Why was 1905 a year of crisis for Tsarist Russia?

Factors which made discontent possible Poor living and working conditions in the cities and the countryside. Economic desperation Oppressive government which centralised all power and did not provide representation to any class below the Upper Class. A sense that no change was possible

Events which made discontent likely in 1905 War against Japan ~ Stolypin (A Tsarist politician) had said; ‘What we need is a short, victorious war’. It was hoped that war against Japan over Korea and Manchuria would unit the people behind the Tsar’s Government and make them forget the economic and social problems they faced. The war was a disaster for Russia as her forces were easily defeated by the Japanese. The war also made conditions for people in cities worse: food supplies to cities were disrupted; factories ran short of raw materials and closed. Workers became hungry, desperate and unemployed.

Trigger event The discontented workers in St Petersburg found a leader in a priest, Father Gapon, who organised a massive petition to be presented to the Tsar who they looked to for help. The petition called for: better working and living conditions; an end to the war with Japan; a shorter working day; political reforms which would give people a political voice. They were convinced that the Tsar ~ the Father of his People ~ would listen to their pleas and act accordingly A crowd of 200,000 men, women and children marched on the Tsar’s Winter Palace on Sunday 22nd Jan to present the petition. They were intercepted by police and troops. Fearing that they were going to be over-run the officers ordered their men to fire into the crowd. 500 demonstrators were killed and several 1,000 were wounded. This became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. It triggered riots, strikes and the murder of Government officials across Western Russia and presented the Tsar’s political opponents with an opportunity to start a revolution.

The course of the 1905 revolution Generally the revolution lacked overall leadership and events tended to be responses to very specific events The ‘real revolutionaries’ were taken by surprise by the speed and scale of the response to ‘Bloody Sunday’

The Battleship Potemkin June 1905 ~ the crew of the Potemkin in the Black Sea mutinied, took control of the ship and threw their officers overboard Having done this they had no plan and no idea what to do next. They sailed to the port of Odessa where their arrival caused more discontent and riots there but no positive political move was taken As a result they gave themselves up only a few weeks later. This had demonstrated to the Tsar that he could not rely automatically on the support of his armed forces.

In the countryside In many areas the peasants rebelled against their aristocratic and Kulak land-lords, killing them and destroying their houses and farms In some parts of the Russian Empire non-Russian nationalities, such as Poles and Georgians, declared their independence.

In the cities In September 1905 the trade unions organised a general strike which closed down Russia’s industrial production. In many towns and cities, the Social Democratic party organised councils of workers, called Soviets, to take over the cities from local government ~ they became an alternative form of government.

In an attempt to regain control of the situation the Tsar announced reforms In October 1905 he announced the October Manifesto which offered: the right to form political parties the right to free speech the creation of an elected parliament known as a Duma to help run the country.

The majority of people were delighted Many of the peasants believed that this proved that the Tsar was really on their side and that he had been controlled by evil advisers. The Liberals believed that the Duma offered then a genuine share of power

The true revolutionaries were suspicious, believed it was a ruse, and they were right In December 1905 the secret police were used to break up the St Petersburg Soviet and those members not killed in the process were sent into exile in Siberia In Moscow the army was sent in to crush the Soviet there which it did after bloody street fighting in which 1,000 died. In Jan – Feb 1906 the army was used to re-assert Russian control over the break-away nationalities Bands of pro-Tsarist para-militaries, called Black Hundreds conducted a terror campaign against peasants and revolutionaries in towns and cities

By March 1906 the revolution was dead Revolutionary control had been removed Tsarist control had been re-asserted Most of the new freedoms granted by the October Manifesto had been rescinded. Only the Duma remained and in the March 1906 elections an anti-Tsarist majority was elected When it met for the first time in May 1906 Nicholas issued the Fundamental Laws, the first one of which stated that supreme power would always rest with the Tsar and no-one else. This was a clear indication than nothing had changed.