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“Seeing the Stars of Liberty”
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In the first decade of the twentieth century, Harper's Weekly began
running a page of cartoons reprinted from daily newspapers from across the
country and called "Events of the Week in Cartoons." This
cartoon from the Philadelphia Inquirer depicts the cause of the Russian
Revolution of 1905 as a gigantic hammer of "oppression" that strikes
the head of Tsar (here, "Czar") Nicholas II. The effect, the
cartoonist hopefully envisions, is to make Russia's authoritarian ruler see the
stars of "liberty," "freedom," "constitution," and
"parliament"; that is, to accept a constitutional monarchy.
For decades, Russia had been a smoldering cauldron of discontent,
bubbling over occasionally in strikes, riots, and assassinations. Unrest increased after what many Russians considered
a humiliating defeat in the Russo-Japanese War
of
1904-1905. In January 1905, a series of strikes erupted in the
capital of St. Petersburg, and culminated in a peaceful march on Sunday,
January 9, to the Winter Palace of the tsar (who was out of town).
Its organizer, Father Gregory Gapon, notified government officials about
the mass demonstration, which the chief of security police, Grand Duke
Vladimir, tried unsuccessfully to prevent. Instead, the police
followed Vladamir's order to open fire on the protestors, killing over
100 and wounding several hundred more. The Bloody Sunday massacre
provoked another series of strikes and demonstrations, along with military
mutinies across the country, collectively known as the Revolution of 1905.
In February 1905, Nicholas announced plans to create an elected assembly with
advisory duties, but the protesters held out for an elected representative
body. The revolution spread to the Baltic provinces, Georgia, Finland,
Poland, and other non-Russian areas within the tsar's empire. In some
places, a counterrevolutionary and anti-Semitic force known as the Black
Hundreds fought against the socialists, liberals, and other rebels to preserve the control
of the Russian tsar and the Orthodox Church. Although the Black Hundreds
continued to be active until 1914, they were defeated in the Revolution of 1905
when elements of the armed forces backed the revolt.
On August 6, 1905, the government's announcement of a list of procedures
leading to the election of the advisory assembly sparked a new wave of unrest,
which intensified throughout the autumn months. The onset of a general
strike in early October resulted in the establishment of several
"soviets," or revolutionary governments, in St. Petersburg, Moscow,
and other cities.
On October 17, Tsar Nicholas proclaimed the October Manifesto in
which he pledged to establish a constitution protecting freedoms of
speech, press, and assembly, and other basic civil liberties, and to
create an elected representative body (Duma) that would have the
authority to approve all legislation. While most socialists and
republicans were not satisfied, enough moderates backed the proposal to
bring the Revolution to an end by early 1906. Many of the revolt's
leaders were arrested and jailed.
On April 23, 1906, the constitution, called the Fundamental Laws,
went into effect, but it was less than the tsar had promised. It
established a two-house legislature, but only the lower house was elective. It also limited the Duma's authority to initiate
legislation and approve government appointments and the national
budget. On the other hand, the Fundamental Laws was a modest step
toward the rule of law and constitutional government that fostered the
development of political parties.
Still, the tsar and his ministers usually ignored the opinion of the
Duma, and Nicholas swiftly dismissed the first two (May10-June 21, 1906;
March 5-June 16, 1907). In 1907, voting rights of the electorate
were severely restricted. The third Duma (November 14, 1907-June
22, 1912) generally rubber-stamped the policies of the tsarist
government. The final Duma (November 28, 1912–March
11, 1917) began in conservative fashion, but became more radical during World War
I (1914-1917). At the beginning of the Revolution of 1917, it
set up a provisional government that accepted the abdication of the tsar The increasingly radicalized and violent Russian
Revolution of 1917 ended with the execution of Nicholas II and his family.
Robert C. Kennedy
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