The essence of the manifesto of October 17, 1905. The highest manifesto on the improvement of the state order

After long hesitation, caused by the fact that the oath given to him upon accession to the throne was actually violated, Nicholas II put his signature under the Manifesto prepared by the SU. Witte and promulgated on October 17, 1905, the Manifesto boiled down, in fact, to three main elements: 1) granting the people civil liberties based on bourgeois-democratic principles - the inviolability of the individual, freedom of conscience, speech, meetings and organizations; 2) ensuring the participation in the elections of those segments of the population who, by decree of August 6, 1905, were deprived of the right to vote on the basis of the new electoral law; 3) the introduction as an indispensable rule that no law can enter into force without its approval State Duma, - a way to control the legality of the actions of the emperor.

The manifesto was a step forward in comparison with the legislative acts of February 18 and August 6, 1905. However, he left many important questions unresolved: about the role and place of autocracy in the new political system, on the powers of the State Duma, on the essence of the constitutional order.

The revolution continued. The high point of the revolution was the December armed uprising of 1905 in Moscow. The tsarist government managed to play on the split of the opposition forces and did not keep most of the promises contained in the Manifesto of October 17, 1905. The defeat of the uprising was the defeat of the social revolution.

The electoral law, adopted on December 11, 1905, softened the electoral qualification, but left the elections multi-stage, and the rights of voters - unequal and not universal. All voters were divided into four curia: landowners, city owners, workers and peasants. Each of them chose their own electors for constituencies. The electoral law, very complex and intricate, primarily ensured the rights of the landowners. The powers of the Duma were severely limited in advance.

On the eve of the election campaign, the government reformed the State Council, which was transformed from a legislative body, all members of which were previously appointed by the tsar, into the upper house of the future parliament, which has equal legislative powers with the Duma. The composition of the State Council was also changed. The number of members tripled, half of them were still appointed by the king, while the other was elected on the basis of a high property qualification. Thus, the local nobility and the big bourgeoisie dominated the State Council. On October 19, 1905, a united government was established - the transformed SU. Witte is the highest executive body of the country - the Council of Ministers. As before, the emperor appointed and dismissed ministers who were responsible only to him, and not to the Duma.

The electoral law relied on the monarchist and nationalist feelings of the peasant masses. But in reality the peasants supported the opposition parties. The majority of the peasants, instead of supporting the landowner or local civil servants in the elections, as was supposed, voted for their own candidates or for those of the opposition. The elections dealt a severe blow to the main dogma of the autocracy - the indestructible unity of the tsar and the people. The conflict between the opposition-minded Duma and the emperor, who claims to be the bearer of historical and monarchical legitimacy, became inevitable.

One of the important results of the revolution of 1905-1907. was the formation of political parties. The right to form unions was one of the most important freedoms introduced by the Manifesto. During the revolution, about 50 parties arose, defending various paths for the development of the country. The number of radical socialist parties, which had previously been deeply underground, increased markedly. The divergence between the branches of Social Democracy was clearly manifested: the Bolsheviks proclaimed the peasantry the main ally of the proletariat in the revolution and assumed, after the overthrow of the autocracy, the establishment of a "revolutionary-democratic dictatorship" of the working class and peasantry; the Mensheviks, who saw the masses of liberals as their ally, advocated the transfer of power after the revolution to a bourgeois government.

The October Manifesto (manifesto of October 17, 1905) is a legislative act developed by the government and signed by Emperor Nicholas 2 in order to put an end to the numerous riots and strikes of workers and peasants.

The manifesto was the government's response to the ongoing strikes and popular demonstrations that have been taking place in the country since October 12, the author of the document was S.Yu. Witte.

« supreme manifesto on the improvement of the state order "was a forced measure, which was taken by Nicholas 2 to stabilize the situation. The essence of the manifesto was to make concessions to the workers and fulfill a number of their demands - to give civil rights and freedoms - thereby ending the chaos in the country.

Prerequisites for creating the Manifesto

This document became one of the most notable events during the period of the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907 and was its original result.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the economic and political situation in Russia was very difficult. The abolition of serfdom greatly changed the country's economy, but the old system (autocratic monarchy) could not adequately respond to the ongoing changes and support new type economy. The country experienced an industrial decline, as there was no one to work in the factories, the country's internal debt grew every day, and several consecutive lean years led to the fact that the country was starving. The economic crisis, as well as Russia's failures in the military field, led to the fact that the authorities aroused less and less confidence among the people.

The workers, who had nothing to eat, demanded that they be endowed with civil rights and given more freedom so that the economy could be regulated not only by decrees of the sovereign, but also by the will of the people. During this period, the slogan “down with autocracy” began to sound more and more often.

Despite the dissatisfaction, the government was still somehow coping with the situation, but after the tragic events of Bloody Sunday, when a peaceful demonstration of workers was shot by the imperial troops, it was no longer possible to stop the revolution. Riots and strikes began all over the country - people demanded to overthrow the Emperor.

Strikes peaked in October, when more than 2 million people went on strike. Strikes were accompanied by pogroms and bloody clashes.

At the beginning of the revolution, the government tried to cope with the situation by issuing numerous legislative acts and decrees, as well as using forceful methods. In particular, Nicholas 2 first issued a decree according to which each citizen or group of citizens could submit a document on changing the state order for consideration, but then a second decree immediately came out - he said that all power belongs exclusively to the emperor. Of course, the people were dissatisfied with the fact that they were trying to give them rights only on paper. The demonstrations intensified.

In May 1905, a new bill was submitted to the Duma for consideration, which provided for the creation in Russia of a completely new legislative body, which would become a kind of intermediary between the sovereign and the people - this body would be engaged in considering the proposals of citizens and the process of making appropriate amendments to official legislation. The emperor did not like such a bill, its content, by order of Nicholas 2, was changed in favor of the autocracy and the power of the monarchy.

When the riots reached their peak, Nicholas 2 was forced to return to the first edition of the new bill, because there was no other way to stop the bloody events. He issued an order to immediately draw up the text of the Manifesto.

The manifesto laid the foundation for a new state system- constitutional monarchy.

The Manifesto proclaimed "the unshakable foundations of civil freedom on the basis of real inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and unions"; The Duma became the highest legislative body in Russia, and suffrage was promised to those sections of the population that had previously been deprived of it, primarily workers.

The October 17 manifesto had a number of far-reaching consequences. Marking a serious victory for the revolutionary movement, the Manifesto at the same time split it. A significant role in this was played by liberal figures who previously kept a low profile, but now come to the fore. The manifesto gave them the opportunity to create legal parties, which they immediately took advantage of. On October 12-18, at the height of the political strike, as if in anticipation of the inevitable concessions from the autocracy, the founding congress of the constitutional-democratic (cadet) party was held, prepared by the "Union of Liberation" and the most resolute Zemstvo members. In their ranks, the Cadets united primarily representatives of the intelligentsia - urban and zemstvo, as well as landlords, the bourgeoisie, the military, and officials. Such a composition, although it did not give the Cadets a sufficiently reliable social support, made it possible to claim to express all-Russian interests.

The leaders of the Cadets, among whom the well-known historian P. N. Milyukov stood out in particular, constantly declared the non-class character of their party. The Cadet program was drawn up from a similar position: its authors tried to find compromise solutions to the most pressing issues of Russian reality. Thus, the forced alienation of landowners' lands for redemption was supposed, but only that part that the landowners, without cultivating themselves, rented out. The introduction of an 8-hour working day was envisaged, but not everywhere, but only where it is in given time perhaps the establishment of freedom of the individual, speech, assembly, etc. The Cadets left open in their program the question of the form government controlled in Russia. As subsequent events showed, they were ready to be content with a constitutional monarchy.

The Union of October 17 (Octobrists) was a more integral and definite party in its composition: it included the tops of the big bourgeoisie and bourgeois landowners who managed to transfer their farms to capitalist lines. As the party's name suggests, the concessions promised by the October 17 Manifesto satisfied its members, while more serious reforms could only frighten them. A. I. Guchkov, a representative of an old Moscow merchant family, became the recognized leader of the party.

Having consolidated their forces, these parties launched an active struggle to stop the revolution. From their point of view, it fulfilled its task by giving the country a legislative Duma, on which the population was asked to place all their hopes. Among the masses, tired of the ordeals, such appeals found a certain response.

The proclamation of political freedoms also forced the reactionaries to organize. Immediately after the publication of the Manifesto, the opponents of the autocracy, who celebrated their victory with grandiose demonstrations and rallies, had to face the Black Hundred. On the streets Russian cities real battles ensued, accompanied by numerous casualties.

The main organizing force of this movement was the noble landlords of the old, feudal temper. The "constitutional" concession of Nicholas II frightened them - the next step could well be the confiscation of landowners' lands. Feeling that the ground was slipping from under their feet, the reactionaries tried to actively support the autocracy in the struggle against the revolution, against any serious changes. Many representatives of the bureaucratic apparatus took an active part in the Black Hundreds movement, and the Russian clergy did not shy away from it. The Black Hundred gained serious support among the prosperous urban philistinism - small merchants, homeowners, etc. The leaders of the Black Hundred movement did not hesitate to use for their own purposes the declassed elements, who settled in excess at the bottom of large cities.

Being so diverse in composition, the Black Hundreds were distinguished by an extremely simple and clear ideology: all the troubles of the great and mighty Russia come from revolutionary intellectuals and foreigners who want to ruin it in the name of their own dark interests. What is needed is not reforms, but a merciless struggle against troublemakers. In 1905-1907. the Black Hundreds, who enjoyed the tacit support of the government, widely put these ideas into practice: they killed revolutionaries, participated in the dispersal of rallies and demonstrations, staged Jewish pogroms, etc. The most massive Black Hundred organizations were the Union of the Russian People, the Russian People's Union named after Michael the Archangel.

Thus, at the end of 1905, the revolution had powerful opponents, some of whom skillfully acted in word, others - mercilessly - in deed. At the same time, the new government, headed by Witte, began to take more and more decisive measures to restore order in the country. Under these conditions, the revolutionary movement gradually lost its breadth, power and solidarity.

110 years ago, on October 17 (30), 1905, the manifesto of Emperor Nicholas II "On the improvement of the state order" was published, which declared the granting of political freedoms to the citizens of Russia, personal immunity, and the expansion of the electoral qualification in elections to the State Duma. The manifesto of October 17, 1905 was prepared by S. Yu. Witte, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire, who considered constitutional concessions the only way to defuse the revolutionary atmosphere in Russia.

The manifesto of 1905 was issued by Emperor Nicholas II under the pressure of the growing revolutionary situation: mass strikes and armed uprisings. This manifesto satisfied the liberal public, as it was a real step towards the transition to a limited constitutional monarchy. Liberals got the opportunity to influence the government through parliament. This manifesto is considered the beginning of the Russian monarchy and parliamentarism.

The manifesto secured freedom of conscience, speech, meetings and gatherings; involvement in the elections of the general population; mandatory order approval by the State Duma of all published laws.

It must be said that the idea of ​​"democratizing" the Russian Empire has been in the public eye for a long time. More than once, constitutional projects were born that were supposed to reform Russia “from above”. Among the Westerners (the leading part of the Russian educated society), "constitutional dreams" were the leading idea, and they gradually became radicalized.

Thus, in the Russian Empire of the period of the XIX - early XX centuries. there were two main ideas of "democratization" of Russia. "From above" some emperors, representatives of ruling dynasty and high officials. They wanted to arrange in an evolutionary way in Russia a constitutional monarchy on the model of England. That is, they also followed the example of the West and were Westerners, but did not want unrest and unrest. While representatives of the pro-Western public dreamed that the main branch of power in Russia would be the legislative one - the parliament. They wanted to abolish autocracy. This was dreamed of, both by the Decembrists and raznochintsy, so by liberals and socialists late XIX- the beginning of the XX century. This discrepancy in the vision of the future of Russia, moreover, based on Western concepts, ultimately led to the catastrophe of the Russian Empire and the entire Russian civilization, which was saved only by a new, Soviet project.

Alexander I was the first to think about reform. While still heir to the throne, Alexander was critical of the despotic and paternalistic methods of his father's rule. The reformist mood of Alexander was expressed in attracting state activities M. M. Speransky, who prepared several of his own political notes: “On the fundamental laws of the state”, “Reflections on state structure empire”, “On the gradual improvement of the public”, etc. In 1803, on behalf of the emperor, Speransky compiled a “Note on the organization of judicial and government institutions in Russia”. During its development, he proved to be an active supporter of the constitutional monarchy. However, things did not go further than this. In addition, Alexander canceled serfdom in the Baltic provinces, granted a constitutional structure to the Grand Duchy of Finland, and then to the Kingdom of Poland. Alexander took part in the development of the Constitutional Charter of France, which turned it into a constitutional monarchy. In Russia itself, in addition to Speransky, Vorontsov and Novosiltsev worked on constitutional projects, but all their projects were shelved.

By the end of his reign, Alexander was clearly disillusioned with reform activities, seeing that it leads to an increase in revolutionary sentiment in society, and does not stabilize it. Thus, speaking in 1818 in Warsaw at the opening of the first Polish Sejm, Alexander I once again returned to constitutional projects and emphasized that the rest of Russia was not yet ripe, like Poland, for constitutional reorganization. It is interesting that Alexander knew about the emergence of the “Decembrists” movement, which was involved in Westernism and Freemasonry. When in 1821 Prince A.V. Vasilchikov acquainted the tsar with materials about the conspiracy and about the programs of the conspirators, Alexander I threw the list of conspirators into the fire, noting that he could not punish them, because "in his youth he shared their views." The radical program of the Decembrists (especially Pestel) marked a radical, revolutionary challenge to the government, which wavered in its constitutional plans. Moreover, the government was challenged by the most educated part society, the basis of education of which was western culture.

Thus, the flirtations of the Alexander government with the liberal public ended badly. The performance of the Decembrists could lead to bloody turmoil, and only the decisive actions of Nicholas saved the empire from very serious consequences.

Emperor Nicholas, having suppressed the performance of the Decembrists, was cold to constitutional projects and "froze" Russia. The next experiment on the constitutional field was undertaken by the reformer Tsar Alexander II and ended no less tragically. On April 11, 1880, M. T. Loris-Melikov, the Kharkov governor-general, appointed chairman of the Supreme Administrative Commission of Russia, submitted to Emperor Alexander II a report “On attracting representatives of the population to legislative advisory activities.” It was about the establishment in St. Petersburg of two preparatory commissions from representatives of the Zemstvos and largest cities Russia, by analogy with the editorial commissions of 1859 regarding the decision peasant question. In essence, the empire planned to introduce the legislative activity of representative institutions. The sovereign imposed a resolution on the project: "Execute." However, on the 1st mat the sovereign was mortally wounded. The assassination attempt on the tsar was organized by revolutionary terrorists, fighters for "people's freedom" and a constitutional republic from the "Narodnaya Volya". The text of the "Constitution" remained lying on the emperor's table.

Ascended Emperor Alexander III, an opponent of change and a conservative, instructed to discuss the project in the Council of Ministers. He was approved again. And on April 29, the new emperor issued his famous manifesto, announcing the inviolability of the principles of autocracy. On the very first page of M.T. Loris-Melikov’s report, the tsar wrote: “Thank God, this criminal and hasty step towards the constitution was not taken.” The new sovereign headed for unlimited autocracy. After the death of his father, this line was continued by Nicholas II, who, upon accession to the throne in 1894, declared the inviolability of the principles of autocracy.

Alexander III and Nicholas II, at the beginning of their reign, again "froze" the situation. However, the contradictions in the Russian Empire were fundamental and sooner or later led to the collapse of the building of the empire. The empire could have been saved by decisive modernization "from above", but not along the liberal (Western) path, but along its own, original one. In fact, Nicholas II had to do what Stalin and his “iron commissars” did after the collapse of the Russian Empire.

When Nikolai succumbed to the influence of the pro-Western part of the government (Witte was a typical Westerner and agent of influence of the "world behind the scenes"), he only made things worse. Concessions to the liberal public could not save old Russia. They only provoked the Westerners and all sorts of revolutionaries, increased their ability to destroy the foundations of the empire. So, most of the press in the Russian Empire, controlled by liberal parties and movements, worked to destroy the empire. Stolypin was able to delay the collapse of the empire with incredible efforts, but when the empire got involved in the war, it was no longer possible to save it.

In the very first year (1906) lived by Russia in the conditions of “civil freedom”, as a result of terrorist acts, 768 representatives of the authorities were killed and 820 were injured. On August 19, 1906, Stolypin signed a decree on the introduction of military courts, but submitted it to the Duma only in the spring of 1907. During the eight months of the decree, 1,100 people were executed. Trade unions were closed, revolutionary parties were persecuted, repressions against the press began. Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin had to dissolve two Dumas before he got a Duma of such composition with which he could cooperate. Stolypin put things in order in the country with a hard hand.

As a result, the October 17 Manifesto cannot be considered a happy acquisition for Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, the opposition used it to intensify the struggle against the autocracy, which led to new blood, and the authorities did not know and did not understand what parliamentarism was, political parties and public opinion under conditions of freedom of the press. Russian empire entered a qualitatively different state state, being absolutely unprepared for this. The bureaucracy, subordinate only to the tsar, was absolutely incapable of European-type parliamentarism. European ideas on Russian soil led to perversions and only worsened the situation (this is fully confirmed in modern Russia).

Thus, during this period, we very clearly observe the feature historical development Russia. As soon as power, in the person of its supreme bearer, practically takes up the democratization of the state and society in a Western way and “unscrews the nuts” of the centralized imperial system, the liberal society immediately perceives this as evidence of its weakness and uses its new opportunities not to act for the benefit of the people, but for in order to politically (or physically) destroy the supreme power (not enough, in her opinion, democratic), and force the turmoil.

The manifesto of 1905 on the improvement of the state order was issued by Emperor Nicholas II on October 17, 1905 under the pressure of growing popular unrest: a general political strike and armed uprisings in Moscow and in many other cities. This manifesto satisfied some of the strikers, as it was a real step towards a limited constitutional monarchy.

The manifesto was the first liberal-minded legislative act of tsarist Russia.

The main provisions of the Manifesto: securing freedom of conscience, speech, meetings and gatherings; involvement in the elections of the general population; obligatory procedure for the approval by the State Duma of all published laws.

Under these conditions, the Russian bourgeoisie not only did not lead the revolutionary struggle for bourgeois-democratic transformations, but strove to prevent further development revolution.

The manifesto changed the system of state administration - the Soviets of Workers' Deputies appeared. Initially, they were strike committees, but gradually turned into bodies of political struggle.

Principles of organization and activity of the Councils:

- representative character;

- democratic elections by secret or open voting;

- they could include women;

- they formed executive committees (presidiums) and commissions on certain issues;

- accountability of deputies to voters;

- the possibility of replacing deputies who have not justified the trust of voters;

- work according to the orders of voters;

- wide involvement of workers in meetings.

In 1905-1907. 55 Soviets were formed, of which 44 were Bolshevik-minded, so they became the rudimentary organs of the new revolutionary power.

The Soviets had the right to take measures of a revolutionary-democratic nature: to form fighting squads, workers' militia. The Soviets opened and seized printing houses, had their own printed editions, spread revolutionary ideas, thereby introducing de facto freedom of the press.

The manifesto preserved the class inequality of the bourgeoisie with the nobility and the limitation of the former in the right to occupy the highest positions in the state apparatus.

The main state laws were signed by Nicholas II on April 23, 1906. They were an act of autocracy, on which Nicholas II decided after the suppression of the largest uprisings. These laws could only be changed by the emperor.

The main state laws of 1906 forbade the tsar to change the right to vote on his own, but Nicholas II violated this provision and passed a law that limited the voting rights of workers, non-Russian peoples and some other groups of the population.

The population in Russia was divided into nobility, clergy, urban and rural inhabitants.