At the beginning of the XX century. in Russia there were objective and subjective prerequisites for the revolution, primarily due to the peculiarities of Russia as a country of the second echelon. Four main factors became the most important prerequisites. Russia remained a country with an undeveloped democracy, no constitution, no guarantees of human rights, which fell to the activity of opposition parties to the government. After the reforms of the middle of the XIX century. the peasantry received less land than they used before the reform to ensure their existence, which caused social tension in the countryside. Growing since the second half of the XIX century. the contradictions between the rapid growth of capitalism and the remnants of serfdom created objective prerequisites for discontent, both among the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. In addition, Russia was a multinational country in which the situation of non-Russian peoples was extremely difficult. That is why a large mass of revolutionaries came from non-Russian peoples (Jews, Ukrainians, Latvians). All this testified to the readiness of entire social groups for revolution.

The revolutionary action, due to the above contradictions, was accelerated by such events as crop failures and famine in a number of provinces at the beginning of the 20th century, the economic crisis of 1900-1903, which led to the marginalization of large masses of workers, the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese war. By its nature, the revolution of 1905-1907. was bourgeois-democratic, as it was aimed at the implementation of the requirements: the overthrow of the autocracy, the establishment of a democratic republic, the elimination of the estate system and landownership. The means of struggle used are strikes and strikes, and the main driving force is the workers (the proletariat).

Periodization of the revolution: 1st stage - initial - from January 9 to the autumn of 1905; 2nd stage - climax - from autumn 1905 to December 1905; and stage - final - January 1906 - June 1907

The course of the revolution

The beginning of the revolution is considered to be January 9, 1905 (“Bloody Sunday”) in St. Petersburg, when government troops shot down a demonstration of workers, as it is believed, organized by the priest of the St. Petersburg transit prison Georgy Gapon. Indeed, in an effort to prevent the development of the revolutionary spirit of the masses and to place and control their activities, the government took steps in this direction. Interior Minister Plehve supported S. Zubatov's experiments in bringing the opposition movement under control. He developed and implemented "police socialism". Its essence was the organization of workers' societies that were engaged in economic education. This, according to Zubatov, was supposed to lead the workers away from the political struggle. Georgy Gapon, who created political workers' organizations, became a worthy successor to Zubatov's ideas.

It was Gapon's provocative activity that gave impetus to the beginning of the revolution. In the midst of the St. Petersburg general strike (up to 3 thousand people participated), Gapon suggested organizing a peaceful procession to the Winter Palace to submit a petition to the tsar about the needs of the workers. Gapon notified the police in advance of the upcoming demonstration, this allowed the government to hastily prepare to quell the riots. More than 1,000 people were killed during the executions of the demonstration. Thus, January 9, 1905 was the beginning of the revolution and was called "Bloody Sunday".

On May 1, a strike of workers began in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. The workers created their own body of power - the Council of Workers' Deputies. On May 12, 1905, a strike began in Ivano-Frankivsk, which lasted more than two months. At the same time, unrest broke out in the villages, engulfing the Black Earth Center, the Middle Volga region, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states. In the summer of 1905, the All-Russian Peasant Union was formed. At the Congress of the Union, demands were put forward for the transfer of land to the ownership of the whole people. Open armed uprisings broke out in the army and navy. A major event was the armed uprising prepared by the Mensheviks on the battleship Prince Potemkin Tauride. On June 14, 1905, the sailors, who took possession of the battleship during a spontaneous uprising, led the ship to the roadstead of Odessa, where a general strike was taking place at that time. But the sailors did not dare to land and support the workers. "Potemkin" went to Romania and surrendered to the authorities.

The beginning of the second (culminating) stage of the revolution falls on the autumn of 1905. The growth of the revolution, the activation of the revolutionary forces and the opposition forced the tsarist government to make some concessions. By the rescript of Nicholas II, the Minister of Internal Affairs A. Bulygin was instructed to develop a project for the creation of the State Duma. On August 6, 1905, a manifesto appeared on the convocation of the Duma. Most of the participants in the revolutionary movement were not satisfied with either the character of the “Bulygin Duma” as an exclusively legislative body, or the Regulations on elections to the Duma (elections were held in three curiae: landowners, townspeople, peasants; workers, intelligentsia and the petty bourgeoisie did not have voting rights). Due to the boycott of the "Bulygin Duma", its elections never took place.

In October - November 1905, unrest of soldiers took place in Kharkov, Kyiv, Warsaw, Kronstadt, and a number of other cities, on November 11, 1905, an uprising began in Sevastopol, during which the sailors, led by Lieutenant P. Schmidt, disarmed the officers and created the Sevastopol Council of Deputies . The main base of the rebels was the cruiser Ochakov, on which a red flag was raised. On November 15-16, 1905, the uprising was crushed, and its leaders were shot. Since mid-October, the government has been losing control of the situation. Everywhere there were rallies and demonstrations demanding a constitution. To overcome the crisis, the government tried to find a way out of the impasse and make even greater concessions.

On October 17, 1905, the tsar signed the Manifesto, according to which the citizens of Russia were granted civil liberties: inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly and unions. The State Duma was given legislative functions. The creation of a united government - the Council of Ministers - was declared. The manifesto influenced the further development of the event, reduced the revolutionary impulse of the liberals and contributed to the creation of right-wing legal parties (the Cadets and Octobrists).

The strike, which began in October in Moscow, swept the whole country and developed into the All-Russian October Political Strike. In October 1905 over 2 million people were on strike. At that time, the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies arose, which turned from strike fighting bodies into parallel (alternative) bodies of power. Those who took part in them: the Mensheviks considered them as organs of local self-government, and the Bolsheviks - as organs of an armed uprising. The most important were the St. Petersburg and Moscow Soviets of Workers' Deputies. The Moscow Soviet issued an appeal to start a political strike. On December 7, 1905, a general political strike began, which developed in Moscow into the December armed uprising, which lasted until December 19, 1905. Workers built barricades on which they fought with government troops. After the suppression of the December armed uprising in Moscow, the revolutionary wave began to subside. In 1906-1907. continued strikes, strikes, peasant unrest, performances in the army and navy. But the government, with the help of the most severe repressions, gradually regained control over the country.

Thus, in the course of the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1905-1907, despite all the achievements, it was not possible to achieve the solution of the main tasks put forward at the beginning of the revolution, the overthrow of the autocracy, the destruction of the estate system and the establishment of a democratic republic.

First revolution 1905-1907 took place in connection with a number of factors that manifested themselves in various spheres of Russian society at that time. It did not develop instantly, but was pumped up gradually in connection with unresolved problems that had been accumulating since the middle of the 19th century. At the beginning of the twentieth century, capitalism passed to the highest stage of its development - imperialism, which was accompanied by an aggravation of all contradictions in society, both within the country and at the international level.

The working day lasted fourteen hours!

Causes of the Revolution of 1905-1907 lie in the fact that in the country, in different segments of the population, a large number of people have appeared who are dissatisfied with their lives. It is worth noting the disenfranchised position, first of all, of the working class, which became the driving force in 1917. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of representatives of the proletariat in Russia reached fourteen million people (of which about ten percent were regular workers). And these fourteen million industrialists were forced to work 14 hours a day (with the officially established working day since 1897 at 11 and a half hours).

Link without investigation and trial

The first Russian revolution (1905-1907) became possible also because at the same time the working class was significantly limited in its rights to defend its own interests. In the Russian Empire, there were secret regulations at the level of the Ministry of the Interior, which allowed members of the proletariat to be exiled without investigation or trial for participating in protest actions. For the same actions, one could go to prison for a period of 60 to 240 days.

They worked for pennies

Russian Revolution 1905-1907 made possible because of the brutal exploitation of the working class by the owners of industries. For example, in the processing of minerals from each ruble of profit, workers got less than a third (32 kopecks), and in the processing of metals and the food industry even less - 22 and 4 kopecks, respectively. In those days, they spent even less on the "social program" - 0.6% of the expenses of entrepreneurs. This may have been partly due to the fact that more than half of the country's industry was owned by foreign investors. As an analysis of securities of that time (shares of railways, enterprises, banks) showed, many of them had distribution addresses in the USA and Europe, as well as inscriptions not only in Russian, but also in English, German and French. The revolution of 1905-1907, whose goals, at first glance, do not reveal obvious foreign influence, is based on the fact that there were not enough industrialists and representatives of the ruling elite who would be interested in the growth of the well-being of the Russian people.

The "popularity" of Russian investments then was partly due to the fact that during the monetary reforms of 1897, the ruble of the Russian Empire was pegged to gold. A flow of foreign money went into the country, which had the “reverse side of the coin” with the withdrawal of funds in the form of interest, also in gold. So, in 1887-1913, almost 1800 million rubles in gold were invested in the Russian Empire from Western countries, and about 2300 million gold rubles were withdrawn as income.

Bread was consumed almost three times less than overseas

The revolution in Russia (1905-1907) was based on the fact that the standard of living of the population was significantly lower than in European countries. For example, subjects of the Russian Empire at that time consumed about 3.45 centners of bread per year per capita, in the USA this figure was close to a ton, in Denmark - about 900 centners, in France - more than half a ton, in Germany - 4.32 centners . At the same time, it was in our country that large crops of grain were collected, a significant part of which was exported, which created the prerequisites for the receipt of funds in the treasury, on the one hand, and the "malnutrition" of the people, on the other.

Life in the countryside before the Russian Revolution (1905-1907) began was also hard. At that time, peasants had to pay significant taxes and excises, the area of ​​peasant plots tended to decrease, many worked on leased plots, giving half of the harvest or most of the income received. The landowners, on the contrary, enlarged their holdings (one landowner's farmstead accounted for up to 300 peasant households in area) and excessively exploited the farmers dependent on them. Unlike the workers, the peasantry, whose share was up to 70% of the population of the Russian Empire, took part to a lesser extent in the historical process called the "Revolution of 1905-1907", the reasons, the results of which were not very encouraging for the farmers. Moreover, on the eve of even a year, many plowmen were monarchists and believed in the "good king-father."

The king did not want change

The revolution in Russia (1905-1907) is largely connected with the policy pursued by Nicholas II, who decided to follow the path of his father and further strengthen the autocracy, instead of trying to liberalize Russian society, as his grandfather, Alexander II, wanted to do. The latter, however, was killed on the day when he wanted to announce the first semblance of the Russian constitution. During his accession to the throne at the age of 26, Nicholas II pointed out that democratic changes are meaningless ideas, so the tsar is not going to take into account such opinions that have already been formed in a certain part of the educated society of that time, which did not add popularity to the autocrat.

Unsuccessful military campaign of Nicholas II

The Russo-Japanese War, which took place in 1904-1905, did not add it either. Japan unleashed it, but many in the Russian Empire also longed for some kind of military campaign to strengthen the authority of the authorities. The first Russian revolution (1905-1907) began during the hostilities (revolutionary actions took place for the first time in January 1905, while the war ended in August of the same year), which were, by and large, unsuccessful. Russia did not have fortified fortresses, the supply of the army and navy was poorly organized, soldiers and officers died senselessly, and the surrender of the Port Arthur fortress, the events of Tsushima and Mukden affected the image of the autocrat and his entourage more than negatively.

Periodization of the Revolution

Historians know the following stages of the revolution of 1905-1907:

• The first - in January-March 1905.
• The second, which lasted from April to August 1905.
• The third, which lasted from autumn 1905 to March 1906.

At the first stage, the main events developed after Bloody Sunday, when about one hundred and forty thousand proletarians came with religious symbols and a petition about the needs of the working class to the Winter Palace, where some of them were shot by Cossacks and government troops. In addition to economic demands, the petition also included proposals to establish popular representation in the form of a Constituent Assembly, to introduce freedom of speech, religion, equality of all before the law, a reduction in the length of the working day, separation of church and state, public education, etc.

The bourgeoisie supported the idea of ​​constituent assemblies

The working masses were led by the priest Georgy Gapon, who headed the "Assembly of the Workers of St. Petersburg" established by the police a few years earlier, which was designed to weaken the influence of revolutionary ideas on the proletariat. He also wrote the petition. Nicholas II was not in the capital during the procession. At the first stage, about 810,000 people participated in the popular unrest, the workers were supported by students, zemstvos, and employees. The revolution of 1905-1907, whose goals were different for different groups of the population, for the first time attracted into its ranks the middle and big bourgeoisie, who supported the idea of ​​a constituent assembly. The tsar, in response to the indignation, wrote an order for the Minister of the Interior, Bulygin A., demanding that a draft legislative body (Duma) be prepared.

Development of the revolutionary process: the second stage

How did the revolution of 1905-1907 develop further? The second stage can be briefly characterized as follows: in April-August 1905, about 0.7 million people took part in the strikes, including the strike of textile workers from May 12 to July 26 (in Ivanovo-Voznesensk). In the same period, peasant uprisings took place in every fifth district of the European part of the Russian Empire. Under the pressure of these events, in August 1905, the authorities issued documents on the election of the Duma, but with a very small number of voters. Elections to this body were boycotted by all sections of the protest movements, so the Duma was never created.

What results at this stage did the revolution of 1905-1907 bring? The goals pursued by the peasantry throughout the revolutionary events of the early twentieth century were partly achieved in August 1905, when farmers were able to gain access to state lands. But only by buying them through the so-called Peasants' Bank, which few could afford.

Third period brought civil liberties

The third stage, which was the revolution in Russia (1905-1907), was the longest. It began in September 1905 and ended in March 1906. Here, the most significant event was the all-Russian political strike, in which about two million people took part throughout the country. The demands were the same - an eight-hour working day, the convocation of democratic freedoms. Government structures intended to suppress the performance by force of arms (general Trepov’s order “do not spare cartridges and do not shoot blanks to disperse the crowd”), but on October 17 of the same year, Nicholas II issued a decree that gave significant civil liberties. It included freedom of association, assembly, speech, and inviolability of the person. After the adoption of this decree, trade unions, councils of workers' deputies began to arise, the unions of the "Russian people" and "October 17" were founded, agrarian

The main events of the revolution (1905-1907) include two convocations of the State Duma. These were attempts to transform Russia from autocratic to parliamentary monarchy. The First Duma worked from April 1906 to July of the same year and was abolished by the emperor, as it actively fought against the current government, was distinguished by the initiation of radical laws (the Social Revolutionaries proposed the nationalization of natural resources and the abolition of private ownership of land, etc.).

The Duma came up with nothing

The events of the revolution (1905-1907) in terms of the work of law-making bodies were not particularly successful. Thus, the Second State Duma, which worked in 1907 from February to June, submitted many proposals for resolving the agrarian issue from different parties, considered the food issue, provisions for the abolition of courts-martial and military conscription, and opposed the "illegal actions" of the police, than great "angry" the current government. There were about 500 deputies in the Second Duma, among whom 38% had a higher education, home schooling - 8%, secondary education - about 20%, lower - 32%. Illiterate in the Duma was one percent, which is not surprising, since almost 170 deputies came from the illiterate peasantry. But there were directors of factories in the Duma - 6 people, lawyers - about thirty, and even one poet.

Why did the revolution end in 1907?

Together with the dissolution, the revolution of 1905-1907 ended. Briefly, the activities of this body can be described as insufficiently productive, since the Duma, again, fought more with other authorities. In total, she adopted 20 legislative acts, of which only three received the force of law, including two projects to help people affected by crop failures.

Results of the first Russian revolution

What did the revolution of 1905-1907 bring to the inhabitants of the Russian Empire? The goals of the majority of the protesting classes of society during this historical event were not achieved, therefore, it is believed that the revolutionary process was defeated. Certain results in the form of the establishment of a legislative body representing a number of estates, the granting of some civil liberties, of course, were. But the state structure did not undergo any special changes, the land issue was not completely resolved, the working conditions of the working class remained difficult, so there were prerequisites for the further development of revolutionary processes.

The results of the revolution included the formation of three main "camps" of political parties (government, liberal-bourgeois and democratic), which will still appear on the political arena of Russia in 1917.

Source - Wikipedia

Revolution of 1905
First Russian Revolution

Date 9 (22) January 1905 - 3 (16) June 1907
Reason - Land hunger; numerous violations of workers' rights; dissatisfaction with the existing level of civil liberties; activities of liberal and socialist parties; The absolute power of the emperor, the absence of a national representative body and constitution.
Main goal - Improvement of working conditions; redistribution of land in favor of the peasants; liberalization of the country; expansion of civil liberties; ;
Outcome - Establishment of Parliament; Third June coup, the reactionary policy of the authorities; carrying out reforms; preservation of the problems of land, labor and national issues
Organizers - Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries, RSDLP, SDKPiL, Polish Socialist Party, General Jewish Workers' Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, Latvian Forest Brothers, Latvian Social Democratic Labor Party, Belarusian Socialist Community, Finnish Active Resistance Party, Poalei Zion, "Bread and will", abreks and others
Driving forces - workers, peasants, intelligentsia, separate parts of the army
Number of participants Over 2,000,000
Opponents Army units; supporters of Emperor Nicholas II, various Black Hundred organizations.
9000 died
8000 wounded

The first Russian revolution is the name of the events that took place between January 1905 and June 1907 in the Russian Empire.

The impetus for the beginning of mass demonstrations under political slogans was "Bloody Sunday" - the execution by the imperial troops in St. Petersburg of a peaceful demonstration of workers led by priest Georgy Gapon on January 9 (22), 1905. unrest and uprisings took place in the fleet, which resulted in mass demonstrations against the monarchy.

The result of the speeches was a constitution - the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which granted civil liberties on the basis of personal immunity, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and unions. The Parliament was established, consisting of the State Council and the State Duma. The revolution was followed by a reaction: the so-called "Third of 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 agrarian question, the most significant for the majority of the population of the country, was not resolved.

Thus, the social tension that caused the First Russian Revolution was not fully resolved, which determined the prerequisites for the subsequent revolutionary uprising in 1917.

Causes and results of the revolution
The industrial recession, disorder of monetary circulation, crop failure and huge public debt, which had grown since the Russo-Turkish war, aggravated the need to reform activities and authorities. The end of the period of essential importance of subsistence farming, the intensive form of progress in industrial methods already for the 19th century required radical innovations in administration and law. Following the abolition of serfdom and the transformation of farms into industrial enterprises, a new institution of legislative power was required.

Peasantry
Peasants were the most numerous class of the Russian Empire - about 77% of the total population. The rapid population growth in 1860-1900 led to the fact that the size of the average allotment decreased by 1.7-2 times, while the average yield for the specified period increased by only 1.34 times. The result of this imbalance was a constant drop in the average grain harvest per capita of the agricultural population and, as a result, a deterioration in the economic situation of the peasantry as a whole.

In addition, great economic changes were taking place in Europe, caused by the appearance of cheap American grain there. This put Russia, where grain was the main export commodity, in a very difficult position.

The course towards actively stimulating the export of grain, taken by the Russian government since the late 1880s, was another factor that worsened the food situation of the peasantry. The slogan "we won't finish it, but we'll take it out" put forward by Finance Minister Vyshnegradsky reflected the government's desire to support grain exports at any cost, even in the face of domestic crop failures. This was one of the reasons that led to the famine of 1891-1892. Beginning with the famine of 1891, the crisis of agriculture was increasingly recognized as a protracted and profound ailment for the entire economy of Central Russia.

The motivation of peasants to increase the productivity of their labor was low. The reasons for this were stated by Witte in his memoirs as follows:

How can a person show and develop not only his own work, but initiative in his work, when he knows that the land he cultivates after a while can be replaced by another (community), that the fruits of his labors will not be divided on the basis of common laws and testamentary rights , but 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 own, often poorer than a bird's nest, a dwelling without a passport, the issuance of which depends on the discretion, when in a word, its life is to some extent similar to the life of a pet, with the difference that the owner is interested in the life of the pet, because this is his property, and the Russian state has this property in excess at this stage of development of statehood, and what is available in surplus, or little, or not valued at all.

The constant reduction in the size of land allotments (“small land”) led to the fact that the general slogan of the Russian peasantry in the revolution of 1905 was the demand for land, due to the redistribution of privately owned (primarily landlord) land in favor of peasant communities.

The results of the revolution
New state bodies were formed - the beginning of the development of parliamentarism;
some limitation of autocracy;
democratic freedoms were introduced, censorship was abolished, trade unions and legal political parties were allowed;
the bourgeoisie got the opportunity to participate in the political life of the country;
the situation of workers has improved, wages have been raised, the working day has decreased to 9-10 hours;
redemption payments of peasants were canceled, their freedom of movement was expanded;
limited the power of zemstvo chiefs.

The beginning of the revolution
At the end of 1904, the political struggle intensified in the country. The policy of trust in society, proclaimed by the government of P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, led to the intensification of the opposition. The leading role in the opposition at that moment was played by the liberal Union of Liberation. In September, representatives of the "Union of Liberation" and the revolutionary parties gathered at the Paris Conference, where they discussed the question of a joint struggle against the autocracy. As a result of the conference, tactical agreements were concluded, the essence of which was expressed by the formula: "advance separately and beat together." In November, at the initiative of the Union of Liberation, a Zemsky Congress was held in St. Petersburg, which drafted a resolution demanding popular representation and civil liberties. The congress gave impetus to the campaign of zemstvo petitions, demanding to limit the power of officials and call on the public to govern the state. As a result of the weakening of censorship allowed by the government, the texts of zemstvo petitions found their way into the press and became the subject of general discussion. The revolutionary parties supported the demands of the liberals and staged student demonstrations.

At the end of 1904, the country's largest legal workers' organization, the Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg, was involved in the events. The organization was headed by the priest George Gapon. In November, a group of members of the Union of Liberation met with Gapon and the leading circle of the Assembly and invited them to come up with a political petition. In November-December, the idea of ​​making a petition was discussed in the leadership of the "Assembly". In December, an incident occurred at the Putilov plant with the dismissal of four workers. Tetyavkin, the foreman of the woodworking workshop of the wagon shop, announced in turn the calculation of four workers - members of the "Assembly". An investigation of the incident showed that the actions of the master were unfair and dictated by a hostile attitude towards the organization. The administration of the plant was demanded to reinstate the laid-off workers and to dismiss the foreman Tetyavkin. In response to the refusal of the administration, the leadership of the Assembly threatened to go on strike. On January 2, 1905, at a meeting of the leadership of the "Assembly", it was decided to start a strike at the Putilov factory, and in case of non-fulfillment of the requirements, turn it into a general one and use it to file a petition.

On January 3, 1905, the Putilov factory with 12,500 workers went on strike, and on January 4 and 5, several more factories joined the strikers. Negotiations with the administration of the Putilov factory turned out to be fruitless, and on January 5, Gapon threw the idea to the masses to turn to the tsar himself for help. On January 7 and 8, the strike spread to all enterprises in the city and turned into a general one. In total, 625 enterprises of St. Petersburg with 125,000 workers took part in the strike. In the same days, Gapon and a group of workers drew up a petition in the name of the emperor about workers' needs, which, along with economic demands, contained political demands. The petition demanded the convening of a popular representation based on universal, direct, secret and equal suffrage, the introduction of civil liberties, the responsibility of ministers to the people, guarantees of the legitimacy of government, an 8-hour working day, universal education at public expense, and much more. On January 6, 7 and 8, the petition was read in all 11 sections of the Assembly, and tens of thousands of signatures were collected under it. The workers were invited on Sunday, January 9, to come to the Winter Palace Square in order to hand over the petition to the tsar "with the whole world".

On January 7, the content of the petition became known to the tsarist government. The political demands contained in it, which implied the restriction of autocracy, turned out to be unacceptable to the ruling regime. In a government report, they were regarded as "impertinent". The issue of accepting the petition was not discussed in the ruling circles. On January 8, at a meeting of the government chaired by Svyatopolk-Mirsky, it was decided not to allow the workers to reach the Winter Palace, and, if necessary, to stop them by force. To this end, it was decided to place cordons of troops on the main thoroughfares of the city, which were supposed to block the workers' path to the city center. Troops totaling over 30,000 soldiers were drawn into the city. On the evening of January 8, Svyatopolk-Mirsky went to Tsarskoye Selo to see Emperor Nicholas II with a report on the measures taken. The king wrote about this in his diary. The overall management of the operation was entrusted to the commander of the Guards Corps, Prince S. I. Vasilchikov.

On the morning of January 9, columns of workers with a total number of up to 150,000 people moved from different areas to the city center. At the head of one of the columns with a cross in his hand was the priest Gapon. When the columns approached the military outposts, the officers demanded that the workers stop, but they continued to move forward. Confident in the tsar's humanity, the workers stubbornly strove for the Winter Palace, ignoring warnings and even cavalry attacks. To prevent the access of the 150,000-strong crowd in the city center to the Winter Palace, the troops were forced to fire rifle volleys. Volleys were fired at the Narva Gate, at the Trinity Bridge, on the Shlisselburgsky tract, on Vasilyevsky Island, on Palace Square and on Nevsky Prospekt. Procession at the Narva Gate

In other parts of the city, crowds of workers were dispersed with sabers, sabers and whips. According to official figures, in just the day of January 9, 96 people were killed and 333 wounded, and taking into account those who died from wounds, 130 were killed and 299 wounded. According to the calculations of the Soviet historian V.I. Nevsky, there were up to 200 killed, up to 800 wounded.

The dispersal of the unarmed procession of workers made a shocking impression on society. Messages about the execution of the procession, which greatly inflated the number of victims, were distributed by illegal publications, party proclamations and passed from mouth to mouth. The opposition placed all responsibility for what had happened on Emperor Nicholas II and the autocratic regime. The priest Gapon, who fled from the police, called for an armed uprising and the overthrow of the dynasty. The revolutionary parties called for the overthrow of the autocracy. A wave of strikes, held under political slogans, swept across the country. In many places the strikes were led by party workers. The traditional faith of the working masses in the tsar was shaken, and the influence of the revolutionary parties began to grow. The number of party ranks quickly replenished. The slogan “Down with the autocracy!” gained popularity. According to many contemporaries, the tsarist government made a mistake by deciding to use force against unarmed workers. The danger of a rebellion was averted, but irreparable damage was done to the prestige of the royal power. Shortly after the events of January 9, Minister Svyatopolk-Mirsky was dismissed.

The course of the revolution
After the events of January 9, P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky was dismissed from the post of Minister of the Interior and replaced by Bulygin; the post of St. Petersburg Governor-General was established, to which General D. F. Trepov was appointed on January 10.

On January 29 (February 11), by decree of Nicholas II, a commission was created under the chairmanship of Senator Shidlovsky with the aim of "immediately clarifying the reasons for the discontent of the workers of St. Petersburg and its suburbs and eliminating them in the future." Officials, manufacturers and deputies from the St. Petersburg workers were to become its members. Political demands were declared unacceptable in advance, but it was precisely them that the deputies elected from the workers put forward (the publicity of the meetings of the commission, freedom of the press, the restoration of the 11 departments of the Gapon Assembly, closed by the government, the release of arrested comrades). February 20 (March 5) Shidlovsky submitted a report to Nicholas II, in which he acknowledged the failure of the commission; on the same day, by tsarist decree, the commission of Shidlovsky was dissolved.

After January 9, a wave of strikes swept the country. On January 12-14, a general strike took place in Riga and Warsaw to protest against the execution of a demonstration of workers in St. Petersburg. A strike movement and strikes began on the railways of Russia. All-Russian student political strikes also began. In May 1905, a general strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk textile workers began, 70,000 workers went on strike for more than two months. Soviets of Workers' Deputies sprang up in many industrial centers, the most famous of which was the Ivanovo Soviet.

Social conflicts were aggravated by conflicts on ethnic grounds. In the Caucasus, clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis began, which continued in 1905-1906.

On February 18, a tsar's manifesto was published calling for the eradication of sedition in the name of strengthening true autocracy, and a decree to the Senate, allowing proposals to be submitted to the tsar's name to improve "state improvement". Nicholas II signed a rescript addressed to the Minister of Internal Affairs A. G. Bulygin with an order to prepare a law on an elected representative body - a legislative Duma.

The published acts, as it were, gave direction to further social movement. Zemstvo assemblies, city dumas, professional intelligentsia, which formed a number of all kinds of unions, individual public figures discussed issues of involving the population in legislative activity, about the attitude to the work of the “Special Conference” established under the chairmanship of Chamberlain Bulygin. Resolutions, petitions, addresses, notes, projects of state transformation were drawn up.

The February, April and May congresses organized by the zemstvos, of which the last one was held with the participation of city leaders, ended with the presentation to the Sovereign Emperor on June 6 through a special deputation of the all-subject address with a petition for popular representation.

On April 17, 1905, a Decree was issued to strengthen the principles of religious tolerance. He allowed "falling away" from Orthodoxy to other confessions. Legislative restrictions on Old Believers and sectarians were abolished. Lamaists were no longer officially called idolaters and pagans. On June 21, 1905, the uprising in Lodz begins, which became one of the main events in the revolution of 1905-1907 in the Kingdom of Poland.

On August 6, 1905, the State Duma was established by the Manifesto of Nicholas II as "a special legislative advisory institution, which is given the preliminary development and discussion of legislative proposals and consideration of the list of state revenues and expenditures." The deadline for the convocation was set - no later than mid-January 1906.

At the same time, the Regulations on the Elections of August 6, 1905 were published, which established the rules for elections to the State Duma. Of the four most famous and popular democratic norms (universal, direct, equal, secret elections), only one turned out to be implemented in Russia - secret voting. The elections were neither universal, nor direct, nor equal. The organization of elections to the State Duma was assigned to the Minister of Internal Affairs Bulygin.

In October, a strike began in Moscow, which swept the whole country and grew into the All-Russian October Political Strike. On October 12-18, over 2 million people were on strike in various industries.

On October 14, the Governor-General of St. Petersburg D.F. Trepov pasted up proclamations on the streets of the capital, in which, in particular, it was said that the police were ordered to resolutely suppress the riots, “if there is resistance from the crowd, do not give empty volleys and cartridges do not regret."

This general strike, and above all the railroad strike, forced the Emperor to make concessions. The manifesto of October 17, 1905 granted civil liberties: personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association. Trade unions and professional political unions, Soviets of Workers' Deputies arose, the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Revolutionary Party were strengthened, the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Union of October 17, the Union of the Russian People, and others were created.

Thus, the demands of the liberals were met. The autocracy went for the creation of parliamentary representation and the beginning of the reform (see Stolypin agrarian reform).

Stolypin's dissolution of the 2nd State Duma with a parallel change in the electoral law (the June 3 coup of 1907) meant the end of the revolution.

Armed uprisings
The declared political freedoms, however, did not satisfy the revolutionary parties, who were going to gain power not by parliamentary means, but by armed seizure of power and put forward the slogan "Finish off the government!" Fermentation swept the workers, the army and the navy (the uprising on the battleship Potemkin, the Sevastopol uprising, the Vladivostok uprising, etc.). In turn, the authorities saw that there was no further way to retreat, and began to resolutely fight the revolution.
On October 13, 1905, the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies began its work, which became the organizer of the All-Russian October political strike of 1905 and tried to disorganize the country's financial system, calling for not paying taxes and taking money from banks. The deputies of the Council were arrested on December 3, 1905.

The riots reached their highest point in December 1905: in Moscow (December 7-18) and other major cities.
In Rostov-on-Don, on December 13-20, detachments of militants fought with troops in the Temernik area.
In Yekaterinoslav, the skirmish that began on December 8 escalated into an uprising. The working district of the city of Chechelevka was in the hands of the rebels (Chechelevsky Republic) until December 27. Fighting took place in Kharkov for two days. In Lyubotin, the Lyubotinsky Republic was formed. In the cities of Ostrovets, Ilzha and Chmelyuv - the Ostrovets Republic. On June 14, 1905, an event occurred that showed that the last pillars of autocratic power were shaking: the team of the battleship of the Black Sea Fleet "Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky" rebelled. Seven people were killed on the spot. A speedy sailor's court sentenced the commander and the ship's doctor to death. Soon the battleship was blocked, but managed to break into the open sea. Lacking coal and food supplies, he approached the coast of Romania, where the sailors surrendered to the Romanian authorities.

Pogroms
After the publication of the tsar's manifesto on October 17, 1905, powerful anti-government manifestations took place in many cities of the Pale of Settlement, in which the Jewish population took an active part. The reaction of the part of society loyal to the government was to protest against the revolutionaries, which ended in Jewish pogroms. The largest pogroms took place in Odessa (more than 400 Jews died), in Rostov-on-Don (over 150 dead), Yekaterinoslav - 67, Minsk - 54, Simferopol - over 40 and Orsha - over 100 dead.

Political assassinations
In total, from 1901 to 1911, about 17 thousand people were killed and wounded in the course of revolutionary terrorism (of which 9 thousand fell directly on the period of the revolution of 1905-1907). In 1907, up to 18 people died on average every day. According to the police, only from February 1905 to May 1906 were killed: governors general, governors and mayors - 8, vice-governors and advisers to provincial boards - 5, police chiefs, district chiefs and police officers - 21, gendarmerie officers - 8 , generals (combatants) - 4, officers (combatants) - 7, bailiffs and their assistants - 79, district guards - 125, policemen - 346, officers - 57, guards - 257, gendarmerie lower ranks - 55, security agents - 18, civil officials - 85, clerics - 12, rural authorities - 52, landowners - 51, manufacturers and senior employees in factories - 54, bankers and large merchants - 29. Known victims of terror:
Minister of Public Education N. P. Bogolepov (02/14/1901),
Minister of the Interior D.S. Sipyagin (2.04.1902),
Ufa Governor N. M. Bogdanovich (05/06/1903),
Minister of the Interior V. K. Plehve (07/15/1904),
Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (02/04/1905),
Moscow mayor Count P. P. Shuvalov (06/28/1905),
former Minister of War Adjutant General V. V. Sakharov (11/22/1905),
Tambov vice-governor N. E. Bogdanovich (12/17/1905),
head of the Penza garrison, Lieutenant General V. Ya. Lisovsky (2.01.1906),
Chief of Staff of the Caucasian Military District, Major General F. F. Gryaznov (01/16/1906),
Tver Governor P. A. Sleptsov (03/25/1906),
Commander of the Black Sea Fleet Vice Admiral G. P. Chukhnin (06/29/1906),
Samara Governor I.L. Blok (21.07.1906),
Penza Governor S. A. Khvostov (08/12/1906),
commander of l-gd. Semenov Regiment, Major General G. A. Min (08/13/1906),
Simbirsk Governor General Major General K. S. Starynkevich (09/23/1906),
former Governor-General of Kyiv, member of the State Council Count A.P. Ignatiev (9.12.1906),
Akmola Governor Major General N. M. Litvinov (12/15/1906),
St. Petersburg mayor V. F. von der Launitz (12/21/1906),
chief military prosecutor V.P. Pavlov (12/27/1906),
Penza Governor S. V. Aleksandrovsky (01/25/1907),
Odessa Governor General Major General K. A. Karangozov (23.02.1907),
head of the Main Prison Department A. M. Maksimovsky (10/15/1907).
Revolutionary organizations
Party of Socialist Revolutionaries
The militant organization was created by the Socialist-Revolutionary Party in the early 1900s to fight against the autocracy in Russia through terror. The organization included from 10 to 30 militants headed by G. A. Gershuni, from May 1903 - by E. F. Azef. Organized the assassinations of the Minister of Internal Affairs D.S. Sipyagin and V.K. Plehve, the Kharkov governor, Prince I.M. Obolensky and Ufa - N.M. prepared assassination attempts on Nicholas II, Minister of Internal Affairs P. N. Durnovo, Moscow Governor-General F. V. Dubasov, priest G. A. Gapon, and others.

RSDLP
The combat technical group under the Central Committee of the RSDLP, headed by L. B. Krasin, was the central combat organization of the Bolsheviks. The group carried out mass deliveries of weapons to Russia, supervised the creation, training and arming of combat squads that participated in the uprisings.

The Military Technical Bureau of the Moscow Committee of the RSDLP is the Moscow military organization of the Bolsheviks. It included P.K. Sternberg. The bureau led the Bolshevik combat detachments during the Moscow uprising.

Other revolutionary organizations
Polish Socialist Party (PPS). In 1906 alone, PSP militants killed and wounded about 1,000 people. One of the major actions was the Bezdan robbery of 1908.
General Jewish Workers Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia (Bund)
Socialist Jewish Workers' Party
Dashnaktsutyun is an Armenian revolutionary-nationalist party. During the revolution, she actively participated in the Armenian-Azerbaijani massacre of 1905-1906. The Dashnaks killed quite a few officials and private persons objectionable to the Armenians: General Alikhanov, governors Nakashidze and Andreev, colonels Bykov, Sakharov. The revolutionaries blamed the tsarist authorities for fanning the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Armenian Social Democratic Organization "Hunchak"
Georgian National Democrats
Latvian forest brothers. In the province of Courland in January-November 1906, up to 400 actions were carried out: representatives of the authorities were killed, police stations were attacked, and landowners' estates were burned.
Latvian Social Democratic Labor Party
Belarusian socialist community
Finnish Active Resistance Party
Jewish Social Democratic Party Poalei Zion
Federation of Anarchists "Bread and Freedom"
Federation of Anarchists "Black Banner"
Anarchist Federation "Beznachalie"
Display in fiction
Leonid Andreev's story "The Story of the Seven Hanged Men" (1908). The story is based on real events - the hanging on Fox Nose, near St. Petersburg on February 17, 1908 (old style) 7 members of the Flying Combat Squad of the Northern Region of the Socialist Revolutionary Party
The story of Leonid Andreev "Sashka Zhegulev" (1911). The story is based on the story of the famous expropriator of the times of the first Russian revolution, Alexander Savitsky, who was killed by the police in April 1909 near the city of Gomel.
Article by Leo Tolstoy "I can't be silent!" (1908) on capital punishment
Sat. stories by Vlas Doroshevich "Whirlwind and other works of recent times"
Poem by Konstantin Balmont "Our Tsar" (1907). The famous accusatory poem.
Boris Pasternak's poem "The Nine Hundred and Fifth Year" (1926-27)
Boris Zhitkov's novel Viktor Vavich (1934)
The story of Arkady Gaidar "Life into nothing (Lbovshchina)" (1926)
The story of Arkady Gaidar "Forest Brothers (Davydovshchina)" (1927)
The story of Valentin Kataev "The lonely sail turns white" (1936)
Boris Vasiliev's novel "And there was evening and there was morning" - ISBN 978-5-17-064479-7
The stories of Yevgeny Zamyatin "Unlucky" and "Three days"
Varshavyanka - a revolutionary song that became widely known in 1905
In the backyard of a great empire - a historical novel by Valentin Pikul in two books. First published in 1963-1966.
Autobiographical story by Lev Uspensky "Notes of an old Petersburger"
Book Boris Akunin "Diamond Chariot" Volume 1

Today, it is not customary to talk much about the causes of the first Russian revolution, its course and the consequences that it entailed. Even in school history textbooks, rather modest attention is paid to these events. The two subsequent coups d'état that took place in February and October 1917 have been studied in much more detail. However, the significance that the revolution of 1905-1907 had on the emergence and development of parliamentarism in Russia, and on the further historical fate of the country as a whole, is difficult to overestimate. Especially if we consider these revolutionary events impartially and taking into account the current political realities that have developed today in the Russian state. In this section, one can find many curious analogies and allusions with the events of 110 years ago.

Causes of the first Russian revolution

Of course, revolutionary events almost never arise spontaneously, on unprepared ground and without certain conditions. The prerequisites that caused the revolution of 1905-1907 in Russia were the following reasons:

Political background:
1. The emergence of parliamentarism in Russia began much later than in most of the leading countries of the world of that period. If in England the parliamentary system began to take shape after 1265, and in France the date of birth of parliamentary reforms is considered to be 1302, then in the Russian Empire, even at the beginning of the 20th century, parliamentarism was still in its infancy. This caused sharp dissatisfaction with the so-called "progressive minds" of Russian society, who paid more and more attention to the experience of Western countries.
2. The relatively liberal policy pursued by the tsarist government of Russia in the second half of the 19th century led to the strengthening of the influence of circles professing leftist views, the emergence of various parties and movements that demanded greater democratic freedoms. Moreover, along with legal organizations, various associations that carried out their activities from the underground began to play a significant role. Including - and enough radical organizations that did not shy away from terror, outright provocations and agitation in favor of overthrowing the autocracy.
3. Failures in the Russo-Japanese War, which eventually led to the defeat of Russia, dealt a significant blow to the national self-consciousness of the country's population and a tangible drop in Russia's prestige in the international arena.

All this could not but cause revolutionary sentiments and demands for political reforms, both in the field of foreign policy and in the sphere of internal government of the country.

Economic background:

1. The global financial crisis that erupted at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries hit the Russian Empire quite painfully. Russia's external debt, which was formed during the Russian-Turkish war, has increased many times over. The fall in bread prices and the appearance on the market of American grain at dumping prices significantly reduced export cash receipts to the treasury.
2. With all this, the reorientation of agrarian Russia on an industrial footing required more and more costs. Of course, the most vulnerable segments of the population suffered the most from this, they are also the most numerous. We are talking about such categories of citizens as peasants, workers, civil servants, petty bourgeois.
3. The so-called "tightening the screws", undertaken by the tsarist government at the turn of the century, took away from the common population and raznochintsy most of the already few freedoms granted by the autocracy in previous years. The reactionary government took a fairly tough course of suppressing free thought and persecuting those who disagreed with the current regime. The dissatisfaction of the free-thinking population was actively supported, among other things, by foreign special forces, intelligence agencies of bourgeois countries and financial circles that were not interested in the development of Russia as one of the leading players in the world financial and commodity markets.

Thus, the revolution of 1905-1907 was not only the result of purely internal political problems of the Russian state, but was also caused by a whole range of economic turmoil.

Social background

The social contradictions that had developed in Russia by the beginning of 1905 should not be underestimated.

1. The rapid growth of the population and the rapid industrialization of the country led to a sharp reduction in free land plots and to a very noticeable drop in the welfare of the peasants, who at that time accounted for over 75% of the country's population.
2. In large cities, the development of industrial production caused a rapid influx of people from agricultural areas. People were ready to work 12 hours a day, practically seven days a week, and even endure a permanent reduction in wages.
3. Pervasive corruption, unjustified bloat of the bureaucratic apparatus, the slowness of the state system, the indifference of officials caused natural irritation and the understanding that many things needed to be changed in the most radical way.
Of course, the above list of reasons is far from complete, although it reflects the main prerequisites due to which the Russian revolution of 1905-1907 broke out.

Revolution of 1905-1907: the course of events

The revolution of 1905 began in the very first days of 1905 with a strike that broke out in the then capital, St. Petersburg, and instantly engulfed all the major industrial enterprises of the city. The reason for the unrest was the seemingly insignificant fact of the dismissal of four workers of the Kirov plant for their political views. By January 7, the strike had become widespread, and one of the ideological inspirers, a priest named Gapon, called on ordinary people to organize a procession to the Winter Palace in order to hand over the compiled “Petition for Rights” into the hands of the Sovereign himself. The march, estimated to have involved some 150,000 people, was dispersed by force, resulting in over 100 demonstrators being killed and about 500 wounded.

The brutal suppression of a peaceful demonstration in St. Petersburg has already caused a real storm of protests throughout the country. In May, in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, far from St. Petersburg, for example, the first workers' council in the history of Russia was formed. Closer to summer, the country was shaken by a series of peasant uprisings, riots and acts of disobedience. Separate units and divisions of the army and navy began to join the rebels (the uprising on the battleship Potemkin, for example), and the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907 reached its peak by the fall, when the All-Russian political strike was held. At the same time, the terrorist activities of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and other radicals were repeatedly activated. All these events were fraught with such a real threat to the very existence of Russian statehood that on October 17, Nicholas II was forced to sign a special Manifesto, providing certain categories of the lower strata of society with a number of indulgences, freedoms and privileges.

Despite the fact that after the signing of the Manifesto, the most organized participants in the events - liberal-minded circles - preferred to enter into a dialogue with the authorities, the authorities had to suppress peasant and worker unrest already in 1906. June 3, 1907 is considered to be the official date for the end of the First Russian Revolution. Thus, unrest in the country took place for 2.5 years - an unprecedented time for Russia!

Outcomes and results of the First Russian Revolution

Despite the fact that the revolution of 1905-1907 did not achieve one of its main goals - the overthrow of the autocracy in Russia - it had a decisive influence on the further historical fate of the state. The old Russia no longer existed!
The reorganization of the State Duma, which previously performed mainly formal, and sometimes simply decorative functions, allowed this body to become, in fact, the first parliament in the country's history.
By tsarist manifestos and decrees, many categories of citizens (excluding women, military personnel, students, landless peasants and some other groups) were granted not only the right to choose state or local authorities, but also freedom of speech, conscience and assembly.
The social position of the peasantry and the working conditions of employees of industrial enterprises have significantly improved.
From now on, the vast majority of published laws had to receive the approval of the State Duma.
Although the revolution of 1905-1907 did not lead to such radical changes as happened in 1917, it became a forerunner and a kind of “trial balloon” before those grandiose events that happened in the next decade!

Revolution of 1905 First Russian Revolution
	Russian empire
	Land hunger; numerous violations of workers' rights; dissatisfaction with the existing level of civil liberties; activities of liberal and socialist parties; The absolute power of the emperor, the absence of a national representative body and constitution.
Primary goal:	Improvement of working conditions; redistribution of land in favor of the peasants; liberalization of the country; expansion of civil liberties; ;
	Establishment of Parliament; Third June coup, the reactionary policy of the authorities; carrying out reforms; preservation of the problems of land, labor and national issues.
Organizers:	Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, RSDLP, SDKPiL, Polish Socialist Party, General Jewish Workers' Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, Latvian Forest Brothers, Latvian Social Democratic Labor Party, Belarusian Socialist Community, Finnish Active Resistance Party, Poalei Zion, "Bread and Freedom " and others
Driving forces:	Workers, peasants, intelligentsia, separate parts of the army
Number of participants:	Over 2,000,000
Enemies:	Army units; supporters of Emperor Nicholas II, various Black Hundred organizations.
Dead:
Arrested:

Russian Revolution of 1905 or First Russian Revolution- the name of the events that took place between January 1905 and June 1907 in the Russian Empire.

The impetus for the beginning of mass demonstrations under political slogans was "Bloody Sunday" - the execution by the imperial troops in St. Petersburg of a peaceful demonstration of workers led by priest Georgy Gapon on January 9 (22), 1905. unrest and uprisings took place in the fleet, which resulted in mass demonstrations against the monarchy.

The result of the speeches was an imposed constitution - the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which granted civil liberties on the basis of inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and unions. The Parliament was established, consisting of the State Council and the State Duma.

The revolution was followed by a reaction: the so-called "Third of 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 agrarian question, the most significant for the majority of the population of the country, was not resolved.

Thus, the social tension that caused the First Russian Revolution was not fully resolved, which determined the prerequisites for the subsequent revolutionary uprising in 1917.

Causes of the revolution

The development of forms of human activity into a new infrastructure of the state, the emergence of industry and types of economic activity, radically different from the types of economic activity of the 17th-19th centuries, entailed an aggravation of the need to reform the activities of government and authorities. The end of the period of essential importance of subsistence farming, an intensive form of progress in industrial methods, already for the 19th century required radical innovations in administration and law. Following the abolition of serfdom and the transformation of farms into industrial enterprises, a new institution of legislative power and normative legal acts for regulating legal relations were required.

Peasantry

Peasants were the most numerous class of the Russian Empire - about 77% of the total population. The rapid population growth in 1860-1900 led to the fact that the size of the average allotment decreased by 1.7-2 times, while the average yield for the specified period increased by only 1.34 times. The result of this imbalance was a constant drop in the average grain harvest per capita of the agricultural population and, as a result, a deterioration in the economic situation of the peasantry as a whole.

The course towards actively stimulating the export of grain, taken from the end of the 1880s by the Russian government, was another factor that worsened the food situation of the peasantry. The slogan "we won't finish it, but we'll take it out" put forward by Finance Minister Vyshnegradsky reflected the government's desire to support grain exports at any cost, even in the face of domestic crop failures. This was one of the reasons that led to the famine of 1891-1892. Beginning with the famine of 1891, the crisis of agriculture was increasingly recognized as a protracted and profound ailment for the entire economy of Central Russia.

The motivation of peasants to increase the productivity of their labor was low. The reasons for this were stated by Witte in his memoirs as follows:

How can a person show and develop not only his own work, but initiative in his work, when he knows that the land he cultivates after a while can be replaced by another (community), that the fruits of his labors will not be divided on the basis of common laws and testamentary rights , but 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, dwelling without a passport, the issuance of which depends on the discretion, when in a word, its life is to some extent similar to the life of a pet, with the difference that the owner is interested in the life of the pet, because this is his property, and the Russian state has this property in excess at this stage of development of statehood, and what is available in surplus, or little, or not valued at all.

The constant reduction in the size of land allotments (“small land”) led to the fact that the general slogan of the Russian peasantry in the revolution of 1905 was the demand for land, due to the redistribution of privately owned (primarily landlord) land in favor of peasant communities.

industrial workers

By the 20th century, there was already a real industrial proletariat, but its position was approximately the same as the proletariat was in a number of other European countries in the first half of the 19th century: the most difficult working conditions, 12-hour working day (by 1897 it was limited to 11.5) , lack of social security in case of illness, injury, old age.

1900-1904: Growing crisis

The economic crisis of 1900-1903 aggravated all the socio-political problems of the country; the general crisis was also aggravated by the agrarian crisis, which engulfed the most important agricultural regions.

The defeat in the Russo-Japanese War showed the urgent need for reform. The refusal of the authorities to make any positive decisions in this direction also became one of the reasons for the start of the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907.

The course of the revolution

After the events of January 9, P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky was dismissed from the post of Minister of the Interior and replaced by Bulygin; the post of St. Petersburg Governor-General was established, to which General D. F. Trepov was appointed on January 12.

By decree of Nicholas II of January 29, a commission was created under the chairmanship of Senator Shidlovsky with the aim of "immediately clarifying the reasons for the discontent of the workers of St. Petersburg and its suburbs and eliminating them in the future." Officials, manufacturers and deputies from the St. Petersburg workers were to become its members. The elections of deputies were two-stage: electors were elected at the enterprises, who, having united in 9 production groups, were to elect 50 deputies. At a meeting of electors on February 16-17, under the influence of the socialists, it was decided to demand from the government publicity of the meetings of the commission, freedom of the press, the restoration of 11 departments of the Gapon "Assembly" closed by the government, and the release of arrested comrades. On February 18, Shidlovsky rejected these demands as being beyond the competence of the commission. In response to this, the electors of the 7 production groups refused to send deputies to the Shidlovsk commission and called on the workers to strike. On February 20, Shidlovsky submitted a report to Nicholas II, in which he acknowledged the failure of the commission; on the same day, by tsarist decree, the commission of Shidlovsky was dissolved.

After January 9, a wave of strikes swept the country. On January 12-14, a general strike took place in Riga and Warsaw to protest against the execution of a demonstration of workers in St. Petersburg. A strike movement and strikes began on the railways of Russia. All-Russian student political strikes also began. In May 1905, a general strike of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk textile workers began, 70,000 workers went on strike for more than two months. Soviets of workers' deputies sprang up in many industrial centers.

Social conflicts were aggravated by conflicts on ethnic grounds. In the Caucasus, clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis began, which continued in 1905-1906.

On February 18, a tsar's manifesto was published calling for the eradication of sedition in the name of strengthening true autocracy, and a decree to the Senate, allowing proposals to be submitted to the tsar's name to improve "state improvement". Nicholas II signed a rescript addressed to the Minister of Internal Affairs A. G. Bulygin with an order to prepare a law on an elected representative body - a legislative Duma.

The published acts, as it were, gave direction to further social movement. Zemstvo assemblies, city dumas, professional intelligentsia, which formed a number of all kinds of unions, individual public figures discussed issues of involving the population in legislative activity, about the attitude to the work of the “Special Conference” established under the chairmanship of Chamberlain Bulygin. Resolutions, petitions, addresses, notes, projects of state transformation were drawn up.

The February, April and May congresses organized by the zemstvos, of which the last one was held with the participation of city leaders, ended with the presentation to the Sovereign Emperor on June 6 through a special deputation of the all-subject address with a petition for popular representation.

On April 17, 1905, the Decree “On Strengthening the Principles of Religious Tolerance” was adopted, proclaiming freedom of religion for non-Orthodox confessions.

On June 21, 1905, an uprising began in Lodz, which became one of the main events in the revolution of 1905-1907 in the Kingdom of Poland.

On August 6, 1905, the State Duma was established by the Manifesto of Nicholas II as "a special legislative institution, which is given the preliminary development and discussion of legislative proposals and consideration of the schedule of state revenues and expenditures". The deadline for the convocation was set - no later than mid-January 1906.

At the same time, the Regulations on the Elections of August 6, 1905 were published, which established the rules for elections to the State Duma. Of the four most famous and popular democratic norms (universal, direct, equal, secret elections), only one turned out to be implemented in Russia - secret voting. The elections were neither universal, nor direct, nor equal. The organization of elections to the State Duma was assigned to the Minister of Internal Affairs Bulygin.

In October, a strike began in Moscow, which swept the whole country and grew into the All-Russian October Political Strike. On October 12-18, over 2 million people were on strike in various industries.

On October 14, the Governor-General of St. Petersburg D.N. Trepov pasted proclamations on the streets of the capital, in which, in particular, it was said that the police were ordered to resolutely suppress the riots, “if there is resistance from the crowd, do not give empty volleys and cartridges do not regret."

This general strike, and above all the railroad strike, forced the Emperor to make concessions. The manifesto of October 17, 1905 granted civil liberties: personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association. Trade unions and professional political unions, Soviets of Workers' Deputies arose, the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Revolutionary Party were strengthened, the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Union of October 17, the Union of the Russian People, and others were created.

Thus, the demands of the liberals were met. The autocracy went for the creation of parliamentary representation and the beginning of the reform (see Stolypin agrarian reform).

Stolypin's dissolution of the 2nd State Duma with a parallel change in the electoral law (the June 3 coup of 1907) meant the end of the revolution.

Armed uprisings

The declared political freedoms, however, did not satisfy the revolutionary parties, who were going to gain power not by parliamentary means, but by armed seizure of power and put forward the slogan "Finish off the government!". Fermentation engulfed the workers, the army and the navy (the uprising on the battleship Potemkin, the Vladivostok uprising, etc.). In turn, the authorities saw that there was no further way to retreat, and began to resolutely fight the revolution.

On October 13, 1905, the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies began its work, which became the organizer of the All-Russian October political strike of 1905 and tried to disorganize the country's financial system, calling for not paying taxes and taking money from banks. The deputies of the Council were arrested on December 3, 1905.

The unrest reached its highest point in December 1905: in Moscow (December 7-18) and other major cities. In Rostov-on-Don, on December 13-20, detachments of militants fought with troops in the Temernik area. In Yekaterinoslav, the strike that began on December 8 grew into an uprising. The working district of the city of Chechelevka was in the hands of the rebels until December 27.

Pogroms

After the publication of the tsar's manifesto on October 17, 1905, Jewish pogroms took place in many cities of the Pale of Settlement. The largest pogroms took place in Odessa (more than 400 Jews died), in Rostov-on-Don (over 150 dead), Yekaterinoslav - 67, Minsk - 54, Simferopol - over 40 and Orsha - over 30 dead.

Political assassinations

In total, from 1901 to 1911, about 17 thousand people were killed and wounded in the course of revolutionary terrorism (of which 9 thousand fell directly on the period of the revolution of 1905-1907). In 1907, up to 18 people died on average every day. According to the police, only from February 1905 to May 1906 were killed: governors general, governors and mayors - 8, vice-governors and advisers to provincial boards - 5, police chiefs, district chiefs and police officers - 21, gendarmerie officers - 8 , generals (combatants) - 4, officers (combatants) - 7, bailiffs and their assistants - 79, district guards - 125, policemen - 346, officers - 57, guards - 257, gendarmerie lower ranks - 55, security agents - 18, civil officials - 85, clerics - 12, rural authorities - 52, landowners - 51, manufacturers and senior employees in factories - 54, bankers and large merchants - 29.

Known victims of terror:

Party of Socialist Revolutionaries

The militant organization was created by the Socialist-Revolutionary Party in the early 1900s to fight against the autocracy in Russia through terror. The organization included from 10 to 30 militants headed by G. A. Gershuni, from May 1903 - by E. F. Azef. Organized the assassinations of the Minister of Internal Affairs D.S. Sipyagin and V.K. Plehve, the Kharkov governor, Prince I.M. Obolensky and Ufa - N.M. prepared assassination attempts on Nicholas II, Minister of Internal Affairs P. N. Durnovo, Moscow Governor-General F. V. Dubasov, priest G. A. Gapon, and others.

RSDLP

The combat technical group under the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b), headed by L. B. Krasin, was the central combat organization of the Bolsheviks. The group carried out mass deliveries of weapons to Russia, supervised the creation, training and arming of combat squads that participated in the uprisings.

The Military Technical Bureau of the Moscow Committee of the RSDLP is the Moscow military organization of the Bolsheviks. It included P.K. Sternberg. The bureau led the Bolshevik combat detachments during the Moscow uprising.

Other revolutionary organizations

• Polish Socialist Party (PPS). In 1906 alone, PPS militants killed and wounded about 1,000 people. One of the major actions was the Bezdan robbery of 1908.
• General Jewish Workers Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia
• Socialist Jewish Workers' Party
• Dashnaktsutyun is an Armenian revolutionary-nationalist party. During the revolution, she actively participated in the Armenian-Azerbaijani massacre of 1905-1906. The Dashnaks killed quite a few administrative and private persons objectionable to the Armenians: General Alikhanov, governors: Nakashidze and Andreev, colonels Bykov, Sakharov. The revolutionaries blamed the tsarist authorities for fanning the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
• Armenian Social Democratic Organization "Hunchak"
• Georgian National Democrats
• Latvian forest brothers. In the province of Courland in January-November 1906, up to 400 actions were carried out: representatives of the authorities were killed, police stations were attacked, and landowners' estates were burned.
• Latvian Social Democratic Labor Party
• Belarusian socialist community
• Finnish Active Resistance Party
• Jewish Social Democratic Party Poalei Zion
• Federation of Anarchists "Bread and Freedom"
• Federation of Anarchists "Black Banner"
• Anarchist Federation "Beznachalie"

Display in fiction

• Leonid Andreev's story "The Story of the Seven Hanged Men" (1908). The story is based on real events - hanging on Fox
• Nose, near St. Petersburg February 17, 1908 (old style) 7 members of the Flying Combat Detachment of the Northern Region of the Socialist Revolutionary Party
• Article by Leo Tolstoy "I can't be silent!" (1908) on government repression and revolutionary terror
• Sat. stories by Vlas Doroshevich "Whirlwind and other works of recent times"
• Poem by Konstantin Balmont "Our Tsar" (1907). The famous accusatory poem.
• Boris Pasternak's poem "The Nine Hundred and Fifth Year" (1926-27)
• Boris Vasiliev's novel "And there was evening and there was morning" ISBN 978-5-17-064479-7
• Stories by Yevgeny Zamyatin "Unlucky" and "Three days"
• Varshavyanka - a revolutionary song that became widely known in 1905