Russian history is my forte, and so after reading a brief history of Russia by Michael Kort, and Evan Mawdsley's The Russian Civil War, I wondered what would have happened if Czar Nicholas II did not abdicate, and the Russian government became one similar to Britain.
NOTE: Passages in italics are OTL.
***
Part I
Russia was brutally defeated by the hands of the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 - 05. Japan has now become the supreme Asian power, leaving Russia very weak, and a laughable empire to Europe. The country is devastated, wracked by continuous war losses, including the Crimean War in 1854 - 56. The Russian people were tired of the autocratic system. It was a time for change.
At the start of the 20th century Russian liberals formed the Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists (1903) and the Union of Liberation (1904) which called for a constitutional monarchy. Russian socialists organized into two major groups: the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, following the Russian populist tradition, and the Marxist Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party.
In the autumn of 1904, liberals started a series of banquets celebrating the 40th anniversary of the liberal court statutes and calling for political reforms and establishment of a constitution. On November 30, 1904, the Moscow City Duma passed a resolution, demanding establishment of an elected national legislature, full freedom of the press and freedom of religion. Similar resolutions and appeals from other city dumas and zemstvo councils followed.
Nicholas II made a move to fulfill many of these demands, appointing liberal Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirskii Minister of the Interior after the assassination of Vyacheslav von Plehve. On 12 December 1904, the Tsar issued a manifesto promising the broadening of the Zemstvo and local municipal councils' authority, insurance for the industrial workers, the emancipation of Inorodtsy and the abolition of censorship. Still, the crucial point of representative national legislature was missing in the manifesto.
In December 1904, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant in Saint Petersburg. Sympathy strikes in other parts of the city raised the number of strikers above 80,000. Controversial Orthodox priest George Gapon, who headed a police-sponsored workers' association, led a huge workers' procession to the Winter Palace to deliver a petition to the Tsar on Sunday, January 22 [O.S. January 9] 1905. The troops guarding the Winter Palace who had been ordered to tell the demonstrators not to pass a certain point, as Witte confirmed, opened fire on them, which resulted in more than 200 (Witte) to 1000 (Communists) deaths. The event became known as Bloody Sunday, and is usually considered the start of the active phase of revolution.
On May 24 and 25 [O.S. May 11 and 12] 1905, about 300 Zemstvo and municipal representatives held three meetings in Moscow, which passed a resolution, asking for a popular representation at the national level. On June 6 [O.S. May 24] 1905, Nicholas II had received a Zemstvo deputation. Responding to speeches by Prince Sergei Trubetskoi and Mr. Fyodrov, the tsar confirmed his promise to convene an assembly of people’s representatives.
On February 5 [O.S. January 22] , Nicholas II agreed to the creation of a consultative State Duma of the Russian Empire. When the slight powers of this and the limits to the electorate were revealed, unrest redoubled and culminated in a general strike in October, when Saint Petersburg Soviet
was formed.
It called for a general strike, refusal to pay taxes and withdrawal of bank deposits.
On October 14 [O.S. October 1] , the October Manifesto, written by Sergei Witte and Alexis Obolenskii, was presented to the Tsar. It closely followed the demands of the Zemstvo Congress in September, granting basic civil rights, allowing the formation of political parties, extending the franchise towards universal suffrage, and establishing the Duma as the central legislative body.
The events leading up to, and including, the Zemstvo Congress are the background for what follows.
The Russian Empire was bankrupt, and Czar Nicholas II - despite objections - sent Russian troops into WWI, hoping to regain the former glory of the Russians; instead, it bankrupted the country further.
Many of the people of Russia resented the autocracy of Tsar Nicholas II and the corrupt and anachronistic elements in his government. He was seen as being out of touch with the needs and aspirations of the Russian people, the vast majority of whom were victims of the wretched socio-economic conditions that prevailed. Socially, Tsarist Russia stood well behind the rest of Europe in its industry and farming, resulting in few opportunities for fair advancement on the part of peasants and industrial workers. Economically, widespread inflation and food shortages in Russia contributed to the revolution. Militarily, inadequate supplies, logistics, and weaponry led to heavy losses that the Russians suffered during World War I; this further strengthened Russia's view of Nicholas II as weak and unfit to rule.
Many sections of the crown had reason to be dissatisfied with the existing autocracy. Nicholas II was a deeply conservative ruler and maintained a strict authoritarian system. Individuals and society in general were expected to show self-restraint, devotion to community, deference to the social hierarchy, and a sense of duty to country. Religious faith helped bind all of these tenets together as a source of comfort and reassurance in the face of difficult conditions and as a means of political authority exercised through the clergy. Perhaps more than any other modern monarch, Nicholas II attached his fate and the future of his dynasty to the notion of the ruler as a saintly and infallible father to his people. This idealized vision of the Romanov monarchy blinded him to the actual state of his country. With a firm belief that his power to rule was granted by Divine Right, Nicholas assumed that the Russian people were devoted to him with unquestioning loyalty. This ironclad belief rendered Nicholas unwilling to allow the progressive reforms that might have alleviated the suffering of the Russian people. Even after the 1905 revolution spurred the Tsar to decree limited civil rights and democratic representation, he worked to limit even these liberties in order to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown.
Despite constant oppression, the desire of the people for democratic participation in government was strong. Since the Age of Enlightenment, Russian intellectuals had promoted Enlightenment ideals such as the dignity of the individual and of the rectitude of democratic representation. These ideals were championed most vociferously by Russia’s liberals, although populists, Marxists, and anarchists also claimed to support democratic reforms. A growing opposition movement had begun to challenge the Romanov monarchy openly well before the turmoil of World War I. Dissatisfaction with Russian autocracy culminated in the huge national upheaval that followed the Bloody Sunday massacre of January 1905, in which hundreds of unarmed protesters were shot by the Tsar's troops. Workers responded to the massacre with a crippling general strike, forcing Nicholas to put forth the October Manifesto, which established a democratically elected parliament (the State Duma). The Tsar undermined this promise of reform but a year later with Article 87 of the 1906 Fundamental State Laws, and subsequently dismissed the first two Dumas when they proved uncooperative. Unfulfilled hopes of democracy fueled revolutionary ideas and violent outbursts targeted at the monarchy.
Russian Political Parties in the Duma:
Socialists
Monarchists
Third Parties
NEXT: Czar Nicholas, the Duma, and a Prime Minister?
NOTE: Passages in italics are OTL.
***
Part I
Russia was brutally defeated by the hands of the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 - 05. Japan has now become the supreme Asian power, leaving Russia very weak, and a laughable empire to Europe. The country is devastated, wracked by continuous war losses, including the Crimean War in 1854 - 56. The Russian people were tired of the autocratic system. It was a time for change.
At the start of the 20th century Russian liberals formed the Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists (1903) and the Union of Liberation (1904) which called for a constitutional monarchy. Russian socialists organized into two major groups: the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, following the Russian populist tradition, and the Marxist Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party.
In the autumn of 1904, liberals started a series of banquets celebrating the 40th anniversary of the liberal court statutes and calling for political reforms and establishment of a constitution. On November 30, 1904, the Moscow City Duma passed a resolution, demanding establishment of an elected national legislature, full freedom of the press and freedom of religion. Similar resolutions and appeals from other city dumas and zemstvo councils followed.
Nicholas II made a move to fulfill many of these demands, appointing liberal Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirskii Minister of the Interior after the assassination of Vyacheslav von Plehve. On 12 December 1904, the Tsar issued a manifesto promising the broadening of the Zemstvo and local municipal councils' authority, insurance for the industrial workers, the emancipation of Inorodtsy and the abolition of censorship. Still, the crucial point of representative national legislature was missing in the manifesto.
In December 1904, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant in Saint Petersburg. Sympathy strikes in other parts of the city raised the number of strikers above 80,000. Controversial Orthodox priest George Gapon, who headed a police-sponsored workers' association, led a huge workers' procession to the Winter Palace to deliver a petition to the Tsar on Sunday, January 22 [O.S. January 9] 1905. The troops guarding the Winter Palace who had been ordered to tell the demonstrators not to pass a certain point, as Witte confirmed, opened fire on them, which resulted in more than 200 (Witte) to 1000 (Communists) deaths. The event became known as Bloody Sunday, and is usually considered the start of the active phase of revolution.
On May 24 and 25 [O.S. May 11 and 12] 1905, about 300 Zemstvo and municipal representatives held three meetings in Moscow, which passed a resolution, asking for a popular representation at the national level. On June 6 [O.S. May 24] 1905, Nicholas II had received a Zemstvo deputation. Responding to speeches by Prince Sergei Trubetskoi and Mr. Fyodrov, the tsar confirmed his promise to convene an assembly of people’s representatives.
On February 5 [O.S. January 22] , Nicholas II agreed to the creation of a consultative State Duma of the Russian Empire. When the slight powers of this and the limits to the electorate were revealed, unrest redoubled and culminated in a general strike in October, when Saint Petersburg Soviet
was formed.
It called for a general strike, refusal to pay taxes and withdrawal of bank deposits.
On October 14 [O.S. October 1] , the October Manifesto, written by Sergei Witte and Alexis Obolenskii, was presented to the Tsar. It closely followed the demands of the Zemstvo Congress in September, granting basic civil rights, allowing the formation of political parties, extending the franchise towards universal suffrage, and establishing the Duma as the central legislative body.
The events leading up to, and including, the Zemstvo Congress are the background for what follows.
The Russian Empire was bankrupt, and Czar Nicholas II - despite objections - sent Russian troops into WWI, hoping to regain the former glory of the Russians; instead, it bankrupted the country further.
Many of the people of Russia resented the autocracy of Tsar Nicholas II and the corrupt and anachronistic elements in his government. He was seen as being out of touch with the needs and aspirations of the Russian people, the vast majority of whom were victims of the wretched socio-economic conditions that prevailed. Socially, Tsarist Russia stood well behind the rest of Europe in its industry and farming, resulting in few opportunities for fair advancement on the part of peasants and industrial workers. Economically, widespread inflation and food shortages in Russia contributed to the revolution. Militarily, inadequate supplies, logistics, and weaponry led to heavy losses that the Russians suffered during World War I; this further strengthened Russia's view of Nicholas II as weak and unfit to rule.
Many sections of the crown had reason to be dissatisfied with the existing autocracy. Nicholas II was a deeply conservative ruler and maintained a strict authoritarian system. Individuals and society in general were expected to show self-restraint, devotion to community, deference to the social hierarchy, and a sense of duty to country. Religious faith helped bind all of these tenets together as a source of comfort and reassurance in the face of difficult conditions and as a means of political authority exercised through the clergy. Perhaps more than any other modern monarch, Nicholas II attached his fate and the future of his dynasty to the notion of the ruler as a saintly and infallible father to his people. This idealized vision of the Romanov monarchy blinded him to the actual state of his country. With a firm belief that his power to rule was granted by Divine Right, Nicholas assumed that the Russian people were devoted to him with unquestioning loyalty. This ironclad belief rendered Nicholas unwilling to allow the progressive reforms that might have alleviated the suffering of the Russian people. Even after the 1905 revolution spurred the Tsar to decree limited civil rights and democratic representation, he worked to limit even these liberties in order to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown.
Despite constant oppression, the desire of the people for democratic participation in government was strong. Since the Age of Enlightenment, Russian intellectuals had promoted Enlightenment ideals such as the dignity of the individual and of the rectitude of democratic representation. These ideals were championed most vociferously by Russia’s liberals, although populists, Marxists, and anarchists also claimed to support democratic reforms. A growing opposition movement had begun to challenge the Romanov monarchy openly well before the turmoil of World War I. Dissatisfaction with Russian autocracy culminated in the huge national upheaval that followed the Bloody Sunday massacre of January 1905, in which hundreds of unarmed protesters were shot by the Tsar's troops. Workers responded to the massacre with a crippling general strike, forcing Nicholas to put forth the October Manifesto, which established a democratically elected parliament (the State Duma). The Tsar undermined this promise of reform but a year later with Article 87 of the 1906 Fundamental State Laws, and subsequently dismissed the first two Dumas when they proved uncooperative. Unfulfilled hopes of democracy fueled revolutionary ideas and violent outbursts targeted at the monarchy.
Russian Political Parties in the Duma:
Socialists
Monarchists
Third Parties
NEXT: Czar Nicholas, the Duma, and a Prime Minister?
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