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Russian revolution of 1905

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Illustration of the rebellion on the battleship Potemkin

The Russian revolution of 1905, or the First Russian Revolution, was a bourgeois-democratic revolution which that took place between January 1905 and June 1907 in the Russian Empire. It was during this revolution that the first Soviets were established by workers to organize their revolution.[1]

Start of revolution

Strikes

In December 1904, a large strike of oilfield workers led by the Bolsheviks began in Baku. This was followed by strikes in Petrograd in January 1905.[1]

Bloody Sunday

On 22 January 1905, 140,000 workers gathered and marched to the Winter Palace to bring a petition to Tsar Nicholas II. The tsar's troops fired upon them, killing over a thousand unarmed workers. By the end of January, about 440,000 workers were on strike.[1]

Potemkin revolt

In June 1905, soldiers on the battleship Potemkin revolted following a strike in Odessa. The tsar dispatched other battleships to deal with the revolt, but they refused to fire on the Potemkin.[1]

Dumas

First Duma

On 30 October 1905, the tsar issued the October Manifesto and promised to create a representative Duma. The election law vastly overrepresented landlords and capitalists and did not let women vote. The Bolsheviks boycotted the Duma, and the tsar dispersed it in the summer of 1906.[1]

Second Duma

The Bolsheviks decided to participate in the Second (Bulygin) Duma in order to advance the revolutionary movement.[1] On 3 June 1907, the tsar dissolved the Duma.[2]

Third Duma

The Third Duma further reduced representation of workers and peasants while increasing it for landlords and capitalists. Of 442 deputies in the Duma, 171 were Black Hundreds, 113 were Octobrists and their allies, 101 were Kadets, 13 were Trudoviki, and 18 were Socialists.[2]

Tactics of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks

Bolsheviks

The Bolsheviks supported the peasantry against the landlords and boycotted the Bulygin Duma, the representative legislature created by the tsar.[1]

Mensheviks

The Mensheviks supported the liberal bourgeoisie and not the peasants in the 1905 revolution. They also participated in the Bulygin Duma.[1]

References