The Octobrists were a group that wanted to accept the October Manifesto and saw it as a way forward. The Kadets wanted a parliament based on the British model — a discussion and legislative chamber, something that Nicholas would not accept.
Witte may well have helped Russia out of her difficulties if Nicholas had listened to him. However, Witte had many enemies in court. Some saw him as weak, a man who offered reforms to the enemies of the government. Above all else, Alexandra did not agree with what Witte wanted. The one hold Witte had over Nicholas was his ability to raise capital abroad — especially from France.
The government had to work in an atmosphere of distrust and industrial strife. In November , a general strike was called in St Petersburg. This act of repression provoked an uprising in Moscow, which took the government 10 days to quell. Witte was clearing frightened at the growing unrest in Russia and he took it upon himself to offer what many interpreted as his own October Manifesto. Prime Minister, Pyotr Stolypin was able to pass considerable land reform. It lasted until mid Established in November , the fourth Duma comprised mainly Octoberists on one side and socialists on the other, This made decision-making increasingly difficult.
Both groups found it impossible to unite in order to make progress. The Dumas. The opening session of the first Duma. Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin. Higher Subjects Higher Subjects up. Industrial workers all over Russia withdrew their labour and in October, , the railwaymen went on strike which paralyzed the whole Russian railway network.
This developed into a general strike. Leon Trotsky later recalled: "After 10th October , the strike, now with political slogans, spread from Moscow throughout the country. No such general strike had ever been seen anywhere before. In many towns there were clashes with the troops. Sergei Witte , his Chief Minister, saw only two options open to the Tsar Nicholas II ; "either he must put himself at the head of the popular movement for freedom by making concessions to it, or he must institute a military dictatorship and suppress by naked force for the whole of the opposition".
However, he pointed out that any policy of repression would result in "mass bloodshed". His advice was that the Tsar should offer a programme of political reform. On 22nd October, , Sergei Witte sent a message to the Tsar: "The present movement for freedom is not of new birth.
Its roots are imbedded in centuries of Russian history. Freedom must become the slogan of the government. No other possibility for the salvation of the state exists. The march of historical progress cannot be halted. The idea of civil liberty will triumph if not through reform then by the path of revolution. The government must be ready to proceed along constitutional lines.
The government must sincerely and openly strive for the well-being of the state and not endeavour to protect this or that type of government.
There is no alternative. The government must either place itself at the head of the movement which has gripped the country or it must relinquish it to the elementary forces to tear it to pieces.
Nicholas II became increasingly concerned about the situation and entered into talks with Sergi Witte. As he pointed out: "Through all these horrible days, I constantly met Witte. We very often met in the early morning to part only in the evening when night fell.
There were only two ways open; to find an energetic soldier and crush the rebellion by sheer force. That would mean rivers of blood, and in the end we would be where had started. The other way out would be to give to the people their civil rights, freedom of speech and press, also to have laws conformed by a State Duma - that of course would be a constitution. Witte defends this very energetically. Grand Duke Nikolai Romanov , the second cousin of the Tsar, was an important figure in the military.
He was highly critical of the way the Tsar dealt with these incidents and favoured the kind of reforms favoured by Sergi Witte: "The government if there is one continues to remain in complete inactivity Later that month, Trotsky and other Mensheviks established the St.
Petersburg Soviet. On 26th October the first meeting of the Soviet took place in the Technological Institute. It was attended by only forty delegates as most factories in the city had time to elect the representatives. It published a statement that claimed: "In the next few days decisive events will take place in Russia, which will determine for many years the fate of the working class in Russia. We must be fully prepared to cope with these events united through our common Soviet.
Over the next few weeks over 50 of these soviets were formed all over Russia and these events became known as the Revolution. Witte continued to advise the Tsar to make concessions. The Tsar refused and instead ordered him to assume the role of a military dictator. The Grand Duke drew his pistol and threatened to shoot himself on the spot if the Tsar did not endorse Witte's plan. On 30th October, the Tsar reluctantly agreed to publish details of the proposed reforms that became known as the October Manifesto.
This granted freedom of conscience, speech, meeting and association. He also promised that in future people would not be imprisoned without trial. Finally it announced that no law would become operative without the approval of the State Duma.
It has been pointed out that "Witte sold the new policy with all the forcefulness at his command". He also appealed to the owners of the newspapers in Russia to "help me to calm opinions".
These proposals were rejected by the St. Petersburg Soviet : "We are given a constitution, but absolutism remains The struggling revolutionary proletariat cannot lay down its weapons until the political rights of the Russian people are established on a firm foundation, until a democratic republic is established, the best road for the further progress to Socialism.
The first meeting of the Duma took place in May A British journalist, Maurice Baring , described the members taking their seats on the first day: "Peasants in their long black coats, some of them wearing military medals You see dignified old men in frock coats, aggressively democratic-looking men with long hair There is a Polish member who is dressed in light-blue tights, a short Eton jacket and Hessian boots There are some socialists who wear no collars and there is, of course, every kind of headdress you can conceive.
Several changes in the composition of the Duma had been changed since the publication of the October Manifesto. Nicholas II had also created a State Council, an upper chamber, of which he would nominate half its members. He also retained for himself the right to declare war, to control the Orthodox Church and to dissolve the Duma. The Tsar also had the power to appoint and dismiss ministers. At their first meeting, members of the Duma put forward a series of demands including the release of political prisoners, trade union rights and land reform.
The Tsar rejected all these proposals and dissolved the Duma. Stolypin was the former governor of Saratov and his draconian measures in suppressing the peasants in made him notorious. At first he refused the post but the Tsar insisted: "Let us make the sign of the Cross over ourselves and let us ask the Lord to help us both in this difficult, perhaps historic moment. Stolypin attempted to provide a balance between the introduction of much needed land reforms and the suppression of the radicals.
In October, , Stolypin introduced legislation that enabled peasants to have more opportunity to acquire land. They also got more freedom in the selection of their representatives to the Zemstvo local government councils. However, he also introduced new measures to repress disorder and terrorism. On 25 August , three assassins wearing military uniforms, bombed a public reception Stolypin was holding at his home on Aptekarsky Island. Stolypin was only slightly injured, but 28 others were killed.
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