How the Revolution of 1905 SHOOK the Russian Empire (PICS + PHOTOS)
“A volley, a well-aimed, sustained volley, rang out in the frosty air… Almost the entire front row was mowed down… The crowd scattered in panic… A worker, his face haggard, wailed tearfully: ‘Have mercy, why? Why our own people? They're our own, after all!’” is how officer Vladimir Savonko recalled the beginning of the First Russian Revolution on January 22, 1905.
On that day, government troops in St. Petersburg brutally dispersed a workers' demonstration that was heading to the tsar with a petition calling for the immediate adoption of "measures against the ignorance and oppression of the Russian people". The people demanded better working conditions, freedom of speech and the press and ministerial accountability to the people. Authorities viewed these political demands as "insolent" and responded harshly.
Discontent had long been brewing in society. There were many contributing factors: a low standard of living, social insecurity, ethnic and religious inequality, as well as the tsarist government's unwillingness to implement reforms. The situation was further exacerbated by the unsuccessful war against Japan.
The events of January 22, which went down in history as ‘Bloody Sunday’ claimed the lives of over 100 people and set off a chain reaction across the country. Workers' strikes broke out in the largest cities, soon also joined by the intelligentsia. Cries of "Down with autocracy!" rang out. Peasants sacked landowners' estates. Revolutionary groups, in turn, intensified political terror.
On June 27, sailors aboard the battleship ‘Prince Potemkin-Tauride’, enraged by poor quality of their food, revolted. However, they failed to secure support from the crews of other Black Sea Fleet ships and retreated to Romania. This was the first serious uprising in the Imperial Armed Forces, which exacerbated the general crisis.
In Fall 1905, a nationwide political strike swept across the country – as many as two million people went on strike. “St. Petersburg was becoming terrifying,” recalled historian Nikolai Wrangel. “Thousands of workers filled Nevsky Prospekt, impeding the movement of carriages. There were constant clashes with the police and even with the troops… Cavalry regiments almost never returned to their barracks and, expecting unrest, spent the night in one factory or another. The city was clearly under siege. The mournful, discordant revolutionary chants of the crowds filled the soul with melancholy…”
The current situation forced the authorities to make concessions. On October 17, Nicholas II signed the Manifesto ‘On the Improvement of State Order’, which proclaimed freedom of speech, assembly and association and established the State Duma with legislative powers. The document concluded with a call "to all loyal sons of Russia to help put an end to… this unprecedented unrest."
Some welcomed the manifesto with enthusiasm, while others saw it as mere rhetoric lacking practical significance. The radical left-wing Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) and the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which ignored the elections to the First State Duma and embarked on armed struggle, meanwhile, issued sharp criticism.
They played a key role in preparing the armed uprising in Moscow in December 1905. It began with a strike that quickly escalated into clashes with the police. Armed with revolvers, the insurgents attempted to break through from the outskirts to the center, but were dispersed by government troops. Around 1,000 people were killed, including civilians. The Moscow Uprising marked the culmination of the First Russian Revolution. After its suppression, the revolution gradually petered out, although strikes and armed protests continued throughout 1906.
In April 1906, the First State Duma was convened. However, its powers were significantly limited – many important issues, including foreign policy and the appointment of ministers, remained under the emperor's authority. In July, the tsar dissolved the Duma on the pretext that it was fomenting unrest and the deputies only managed to pass a bill providing financial assistance to those affected by crop failures.
The Second Duma functioned from February to June 1907 – this time, including members of the Socialist Revolutionaries and Social Democrats. It, too, was dissolved, due to accusations that a number of deputies were plotting against the imperial family. Nicholas II reformed the electoral system, which allowed for an increase in the number of industrialists and landowners loyal to the government within the legislative body. The Third and Fourth Dumas served their full terms until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1917.
The First Russian Revolution ended with a compromise between the government and society. The population gained a number of political freedoms and saw some improvement in working conditions. A multi-party system began to emerge in the empire and the tsar's autocratic power was somewhat limited, although a constitutional monarchy was still a long way off.