The First Duma - 1906

• The First Duma lasted between May and July 1906 and was dominated by reformist parties.

  • The Kadets were the largest party with 182 seats and the Trudoviks had 107 seats.
• Early on, there were bitter debates in the Duma between the reformist parties and those who supported the Tsar on issues such as civil rights and land ownership.
• Nicholas II was horrified by the demands of some of the deputies and the criticism voiced against his government.

  • He also disliked the dress and smell of many liberal and radical deputies.
• The deputies made an "Address to the Throne" which included demands for universal male suffrage, land redistribution, abolition of the death penalty and giving up emergency powers.

  • This was too much for the Tsar.
• A loan of 2,250 gold francs from France meant the government did not need the Duma for money.

  • Nicholas remarked "Curse the Duma. It is all Witte's doing" and dissolved it in July 1906 after considering it to be unworkable.
• Many Russians at the time referred to the First Duma as the "Duma of National Hope".
• In response to the dissolution of the First Duma, around 200 deputies who were mostly Kadets, travelled to Vyborg in Finland from where they issued an appeal to the people of Russia.

  • They urged Russian not to pay their taxes or to perform military service.
  • This appeal had little impact on the Russian people and the Tsar responded by arresting many deputies and banning them from standing in the next election.
• The Vyborg Appeal damaged the organisation and the public profile of the Kadets who lost many seats in the Second Duma.
• Failure to control the First Duma led to the dismissal of Goremykin as Prime Minister.

  • He was replaced by Pyotr Stolypin.
  • Stolypin had built a reputation as a hardliner during the 1905 Revolution by asserting government control over his Saratov Province with tough measures.