|
RUSSIA 1905 Outline: 1. What were the causes of the revolution? de Tocqueville pointed out, revolutions tend to happen at a time of improvement and rapid, and unsettling, social change, rather than at a time of grinding poverty. · Russian agricultural output was increasing · Railways enabled easy transport of goods and people · Ninety-two per cent of Moscow workers still had regular contact with their villages in 1905. · New wealth, often generated by newly rich
industrialists, helped the modernization of cities. · A nascent civil society and a vibrant cultural scene were developing. · an industrial growth rate of 8 or 9 per
cent in the 1890s · Baku, where, in December 1904, a
huge strike in the oilfields led to the first labour contract in Russian
history The overall economic growth in the 890's did not
apply to everyone, or every area, of the huge empire. · depression set in after 1900, causing
sharp price rises, reversing wage gains, increasing unemployment, and
affecting particularly the new boom towns of the south and west · St Petersburg, which had the reputation of being the most expensive, worst-governed and most unhealthy city in Europe. · peasant
revolts in 1902-03, strikes increased, and the opposition movements became more organized.
The Union of Liberation, the Social Democratic party (SDs) and
the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) 2. What was the character of the revolution? Who were its leaders? · Few workers before 1905 ever saw a
revolutionary. Revolutionary groups functioning in Russia were often composed
of students and intellectuals, and were mistrusted by the workers. · police trade unionism. The Zubatov movement: a legal forum for protest, even occasionally allowing strikes: the very success of the movement worried the government, which closed it down in 1903. 3. What precipitated the Bloody Sunday violence? (January 9th, 1905) · The management of the huge Putilov
works in St Petersburg sacked four members of a local trade union association,
leading to a strike, which rapidly paralysed a large part of the capital. · Father George Gapon, a firm
monarchist, and his Assembly of
Russian Working Men was allowed by 1904 to register with the city governor
and given considerable autonomy. (a secret committee of his 'worker
assistants' Aleksei Karelin) · The economic demands: presented in the petition were typical of
worker demands throughout 1905. They asked for the right to elect permanent representatives in the factories,
who could negotiate with employers and participate in decisions on hiring and
firing of labour. They also asked for an eight-hour day and increased
wages, free medical care and access to education. · political
demands: a democratically elected constituent
assembly, and freedom of speech, assembly and the right to form legal
trade unions. The Union of Liberation,
composed primarily of intelligentsia and urban liberals, and the zemstvo movement of liberal landowners, were now openly
demanding political reform. The 'banquet' campaigns of November 1904 saw
large meetings calling for civil
liberties, an amnesty for political prisoners and a democratically elected
constituent assembly. Gapon, spurned by the
revolutionaries when he at last approached them, turned to the Union of
Liberation, who helped to draw up the petition. Workers were aware of the
calls for a constitution, even if they did not always know what the word
meant. · The Tsar's Response: petitions to the
Tsar were illegal….. The police and troops had been told by the minister of
the interior to prevent them reaching their goal, and when requests to them
to halt were ignored the troops fired. Estimates of the death toll were
hugely exaggerated at the time, but the main Soviet source estimated 200
dead and 450-800 injured. Professor Ascher puts
it rather lower. Whatever the figures, the impact was enormous, and the
outcry, at home and abroad, deafening. 4. In response to the international uproar, what reforms did the Tsar offer? · One, headed by Kokovtsov,
duly proposed concessions, which were not implemented. The other, headed by
Senator N.V. Shidlovsky, concentrated on St
Petersburg, and, although it never properly met, was to have wide
repercussions. Shidlovsky allowed workers
in factories in the capital with over a hundred workers to elect their own
delegates, who would in turn appoint those to sit on the committee. · a wave of strikes and demonstrations across the country. · The
Leaders: Worker leaders were often local figures, concentrating on local
demands, and, even if members of the main revolutionary parties,
were successful only so long as they concentrated on what their membership
wanted. They could be former Zubatov activists,
anarchists, leaders of existing mutual aid schemes, or nationalists in the
minority areas, or merely a local charismatic worker. Demands were
economic, often for human rights, or more educational opportunities or
pensions, and where calls for a constituent assembly were added, the workers
often told their employers to concentrate on the economic requests. · On February 18th, the Tsar ordered A.G. Bulygin, the new minister of internal affairs, to draw up plans for a representative assembly on a very limited franchise, and with a consultative role only. 5. How did activists push the Tsar to accept a constitutional government?· The zemstvos, until now
seen as the conservative wing of liberalism, veered sharply to the left over
1905, calling for a legislative assembly with male adult suffrage, and civil
freedoms. · The Union
of Unions, a non-party organization, which acted as an umbrella group for
the thousands of newly formed trade and professional organizations, and was
headed by the Paul Milyukov), who would lead the creation the Kadets (Constitutional Democrat).The Kadets talked of universal suffrage, and
some even called for a republic and votes for women. The Kadets
had much popular support, with a radical programme
and over 350 local branches by 1906. · Peasant revolt started by the summer,
with the peasants, as was clear from their petitions, demanding land,
reduction of rents and taxes, and the abolition of redemption payments. · October general strike, which paralysed the
entire country. · On
October 13th, St Petersburg created a soviet of workers' deputies, not the
first but by far the most important. During the general strike it effectively
ran the capital, organising its own militia,
bakeries, press and sanitation. With Trotsky as one of its leading lights, it
included party members, but was mainly run by worker delegates. By
November there were over eighty soviets across the country, including several
peasant soviets and three soldier ones. They became effective local
governments on a city or district basis, sometimes controlling the railway
network around them. 5. The October Manifesto · Sergei Witte, back from negotiating the
peace of Portsmouth with the Japanese, that concessions
were necessary. The October Manifesto essentially accepted the main zemstvo demands, a representative assembly with some
legislative power, an extension of the Bulygin
franchise to include peasants and some workers, although on an indirect
voting system, and freedom of speech, religion and association. Above
all, and this was the important clause which was to be severely modified when
the Duma met the following April, no bill was to become law without Duma
consent. · December series of armed uprisings
occurred throughout the country, the most famous in Moscow, where the
Bolsheviks took their only real initiative of the year. It was put down, with
great bloodshed, by loyal troops brought in on the only railway line not on
strike. · In towns across the country soviets took
control of their cities, or of workers districts, and declared themselves
'republics', expelling government representatives and declaring autonomy. Novorossisk, Yekaterinoslav,
Rostov and others were all under 'people power' for a few days or weeks · … until the army
moved in. 6. Conclusion: · the empire fragmented as central power weakened. · 'Russia is too great, its needs too varied and profuse, to be governed by bureaucrats alone. Popular representation is essential. The people must help themselves and govern themselves'. |