October Manifesto
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The October Manifesto (russian: Октябрьский манифест, Манифест 17 октября), officially "The Manifesto on the Improvement of the State Order" (), is a document that served as a precursor to the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
's first
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...
, which was adopted the following year in 1906. The Manifesto was issued by
Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...
(1868–1918, ruled 1894–1917), under the influence of
Sergei Witte Count Sergei Yulyevich Witte (; ), also known as Sergius Witte, was a Russian statesman who served as the first prime minister of the Russian Empire, replacing the tsar as head of the government. Neither a liberal nor a conservative, he attract ...
(1849–1915), on as a response to the
Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
. Nicholas strenuously resisted these ideas, but gave in after his first choice to head a
military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
,''Scenarios of Power, From Alexander II to the Abdication of Nicholas II''
by Richard Wortman, p. 398
Grand Duke Nicholas, threatened to shoot himself in the head if the Tsar did not accept Witte's suggestion. Nicholas reluctantly agreed, and issued what became known as the October Manifesto, promising basic
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
and an elected
parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
called the
Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...
, without whose approval no laws were to be enacted in Russia in the future. According to his memoirs, Witte did not force the Tsar to sign the October Manifesto, which was proclaimed in all the churches.


Prelude

While France, Great Britain, and the United States had chosen democracy in one form or another, the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
maintained its ancient autocratic government, headed by the Tsar. Russia had in the early 1890s, under the guidance of Minister of Finance
Sergei Witte Count Sergei Yulyevich Witte (; ), also known as Sergius Witte, was a Russian statesman who served as the first prime minister of the Russian Empire, replacing the tsar as head of the government. Neither a liberal nor a conservative, he attract ...
, embarked on a state-led programme of
industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
through foreign investments and the imposition of tariffs. However, the rapid growth in industry during this period was not met by political reform, leading an expanding working class to become heavily discontented. Nonetheless, peasants still formed 80% of the population and, despite the
emancipation of the serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
, agrarian problems were still marked. Russia, remaining a mostly agricultural economy, created economic issues and conflict between the differing social classes, as well as the government of the Russian Autocracy. The conflict created by Russia’s economic and political issues climaxed in the months prior to October 1905, also known as the
Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
. On 22 January 1905, peaceful protesters attempted to bring a petition to the Tsar, as was the tradition. However this protest was violently put down outside the winter palace when guards were ordered to fire on the protesters. The result of the violent revolt of the protest would be known as "
Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...
". The violent reaction to the protest increased the tension throughout Russia further. Unrest amongst the Russian people followed Bloody Sunday. By the thousands people refused to go to work and general strike crippled the Empire. Unrest eventually spread to the Russian countryside where peasants began to burn their masters' manors as the Russian people revolted against the autocracy. With Russia’s communication, transportation and public services crippled by the strikes, Nicholas II was forced to act before he lost power completely.


Nicholas II's opposition to reform

Although Russia was at a major standstill with violent revolts terrorizing the nation, Nicholas II still opposed any reforms that involved limiting the autocracy. Nicholas felt that it was not his place to limit a system created by his ancestors and is quoted as saying "I cannot squander a legacy that is not mine to squander." Nicholas could not bring himself to understand that the Russian people wished to limit his power, which he had increasingly used against them. This opposition towards the reform is of course argued to be due to his upbringing of autocratic beliefs.


Provisions

The October Manifesto addressed the unrest application throughout the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
and pledged to grant basic
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
, including *To grant to the population the essential foundations of civil freedoms based on the principles of genuine inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association. * Without postponing the scheduled elections to the State Duma, to admit to participation in the Duma (insofar as possible in the short time that remains before it is scheduled to convene) of all those classes of the population that now are completely deprived of voting rights; and to leave the further development of a general statute on elections to the future legislative order. *To establish as an unbreakable rule that no law shall take effect without confirmation by the State Duma and that the elected representatives of the people shall be guaranteed the opportunity to participate in the supervision of the legality of the actions of our appointed officials. *The Manifesto also introduced universal manhood suffrage in Russia which was common in some Western countries, such as France, Germany and the United States. This document, although granting basic rights to the Russian people, did not guarantee that the Russian government would function in a democratic way. Instead, the Manifesto just stated that the people now had basic rights and a voice in legislation. The freedom of religion clause outraged the Russian Orthodox Church because it allowed people to convert to evangelical Protestantism, which they denounced as heresy.Paul W. Werth
"The emergence of 'freedom of conscience' in imperial Russia"
''Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History'' 13.3 (2012): 585–610.


The Duma

One provision of the Manifesto was the creation of a legislative body in Russia, which was intended to limit the power of the Autocrat in favour of the Russian people. The legislative body known as the
Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...
was flawed from its inception. One major flaw of the Duma was that the Tsar maintained the power to veto any legislation that he wished. The Duma was also weakened by the influence of the Russian bureaucracy, as well as the fact that the body could be disbanded by Nicholas if he and the Duma could not reach an agreement.


Opposition

The October Manifesto divided opposition to the Emperor. The
Kadet ) , newspaper = ''Rech'' , ideology = ConstitutionalismConstitutional monarchismLiberal democracyParliamentarism Political pluralismSocial liberalism , position = Centre to centre-left , international = , colours ...
s were appeased by the idea of having freedom of speech and a truly
representative government Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a types of democracy, type of democracy where elected people Representation (politics), represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern liberal democr ...
, as was the
Union of October 17 The Union of 17 October (russian: Союз 17 Октября, ''Soyuz 17 Oktyabrya''), commonly known as the Octobrist Party (Russian: Октябристы, ''Oktyabristy''), was a liberal-reformist constitutional monarchist political party in la ...
(informally known as the ''Octobrists''). The
Marxists Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectic ...
, however, maintained that Nicholas had only made small concessions, arguing that the Duma was only a shell of
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
as it could not pass laws without the approval of the monarch, and that freedom of speech was heavily regulated.


Effects

The Manifesto enjoyed a short-lived success. The strikes and much of the violence ended almost as soon as it was published. October 19-20 was the
second Kishinev pogrom The second Kishinev pogrom took place on October 19–20, 1905 in Kishinev , two and a half years after the first Kishinev pogrom. It was part of the wave of pogroms that swept across the Russian Empire after tsar's October Manifesto in the wake ...
against the Jewish community there, which started as a protest against the Manifesto. Enthusiasm swept the nation as people realised their new-found freedom and the idea of having representation in the government. This manifesto also sprouted the
Octobrists The Union of 17 October (russian: Союз 17 Октября, ''Soyuz 17 Oktyabrya''), commonly known as the Octobrist Party (Russian: Октябристы, ''Oktyabristy''), was a liberal-reformist constitutional monarchist political party in la ...
. The immediate success of the Manifesto, however, was followed by a return to the cycle of strikes and violence as the autocracy gradually reaffirmed its power. Within months, executions were numbering more than a thousand. The government began suppressing political parties; by 1906–07 much of Russia was under
martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...
.


References


Further reading

* ''The Memoirs Of Count Witte'' New York & Toronto (1921)
online free
* Fiehn, Terry. (1996). Russia & The USSR 1905–1941. Hodder Headline Group, London. . * Kropotkin, G. M. "The Ruling Bureaucracy and the 'New Order' of Russian Statehood After the Manifesto of 17 October 1905." ''Russian Studies in History'' 46.4 (2008): 6–33.


External links


October Manifesto full text
{{Authority control 1905 in the Russian Empire Politics of the Russian Empire Manifestos of Russian emperors 1905 documents 1905 in politics Nicholas II of Russia