Edexcel A level History option 2C.2 Russia in Revolution 1894-1924 Unit 2

Unit 2- The End of Romanov Rule

What political changes took place in Russia in the years 1906-14, and to what extent did they modify the Tsarist system of government?

·         The fundamental laws of April 1906 were a constitution by all but name, detailing the roles and powers of the principal institutions of government. The drafting of the fundamental laws was essentially and exercise in clawing back as much power for the Tsarist regime as possible from that which it had relinquished in the October and August manifestos.

·         The fundamental laws included a number of new laws. Article 4 stated the Tsar retained supreme power and emphasised the need for the belief in divine right. The laws stated that some areas of government, such as foreign affairs and defence remained under the power of the Tsar alone, and that therefore the Duma had no power over these areas. Article 87 allowed the Tsar to proclaim new laws outside of the approval of the Duma at times when it was not in session, essentially giving Nicholas II the power to bypass the Duma- it also stated that he could dissolve them at will. The fundamental laws established a counterweight to the Duma in the form of the Imperial State Council- as solidly conservative body selected half by the Tsar and half by the nobility and church. The Tsar alone had the right to appoint and dismiss government ministers.

·         The meeting of the first Duma took place at the Tsar’s Winter Palace. They quickly passed a resolution calling for the full democratisation of Russia, the transfer of the nobility’s estates to the peasantry, and an amnesty for all political detainees. When these were denied by the government, the Duma called upon it to resign- the Duma was dissolved.

·         The members of the Duma, however, had expected this dissolution, and had made contingency plans. In July 1906, 200 Duma members fled to Finland and issued the Vyborg manifesto calling upon the nation to not pay taxes until the Duma was restored, but this did not work, and the signatories were arrested for causing disorder.

·         Elections to the second Duma began in late 1906. The SRs, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks did not boycott these, as they had done with the first elections in protest to the October manifesto, and the government secretly financed the campaign of its favoured right-wing candidates. The new Duma saw the Kadets lose half of their seats, and it now consisted of some 200 socialists and 54 Octobrists, plus a number of right-wing extremists. The second Duma was no more amenable than the first- it was critical of methods of repression, and refused to accept the land reforms of Stolypin, the new chief minister. Stolypin thus became frustrated and dissolved it on the pretext that some of the Bolshevik members were engaged in treasonable activity. He scrapped the 1905 electoral law and replaced it with a new one designed to reduce…