Tsarist Rule in Russia, 1905-14 » The 1905 Revolution and How Nicholas Survived

Bloody Sunday, January 1905

In January 1905 a strike began at the Putilov works in St Petersburg after four workers were sacked. It spread quickly across the city. The strikers were led by a priest, Father Georgy Gapon, who ran a workers' organisation that the police had allowed. Gapon decided to take a petition to the Tsar at the Winter Palace. It asked for an eight-hour working day, fair wages, an elected assembly and an end to the war with Japan.

On Sunday 22 January, tens of thousands of workers and their families walked towards the palace from different parts of the city. Many carried icons (religious pictures) and portraits of the Tsar and sang hymns. Nicholas was not there. He was at his palace outside the city. Troops blocked the roads and opened fire, and Cossacks charged the crowds. The government admitted to about 100 deaths. The real number was probably nearer 200, with hundreds more wounded.

(Russia's calendar was then 13 days behind the one used in the West. This lesson uses Western dates. In Russia, Bloody Sunday was 9 January.)

Key terms:

• Petition: a written request, signed by many people, asking a ruler to do something
• Mutiny: a revolt by soldiers or sailors against their own officers
• General strike: a strike by workers in many different industries at the same time
• Soviet: a council of deputies (elected representatives) chosen by workers to speak and act for them
• Manifesto: a public statement of what a ruler or group promises to do
• Duma: an elected Russian parliament

Why Bloody Sunday mattered

Many ordinary Russians had thought of the Tsar as their 'Little Father', who would help them if only he knew how they suffered. Bloody Sunday broke that trust.

• Workers: strikes spread across the empire. By the end of January about 400,000 workers were on strike.
• Peasants: from the spring and summer, peasants seized land and burned landowners' houses.
• Middle classes: they demanded an elected parliament more loudly than ever.
• National minorities: there was unrest in Poland, Finland, Georgia and the Baltic lands.
• Violence: in February the Tsar's uncle, Grand Duke Sergei, was killed by a bomb in Moscow.

The Potemkin Mutiny, June 1905

The Potemkin was a battleship in the Black Sea Fleet. In June 1905 its sailors refused to eat meat that was crawling with maggots. When an officer shot their spokesman, the crew mutinied. They killed the captain and several officers and took over the ship.

The Potemkin sailed to the port of Odessa, where workers were already on strike. Troops fired on the crowds there and many people were killed. Other warships were sent to stop the Potemkin, but their crews refused to fire on it. In the end the sailors gave themselves up in Romania.

The mutiny was dangerous for Nicholas because his rule depended on the armed forces. If they turned against him, he was finished. But the mutiny did not spread through the fleet, and most of the army stayed loyal.

The general strike and the Soviets

The crisis reached its peak in October. A strike by printers and railway workers grew into a general strike. Trains stopped. Factories, shops, schools and banks closed. The cities had no newspapers and little electricity or food. The government was almost helpless.

In St Petersburg, striking workers elected deputies from their factories to a council, the St Petersburg Soviet. It ran the strike, printed its own newspaper and even organised food supplies. A young revolutionary, Leon Trotsky, became its best-known leader. About 50 other towns and cities, including Moscow, set up Soviets of their own. For a few weeks the Soviets looked like a rival government.

The October Manifesto

Nicholas had two choices: crush the revolution with the army, or give way. His most able minister, Sergei Witte, told him that force alone would not work. On 30 October (17 October in Russia) Nicholas signed the October Manifesto. It promised:

• civil rights: freedom of speech, of belief, of meeting and of forming groups, so political parties and trade unions became legal
• an elected Duma, with more people given the vote
• that no law would be passed without the Duma's agreement

On paper, this ended autocracy.

Why Nicholas survived

• The Manifesto divided his opponents. Middle-class liberals (people who wanted an elected parliament and civil rights) had got what they asked for. They were also frightened by the Soviets and by violence. The general strike faded.
• The army stayed loyal. In December soldiers were given better pay and conditions. That month the leaders of the St Petersburg Soviet, including Trotsky, were arrested. An armed rising by workers in Moscow was crushed with artillery, and over 1,000 people died. Troops were then sent into the countryside to punish rebel villages.
• The revolution had no single leader or plan. The different groups never worked together, and leading revolutionaries such as Lenin were abroad for most of 1905.
• The peasants were bought off. In November the government halved the redemption payments for 1906 and ended them from 1907. Unrest in the villages slowly died down.

So Nicholas survived by giving way just enough to split his enemies, then using force against those who fought on. The causes of discontent had not gone away.

Exam-style question

Study Sources A and B.

How far does Source A support the evidence of Source B about the events of Bloody Sunday? Explain your answer. [8 marks]