“On the improvement of state order” - the manifesto of Nicholas II, prepared by S. Yu. Witte and published during the October All-Russian political strike of 1905. Oct. The strike thwarted the plans of the reaction to establish a military force in the country. dictatorship, caused confusion in governments. circles. The army hesitated; The government did not have reliable troops at its disposal to suppress the revolution. In this situation, the direction headed by the previous one won in the ruling spheres. The committee of ministers of Witte, who considered the constitution. unity concessions a means to preserve autocracy, split the forces of the revolution, gain time, and win over the liberal bourgeoisie to the side of the government. Witte, who had just concluded peace with Japan, also managed to convince the tsar that only the establishment of “internal peace” and an alliance with the liberal bourgeoisie could provide the finances desperately needed for tsarism.
and political support for international capital.
Considering the concessions of tsarism as the first victory of the revolution, which “... still does not decide the fate of the entire cause of freedom” (V.I. Lenin, Soch., vol. 9, p. 396), the Bolsheviks exposed the falsity of the tsar’s promises and warned , that M. 17 Oct. - maneuver of the government, and called on the masses to launch a struggle to overthrow the autocracy. The falsity of the “constitution” was revealed immediately after the publication of the manifesto. With the direct assistance of the authorities, Black Hundred pogroms, murders of revolutionaries, and anti-Semitic protests began in the country. But the government was not yet able to deal with the revolution. During the period of a temporarily established balance of forces between the revolution and the counter-revolution, the working class, at the call of the Bolsheviks, carried out the freedoms declared in the manifesto. Having suppressed in Dec. 1905 armed. uprising, the government violated its “constitutions” in the most rude manner. promises, significantly limited the rights of the Duma (Manifesto of February 20, 1906, rules of March 8, 1906, new edition of the Fundamental State Laws; for an overview of these acts, see the article The State Duma). But it could not completely deprive the people of their conquests. The revolution forced tsarism to actually implement the rights of the working class to legal professional organizations; for the first time, a legal workers' press appeared, the revolutionary. the proletariat received the opportunity to use the State platform. Duma to expose the autocracy.
Publ.: 3 PSZ, vol. 25, dep. 1, No. 26803; State Duma in Russia, Sat. documents and materials, M., 1957, p. 90-91; "KA", 1925, t. 4-5 (11-12), p. 39-106.
Lit.: Lenin V.I., Soch., 4th ed., vol. 9, p. 382-83, 396-403, 424-32; Witte S. Yu., Memoirs, vol. 3, M., 1960.
M. S. Simonova. Moscow.
Soviet historical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ed. E. M. Zhukova. 1973-1982 .
See what "MANIFESTO OF OCTOBER 17, 1905" is in other dictionaries:
- (About improvement public 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
- (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
- (“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- “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
- (“On the improvement of public order”), a legislative act signed by Russian Emperor Nicholas II at the time of the highest rise of the October All-Russian political strike. Proclaimed civil liberties, the creation of the People's... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
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 revolutionary movement and deceiving the masses with the promise of imaginary freedoms. The rapid growth of the first bourgeois... ... Soviet legal dictionary
- “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
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
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
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 beginning of the revolutionary events dates back to January 9, 1905, when striking workers went with a petition to the Tsar. It said: “Do not refuse to help your people, lead them out of the grave of lawlessness, poverty and ignorance... and if you don’t command, we will die here on this square in front of your palace.” And so it happened: the petition was not accepted, the troops opened fire on the demonstrators, several hundred people died in the snow from bullets.
In this tense situation, the Socialist Revolutionaries continued their terrorist struggle against the authorities, which they had been waging virtually since the 1880s. In January 1905, the commander-in-chief of Moscow was killed, Grand Duke and uncle of Nicholas II Sergei Alexandrovich. The bomb was thrown into the Grand Duke’s carriage on Senate Square in the Kremlin by what was then called the “thrower” Ivan Kalyaev. The operation was carefully planned and carried out by the Combat Organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party under the leadership of Boris Savinkov. The long stage of studying the lifestyle of the target of the terrorist attack, skillfully tracking down the victim’s usual routes of movement should have ended with the explosion of a bomb thrown by one of several “throwers” dispersed in different places, on the streets along which the Grand Duke’s crew could travel.
Let's look at the source
Boris Savinkov wrote in detail about the terrorist action in his book “Memoirs of a Terrorist.” It says that Kalyaev had the opportunity to blow up Sergei Alexandrovich’s carriage even before the assassination attempt in the Kremlin, while his carriage was approaching the Bolshoi Theater.
“The carriage turned onto Resurrection Square,” writes Savinkov, “and in the darkness Kalyaev thought that he recognized the coachman Rudinkin, who always drove the Grand Duke. Then, without hesitation, Kalyaev rushed towards and across the carriage. He had already raised his hand to throw the projectile. But besides Grand Duke Sergei, he unexpectedly saw Grand Duchess Elizabeth and the children of Grand Duke Paul - Maria and Dmitry. He lowered the bomb and walked away. The carriage stopped at the entrance to the Bolshoi Theater. Kalyaev went to the Alexander Garden. Approaching me, he said:
– I think I did the right thing: is it possible to kill children?
He could not continue from excitement. He understood how much he had put at stake with his power by missing such a unique opportunity for murder: he not only risked himself - he risked the entire organization. He could have been arrested with a bomb in his hands near the carriage, and then the assassination attempt would have been postponed for a long time. I told him, however, that not only did I not condemn, but I highly appreciated his action. Then he proposed to resolve a general question: does the organization, when killing the Grand Duke, have the right to kill his wife and nephews? This issue was never discussed by us, it was not even raised. Kalyaev said that if we decide to kill the whole family, then on the way back from the theater he will throw a bomb at the carriage, regardless of who will be in it. I expressed my opinion to him: I do not consider such a murder possible.”
The situation itself, described by Savinkov (unless, of course, he came up with all this later, when he wrote his memoirs), is typical for revolutionaries of that era: morality and humanity came into conflict with the goals and ideals of the revolutionary struggle. The bombers obviously considered themselves suicide bombers, but they knew that, in addition to the dignitaries and generals they hated, innocent strangers could also suffer. In most cases, they made these sacrifices. Let us remember Stepan Khalturin, who in 1880 planted a bomb in the Winter Palace in order to blow up the dining room in which Emperor Alexander II was dining, and at the same time deliberately went to kill several dozen guard soldiers, whose barracks was located between the basement in which Khalturin planted the bomb , and the floor with the royal dining room. As a result, the explosion occurred before the late tsar entered the dining room, and in the barracks below him there was simply hell: a mess of the remains of eleven killed, fragments of furniture and more than fifty maimed. Ultimately, Kalyaev was ready to kill along with the Grand Duke and his family, provided that the organization ordered this to be done and thereby took full moral responsibility upon itself. It seems that this was a fundamental point: the will of the party (organization) is more important than the will and conscience of an individual, which was clearly demonstrated later.
On February 4, 1905, Kalyaev managed to successfully complete his work:
“Despite my worries,” he writes in one of his letters to his comrades, “I remained alive on February 4th. I threw at a distance of four steps, no more, from a run, at point-blank range, I was caught in the whirlwind of the explosion, I saw how the carriage was torn apart. After the cloud cleared, I found myself at the remains of the rear wheels. I remember how the smell of smoke and wood chips hit me right in the face, and my hat was torn off. I didn’t fall, I just turned my face away. Then I saw, five steps away from me, closer to the gate, lumps of grand ducal clothing and a naked body... About ten steps away my hat lay, I walked up, picked it up and put it on. I looked back. My entire undershirt was riddled with pieces of wood, shreds were hanging, and it was all burnt. Blood poured profusely from my face, and I realized that I could not escape, although there were several long moments when no one was around. I went... At this time I heard from behind: “Hold on!” Hold it!” – a detective’s sleigh almost ran over me and someone’s hands took possession of me. I didn't resist..."
Bloody Sunday caused mass strikes, uprisings and mutinies in the army and navy, forcing the Tsar to return Witte to power. His role increased sharply after he concluded a peace treaty with the Japanese delegation in the USA in August 1905, on the roadstead of the city of Portsmouth. And although Russia was defeated and lost half of Sakhalin, for Witte this world became personal victory. A. A. Girs, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote in his diary:
August 18. Sergei Witte sent the following telegram from Portsmouth addressed to the sovereign: “I most humbly inform Your Imperial Majesty that Japan has accepted your demands regarding peace conditions and, thus, peace will be restored thanks to your wise and firm decisions and exactly according to Your Majesty’s plans. Russia will remain in the Far East forever. We applied all our minds and Russian heart to the execution of your orders; We kindly ask you to forgive us if we failed to do more.” Truly the style of the boyars of the times of Ivan the Terrible! Everything is here: loyalty, flattery, patriotic exclamations, and indications of one’s own merits, but the spirit of one of the sons of Noah prevails...
September 15th. Sergei Witte returns to St. Petersburg, crowned with all sorts of laurels, to the anthem of laudatory reviews lavished on him throughout Europe. Our dignitaries will greet him tomorrow not without trepidation, especially since he will take immediate part in considering the question of the immediate establishment of a ministerial cabinet, which has been postponed until his return. The Emperor both fears and does not like Witte, and the latter, due to circumstances, is the natural and so far the only candidate for the post of Russian Prime Minister. I can imagine what kind of intrigues there will be in our higher spheres.
Returning to Russia in mid-September, Witte began preparing the now famous October Manifesto, which granted freedom to the people and announced elections to the State Duma. October 17, 1905 became a turning point in the history of Russia. That day Nikolai wrote in his diary:
October 17th. Monday. Anniversary of the crash (in Borki. - E. A.). Signed the manifesto at 5 o'clock. After such a day, my head became heavy and my thoughts began to get confused. Lord, help us, pacify Russia.
It is noteworthy that the eldest member of the dynasty, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, in the tense days of 1905, contrary to the oath, made an incredibly bold and responsible decision: he forbade all members of the Romanov family - officers - to participate in the suppression of the uprising.
The sovereign’s hesitation and torment can also be understood - until that hour, in everything he blindly followed the ideas that his father instilled in him in his youth Alexander III and teacher K.P. Pobedonostsev. He was convinced that Russia did not need any parliamentary forms of government, that social relations were patriarchal: the “tsar-father” directly communicates with his people, “children.” In the registration card of the general census of 1897, he called himself a “land owner” and “master of the Russian land” (Empress Alexandra Fedorovna wrote in hers: “mistress of the Russian land”) and was convinced that only his phrase “This is my will” could decide the most difficult problems. The discrepancy between such archaic views and the real political situation in the country ultimately led Nicholas II, and with him Russia, to disaster. But in October 1905 he had no choice. Then he wrote to a trusted person, General D. F. Trepov: “Yes, Russia is being granted a constitution. There were few of us who fought against her. But support in this struggle did not come from anywhere, every day more and more people turned away from us, and in the end the inevitable happened”...
Two days after the announcement of the Manifesto on October 17, Witte became prime minister and presented a reform program that combined both tough measures to suppress revolutionary uprisings and attempts to come to an agreement with the liberals. Thanks to Witte's efforts, in 1906 Russia was able to obtain a large loan, which allowed to stabilize the economic situation in the country. As the revolutionary movement declined, the emperor no longer needed Witte, and in the spring of 1906 the sovereign dismissed Witte. He did this with relief, because he could not forgive him for his fear and humiliation experienced in 1905. And even 10 years later, when Witte died, the king did not hide his joy and was only concerned about how to get Witte’s memoirs. But their author knew the customs of his country well and wisely hid the manuscript abroad.
From the very beginning of the work of the State Duma, the Tsar met all its initiatives with hostility, not wanting to compromise on anything with the elected representatives of the people and willingly dissolving the Duma on occasion. In general, the existence of parliament, with all the limitations of its rights, seemed offensive to the emperor. As the famous Russian lawyer A.F. Koni wrote, the very opening ceremony of the Duma in the Winter Palace on April 26, 1906 was perceived by the Romanovs as the funeral of the autocracy. Maria Feodorovna recalled how, after the opening of the Duma, the emperor cried, and then “hit the armrest of his chair with his fist and shouted: “I created it, and I will destroy it... So it will be...”
Let's look at the source
It is known that Nicholas II resisted the adoption of this historical document for a long time. Until the last hour, he tried to soften the provisions of the manifesto, which seemed radical to him in Witte’s project. He summoned major conservative dignitaries to Peterhof, where he was, and consulted with them. He had 5 draft manifestos, and the situation was saved only by the decisive position of Witte, who declared that if even one word in his draft was changed, he would refuse the post of head of government. Nikolai, put in a hopeless position, obeyed Witte's ultimatum. Witte's toughness was based not only on his inherent ambition and belief in his own chosenness. He would be convinced that Russia at this hour has no choice, and no matter how anyone likes the manifesto, this is, as Witte wrote, “the inevitable course of history, the progress of existence.” It is no coincidence that the manifesto opens with bleak words that clearly speak of the emperor’s forced acceptance of this act: “Unrest and unrest in the capitals and in many localities of the empire fill our hearts with great and grave sorrow. The good of the Russian sovereign is inseparable from the good of the people, and the people's sorrow is his sorrow. The unrest that has now arisen may result in deep disorganization of the people and a threat to the integrity and unity of our state... We, in order to successfully implement the general measures we intend to pacify the life of the state, recognized the need to unite the activities of the highest government. We entrust the government with the responsibility of fulfilling our unshakable will: 1. To grant the population the unshakable foundations of civil freedom on the basis of actual inviolability of the individual, 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 multiplicity of the period remaining before the convocation of the Duma, those classes of the population that are now completely deprived of voting rights, allowing for the further development of the beginning of general suffrage the newly 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 by the people are provided with the opportunity to truly participate in monitoring the regularity of the actions of the authorities assigned to us. We call on all the faithful sons of Russia to remember their duty to the 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 native land».
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 major companies were on strike in the capital. industrial enterprises. 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.
Rally near St. Petersburg University after 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 full version quotes clarified that firearms they were going to use it only if there was resistance from the crowd: “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 the crowd shows resistance to this, 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 when opportunity on a policeman, a randomly straying 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 whole line 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 spoke in 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 element.
“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, student, son of a general, Alexander Smirnov attacked the head of the Tsarskoselskaya gendarme department 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 injured Shmakov’s face with a blunt Finnish knife, was seriously wounded by sabers of gendarmerie officers and 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 ones actors The demonstrations included 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 17th Russian Empire There were about 650 pogroms 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 shops, 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
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, many important questions he left 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. Highest point 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 landed nobility and the big bourgeoisie. On October 19, 1905, a unified government was established - the reformed Council of Justice. Witte supreme executive agency countries - 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. education has become 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 bourgeoisie
MANIFESTO OF OCTOBER 17, 1905 on improving the state order. The solemn address of Emperor Nicholas II to the people, which actually announced the upcoming transition of Russia from absolute monarchy to constitutional. It was issued to end the general strike and other unrest in the autumn of 1905.
The immediate initiator of the transformation was the previous one. Committee of Ministers gr. S.Yu. Witte. On October 9, 1905, he submitted a note to the emperor, in which he indicated that the laws of August 6, 1905 on the creation of an advisory State. The Duma did not satisfy even moderate circles. It was proven that society strives for civil freedom, the triumph of which is inevitable. Therefore, “the slogan of freedom must become the slogan of government activity. There is no other way out to save the state.” If the government does not lead the liberation movement, then “executions and streams of blood will only accelerate the explosion. It will be followed by a wild revelry of the base human passions". An alternative to transformation Witte announced the introduction of a dictatorship, abandoning the role of dictator.
Some out-of-work dignitaries (members of the State Council I.L. Goremykin, gene. gr. A.P. Ignatiev, Admiral N.M. Chikhachev) advocated the suppression of unrest by force, but they were not suitable for the role of dictators, and the leaders of the army and police (commander of the St. Petersburg Military District, Grand Duke. Nikolai Nikolaevich; Comrade Minister of Internal Affairs affairs, head police and St. Petersburg Governor General Gen. D.F. Trepov) insisted on reforms.
About the transition to a new order Witte proposed to announce it in a report approved by the emperor. Committee of Ministers. Nicholas II insisted on formalizing the concession in the form of a manifesto. Its text was written by a member of the State. advice of the book Alexey D. Obolensky and edited by him and vr. management Affairs of the Committee of Ministers N.I. Vuychem under the direction of Witte. According to the assumption of A.V. Ostrovsky and M.M. Safonova, the content of the manifesto was borrowed from the appeal of the Zemstvo Congress, which worked in September 1905.
A number of dignitaries, on behalf of the emperor, drew up other projects (which did not mention the government and were mostly less radical). Witte announced approval of his text prerequisite accepting the post of head of government. There were no other acceptable candidates for this post and Nicholas II was forced to approve the project Witte.
The poem spoke of the emperor’s grief due to the turmoil and unrest. The order was reported to “take measures to eliminate direct manifestations of disorder” and “pacify state life"For their success, it was recognized as necessary to unite the activities of the “highest government.” The Emperor ordered him, firstly, to introduce the foundations of civil freedom, i.e. personal integrity, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and unions, and secondly, to involve in elections to the Duma “those classes of the population that are now completely deprived of voting rights”, thirdly, “to establish as an unshakable rule that no law can take effect without the approval of the State Duma”, and also to provide those elected by the people with “the opportunity to actually participate in the supervision of the regularity of the actions of the authorities appointed by us." It was said about " further development the beginning of general suffrage" in a new legislative order. In conclusion, "all the faithful sons of Russia" were called upon to help end the unrest.
The manifesto was supported by liberal conservatives and right-wing liberals (future Octobrists and peaceful renovationists), who became “constitutionalists by the highest command.” However, the constitutional democratic party that was being created, as well as the extreme left, considered it insufficient and continued the anti-government struggle. Supporters of absolute monarchy subsequently condemned the manifesto, believing that Witte"snatched" it from Nicholas II.
The manifesto inspired some of the revolutionaries and disoriented local authorities, which led to mass revolutionary demonstrations and rallies in many cities, as well as counter-revolutionary and Jewish pogroms in October 1905 (in Kyiv, Tomsk and other places), organized by a monarchist-minded population with the assistance of the administration. The manifesto also led to the end of the general strike and the split of the anti-government movement, which ultimately made it possible to suppress the revolution of 1905-07.
On the basis of the manifesto, a partial political amnesty was carried out on October 21, 1905, general censorship was abolished, suffrage was expanded (see Regulations on the Elections of 1906), and State reform was carried out. Council, issued Temporary Rules on the Press, Meetings, Societies and Unions 1906, Basic State. laws 23.4.1906 and other legal acts,
Text
: Complete collection laws of the Russian Empire. Third meeting. 1905. Department I. St. Petersburg, 1908. P. 754-755 or Russian legislation of the 10th and 20th centuries. T. 9. M., 1994. P. 41-42
Archives
: GA RF. F. 859. Op. 1. D. 11. RGVIA. F. 271. Op. 1. No. 12
Sources:
Manifesto of October 17 // Red Archive. 1925. T. 4-5 (11-12). pp. 39-106. Unknown draft manifesto of October 17, 1905 // Soviet archives. 1979. No. 2. P. 63-65. Witte S.Yu. Memories. T. 2-3. Mosolov A.A. At the court of the latter Russian Emperor. M., 1993.
Lit.:
Literature: Gessen V.M. Autocracy and the October 17 manifesto // Polar Star. 1906. No. 9. Kokoshkin F. Legal nature of the manifesto of October 17 // Legal Bulletin. 1912. Book. 1. Alekseev A.S. Manifesto of October 17 and the political movement // Legal Bulletin. 1915. Book. 11. Chermensky E.D. Bourgeoisie and tsarism in the first Russian revolution. M., 1938 and 1970. Mironenko K.N. Manifesto October 17, 1905 // Scientific notes of Leningrad State University. Legal series Sci. 1958. Vol. H.S. 158-179. Ostrovsky A.V., Safonov M.M. Manifesto October 17, 1905 // Auxiliary historical disciplines. T. XII. L., 1981. S. 168-188. Crisis of autocracy in Russia. L., 1984. Ganelin R.Sh. Russian autocracy in 1905. St. Petersburg, 1991. Power and reforms. St. Petersburg, 1996. Smirnov A.F. State Duma of the Russian Empire. M., 1998. Malysheva O.G. Duma monarchy. Part 1. M., 2001.