1905 Revolution and October Manifesto

Question 1

Workers actions in 1905 Rev

Answer 1

• October = general strike
• 14 October, Moscow and Petrograd economies paralysed
• 400 000 on strike in Jan following Bloody Sunday
• 2 million on strike by October, by 13th almost no active railways in all of Russia

Question 2

Peasants’ actions in 1905 Rev

Answer 2

• nationalities pushed for autonomy
• feared govt would seize property of those unable to repay mortgages – seized estates (govt unable to cope because of isolation and lack of troops)
• nearly 3000 manors destroyed 1905-06 (15% of total)
• formed congress in July, 100 delegates from 22 provinces, 2nd congress in November from 29 provinces - adopted largely SR program ‘private property in land should be abolished’
• some established self-governing republics (e.g. Markovo republic) through Union of Peasants, authorities didn’t take control until July 1906 (6 months after the revolution in cities had been put down)
• local government paralysed by October (badly organized at local level, no process for crisis)

Question 3

Military actions in 1905 Rev

Answer 3

• Manchuria troops mutinied, took control of Trans-Siberian railway for some weeks
• Kronstadt controlled by mutineers for 2 days, eventually 1200 arrested by local guards
• Battleship Potemkin mutinied June 14, murdered 7 officers and sailed to Rumania
• ‘major embarrassment to the regime, for it showed the world that the revolution had spread to the heart of its own military machine.” Figes
• January to October, army used 2700 times to put down peasant rebellions

Question 4

Students actions in 1905 Rev

Answer 4

• 3000 protesting at Moscow Uni

- 18 March all forcibly closed

Question 5

October Manifesto concessions + date

Answer 5

• 17 October 1905
• voting rights, civil freedoms (association, speech, assembly), every law needs Duma confirmation
• “sick with shame at this betrayal of the dynasty… the betrayal was complete”.

Question 6

October Manifesto peasants’ response

Answer 6

• wanted land + lower taxes, had to be repressed
• winter of 1906-7 much of rural Russia was under martial law
• summary justice
• over 1000 execution
• zemskie nachalniki power increased (little tsars)
• landowning nobility knew interests lay with autocracy
• land redemption payments halved, later cancelled

Question 7

October manifesto workers’ response

Answer 7

• wanted specific work improvements

- political propaganda of little interest

Question 8

October manifesto Kadets + Octobrist responses

Answer 8

• Kadets pursued more concessions

- Octobrists accepted

Question 9

October manifesto soviets’ reponse

Answer 9

• saw it as ‘fraud’
• called for further action, worker’s couldn’t afford it, soviets lost influece
  Moscow uprising
• Chairman Nossar arrested 26 November
• 260 deputies arrested 3 December (half of all)
• 6 December called for strike, crippled city until 18 December
• By 12 December the rebel militias had gained control of all the railway stations and several districts of the city
• troops sent in; 1000 dead
• Petrograd figures (inc Trotsky) arrested following Moscow

Question 10

October manifesto effect on rev groups

Answer 10

• Union of Unions formed (led by Pavel Milyuov, wanted CA, voting rights, provided intelligentsia with connection to people)
• soviets increased to 80 by end of 1905, power base for SRs

Question 11

1905 Rev Pipes thoughts

Answer 11

• ‘The terrible weakness of the bonds holding together the mighty Russian Empire became apparent to all’ Pipes
• both the govt and opposition groups saw Parliament as ‘ an arena of combat. Sensible voices pleading for cooperation found themselves vilified by both parties.” Pipes
• “The technique of translating specific complaints into general political demands became a standard procedure for Russian liberals and radicals. It precluded compromise and partial reforms”
• “In the end, Russia had gained nothing more than a breathing spell.” Pipes
• “Repression.. drove the diverse elements of the opposition into each other’s arms and radicalised the moderates’

Question 12

1905 Rev Trotsky thoughts

Answer 12

”- ‘although with a few broken ribs, had come out of the experience of 1905 alive and strong.’ Trotsky

Question 13

1905 Rev Fitzpatrick thoughts

Answer 13

• outcome of the 1905 Revolution was’ ambiguous and in some ways unsatisfactory to all concerned Fitzpatrick

Question 14

1905 Rev Figes thoughts

Answer 14

• By issuing the October Manifesto the tsarist regime succeeded in driving a wedge between the liberals and the socialists.
  Failed because
• movements had “followed their own separate rhythms and failed to combine politically”
• armed forces remained loyal
• fatal split within the revolutionary camp between the liberals and democrats
• “The revolutionaries played a marginal role until October” (opposition was driven by liberals and liberal conservatives who saw in constitution and parliament a way to strengthen the state and avert revolution - June)

Question 15

Zemstvo/liberal actions in 1905 Revolution

Answer 15

• 11 and 12 May 1905, 300 Zemstvo and municipal representatives held three meetings in Moscow, which passed a resolution, asking for popular representation at the national level. On 6 June [O.S. 24 May ] 1905, Nicholas II had received a Zemstvo deputation. Responding to speeches by Prince Sergei Trubetskoi and Mr Fyodrov, the Tsar confirmed his promise to convene an assembly of people’s representatives.
• Bulygin Duma presented August 6 - liberals agreed, but other parties rejected and called for general strike

Question 16

Military grievances 1905

Answer 16

• Between 1881 and 1902 the military’s share of the budget dropped from 30 per cent to 18 per cent.
• Ten years before the First World War the Russian army was spending only 57 per cent of the amount spent on each soldier in the German army, and only 63 per cent of that spent in the Austrian.
• Between 1883 and 1903 the troops were called out nearly 1,500 times.
• There were over 400 mutinies between the autumn of 1905 and the summer of 1906

Question 17

Regime reluctance 1905 revolution

Answer 17

• Bulygin plan for Duma signed 6 august, was a purely consultative one elected on a limited franchise to ensure the domination of the nobles (less than I per cent of St Petersburg’s adult residents would qualify for the vote)
• “This terrible decision” letter to mother
• ‘“From the start, then, the Tsar was reluctant in the extreme to play the role of a constitutional monarch” Figes
• “This self deception - the absurd concepts of a constitutional autocrat - would cause no end of trouble between the state and the Duma in years to come” Figes
• Witte later claimed that the court set out to use his Manifesto as a temporary concession and that it had always intended to return to its old autocratic ways once the danger passed.

Question 18

Repression following 1905 Rev

Answer 18

• Durnovo was allowed to ‘carry out a brutal and excessive, and often totally unjustified, series of repressions
• 1906 and 1909 over 5,000 ‘politicals’ were sentenced to death, and a further 38,000 were either imprisoned
• executed 15,000 people, shot or wounded at least 20,000 and deported or exiled 45,000, between mid-October and the opening of the first State Duma in April 1906.

Question 19

Split of liberals in 1905 rev

Answer 19

• liberals chose not to boycott the Bulygin Duma elections. But the Social Democrats and the radicals in the Union of Unions were now more determined than ever

Question 20

1905 carter thoughts

Answer 20

• “the revolution had let loose a hunger for democracy and representation that couldn’t be denied”