Bloody Sunday

• One of the organisations created under the police socialism system was the Assembly of Russian Factory Workers which was led by Father Georgi Gapon.
• Following the defeat of Russian forces at Port Arthur in December 1904, tensions at St Petersburg came to a head.
• The workers at the Putilov Iron Works went on strike on 3 January 1905.
• On 9 January 1905, Father Gapon led a demonstration of 150,000 workers and their families in St Petersburg to present a petition to the Tsar at his Winter Palace.

  • Many demonstrators carried icons of the Tsar to show their loyalty to jim.
  • This was not revolutionary action but a plea for help from the people to their "little father".
  • The Tsar was not actually in the palace but he had left 12,000 troops in the city to keep control.
• As the large crowd marched towards the palace, the soldiers stationed there became increasingly nervous.
• As the crowd edged closer, the troops opened fire on the unarmed civilians.

  
  

  It is not known whether this was started by a nervous soldier or orders.
• It is impossible to know how many precisely were killed and wounded.

  • The tsarist government claimed that 76 were killed but some historians have put the death toll closer to 1,000.
• The massacre of peaceful protestors on Bloody Sunday in St Petersburg in January 1905 was the final straw for many Russians and they saw the only way to improve their lives was through revolution.
• A wave of violence and unrest swept the country in the so-called 1905 Revolution.