With the economy ceased and people rallied in streets
against the Tsar and his autocratic powers, the Russian government faced
paralysis and tougher challenges. In face of this, the Tsar ultimately conceded
to reforms by signing the October Manifesto. Explore what were the contents of
the October Manifesto and its effect to the Revolution of 1905.
The October Manifesto
With a growing
socialist Soviet growing within the capital and chaos, violence, and
overwhelming demands for reforms raging across the Empire, the government
issued the October Manifesto. On October 5/17 (Old Style/New Style), 1905, official
government newspapers published the Manifesto guaranteeing the creation of a
Duma and the extension of widely demanded civil liberties. A night before the
publication, Sergei Witte with the assistance of Prince Alexei Obolensky
submitted the contents of the Manifesto for the Tsar to sign. The Tsar remained
aversive towards giving political concessions. But surprisingly, even to Witte,
the conservative Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich urged Tsar Nicholas into signing
the Manifesto under the threat of he, the Grand Duke, would blow his brains
with a revolver if the Tsar did not sign the document. Ultimately, the Tsar had
no choice and signed the document.
The October
Manifesto led to the creation of a constitutional monarchy or as others termed,
constitutional autocracy, with a state Duma ruling alongside the Tsar and
guaranteed the extension of civil liberties. The Manifesto guaranteed freedom
of assembly and association, speech, worship and conscience. It called for the
establishment of a State Duma with powers to confirm all laws before enactment.
The election of the Duma representatives would be initially based on a broad
suffrage composing the majority of Russian society.
The Manifesto
created several implications. Besides the creation of a constitutional
autocracy, it also created divisions within the opposition. It divided the
people to the radicals and moderate. Radicals wanted the removal of the Tsar
and saw the Manifesto as a trick. The Moderates, on the other hand, saw the
manifesto enough guarantee of reforms. The radicals mostly Social Democrat
Bolsheviks, however, choose not to end their fight and established more Soviets
or Council of Workers in other major cities, such as Moscow, Baku, Tiflis,
among others. Moderates, most tired of news of turbulence and sought stability,
decided to give the Manifesto a chance. After all, reforms that gave
representation and power to a Duma as well as civil liberties were recognized
in the Manifesto. The October Manifesto brought some sigh of relief for the
government as violence started to subside.
Following the October Manifesto
As the opposition
decided on what to do after the proclamation of the October Manifesto, the
government began to reestablish peace and order. Alongside the Manifesto, the
ministers reorganized themselves to become the Council of Minister,
theoretically to be led by the Tsar himself. However, the Tsar choose Sergei
Witte to head the Council, equivocally making him the Prime Minister. As a
result, the duty of returning stability to the empire fell to the statesman.
Witte declared martial law in several provinces both in western Russia and the
peripheries of the Empire and started a crackdown on violent rebels and
hooligans.
With many groups
choosing to cease militant activities, they began to concentrate in political
meetings to define the faith of their respective people and party in the
upcoming elections for the Duma. In the Baltics series of Congresses convened
to discuss their stand over the October Manifesto and the path of their
fellowmen. In Estonia, an All-Estonia Congress convened in November. Latvia
also convened a congress within weeks. And in Lithuania, the Great Vilnius Diet
convened with 2,000 representatives attending and elected the founder of the
newspaper Ausra, Dr. Jonas
Basanavicius, as chairman. Most of the Congresses agreed to participate in the
election and hoped that autonomy would be granted to most of them.
In December,
however, to the shock of the attendees of these congresses, the Russian Empire
clamped down on opposition within the peripheries with brute force. As troops
from the east poured back to the west, St. Petersburg sent punitive expeditions
in the peripheries to punish those who instigated violence for the previous
months. Executions stood in thousands along with those imprisoned and sent to
exile in Siberia. Poland also saw the most violent repression as the Russian
army returned with vengeance crushing Polish nationalist and socialist.
Back in St.
Petersburg, the publication of the October Manifesto weakened the St.
Petersburg Soviet. Many workers chose to be contented with the manifesto and
began to return to their normal lives. It also mirrored that many had felt
tired of the violence, weakened financially, and chose to settle down when
promises had been made. By December 1905, Witte took the opportunity of
weakening workers movement and had the members of the Soviet arrested.
While the level of violent
incidents started to subside, a new struggle for seats in the Duma began.
Revolutionaries such as Socialist Revolutionary Party and the Social Democrats
choose to boycott the election of the Duma scheduled in March 1906. But many
groups decided to participate in the elections. Various organizations of
professionals came together to establish the Constitutional Democratic Party
with its members widely called as Kadets. Also, conservatives also formed their
own parties. The Black Hundred joined with other extreme right groups to form
the Union of Russia and Union of the Russian People. Moderate conservatives who
supported the October Manifesto established the Octoberist Party. The Union of
the Russian People and the Octoberist became the Tsar’s allies in the Duma.
Although many
accepted the October Manifesto and turned their fight into parliamentary rather
than militant, some refused to give up in opposing and keeping a revolutionary
spirit against the Tsar. Mutinies continued to spur up. By November the Russian
navy had captured the mutinous battleship Potemkin. But mutinies rose up in the
naval bases of Kronstadt and Sevastopol. Most sailors complained the abuses
that they suffered from their officers.
Supporters of
Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality, like the Black Hundreds also added in
the number of continuing violence. They committed pogroms and riots targeting
Jews, which they saw as the root of weakening the Tsar. The worst of the
pogroms occurred in Kishinev in December 1905, which victimized and killed
hundreds of Jews in the city.
Social Democrats
refused to participate in the Duma election and saw the promises of the October
Manifesto as a ruse. The Bolsheviks believed that they must take action against
the Tsar by inciting an uprising, which they hope would escalate to another
violent revolution as Lenin wanted. In December 1905, the Moscow Strike
Committee, mostly composed of Bolsheviks, declared itself as the Moscow Soviet.
They declared an uprising and erected barricades. Moscow governor cabled St.
Petersburg for reinforcement, which Witte and the Tsar did. By the middle of
December, the military crushed the Moscow Soviet’s uprising leaving 700 dead
and 2,000 wounded. Other than the Russians, the Polish Social Democrats
followed the example of Moscow and started an uprising that lasted for 2 years.
As some news of
trouble continued to reach the government, most prepared for election for the
First Duma. How Russia went as it traverse a path towards a constitutional
autocracy?
Explore
also:
Bibliography:
Books:
Balkelis,
Tomas. The Making of Modern
Lithuania. New York, New York: Routledge, 2009.
Bolukbasi,
Suha. Azerbaijan: A Political
History. New York, New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2011.
Croissant,
Michael. The
Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications. Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Euchensehr,
Kristen and Michael Reisman (Eds.). Stopping
Wars and Making Peace: Studies in International Intervention. Leiden, The
Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill, 2009.
Kassow,
Samuel. Students, Professors,
and the State in Tsarist Russia. Berkeley, California: University of
California Press, 1989.
Kasekamp,
Andres. A History of the
Baltic States. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Kokovtsov,
Vladimir. H.H. Fisher (Ed.). Laura Matveev (Trans.). Out of My Past: The Memoirs of
Count Kokovtsov. Standford University, California: Stanford University
Press, 1935.
Leslie,
R.F. (ed.). The History of
Poland since 1863. New York, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
O'Connor,
Kevin. The History of the
Baltic States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003.
Papazian,
K.S. Patriotism Perverted: A
Discussion of the Deeds and the Misdeeds of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, the So-called Dashnagtzoutune. Boston, Massachusetts: Baikar
Press, 1934.
Pipes,
Richard. A Concise History of
the Russian Revolution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1995.
___________. Formation of the Soviet Union:
Communism and Nationalism, 1917 - 1923. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, 1997.
Palmer,
Robert. A History of the
Modern World. Boston, Massachusettes: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
Plakans,
Andrejs. The Latvians: A Short
History. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 1995.
Prazmowska,
Anita. Poland: A Modern
History. New York, New York: IB Tauris, 2010.
Raun,
Toivo. Estonia and the
Estonians. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 1995.
Witte,
Sergei. Abraham Yarmolinsky (Trans.). The
Memoirs of Count Sergei Witte. Garden City, New York: Dobleday, Page &
Company, 1921.
General
References:
"Jadidism," Historical Dictionary of Kazakhstan.
Edited by Didar Kassymova et. al. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc.,
2012.
"Revolution
of 1905-1906." In the Historical
Dictionary of Poland, 966 - 1945. Edited by Jerzy Jan Lerski. Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996.
"Russian
Revolution (1905)." In the Historical
Dictionary of Marxism. Edited by Elliott Johnson et. al. Lanham, Maryland:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
Corfield,
Justin. "Russian Revolution (1905)." In The Encyclopedia of the Industrial
Revolution in World History. Edited by Kenneth E. Hendrikson, III. Lanham,
Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
Frame,
Arthur. Russia, "Revolution of 1905." In The Encyclopedia of World War I: A
Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara, California:
ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2005.
Gough, Jana
trans. History of
Civilizations of Central Asia V. 6. Paris: UNESCO, 2005.
Mikaberidze,
Alexander. Historical
Dictionary of Georgia. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
Suny,
Ronald Grigor. "Russian Revolution of 1905." in The Encyclopedia of Political
Revolutions. Edited by Jack A. Goldstone. New York, New York: Routledge,
1998.
Suziedelis,
Saulius. Historical Dictionary
of Lithuania. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group,
Inc., 2011.
Online
Newspaper Articles:
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/
No comments:
Post a Comment