The 4 Dumas 1906-1917 Flashcards
What was seat distribution like in the first Duma (May-July 1906)?
18 Menshevik.
Majority of seats were liberals - Kadets had 182.
No Bolshevik or SR participation.
What was seat distribution like in the second Duma (February-June 1907)?
SRs had 37 seats.
Kadet numbers dropped to 91 seats due to the Vyborg Appeal.
Bolsheviks did participate.
What was seat distribution like in the third Duma (November 1907-June 1912)?
No Mensheviks or SRs.
19 Bolsheviks.
Sat for longer as it was more conservative/right-wing - ideas support tsar.
What was seat distribution like in the fourth Duma (November 1912-1917)?
No Mensheviks or SRs.
15 Bolsheviks.
Similar to third - sat for longer due to conservatism/right-wing - support tsar.
How did the Fundamental Laws assert the tsar’s powers over the Duma?
Right to rule independently of the Duma when it’s not in session.
Right to dissolve it at any point.
Power to change the electoral system.
Power to appoint the ministers he wanted to the Council.
Sole commander of army and navy.
Ability to overturn verdicts and sentences given in the court of law.
Right to control the Orthodox Church.
Who was prime minister of the first Duma?
Goremykin
What happened during the first Duma (May-July 1906)?
Deputies demanded the abolition of the tsar’s state council, the seizure of lands belonging to the gentry, universal male suffrage, abolition of the death penalty and abolition of the Emergency Laws. A vote of no confidence was passed by deputies.
The Tsar ignored this and dissolved it after only 10 weeks. Led to the Vyborg Appeal.
What happened during the second Duma (February-June 1907)?
Stolypin replaced Goremykin as PM.
Stolypin spread a story about SDs wishing to assassinate the tsar and attempted to arrest them. When the Deputies insisted that the SDs should not be arrested, the tsar dissolved the Duma. An illegal emergency law was then brought in to alter the franchise: the weight of the votes of the peasants, workers and national minorities was drastically reduced and the representation of the gentry increased.
What happened during the third Duma (November 1907-June 1912)?
The groups which favoured the government - the Octobrists and Rightists - won the majority of the seats. It agreed to the majority of the government’s proposals.
Yet by this time even the Octobrists were starting to oppose the government and some legislation had to be forced through using emergency provisions.
Stolypin pursued his land reforms without opposition from deputies.
Among the bills the Duma approved were social reform measures that included the setting-up of schools for the children of the poor and national insurance for industrial workers.
What happened during the fourth Duma (November 1912-1917)?
Party groupings remained similar to the third Duma. Stolypin’s replacement as PM (Rodzianko) chose to ignore the Duma and its influence declined. It was too divided to fight back but continued to criticise the tsar’s government.
A Moscow Okhrana report in 1912 blamed the tension in Russia on the awkward and searching questions continually being asked in the Duma about government policy.
In 1913, Rodzianko requested that the role of the Duma should be clarified so it could play a constructive role in Russian affairs.
Overall, how was the Duma limited?
Voting system was unfair.
State council consisted of delegates, half of whom were chosen by the tsar.
Duma had little influence over tsar and new laws.
Emergency laws had been brought in to alter the franchise, and SD deputies had been arrested.
First 2 Dumas were dismissed for demanding reform.
