October Manifesto Flashcards
What was the state of Russia by October 1905
Russian Empire seemed near to collapse
Who pleaded for reform
Witte (Chairman of the Tsar’s Council of Ministers)
Trepov
Another one of the Tsar’s uncles (Grand Duke Nikolay Romanov)
What happened on October 17th
Tsar promised constitutional reform in the October Manifesto
What did the October Manifesto promise to grant
Civic freedom granted (freedom of speech, right to hold meetings)
A state Duma that would have the power to approve laws, thus all classes would have a say in government,
Reaction to the Manifesto
Split opposition.
Liberals felt they had achieved their aim
Workers felt it had not sorted out greivances.
Strikes continued, soviets continued to be set up, peasant uprisings peaked and mutinies still occurred e.g. at the Kronstadt naval base.
What did Lenin describe the manifesto as?
A scrap of paper
What was the Tsar’s true intentions
Had no intention of becoming a constitutional monarch
How did the two soviets react?
The St Petersburg Soviet called off the General Strike and the Moscow Soviet continued its fight
Which two new liberal parties were formed
The Kadets (who saw the manifesto as a start to full parliamentary democracy) The Octoberists (a loose group of industrialists and gentry)
What counter-revolution tactics were deployed
Trepov took no notice of the promise of ‘full civil rights’ and use live bullets to force strikers in St Petersburg back to work.
In December members of the St Petersburg Soviet were arrested, including Trotsky.
The Moscow Soviet was was a guerrilla-type uprising and was also crushed.
The suppression was harsh; summary executions were frequent.
The Presnia district was shelled.
Martial Law was applied in 41 provinces.
The Black Hundreds carried out 609 pogroms
Counter-revolution tactics in the countryside
It took 2 years to restore order in the countryside.
November 1905, a peak in peasant uprisings partly due to bad harvests,
These calmed down when the government announced redemption payments to be halved (January 1907 they ended)
A Peasants Land Bank was set up to help peasants buy land
These gestures were accompanied by brutality;
troops used beatings, rape, floggings and executions.
Summer 1906, field court martial were introduced which meant faster trials and executions.
So many were hung that the gallows were known as ‘Stolypin’s necktie’ (Peter Stolypin= new Minister of the Interior)
