Positives and negatives on the outcome of the 1905 Revolution

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Positives and negatives on the outcome of the 1905 Revolution

Advantages

  • October Manifesto 1905- Witte convinced Nicholas to promise serious concessions. The Tsar promised freedom of press and speech, and trade unions are legalized. An elected Duma was to be established and new laws would only be allowed to pass with the consent of the Duma. Many moderate liberals were appeased by the October manifesto and they become known as Octobrists.
  • The regime now needed to appease the rest of Russia now that the Octobrists were out of the picture. Pyotr Stolypin who had been appointed as Prime Minister in 1906 made a number of significant reforms. Redemption dues for peasants were finally abolished n 1907 and a special land bank was established in order for peasants to be able to buy land.

Disadvantages

  • August Manifesto 1905- Promised the people an elected assembly called the Duma which would be able to discuss laws, but would have no practical power and the Tsar would retain autocratic power.Elections would be held which would favor the peasants. Industrial workers, Jews and much of the Intelligentsia didn't have a vote. In essence, no real concessions were made by the Tsar in the August manifesto.
  • Workers who were trying to form soviets were crushed by soldiers returning from the Russo-Japanese war who were surprisingly still loyal to the Tsar at this time. Soviet leaders and members such as Leon Trotsky were arrested and soviet buildings were burnt to the ground.
  • National minorities were dealt with by state terror. Para-military groups such as the "Black Hundreds" were staunch supporters of the Tsar and the ideal of autocracy. These groups were supplied with weapons and were funded by the government.
  • Moscow Uprising - After the crushing of the St. Petersburg soviet, the Moscow Soviet wouldn't go down without a fight. Militant Bolshevik members called for a general strike to overthrow the government and weapons were distributed among the workers. The uprising, however, was crushed by the government with artillery fire, and over 1,000 people were killed.
  • While the October manifesto promised significant concessions, when the Tsar issued the fundamental laws in 1906, it was again clear that this was more symbolic. It declared that supreme autocratic power belonged to the Tsar.
  • Furthermore, the Duma was a bi-cameral body with two houses. The second chamber was able to veto anything that was put forward by the Duma, depriving it of any real power. No law could come into being without the approval of the Tsar.
  • Vyborg appeal- After the dissolution of the first Duma, Kadets and labourists assembled in Finland to draw up an appeal for the Russian people to defy their government, by not paying their taxes and disobeying conscription orders. However, where the aim of the Vyborg appeal was to encourage passive civil disobedience, violence was sparked as the government felt they possessed an excuse for retaliation. Stolypin proclaimed martial law and between 1906 and 1911, there were over 2,500 executions in Russia. The noose became known as "Stolypin's Neck tie".

Evaluation

So yeah... on the whole not great.Many people died in the years following the 1905 revolution and the reforms that were made by the government were pretty much meaningless. The Tsar remained so inept and out of touch with his people that he didn't seem to understand their discontent. He was one of the most ignorant, idiotic and incompetent leaders in history and a revolution against him was inevitable. 

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