History – Russia in Revolution
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PART 1 - The 1905 Revolution – Summary
At the beginning of the 20th century the Russian industrial employee worked on average an 11 hour
day (10 hours on Saturday). Conditions in the factory were extremely harsh and little concern was
shown for the workers' health and safety. Attempts by workers to form trade unions were resisted
by the factory owners and in 1903, a priest, Father Georgi Gapon, formed the Assembly of Russian
Workers. Within a year it had over 9,000 members.
1904 was a particularly bad year for Russian workers. Prices of essential goods rose so quickly that
real wages declined by 20%. When four members of the Assembly of Russian Workers were
dismissed by the Putilov Iron Works, Gapon called for industrial action. Over the next few days
over 110,000 workers in St. Petersburg went out on strike.
In an attempt to settle the dispute, Georgi Gapon decided to make a personal appeal to Nicholas II.
He drew up a petition outlining the workers' sufferings and demands. This included calling for a
reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages, an improvement in working
conditions and an end to the Russo-Japanese war.
When the procession of workers reached the Winter Palace, it was attacked by the police and the
Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and some 300 wounded. The incident, known as 'Bloody
Sunday', started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution. Strikes took place
all over the country and the universities closed down when the whole student body complained
about the lack of civil liberties by staging a walkout. Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-
class workers established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly.
In June 1905, sailors on the Potemkin battleship, protested against the serving of rotten meat. The
captain ordered that the ringleaders to be shot. The firing-squad refused to carry out the order and
joined with the rest of the crew in throwing the officers overboard. The Potemkin Mutiny spread to
other units in the army and navy.
, Industrial workers all over Russia went on strike and in October, 1905, the railwaymen went on
strike which paralysed the whole Russian railway network. Later that month, Leon Trotsky and
other Mensheviks established the St. Petersburg Soviet. Over the next few weeks over 50 of these
soviets were formed all over Russia.
Sergei Witte, the new Chief Minister, advised Nicholas II to make concessions. He eventually
agreed and published the October Manifesto. This granted freedom of conscience, speech,
meeting and association. He also promised that in the future people would not be imprisoned
without trial. Finally he announced that no law would become operative without the approval of a
new organisation called the Duma.
As this was only a consultative body, many Russians felt that this reform did not go far enough.
Leon Trotsky and other revolutionaries denounced the plan. In December, 1905, Trotsky and the
rest of the executive committee of the St. Petersburg Soviet were arrested.
The first meeting of the Duma took place in May 1906. Several changes in the composition of the
Duma had been changed since the publication of the October Manifesto. Tsar Nicholas II had also
created a State Council, an upper chamber, of which he would nominate half its members. He also
retained for himself the right to declare war, to control the Orthodox Church and to dissolve the
Duma. The Tsar also had the power to appoint and dismiss ministers.
At their first meeting, members of the Duma put forward a series of demands including the release
of political prisoners, trade union rights and land reform. Nicholas II rejected all these proposals
and dissolved the Duma.
In April, 1906, Nicholas II forced Sergei Witte to resign and replaced him with the more
conservative Peter Stolypin. Stolypin attempt to provide a balance between the introduction of
much needed land reforms and the suppression of the radicals. The next Duma convened in
February, 1907. This time it lasted three months before the Tsar closed it down.
