Russia 1905

At the beginning of the 20th century the Russian industrial employee worked on average an 11 hour day (10 hours on Saturday). Conditions in the factories were extremely harsh and little concern was shown for the workers' health and safety. Attempts by workers to form trade unions were resisted by the factory owners and in 1903, a priest, Father Georgi Gapon, formed the Assembly of RussianWorkers. Within a year it had over 9,000 members.
In an attempt to settle the dispute, Georgi Gapon decided to make a personal appeal to Nicholas II. He drew up a petition outlining the workers' sufferings and demands. This included calling for a reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages, an improvement in working conditions and an end to the Russo-Japanese War.
When theprocession of workers reached the Winter Palace it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and some 300 wounded. The incident, known as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution. Strikes took place all over the country and the universities closed down when the whole student body complained about the lack of civil liberties bystaging a walkout. Lawyers, doctor, engineers, and other middle-class workers established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly.
In June, 1905, sailors on the Potemkin battleship, protested against the serving of rotten meat. The captain ordered that the ringleaders to be shot. The firing-squad refused to carry out the order and joined with the rest of the crew in throwing theofficers overboard. The Potemkin Mutiny spread to other units in the army and navy.
Industrial workers all over Russia went on strike and in October, 1905, the railwaymen went on strike which paralyzed the whole Russian railway network. Later that month, Leon Trotsky and other Mensheviks established the St. Petersburg Soviet. Over the next few weeks over 50 of these soviets were formed all overRussia.
Sergi Witte, the new Chief Minister, advised Nicholas II to make concessions. He eventually agreed and published the October Manifesto. This granted freedom of conscience, speech, meeting and association. He also promised that in future people would not be imprisoned without trial. Finally he announced that no law would become operative without the approval of a new organization called theDuma.
As this was only a consultative body, many Russians felt that this reform did not go far enough. Leon Trotsky and other revolutionaries denounced the plan. In December, 1905, Trotsky and the rest of the executive committee of the St. Petersburg Soviet were arrested.
COURSE OF THE 1905 REVOLUTION
A. THE FIRST STAGE: THE BLOODY SUNDAY (JANUARY 1905)
When Port Arthur fell (the most crushing ofthe series of defeats in the Far East which determined the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War), discontent reached almost the breaking point. There was much labour unrest in St. Petersburg due to a rise in prices of food and other daily necessities.
In such an atmosphere, on January 22, 1905, a priest, Father Gapon, who was one of the organizers of the pro-government trade unions, decided to leada group of workers to present a petition to the Czar at the Winter Palace. The petition included political and economic demands. Political demands were the calling of an elected duma, freedom of speech and assembly, guarantee of fair trials and an amnesty for political prisoners. Economic demands were more labour legislation, the eight-hour day, a reduction in indirect taxes and the introductionof a graduated income tax. The petition also demanded to end the war immediately. The petition was signed by 135,000 persons.
Gapon hoped that the Czar would grant reforms to lessen the discontent of the workers. Gapon's group was followed by a vast (about 150,000) but peaceful and orderly crowd. The crowd carrying the portraits of the Czar and of the Orthodox saints assembled on the square in...