After much hesitation, caused by the fact that the oath he had taken upon accession to the throne was actually violated, Nicholas II put his signature on the Manifesto prepared by the Council of Justice. Witte and published on October 17, 1905, the Manifesto essentially boiled down to three main elements: 1) the granting of civil liberties to the people on the basis of bourgeois-democratic principles - personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and organization; 2) ensuring the participation in elections of those sections of the population who, by decree of August 6, 1905, were deprived of the right to vote on the basis of the new electoral law; 3) the introduction as an indispensable rule that no law can come into force without its approval by the State Duma - a way of monitoring the legality of the emperor’s actions.
The manifesto was a step forward compared to the legislative acts of February 18 and August 6, 1905. However, it left many important questions unresolved: about the role and place of autocracy in the new political system, about the powers of the State Duma, about the essence of the constitutional order.
The revolution continued. The high point of the revolution was the December armed uprising of 1905 in Moscow. The tsarist government managed to play on the split in the opposition forces and did not keep most of the promises contained in the Manifesto of October 17, 1905. The defeat of the uprising was the defeat of the social revolution.
The election law, adopted on December 11, 1905, softened the electoral qualifications, but left the elections multi-stage, and the rights of voters unequal and not universal. All voters were divided into four curia: landowners, city owners, workers and peasants. Each of them chose its own electors for constituencies. The election law, very complex and confusing, primarily ensured the rights of landowners. The powers of the Duma were greatly limited in advance.
On the eve of the election campaign, the government carried out a reform of the State Council, which was transformed from a legislative advisory body, all of whose members had previously been appointed by the tsar, into the upper house of the future parliament, having legislative powers equal to the Duma. The composition of the State Council was also changed. The number of members tripled, half of them were still appointed by the king, while the other was elected on the basis of a high property qualification. Thus, the composition of the State Council was dominated by the local nobility and the big bourgeoisie. On October 19, 1905, a unified government was established - the reformed Council of Justice. Witte, the country's highest executive body is the Council of Ministers. As before, the emperor appointed and dismissed ministers responsible only to him and not to the Duma.
The electoral law relied on the monarchical and nationalist feelings of the peasant masses. But in reality, the peasants supported the opposition parties. Most peasants, instead of supporting the landowner or local government officials in the elections, as expected, voted for their own candidates or for opposition candidates. The elections dealt a severe blow to the main dogma of the autocracy - the inviolable unity of the tsar and the people. The conflict between the opposition-minded Duma and the emperor, who claims to be the bearer of historical and monarchical legitimacy, became inevitable.
One of the important results of the revolution of 1905-1907. was the formation of political parties. The right to form unions was one of the most important freedoms introduced by the Manifesto. During the revolution, about 50 parties arose, defending different paths of development of the country. The number of radical socialist parties, previously deep underground, has increased noticeably. The divergence between the branches of Social Democracy clearly manifested itself: the Bolsheviks proclaimed the peasantry to be the main ally of the proletariat in the revolution and envisioned the establishment of a “revolutionary democratic dictatorship” of the working class and peasantry after the overthrow of the autocracy; The Mensheviks, who saw the masses of liberals as their ally, advocated the transfer of power after the revolution to the bourgeois government.
Manifesto
THE HIGHEST MANIFESTO By the grace of God WE, NICHOLAS THE SECOND, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Tsar of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, and so on, and so on, and so on We announce to all our loyal subjects:Troubles and unrest in the capitals and in many localities of OUR Empire fill OUR heart with great and grave sorrow. The good of the Russian GOVERNMENT is inseparable from the good of the people, and the people's sadness is HIS sadness. The unrest that has now arisen may result in deep disorganization of the people and a threat to the integrity and unity of OUR Power.
The great vow of the Royal service commands US with all the forces of our reason and power to strive for a speedy end to the unrest so dangerous for the State. Having commanded the subject authorities to take measures to eliminate direct manifestations of disorder, riots and violence, in order to protect peaceful people striving for the calm fulfillment of everyone’s duty, WE, for the successful implementation of the general measures WE have planned for the pacification of public life, recognized it as necessary to unite the activities of the Supreme Government.
WE entrust the Government with the responsibility of fulfilling OUR unyielding will:1. Grant the population the unshakable foundations of civil freedom on the basis of actual personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association.
2. Without stopping the scheduled elections to the State Duma, now attract to participation in the Duma, to the extent possible, corresponding to the shortness of the period remaining before the convocation of the Duma, those classes of the population that are now completely deprived of voting rights, thereby allowing for the further development of the beginning of general suffrage again established legislative order.
and 3. Establish as an unshakable rule that no law can take effect without the approval of the State Duma and that those elected from the people are provided with the opportunity to truly participate in monitoring the regularity of the actions of the authorities assigned by US.
We call on all the faithful sons of Russia to remember their duty to their Motherland, to help put an end to this unheard-of unrest and, together with US, to strain all their strength to restore silence and peace in their native land.
Given in Peterhof on the 17th day of October, in the year of the Nativity of Christ one thousand nine hundred and five, and of OUR Reign in the eleventh.
Historical significance
The historical significance of the Manifesto lay in the distribution of the sole right of the Russian Emperor to legislate between, in fact, the monarch and the legislative (representative) body - the State Duma.
The Manifesto, together with the Manifesto of Nicholas II on August 6, established a parliament, without whose approval no law could come into force. At the same time, the Emperor retained the right to dissolve the Duma and block its decisions with his veto. Subsequently, Nicholas II used these rights more than once.
Also, the Manifesto proclaimed and provided civil rights and freedoms, such as freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom to form associations.
Thus, the manifesto was the predecessor of the Russian constitution.
Notes
Links
- The most loyal report of the Secretary of State Count Witte (Church Gazette. St. Petersburg, 1905. No. 43). On the website Heritage of Holy Rus'
- L. Trotsky October 18
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
- Manitou
- Manifesto of the Communist Party
See what the “October 17 Manifesto” is in other dictionaries:
MANIFESTO October 17- 1905 was promulgated by the Russian autocratic government as a significant concession to the revolutionary movement. The essence of M. is stated on behalf of the monarch in the following paragraphs: “We entrust the government with the responsibility of fulfilling our unyielding will: 1) ... ... Cossack dictionary-reference book
MANIFESTO OCTOBER 17, 1905- MANIFESTO OF OCTOBER 17, 1905 (“On the improvement of state order”), signed by Nicholas II at the time of the highest rise of the October All-Russian political strike. Proclaimed civil liberties, the creation of the State Duma... Encyclopedic Dictionary
MANIFESTO OCTOBER 17, 1905- (On the improvement of state order), signed by Nicholas II at the time of the rise of the October All-Russian political strike. He proclaimed civil liberties and the creation of the State Duma. Compiled by S.Yu. Witte... Modern encyclopedia
MANIFESTO OCTOBER 17, 1905- (On improving public order), legislative act. He proclaimed civil liberties and the creation of popular representation in the form of the State Duma. Developed with the participation of Count S. Yu. Witte, published at the time of the highest... ... Russian history
Manifesto October 17, 1905- (“On the Improvement of State Order”) signed by Nicholas II at the time of the highest rise of the October All-Russian political strike. He proclaimed civil liberties and the creation of the State Duma. Political Science: Dictionary... ... Political science. Dictionary.
Manifesto October 17, 1905- (“On the improvement of state order”), signed by Nicholas II at the time of the rise of the October All-Russian political strike. He proclaimed civil liberties and the creation of the State Duma. Compiled by S.Yu. Witte. ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Manifesto October 17, 1905- This term has other meanings, see Manifesto (meanings). Vedomosti St. Petersburg. city authorities. October 18, 1905 The Highest Manifesto On the improvement of the state ... Wikipedia
MANIFESTO October 17, 1905- “On improvement of public order”, legislative act; proclaimed civil liberties and popular will in the form of the State Duma. “...The unrest that has now arisen may result in deep national unrest and a threat... ... Russian statehood in terms. 9th – early 20th century
MANIFESTO OCTOBER 17, 1905- - an act issued by Nicholas II at the height of the October general political strike that swept Russia. The manifesto was published with the aim of splitting the revolutionary movement and deceiving the masses with the promise of imaginary freedoms. The rapid growth of the first bourgeois... ... Soviet legal dictionary
Manifesto October 17, 1905- “On the Improvement of State Order,” the manifesto of Nicholas II, published during the October All-Russian Political Strike of 1905 (See October All-Russian Political Strike of 1905), when a temporary... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Books
- Manifesto of October 17, 1905 and the political movement that caused it, A.S. Alekseev. Manifesto of October 17, 1905 and the political movement that caused it / A. S. Alekseev V 118/592 U 336/178: Moscow: Type. G. Lissner and D. Sobko, 1915:A. S. Alekseev Reproduced in…
The October Manifesto (manifesto of October 17, 1905) is a legislative act developed by the government and signed by Emperor Nicholas 2 in order to put an end to numerous riots and strikes of workers and peasants.
The manifesto was the government's response to the ongoing strikes and popular uprisings taking place in the country since October 12, the author of the document was S.Yu. Witte.
The “Highest Manifesto on the Improvement of State Order” was a forced measure taken by Nicholas 2 in order to stabilize the situation. The essence of the manifesto was to make concessions to the workers and fulfill a number of their demands - to give civil rights and freedoms - thereby ending the chaos in the country.
Prerequisites for the creation of the Manifesto
This document became one of the most notable events during the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907 and was its original result.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the economic and political situation in Russia was very difficult. The abolition of serfdom greatly changed the country's economy, but the old system (autocratic monarchy) could not adequately respond to the changes taking place and support the new type of economy. The country experienced an industrial decline, as there was no one to work in the factories, the country's internal debt grew every day, and several consecutive lean years led to the country starving. The economic crisis, as well as Russia's failures in the military field, led to the fact that the government aroused less and less trust among the people.
Workers who had nothing to eat demanded that they be given civil rights and more freedom, so that the economy could be regulated not only by the decrees of the sovereign, but also by the will of the people. During this period, the slogan “down with autocracy” began to sound more and more often.
Despite the discontent, the government was still somehow coping with the situation, but after the tragic events of Bloody Sunday, when a peaceful demonstration of workers was shot by imperial troops, it was no longer possible to stop the revolution. Riots and strikes began throughout the country - people demanded to overthrow the Emperor.
The strikes peaked in October, when more than 2 million people went on strike. The strikes were accompanied by pogroms and bloody clashes.
At the beginning of the revolution, the government tried to cope with the situation by issuing numerous legislative acts and decrees, as well as using force. In particular, Nicholas 2 first issued a decree, according to which every citizen or group of citizens could submit for consideration a document on changing the state order, but then a second decree was immediately issued - it said that all power belonged exclusively to the emperor. Of course, the people were unhappy that they were trying to give them rights only on paper. The demonstrations grew more intense.
In May 1905, a new bill was submitted to the Duma for consideration, which provided for the creation of a completely new law-making body in Russia, which would become a kind of mediator between the sovereign and the people - this body would consider citizens' proposals and the process of introducing appropriate amendments to official legislation. The Emperor did not like such a bill; its content, by order of Nicholas 2, was changed in favor of autocracy and the power of the monarchy.
When the riots reached their peak, Nicholas 2 was forced to return to the first edition of the new bill, because there was no other way to stop the bloody events. He issued an order to immediately compile the text of the Manifesto.
The manifesto marked the beginning of a new government system - a constitutional monarchy.
112 years ago, Nicholas II proclaimed freedom of speech and assembly and established the State Duma. The first days after the reform were remembered for the escalation of revolutionary violence, executions, dispersal of protesters and pogroms by monarchists.
In October 1905, the All-Russian October political strike began, which became the apogee of the First Russian Revolution. Moscow railway workers went on strike, then the strike spread to the whole country, including St. Petersburg. Almost all large industrial enterprises in the capital went on strike. The railway network of the European part of Russia was paralyzed.
The royal family was blocked in Peterhof; ministers arrived by steamship to report to the emperor. Post office, telegraph, telephone did not work, there was no electricity or gas. Nevsky Prospekt was without power and was illuminated only by a searchlight from the Admiralty.
A rally near St. Petersburg University after the Tsar's manifesto. You can see a red flag being attached to the cross.
On October 13 (26), 1905, Social Democrats and capital workers formed the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies, which led the strike movement and by October 17 (30) and, due to its influence, became an alternative “government” in the capital paralyzed by the strike.
It was headed by non-party Social Democrat lawyer Georgy Khrustalev-Nosar. The “non-factional social democrat” Leon Trotsky enjoyed great influence in the Council.
“Don’t spare cartridges”
On October 14 (27), the famous order of Comrade (Deputy) Minister of Internal Affairs and St. Petersburg Governor General Dmitry Trepov appeared: “Do not spare cartridges.” Soviet historiography made him a symbol of the authorities' brutality towards protesters. However, the full version of the quote clarified that firearms were going to be used only in case of crowd resistance: “If... there were attempts to create unrest anywhere, then they would be stopped at the very beginning and, therefore, would not receive serious development. I have given orders to the troops and police to suppress any such attempt immediately and in the most decisive manner; if there is resistance from the crowd, do not fire blank volleys and do not spare cartridges.”
St. Petersburg Governor General Trepov remained in history thanks to a single phrase
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, “October Idyll”
The protesters were no less cruel to law enforcement in their intentions and actions. The tactics for dealing with individual policemen and soldiers during a strike and on the eve of a planned uprising boiled down to the following: “On the outskirts, attack policemen, beat them and take weapons. Having received a sufficient amount of weapons, quietly kill the arsenal guards and plunder the weapons.” This is the data of secret informants - the revolutionary underground was permeated with them.
“Even without weapons, detachments can play a very serious role: 1) leading the crowd; 2) attacking, at an opportunity, a policeman who accidentally strays from a Cossack... etc. and taking away the weapon.”
Vladimir Lenin in the article “Tasks of the detachments of the revolutionary army,” October 1905
In the same article, Lenin proposed dousing police with acid, and in one October letter he wrote that protesting units should “begin military training in immediate operations, immediately. Some will immediately undertake the murder of a spy, the bombing of a police station... Let each detachment itself learn at least from beating policemen: dozens of victims will more than pay off by providing hundreds of experienced fighters who will lead hundreds of thousands tomorrow.” A few days before the demonstrations of October 18, 1905, a signal was sent to the already radicalized masses to beat up policemen, gendarmes and soldiers.
Naive dreams
On October 17, 1905, at 6 pm, Nicholas II signed the “Highest Manifesto on the Improvement of State Order.” This document established the State Duma and proclaimed a number of freedoms, in particular, freedom of assembly. Many representatives of the bureaucracy greeted this news with undisguised relief. The head of the capital's Security Department, Alexander Gerasimov, recalled how idealistic delight the news of the granted freedoms aroused among high-ranking security officials, Governor Dmitry Trepov and Vice-Director of the Police Department Pyotr Rachkovsky:
Sorry to keep you waiting. Sergei Yulievich just called. Thank God, the manifesto has been signed. Freedoms are given. People's representation is introduced. A new life begins.
Rachkovsky was right there next to me and greeted this news with enthusiasm, echoing Trepov:
Thank God, thank God... Tomorrow they will celebrate Christ on the streets of St. Petersburg,” said Rachkovsky. And, half-jokingly, half-seriously addressing me, he continued: “Your business is bad.” You won't have any work now.
I answered him:
No one will be as happy about this as I am. I will gladly resign. From here I went to the mayor Dedyulin. There they met me with the text of the manifesto in their hands and said the same words as Trepov:
Well, thank God. Now a new life will begin.
Memoirs of Alexander Gerasimov
Rachkovsky’s naive dreams were not destined to come true.
Rallies, executions and pogroms on October 18, 1905: map
Freedom Festival
At night, the manifesto was posted on the streets of St. Petersburg. Liberal oppositionist, lawyer Vladimir Kuzmin-Karavaev witnessed this: “On the dimly lit Nevsky Prospekt... here and there there were groups of people, in close rings surrounding the person reading a manuscript or printed text. Small groups of demonstrators passed by. “Hurray” was heard. Soldiers and policemen listened attentively to the reading along with the students and workers.” Newsboys shouting “Constitution!” began selling the evening supplement to the Government Gazette. Night onlookers even applauded the Cossack patrols in a fit of enthusiasm.
The first rumors and news about the manifesto appeared at night, and in the morning the first rallies of awakened citizens gathered, then they turned into real revolutionary “festivals of freedom.” Demonstrators captured the city center - this had never happened before in Tsarist Russia and the next time it would happen again only during the February Revolution.
The rallies took place near the University building, the Kazan Cathedral and the Technological Institute, where police had arrested students the day before after a cavalry patrol was fired upon. No one understood whether the demonstrations were legal after the manifesto was published. The old rules and orders were no longer in effect, and new ones had not yet been issued. But both the city authorities and the lower ranks that day, with rare exceptions, did not interfere with the protest elements.
“The policemen - some gloomily hid in the gateways, others - a few - looked at the procession and the red flags with a smile, and others looked at the procession and red flags with unconcealed anger and threat. Thus the youth shouted: Hey, Pharaoh, under the visor! The red flag is coming! And, looking around as if hunted, they reluctantly trumped.”
Revolutionary Boris Perez
Shooting on Zagorodny and dispersal at the Technological Institute
One of the demonstrations, at about 3 p.m., moved from Nevsky Prospekt along Zagorodny to the Technological Institute to free the students arrested the day before. When the crowd approached the corner of Gorokhovaya Street and Zagorodny Prospekt, one of the companies of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment emerged from Begovoy Lane. She blocked the avenue, preventing the demonstrators from connecting with the second revolutionary crowd at the Technological Institute and attempting to free the arrested students.
The demonstrators began to turn onto Gorokhovaya Street. A young man climbed onto a lamppost and began a speech about the need to overthrow the sovereign, remove troops from the streets into barracks, resign the governor-general and organize a people's militia. The soldiers of the Semenovsky regiment fired a volley, it killed the speaker and wounded four, including a seven-year-old boy. The officers exceeded their authority, even according to Trepov’s order “Do not spare cartridges.” The demonstrators did not resist, being opposite the soldiers, the demonstration was ready to turn onto Gorokhovaya Street.
This is how the revolutionaries depicted the atrocities of the authorities near the Technological Institute
Even before the shooting of the demonstration on Zagorodny Prospekt, a motley crowd gathered near the building of the Technological Institute. There were also companies of the Semenovsky regiment and a squadron of horse guards. The police certificate (report of the police chief of the IV district of Halle) reported that the Semyonovites were given “instructions to take decisive measures on their part only in the event of aggressive actions of the crowd.” The guardsmen were commanded by the captain of the Semenovsky regiment Levstrem, the cavalry squadron of cornet Frolov was subordinate to him.
As stated in the same police report, the crowd threw stones at the horse guards. Cornet Frolov asked Levstrem for permission to attack the crowd with the entire squadron. Correspondents of the General Small Newspaper described in detail what happened and indicated that Levstrem formally forbade the attack and only allowed the squadron to move forward towards the crowd. But Frolov ordered the swords to be drawn and harshly and quickly dispersed the crowd of people. In this attack, historian Evgeniy Tarle, a private lecturer at the university and one of the symbols of the capital’s opposition, was wounded.
An hour after the shooting of the crowd on Zagorodny Prospekt, a student, the general’s son, Alexander Smirnov, attacked the head of the gendarme department of the Tsarskoye Selo Railway, Major General Shmakov. The general and several officers walked along Zagorodny Prospekt. Smirnov considered this particular gendarmerie general to be guilty of the shooting of demonstrators. The attack was not successful: the student only slightly wounded Shmakov’s face with a dull Finnish knife, was seriously wounded by sabers of gendarme officers and was taken to the Obukhov hospital.
At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, on the corner of 8th Rozhdestvenskaya (now 8th Sovetskaya) and Kirillovskaya streets, a crowd with red flags with the inscription “Freedom” surrounded policeman Ivan Kozlovsky. They were going to beat him up because “he allegedly beat up some drunken old man” (from the police report on the incidents). The policeman drew his saber and retreated into the courtyard of his barracks on Kirillovskaya Street. Stones were thrown at the gate, Kozlovsky shot several times through the gate bars and wounded two. The crowd dispersed.
Jewish pogroms
On the night of October 19, monarchist-minded pogromists became more active in the capital. A crowd of about 1,000 people flying a white flag - the color of the monarchy - near the Apraksin market attacked and beat several Jews walking and driving from Nevsky Prospekt. Opposite house No. 25 on Sadovaya Street, an honorary citizen, pharmacist Lev Ginitsinsky, was beaten, and at house No. 29, pharmacist's assistant Vladislav Benyaminovich was beaten. The police arrived in time and snatched the victims from the hands of the crowd. The local police officer and police officers Kozlovsky and Popov received a blow with a stick from the pogromists.
Future Duma deputy Vasily Shulgin, in his memoirs with a touch of anti-Semitism, described the victorious frenzy of supporters of the revolution at the City Duma in Kyiv:
“During the height of the speeches about the “overthrow,” the royal crown, fixed on the Duma balcony, suddenly fell off or was torn off and, in front of a crowd of ten thousand, crashed onto the dirty pavement. The metal rang pitifully against the stones... And the crowd gasped. The words ran through her in an ominous whisper: “The Jews threw off the royal crown... The crowd, among which the Jews stood out most, burst into the meeting room and, in revolutionary fury, tore all the royal portraits hanging in the hall. Some emperors had their eyes gouged out, others were subjected to all sorts of other tortures. Some red-haired Jewish student, having pierced the portrait of the reigning emperor with his head, wore the pierced canvas on himself, frantically shouting: “Now I am the king!”
Vasily Shulgin “Years”
Various observers wrote about mutually aggressive battles in areas of the discriminatory Jewish Pale of Settlement in October 1905. The German consul in Kharkov, Schiller, reported to his leadership about the prominent role of the Jews: “The first mass meetings in Yekaterinoslav, as I was told by completely trustworthy persons who were eyewitnesses, were organized and led by Jews. At the same time, a group of Jews on the main street tore apart and trampled into the dirt a portrait of the emperor.”
Of course, the main characters in the demonstrations were not only Jews, but they had their own reasons to celebrate the fall of the autocracy.
At the end of the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, there is an appeal: Nicholas II called on “all the faithful sons of Russia to remember their duty to their Motherland, to help put an end to this unheard-of unrest and, together with us, to strain all their strength to restore silence and peace in their native land.” This was a call to loyal subjects to organize themselves and help overcome the consequences of the revolution in the new legal conditions. The call was understood in a peculiar way: pogroms began throughout Russia, beatings of Jews, students and exiled oppositionists.
How the revolutionaries saw the manifesto. Below is the signature: “Major General Trepov had a hand in this sheet.”
After October 17, about 650 pogroms occurred in the Russian Empire in 36 provinces, 100 cities and towns. Almost half are in the Jewish Pale of Settlement.
From October 20 to 22, a particularly brutal pogrom took place in Tomsk. The city, like St. Petersburg, was simultaneously under the rule of radicals and the tsarist administration. On October 19, Tomsk revolutionaries created the Committee of Public Safety and the revolutionary police - a squad of workers and students - and tried to seize power from the governor and the police. The administration was demoralized: the manifesto came as a surprise to it. The autocracy fell, the revolution won, which laws are still in effect and which have been abolished? The police were afraid to show themselves on the street, officials were slow in making decisions. On October 19, even before the amnesty decree of October 21 was received, the release of political prisoners began.
On the morning of October 20, right-wing townspeople, many of whom were suffering financial losses due to the general strike, staged a demonstration in support of the emperor. Along the way, four “internal enemies” were killed - as the right-wing press called “Jews, socialists and students.” On Novosobornaya Square, the monarchists clashed with the revolutionary police, who opened fire on the demonstrators. In response, the Cossacks arrested some of the policemen and locked them in the railway administration building. The monarchists set fire to the building and killed those who tried to escape. The police and soldiers were inactive, the city leadership did not react to what was happening. The next day, the beating of Tomsk Jews began. For two days, while the anthem was being sung, the monarchists robbed Jewish stores, but the security forces did not intervene. Only on October 23 did the authorities begin to stop robberies and murders. For another week, students were afraid to appear on the street in their easily recognizable uniform. In total, about 70 people died these days.
Text: Konstantin Makarov, Olga Dmitrievskaya
Layout and map: Nikolay Ovchinnikov
The 1905 Manifesto on improving the state order was issued by Emperor Nicholas II on October 17, 1905 under the pressure of growing popular unrest: a general political strike and armed uprisings in Moscow and many other cities. This manifesto satisfied some of the strikers, as it was a real step towards a limited constitutional monarchy.
The Manifesto became the first liberal-minded legislative act of Tsarist Russia.
The main provisions of the Manifesto: consolidation of freedom of conscience, speech, meetings and gatherings; attracting broad sections of the population to the elections; mandatory procedure for approval by the State Duma of all laws issued.
Under these conditions, the Russian bourgeoisie not only did not lead the revolutionary struggle for bourgeois-democratic transformations, but sought to prevent the further development of the revolution.
The manifesto changed the system of government - Soviets of Workers' Deputies appeared. They were originally strike committees, but gradually turned into organs of political struggle.
Principles of organization and activities of the Councils:
- representative character;
— democratic elections by secret or open voting;
- they could include women;
— they formed executive committees (presidiums) and commissions on certain issues;
— reporting of deputies to voters;
— the possibility of replacing deputies who have not lived up to the trust of voters;
- work according to the instructions of voters;
— wide involvement of workers in meetings.
In 1905-1907 55 Soviets were formed, of which 44 were Bolshevik-minded, so they became the embryonic bodies of the new revolutionary government.
The Soviets had the right to take measures of a revolutionary-democratic nature: to form combat squads and workers' militia. The Soviets opened and took over printing houses, had their own printed publications, and disseminated revolutionary ideas, thereby introducing de facto freedom of the press.
The manifesto preserved the class inequality of the bourgeoisie with the nobility and the restriction of the former’s right to occupy senior positions in the state apparatus.
The main state laws were signed by Nicholas II on April 23, 1906. They were an act of autocracy, which Nicholas II decided on after the suppression of the largest uprisings. These laws could only be changed by the emperor.
The basic state laws of 1906 prohibited the tsar from unilaterally changing the electoral law, but Nicholas II violated this provision and passed a law that limited the voting rights of workers, non-Russian peoples and some other groups of the population.
The population in Russia was divided into nobility, clergy, urban and rural inhabitants.
