October Manifesto + Dumas

• By October 1905, Russia seemed like it was near economic collapse.
• There were strikes and demonstrations in cities and peasant uprisings in the countryside.
• Nicholas II made the October Manifesto out of pressure from his advisers and he promised civil liberties and a State Duma.
• Freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of assembly were civil liberties given in the October Manifesto.
• The State Duma was elected by universal suffrage and they could pass laws.
• Liberals accepted the manifesto such as the Kadets, Progressives and Octobrists.
• The revolutionary SRs and SDs rejected the Manifesto.
• Many workers were unconvinced by the Tsar's promises in the Manifesto and they continued to support socialist groups.
• A peasant uprising continued in the hopes for land redistribution.
• The army remained loyal to the Tsar.
• The army stormed the Moscow and St Petersburg HQ in November and December 1905.
• Soviet leaders were arrested or exiled to Siberia with some of them even being executed.
• The army restored order in the countryside and redemption payments ended for peasants.
• The Fundamental Laws were constitutional laws introduced in April 1906.
• SRs and Bolsheviks refused to participate in the Fundamental Laws.
• The Tsar exercised supreme autocratic power in the Fundamental Laws.
• The Fundamental Laws initiated that only the Tsar could approve legislation.
• The Tsar could still appoint and dismiss ministers as part of the Fundamental Laws as well as summoning and dissolving the Duma at any time.
• The Tsar could rule by decree in an emergency.
• The Tsar never had any intention of becoming a constitutional monarch.
• The First Duma was in sessions between May and June 1906 and it was dominated by radicals and Kadets.
• The First Duma demanded radical change and it dissolved because of a vote of no confidence.
• The Second Duma was in session between February and June 1907 and it dissolved due to radical ideas.
• Bolsheviks and SRs increased the number of radical deputies due to participation.
• The Second Duma opposed most Tsarist proposals.
• The Third Duma was in session between November 1907 and June 1912 after Stolypin introduced an emergency law for representation.
• Octobrists and other conservatives dominated the Third Duma.
• The Fourth Duma was in session between November 1912 and February 1917 but right-wing and left-wing deputies couldn't co-operate.
• The Fourth Duma voted for war credits in 1914 and it was suspended in 1915 because it demanded more power.
• Orlando Figes said that Nicholas II was "opposed to limitation upon his autocratic prerogatives".
• Martin Sixsmith said that Nicholas II "offered concessions in the hope of diffusing tension".