Revolution of 1905-1907: goals. The first Russian revolution of 1905-1907.

The first revolution of 1905-1907. Took place in connection with a number of factors that manifested themselves in various spheres of Russian society of the time. The revolutionary situation did not develop instantly, but was gradually instigated due to unresolved problems accumulated from the middle of the 19th century. At the beginning of the twentieth century, capitalism passed to the highest stage of its development - imperialism, which was accompanied by the aggravation of all contradictions in society both within the country and at the international level.

The working day lasted fourteen hours!

The causes of the revolution of 1905-1907. Lies in the fact that in the country, in different layers of the population, a large number of people are displeased with their lives. It is worth noting the disenfranchised position of the working class in the first place, which became the driving force in 1917. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of representatives of the proletariat in Russia reached fourteen million people (of which about a ten per cent). And these fourteen million industrialists were forced to work for 14 hours a day (with the official working day of 1897, 11 hours and a half hours).

Reference without investigation and trial

The first Russian revolution (1905-1907) became possible also because simultaneously the working class was essentially limited in the rights to protect its own interests. In the Russian Empire, there were secret orders at the level of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which allowed the representatives of the proletariat to be sent without investigation and trial for participating in protest actions. For the same actions you could get to prison for a period of 60 to 240 days.

They worked for pennies

The Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. Became possible because of the brutal exploitation of the working class by the owners of the manufactures. For example, in the processing of minerals from each ruble, workers received less than a third (32 kopeks), while in the processing of metals and food industry, even less - 22 and 4 kopecks, respectively. At the "Socialist" in those days, they spent even less - 0.6% of the costs of entrepreneurs. In part, this may have been due to the fact that the country's industry was more than half owned by foreign investors. As analysis of securities of that time (stocks of railways, enterprises, banks) showed, many of them had distribution addresses in the USA and Europe, as well as inscriptions not only in Russian, but also in English, German and French. The revolution of 1905-1907, whose goals, at first glance, do not reveal obvious foreign influence, is based on the fact that there were not enough industrialists and representatives of the ruling elite who would be interested in the growth of the well-being of the Russian people.

The "popularity" of Russian investments was then partly conditioned by the fact that during the monetary reforms of 1897 the ruble of the Russian Empire was tied to gold. A stream of foreign money went into the country, which "reverse side of the coin" had a cash withdrawal in the form of interest also in gold. So, in 1887-1913, almost 1,800 million rubles were invested in the Russian Empire from the Western countries in gold, and about 2,300 million gold rubles were also withdrawn as income.

Bread was consumed almost three times less than overseas

The revolution in Russia (1905-1907) was based on the fact that the standard of living of the population was significantly lower than in European countries. For example, subjects of the Russian Empire at that time consumed about 3.45 quintals per year per capita, in the United States this figure was close to a ton, in Denmark about 900 quintals, in France more than half a ton, in Germany 4.32 quintals . At the same time, it was in our country that large grain harvests were collected, a large part of which was exported, which created the prerequisites for the flow of money to the treasury, on the one hand, and the "malnutrition" of the people, on the other.

Life in the countryside, before the Russian Revolution (1905-1907), also was difficult. At that time the peasants had to pay significant taxes and excises, the areas of peasant allotments tended to decrease, many worked on the plots leased, giving half the crop or most of the revenues received. The landlords, on the contrary, enlarged their estates (one farmer's farmstead had up to 300 peasant households in area) and over-exploited the agriculturally dependent farmers. Unlike the workers, the peasantry, whose share was up to 70% of the population of the Russian Empire, participated to a lesser extent in the historical process called "The Revolution of 1905-1907", the reasons for which the farmers were not very encouraging. Moreover, on the eve of even the 1917 revolution , many tillers were monarchists and believed in a "kind father-father".

The king did not want change

The revolution in Russia (1905-1907) is largely connected with the policy pursued by Nicholas II, who decided to take the path of his father, Alexander III, and further strengthen the autocracy, instead of trying to liberalize Russian society, as his grandfather wanted to do, Alexander II. The latter, however, was killed the day he wanted to read the first semblance of the Russian constitution. During his accession to the throne at the age of 26, Nicholas II pointed out that democratic changes are meaningless ideas, so the king is not going to take into account similar opinions that already formed in a certain part of the educated society of that time that did not add to the autocrat of popularity.

The unsuccessful military campaign of Nicholas II

Nor did it add to the Russo-Japanese War, which took place in 1904-1905. Japan unleashed it, but many in the Russian Empire also craved a military campaign to strengthen the authority of the authorities. The first Russian revolution (1905-1907) began during military operations (revolutionary actions occurred for the first time in January 1905, while the war ended in August of the same year), which were, by and large, unsuccessful. Russia did not strengthen the fortress, the supply of the army and navy was badly organized, the soldiers and officers died pointlessly, and the surrender of the fortress of Port Arthur, the events of Tsushima and Mukden influenced more than negatively the image of the autocrat and his entourage.

Periodization of the revolution

Historians know the following stages of the revolution of 1905-1907:

• The first was in January-March 1905.
• The second, lasted from April to August 1905.
• The third, which lasted from the autumn of 1905 to March 1906.

At the first stage, the main events developed after the "Bloody Sunday", when about one hundred and forty thousand proletarians came with religious symbols and a petition about the needs of the working class to the Winter Palace, where some of them were shot by Cossacks and government troops. In addition to economic demands, the petition also included proposals to establish people's representation in the form of a Constituent Assembly, to introduce freedom of speech, religion, equality of all before the law, reduction of the working day, separation of church and state, state education,

The bourgeoisie supported the idea of constituent assemblies

The working masses were led by the priest Georgy Gapon, who headed the "Workers' Assembly of St. Petersburg" established several years earlier by the police, which was designed to weaken the influence of revolutionary ideas on the proletariat. He also made a petition. Nicholas II during the procession in the capital was not. At the first stage, about 810,000 people took part in the popular unrest, and the workers were supported by students, zemstvos, and employees. The revolution of 1905-1907, whose goals were different for different groups of the population, for the first time attracted to its ranks the middle and large bourgeoisie, who supported the idea of a constituent assembly. The tsar, in response to the outrage, wrote an order for the Minister of Internal Affairs A. Bulygin demanding the drafting of a drafting body for the Duma (Duma).

The development of the revolutionary process: the second stage

How did the 1905-1907 revolution develop further? A brief description of the second stage can be summarized as follows: in April-August 1905, about 0.7 million people took part in strikes, including a strike of textile workers in Ivanovo-Voznesensk from May 12 to July 26. In the same period, in every fifth district of the European part of the Russian Empire, peasant demonstrations took place. Under the pressure of these events, the authorities in August 1905 issued documents on the election of the Duma, but with a very small number of voters. Elections to this body were boycotted by all layers of protest movements, so the Duma was never created.

What results at this stage did the revolution of 1905-07 bring? The goals that persecuted the peasantry during all the revolutionary events of the early twentieth century were partly achieved in August 1905, when farmers were able to access the state lands. But only by purchasing them through the so-called Peasant Bank, which few could afford.

The third period brought civil liberties

The third stage, which was the revolution in Russia (1905-1907), was the longest. It began in September 1905 and ended in March 1906. Here the most significant event was the all-Russia political strike, in which about two million people took part throughout the country. The demands were the same - an eight-hour working day, the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, democratic freedoms. The government structures supposed to suppress the performance by armed means (General Trepov's order "not to spare cartridges and not shoot the unmarried to disperse the crowd"), however on October 17 of the same year Nikolay II issued a decree that gave considerable civil liberties. It included the freedom of alliances, meetings, words, the inviolability of the individual. After the adoption of this decree, trade unions, councils of workers' deputies began to appear, unions of the "Russian people" and "October 17" were founded, agrarian Stolypin reforms began.

The main events of the revolution (1905-1907) include two convocations of the State Duma. These were attempts to transform the state system in Russia from autocratic to parliamentary monarchy. The First Duma worked from April 1906 to July of the same year and was abolished by the emperor, as she actively fought against the incumbent government, was distinguished by the initiation of radical laws (the Socialist-Revolutionaries proposed the nationalization of natural resources and the abolition of private property on land, etc.).

The Duma did not come up with anything

The events of the revolution (1905-1907) in terms of the work of lawmaking bodies were not very successful. Thus, the Second State Duma, which worked in 1907 from February to June, presented many proposals to address the agrarian question from different parties, considered the food issue, the provisions on the abolition of military courts and military appeal, and opposed the "illegal actions" of the police than Great "angry" the current government. In the Second Duma there were about 500 deputies, 38% of whom had higher education, 8% in home education, about 20% in secondary education, 32% in lower education. Illiterate in the Duma was one percent, which is not surprising, since almost 170 deputies were from the semi-literate peasantry. But there were 6 people in the Duma and plant directors, lawyers - about thirty, and even one poet.

Why did the revolution end in 1907?

Together with the dissolution of the Second State Duma, the revolution of 1905-1907 was completed. Briefly, the activity of this body can be characterized as not sufficiently productive, since the Duma again struggled with other authorities. In total, it adopted 20 legislative acts, of which only three received the force of law, including two projects to help people affected by crop failures.

Results of the First Russian Revolution

What brought the revolution of 1905-1907 to the inhabitants of the Russian Empire? The goals of the majority of protesting classes of society during this historic event were not achieved, therefore it is believed that the revolutionary process was defeated. Certain results in the form of the establishment of a law-making body that represented a number of estates, the granting of certain civil liberties, of course, were. But the state structure did not undergo any special changes, the land issue was not completely resolved, the working class's working conditions remained heavy, and therefore the prerequisites for the further development of the revolutionary processes remained.

The results of the revolution included the formation of the three main "camps" of political parties (governmental, liberal-bourgeois and democratic), which will still appear in the political arena of Russia in 1917.