Fundamental Laws and Dumas

Question 1

Who COULD vote in Russia as a result of the October Manifesto?

Who COULDN’T vote?

Answer 1

COULD: all male citizens over 25

COULDN’T: military servicemen, women

Question 2

What did Nicholas declare at the passing of the Fundamental Laws in 1906?

Answer 2

“The Sovereign Emperor possesses the initiative of all legislative matters. No law can come into force without his approval”

Question 3

Who had inspired Nicholas II to pass the Fundamental Laws in 1906?

Answer 3

Nicholas I in 1832 - passed his own Fundamental Laws of the Empire

Question 4

Under the Fundamental Laws, who would appoint the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers?

Answer 4

The Tsar

Question 5

Who had the final say on laws passed under the Fundamental Laws?

Answer 5

The Tsar

Question 6

Under the Fundamental Laws, what could the Tsar do when the Duma was not in session?

Answer 6

Rule by emergency decree (Article 87)

Question 7

The Fundamental Laws made the Duma bi-cameral: what does this mean?

Answer 7

One chamber would be an elected lower house; another would be an upper house (State Council) whose membership would be controlled by the Tsar

Question 8

As a result of the Fundamental Laws, who boycotted the First Duma?

Answer 8

Left-wing groups

Question 9

Which party had the most representatives in the First Duma?

Answer 9

Kadets

Question 10

What did the Chief Minister Ivan Goremykin tell the First Duma?

Answer 10

Their demands were ‘inadmissable’

Question 11

What did the First Duma debate which angered the government?

Answer 11

Compulsory redistribution of land and the release of political prisoners

Question 12

What could now happen in Russia for the first time with the formation of the Duma?

Answer 12

Open, legal political debate and disagreement with the Tsar

Question 13

How many days did it take for Nicholas to dissolve the First Duma?

Answer 13

73 days

Question 14

How did the Kadets and Labourists respond to the dissolution of the First Duma?

Answer 14

Urged the Russian people to refuse to pay taxes and disobey government orders (Vyborg Appeal)

Question 15

What happened to the Kadets and Labourists as a result of the Vyborg Appeal?

Answer 15

Those involved were banned from standing for election to the Second Duma

Question 16

What did Prime Minister Peter Stolypin introduce in Russia as a result of the Vyborg Appeal?

Answer 16

Field courts martial (military courts)

Question 17

What happened to the number of Kadet representatives in the Duma between the First and Second Dumas?

Answer 17

Cut in half - from 182 to 91

Question 18

Who took most of the lost Kadet seats in the Second Duma?

Answer 18

The SDs and SRs

Question 19

Which of Stolypin’s policies was opposed by the Second Duma?

Answer 19

The Wager on the Strong (land reform)

Question 20

What was Nicholas’s excuse for dissolving the Second Duma after four months?

Answer 20

He accused an SD member of the Duma for attempting to arrange an army mutiny

Question 21

How did Stolypin and Nicholas change Russian politics on 3 June 1907?

Answer 21

They changed the electoral laws to favour conservative landowners (who had 50% of the vote) at the expense of industrial workers (who had just 2% of the vote)

Question 22

Apart from the workers, who else lost influence in the Duma between the Second and Third Dumas?

Answer 22

National minorities - number of deputies was cut

Question 23

Why did Nicholas not want to ban the Duma altogether?

Answer 23

He wanted to show western nations that Russia was a democratic nation

Question 24

What did left-wing groups label the Third Duma as, and why?

Answer 24

The “Duma of Lords and Lackeys”. It was dominated by right-wing parties, loyal to the Tsar, representing the propertied classes

Question 25

Give three policies passed by the Third Duma

Answer 25

Any three from:

• Strengthening the army and navy
• Abolition of land captains, replaced by Justices of the Peace
• Universal primary education (1908)
• National insurance schemes for workers in 1912 (including unemployment pay and medical treatment)

Question 26

How did the Duma strengthen Nicholas’s position?

Answer 26

Political groups could argue amongst each other and become divided (such as on the nationalities question in the Fourth Duma)

Question 27

How did the Duma weaken Nicholas’s position?

Answer 27

Legal political parties could now voice criticisms of the Tsar, such as the Progressive Bloc in the Fourth Duma