas II signed a manifesto on improving the state order. He declared the basic principles of democratic freedom. In particular, the State Duma (a representative body of power) was approved and no law could be adopted without its approval. The population was granted civil rights and personal integrity was guaranteed, and democratic freedoms (of conscience, assembly and union) were proclaimed. At the same time, the Council of Ministers turned into a permanent government agency. Without discussion by the Council of Ministers, not a single law can be submitted to the State Duma.

The manifesto caused a split in the revolutionary movement: the liberal bourgeoisie moved away from the revolution and formed parties.

In December 1905, under the leadership of the revolutionary party, an armed uprising was organized in Moscow, because these parties regarded the manifesto as a ploy of the autocracy. After the defeat of the uprising, the revolution began to decline.

In total, in the period 1906-1917. there were 4 state compositions. Duma: first 2 state. the Dumas turned out to be democratic in party composition and uncontrollable for the authorities, because of this they were dissolved before their term.

The end of the revolution is considered to be the publication on June 3, 1907 of the tsar's manifesto on the dissolution of the Second State. Duma and changes to the election regulations: the provision that no law could be adopted without discussion in the Duma was abolished, representation from landowners was increased, and representation from workers and peasants was reduced.

Results:

1. The first representative government body with legislative powers was created
2. Democratic freedoms were granted and personal integrity was proclaimed
3. Legal political parties formed
4. The national policy of tsarism was softened
5. The working hours were reduced to 9-10 hours
6. Cancellation of peasant redemption payments

Revolution 1905-1907 was defeated. One of the root causes of the defeat was the lack of a strong alliance between the proletariat and the peasantry. Such an alliance was just taking shape. The peasant movement continued to remain spontaneous and fragmented. Among the peasants there were widespread illusions about the possibility of obtaining land peacefully from the Tsar or through the Duma. Only a minority of the peasants actively participated in the open revolutionary struggle, while the majority were dully worried and sent walkers to the Duma. The same weaknesses were largely inherent in the revolutionary movement in the army, which in its class composition was mainly peasant.

The struggle of the working class was not offensive enough. Its individual detachments participated in the revolution unevenly. The proletarian vanguard, which bore the brunt of the revolutionary battles in 1905, was already significantly weakened when new, less organized groups of workers entered the struggle. The factor that weakened the revolutionary movement, especially the proletarian movement, was the opportunism of the Mensheviks. After the unifying Fourth Congress, the Mensheviks continued to follow their conciliatory policy, deepening their differences with the revolutionary Marxists - the Bolsheviks and taking new steps towards the Cadets.

The liberal bourgeoisie betrayed the interests of the people, entering into deals with the monarchy and increasingly sliding into the camp of counter-revolution. Tsarism also received powerful support from the European bourgeoisie, which provided it with a loan of 2.5 billion francs - the “Loan of Judas,” as Gorky called it.

However, the powerful blow to tsarism that the revolution dealt did not pass without a trace. For the first time in the history of Russia, the masses of the people, led by the proletariat, managed to win, albeit temporarily, political freedoms; A legal revolutionary and democratic press arose, and numerous professional, cultural and educational organizations were created.

With its heroic strike struggle, the proletariat forced the bourgeoisie and the government to a number of economic concessions - a reduction in working hours, a sharp reduction in fines and an increase in wages in a number of industries. “The fifth year,” noted V.I. Lenin, “raised the living standard of the Russian worker in a way that in ordinary times this level does not rise in several decades.”

Peasant uprisings forced the tsarism to cancel redemption payments, which by this time were already many times higher than the actual value of the land received by the peasants after the reform of 1861. The peasantry also achieved a reduction in rents and sales prices for land.

The political development of the peoples of Russia oppressed by tsarism accelerated. A national press emerged, and national literature, art, and theater made significant strides forward. In the joint struggle, the unity of the working people of all nations and nationalities of Russia, united around the Russian proletariat, was strengthened. The split between the revolutionary-democratic and bourgeois-nationalist currents in the national movement deepened.

The proletariat showed the greatest examples of heroism and self-sacrifice, initiative and activity. The revolution revealed its historical role as a hegemonic class, the leader of the general democratic movement. It was the most important stage in the formation of an alliance between the working class and the peasantry. Bourgeois-democratic in content, the revolution of 1905-1907. was proletarian in its means of struggle. In mass political strikes and armed uprisings, in the creation of Soviets of Workers' Deputies, the revolutionary creativity of the masses was manifested with particular force, giving rise to forms of organization unprecedented in history, methods of “struggle not only against the old government, but struggle through revolutionary power...”.

The revolution enriched the labor movement with diverse experience and gave a tremendous impetus to the development of Marxist theory and tactics. Led by Lenin, the Bolsheviks in the crucible of revolutionary battles, in the tireless ideological struggle against the opportunist Mensheviks, grew into true leaders of the working class and the entire people, and became the leading Marxist force in the all-Russian and international labor movement.

The Russian Revolution dealt a mighty blow to the world imperialist system, serving as an inspiring example for the proletariat of Western Europe and the whole world, for the oppressed peoples of colonial and dependent countries. The revolution clearly showed that Russia had become the center of the world revolutionary movement.

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 of the Constituent Assembly to establish a democratic system, 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 of State 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. The new “Basic State Laws of the 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 its 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; abolition of the 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 destruction of private land ownership, declaring natural resources and subsoil as 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. The main political idea of ​​P. A. Stolypin was that reforms can be successfully implemented only in the presence of strong state 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, the coup was 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 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.