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Bloody Sunday
In December 1904, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant in Saint Petersburg. Sympathy strikes in other parts of the city raised the number of strikers above 80,000. Controversial Orthodox priest George Gapon, who headed a police-sponsored workers' association, led a huge workers' procession to the Winter Palace to deliver a petition to the Tsar on Sunday, January 22 [O.S. January 9] 1905. The troops guarding the Winter Palace opened fire on demonstrators, which resulted in more than 1000 deaths -
Beginning of the Russian Revolution
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political unrest through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included terrorism, worker strikes, peasant unrests, and military mutinies. It led to the establishment of the limited constitutional monarchy, the establishment of State Duma of the Russian Empire, the multi-party system and Russian Constitution of 1906. -
New resolution
On May 24 and 25, about 300 Zemstvo and municipal representatives held three meetings in Moscow, which passed a resolution, asking for a popular representation at the national level. -
State Duma
On August 6 O.S. Nicholas II agreed to the creation of a consultative State Duma of the Russian Empire. When the slight powers of this and the limits to the electorate were revealed, unrest redoubled and culminated in a general strike in October. -
The Soviet Union was formed
In October, 1905 Saint Petersburg Soviet was formed. It called for a general strike, refusal to pay taxes and withdrawal of bank deposits. -
October Manifesto
On October 30, the October Manifesto, written by Sergei Witte and Alexis Obolenskii, was presented to the Tsar. It closely followed the demands of the Zemstvo Congress in September, granting basic civil rights, allowing the formation of political parties, extending the franchise towards universal suffrage, and establishing the Duma as the central legislative body. The Tsar waited and argued for three days, but finally signed the manifesto on October 301905, owing to his desire to avoid a massacr
