With reforms and freedom
constrained for decades, a war mishandled and a door opened for expression,
Russians cried for changes Russia’s autocratic rule. They demanded civil rights,
freedom, and social justice. But with a massacre in a cold January day, events
spiraled out of control resulting to the Revolution of 1905. Explore how the
event the 1905 Revolution transpired and brought the Tsardom went near the
brink.
The Revolution of
1905
Bloody Sunday
Bloody
Sunday caused an upsurge of disgust and anger towards the Tsar and his
government fueling the growing demands for reforms. Various parties took the
war’s events as a sign of weakness of the government and a signal for change.
Workers and Intelligentsias took the opportunity to voice their complaints and
petitioned the government for social justice.
On
January 1/ 14 (Old Style/New Style), 1905, a group of St. Petersburg workers went
to the Alexander Palace in Tsarkoye Selo, in the outskirts of the capital, to
present a petition to Tsar Nicholas. They petitioned for better working
conditions, higher wages, lower work hours per week, and protection against
management abuses. To their disappointment, Tsar Nicholas ignored the workers’
delegation.
On
January 3/16 (Old Style/New Style), 1905, 13,500 workers of the Putilov Iron
Works went on strike against the abusive and hated management of the Works. Putilov
strike grew as workers from the nearby shipyard and other factories and iron
works joined the strike. And from a strike against management turned into a
labor movement dedicated for improvements in working conditions.
Agent-provocateurs
or leaders of Zubatovshchina felt pressured by the previous events. Members of
one of the Zubatovshchina, Union of the Assembly of Russian Factory and Mill
Workers, joined the strike. Union members wanted to march in the streets to
present a petition to the Tsar in the Winter Palace. The leader of the Union, Fr. Georgy Gapon, an
agent-provocateur of the government, faced a dilemma. On one hand, if he
refused to allow the march, workers would likely listen and follow the
instigation of socialists. But on the other hand, allowing the march would
challenge the government, which he, as a government hired agent, must prevent.
Gapon choose to allow the march scheduled on January 9/22 (Old Style/New
Style), 1905. But in order not to antagonize the government, Gapon warned the
authorities and planed the march to be peaceful and supportive of the Tsar.
On
January 8/21 (Old Style/New Style), 1905, government ministers met to discuss
and to plan government actions towards the upcoming march of workers. The
ministers sent troops in various streets leading to the Palace Square. They
also attempted to prevent the march by issuing prohibitions against such
actions. Yet, despite the meeting, they failed to concretely plan on how to
react once the soldiers and the workers met face to face. This failed coordination
with the military resulted to dire consequences.
On
the day of the march, January 9 (Old Style), 200,000 workers from different parts
of the city began their procession towards the Palace Square and submit their
petition to the Tsar. The workers showed no hostility or aggression; but rather,
they displayed peace, piety, and loyalty to the Tsar by holding images of
religious icons and of the Tsar along their chanting of prayers along the way.
Many of the workers expected the event to be calm and peaceful, so many of them
brought their children and wives along. Fr. Gapon’s group held a petition,
which they planned to submit to the Tsar.
The
petition asked for the establishment of a more humane and equal society. They
asked for the convocation of a Constituent Assembly of Representatives from all
sectors of society (capitalist, workers, government officials, professionals,
nobles, peasants, and clergy) to discuss reforms for improvements in the
empire. They asked for elections of the members through universal suffrage.
They wanted the Tsar to recognize and act against “ignorance and
disfranchisement of the Russian People” under which they asked for liberty,
freedom of the press, of association, of worship, and separation of church and
state as well as education for all Russians, simplification of government
structure and codifying administrative procedures. They also placed under it equality
of all men in law and the release of all political prisoners.
They
also laid out what they wanted for fighting poverty. Within it, they asked for
the abolition of indirect taxes and implementation of more equitable income tax
system. They asked for the repeal of the land redemption tax, which peasants
had to pay for government loans to purchase lands. And most importantly, they
asked for a massive agrarian reform and to break up the hold of the landed
nobility.
Most
importantly, the workers also demanded the Tsar to fight “against labor abuses.”
It included protection against labor abuses, freedom to create labor unions,
and imposition of 8-hour work day. Alongside it, they wanted rights to organize
and carry out strikes, rights to have representation of workers in the
government, and also standard wages.
The
whole petition showed no hostility against the Tsar. It only attacked those who
influenced the Tsar negatively. They addressed Nicholas as a father to his subject.
The peaceful petition and march, however, had no effect on the military
response that followed.
Many
were shock as to what happened to the workers as they approach lines of
soldiers blocking the roads towards the Palace Square. Sergei Witte, who stayed
in his house and viewed the events from his balcony, wrote:
"The next morning, from my balcony, I could see a large crowd moving along the Kamennoostroky Prospect. There were among many intellectuals, women, and children. Before ten minutes, shots resounded in the direction of the Troitzky Bridge. One bullet whizzed past me, another one killed the porter of the Alexander Lyceum. The next thing I saw was a number of wounded being carried away from the scene in cabs, and then a crowd running in disorder with crying women here and there. I learned afterwards that it was decided at the abovementioned conference not to allow the marchers to reach the Square, but apparently instructions were not issued in time to the military authorities. There was no one present to speak to the workmen and make an attempt to bring them to reason. I do not know whether the same thing happened everywhere, but on the Troitzky Bridge the troops fired rashly and without rhyme or reason. There hundreds of casualties in killed and wounded, among them many innocent people. Gapon fled and the revolutionists triumphed: The workmen were completely alienated from the Tsar and his government."
New
York Times also published a Russian witness’ account of the events of Bloody
Sunday. The witness detailed how soldiers stopped the marchers approaching the Narva
Gate in the west of the Palace Square. There, 8,000 workers met lines of soldiers
blocking their way to the Palace Square. The military units composing of
cavalry and riflemen, attacked the marchers. The cavalry charged with their
swords while the riflemen first fired blanks as warning before shooting with
live ammunition.
Following
the shooting that day, violence followed throughout the night. Civilians laid
dead in the street while other marchers retreated and erected barricades. The
barricades faced relentless salvo of rifle fire from soldiers wanting to break
down the obstacles. Workers tried to retaliate by throwing stones towards the
soldiers. Violent civilians and radical revolutionaries ransacked and looted
shops. The following day reports of skirmishes between workers and soldiers
continued, one included troops stopping a group of workers proceeding to
Tsarkoye Selo to protest to the Emperor. In the end, the government reported
only 800 killed. However, some estimated that civilians, including women and
children, that perished numbered around thousands. While Russians fought in the
street, Fr. Gapon, wounded from a gunshot fled to Finland. He hid there for
months, before succumbing to a socialist assassin’s bullet for his actions that
led thousands of workers dead.
The
massacre of marchers that became notoriously known as Bloody Sunday caused a revolutionary
wave against the Tsarist government. Many Russian believed that the Tsar had no
care and oblivious to his people by allowing them to be shot and killed. It
radicalized many and disillusioned more whether reforms would still be
feasible. Revolutionaries gained ground and agitated for strikes and even
uprisings against the government. Some ministers within the government even
started to consider liberal reforms for the Tsarist government to survive.
Explore also:
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General
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Online
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A Russian Correspondent of The
New York Times. "Russian Tells Story of Sunday's Massacre." New York Times (January 25 1905). URL: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9505E0D6173AE733A25756C2A9679C946497D6CF
"Troops Overawe St.
Petersburg." New York
Times (January 24, 1905).
URL: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C07EFDF1F3BE631A25757C2A9679C946497D6CF
"Iron Ruler for St.
Petersburg." New York
Times (January 25, 1905).
URL: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9907E0D6173AE733A25756C2A9679C946497D6CF
"Revolution?" The
Manchester Guardian (January 23, 1905). URL: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/1/4/1357302276132/Russia-1905-uprising-001.jpg
Websites:
Ascher, Abraham. "Revolution
of 1905." Encyclopedia of Russian History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Feb. 2016.
http://www.encyclopedia.com.
Trotsky, Leon. “1905.” Marxist Internet Archives.
March 12, 2016. https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1907/1905/
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