Elections to the II State Duma of the Russian Empire

I State Duma and its activities

After the elections, the First State Duma began its activities. The central issue of the State Duma was agrarian . The cadets put forward the idea of ​​"forced alienation" of landowner land. On May 8, they introduced to the State Duma a bill signed by 42 deputies (“draft 42”), which proposed additional land allotment to peasants at the expense of state, monastery, church, unit and cabinet lands, as well as partial alienation of landowner land for ransom “at fair assessment. " Recognizing the legislative rights of the State Duma, the tsarist government strove to limit them in every way. On February 20, 1906, the manifesto , the highest legislative institution of the Russian Empire, the State Council (existed in 1810 - 1917 ) was transformed into the second legislative chamber with the right of veto on decisions of the State Duma; It was explained that the State Duma did not have the right to change the basic state laws. A significant part of the state budget was withdrawn from the conduct of the State Duma. According to the new edition of the main state laws (April 23, 1906), the emperor retained all power in governing the country through the ministry responsible only to him, directing foreign policy, and managing the army and navy; He could issue laws between sessions that were then only formally approved by the State Duma. The government rejected the cadet program, expressed in the form of a request for partial political amnesty, the creation of a “government responsible to the State Duma”, the expansion of voting rights and other freedoms, the expansion of peasant land ownership, and others. State Duma commissions worked on bills on the abolition of the death penalty and on immunity personality, freedom of conscience, assembly, etc. The government at a meeting on June 7-8 decided to dissolve the State Duma in the event of escalation of tension around the agrarian question. On June 8, 33 deputies submitted another draft of the Basic Land Law, which was based on the views of the Social Revolutionaries, requiring the immediate destruction of private property in the land and its transfer to the public domain (the so-called socialization of the land). The State Duma refused to discuss the “33 draft” as “leading to a redistribution”. In general, for 72 days of its work, the first Duma approved only two bills: the abolition of the death penalty (initiated by deputies in violation of the procedure) and the allocation of 15 million rubles to help victims of crop failure, introduced by the government. Other projects did not reach article discussion.

Dissolution of the First State Duma and new outbreaks of revolution

By decree on July 8, the State Duma was dissolved, on July 9, a similar argument was argued by the fact that "elective people, instead of building the legislative, deviated into their non-owned area", at the same time the State Duma was responsible for past peasant protests. All central publications have published Personalized Higher Decrees:

“To the governing Senate: On the basis of Article 105 of the Code of Basic State Laws, edition of 1906, we command: Dissolve the State Duma, with the appointment of the time for the newly elected Duma to be convened on February 20, 1907. A special instruction will follow from Us about the time of the new elections to the State Duma. The governing Senate will not leave to enforce this order. On the true personal of His Imperial Majesty, with his hand is signed: "NIKOLAI"

At Peterhof on July 8, 1906.

By condescending to the request of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, a member of the State Council, a senator, a real privy councilor Goremykin, we all -mercifully dismiss him from his post as chairman of the Council of Ministers, leaving him a member of the State Council and the rank of senator. "We are mercifully commanded the Minister of Internal Affairs, Our Court, with the rank of chamberlain, the current state adviser to Stolypin , to be the chairman of the Council of Ministers, leaving him as Minister of the Interior and in the court rank." To develop an appeal to the people in protest against the early dissolution of parliament on July 9, 1906, starting at noon, members of the State Duma began to arrive in the city of Vyborg . By evening, all the hotels in the city were crowded. Together with the deputies arrived a mass of unauthorized persons. At 23.00 a meeting of the newly arrived deputies opened. Chaired by S. A. Muromtsev (cadet). All deputies at the meeting were attended by 185 people. The meeting was attended by representatives of the right-wing parliamentary wing and the Polish stake. The doors for the press were closed .. The result of the meeting was the so-called “Vyborg Appeal”:

“Citizens of all Russia! By decree on July 8, the State Duma was dissolved. When you elected us as your representatives, you instructed us to seek land and will. Fulfilling your instructions and our duty, we drafted laws to ensure freedom for the people, we demanded the removal of irresponsible ministers who, with impunity breaking the laws, suppressed freedom; but, first of all, we wanted to pass a law on endowing the land with the working peasantry by applying to this subject the lands of state, specific, cabinet, monastery, church and compulsory character of alienation of privately owned lands. The government recognized such a law as unacceptable, and when the Duma once again persistently affirmed its decision on forced expropriation, the dissolution of the people's representatives was announced. Instead of the current Duma, the Government promises to convene another in seven months. For seven months Russia should remain without people's representatives at a time when the people are on the verge of ruin, industry and trade are undermined. When the whole country is seized with excitement and when the ministry finally proved its inability to meet the needs of the people. For seven months the government will act out of its own free will and will fight the popular movement in order to get an obedient, obliging Duma, and if it succeeds in completely crushing the popular movement, it will not collect any Duma.

Citizens! Stand firmly for the violated rights of the people's representation, stand for the State Duma. Not a single day should Russia remain without popular representation. You have a way to achieve this: the government does not have the right to collect taxes from the people or to call the people for military service without the consent of the national representation. And therefore, now that the government has dissolved the State Duma, you have the right not to give him either soldiers or money. If, in order to raise funds for itself, the government begins to make loans, then such loans, concluded without the consent of the national representation, are no longer valid, and the Russian people will never recognize them and will not pay them. So, before the convocation of the national representation, do not give a dime to the treasury, not a single soldier to the army. Be firm in your refusal, stand for your rights all, as one person. No one can resist the united and unshakable will of the people.

Citizens! In this forced but inevitable struggle, your elected people will be with you. "

Under the Vyborg Appeal, 169 people signed. Another 55 people did this later in St. Petersburg. Since they were not the authors of the original text of the appeal, they were not brought to justice. The news of the dissolution of the State Duma and the introduction of emergency protection spread throughout St. Petersburg early in the morning, and by 2 o’clock in the afternoon all of Petersburg already spoke about this. Everywhere, by all sectors of the population, the question of the day was discussed and interpreted in all ways. By 12 o’clock in the afternoon the number of the “Government Gazette”, in which a decree appeared on the dissolution of the Duma, was sold at 3 rubles. The official “Russia” commented on the dissolution of the Duma in such a way: “In order to save the popular representation and make it a workable and vital institution in the circle of legislative institutions of the empire, the Supreme Authority had no other choice but to recognize the current composition of the Duma as incapable of legislative work.”

The II State Duma of the Russian Empire lasted from February 20 to July 2, 1907.

Elections to the Second State Duma were held according to the same rules as to the First Duma (multi-stage elections for chicken). At the same time, the election campaign itself took place against the background of a decaying, but ongoing revolution: "riots on agricultural soil" in July 1906 swept 32 provinces of Russia, and in August 1906, peasant unrest covered 50% of counties in European Russia.

For 8 months, the revolution was suppressed. According to the Law of October 5, 1906, peasants were equalized in rights with the rest of the country's population. The Second Land Law of November 9, 1906 allowed any peasant at any time to demand a share of the communal land owed to him. According to the "Senate clarifications" of the election law (January-February 1907), part of the workers and small landowners were removed from the Duma elections.

The opening of the Second State Duma took place on February 20, 1907. The right-wing cadet Fyodor Aleksandrovich Golovin, elected from the Moscow province, became the chairman of the Duma.

In any way, the government strove to ensure an acceptable composition of the Duma: peasants who were not householders were removed from the elections, workers could not be elected by the city curia, even if they had the apartment qualification required by law, etc. Twice at the initiative of P. A. Stolypin the Council of Ministers discussed the issue of changing the electoral law (July 8 and September 7, 1906), but members of the government came to the conclusion that such a step was not practical because it was connected with a violation of the Basic Laws and could lead to aggravation of the revolutionary struggle.

Solemn prayer in honor of the opening of the meetings of the II State Duma on February 20, 1907.

This time, representatives of the entire party spectrum, including the extreme left, participated in the elections. In general, four currents fought: the right, standing for the consolidation of the autocracy; Octobrists who adopted the Stolypin program; cadets; the left bloc, uniting the Social Democrats, Social Revolutionaries and other socialist groups. Many noisy pre-election meetings were organized with "disputes" between the Cadets, Socialists and Octobrists. Nevertheless, the election campaign was of a different nature than during the elections to the First Duma. Then no one defended the government. Now, the struggle was within the society between the electoral blocs of parties ^[1] .

The results of the elections to the Second State Duma were very different from the results of the elections to the First State Duma. This is clearly shown in the table:

• Elections to the I State Duma of the Russian Empire
• Elections to the III State Duma of the Russian Empire
• Elections to the IV State Duma of the Russian Empire
• State Duma of the Russian Empire