1906 Russian legislative election

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1906 Russian legislative election
March 1906 January 1907 →
All 497 seats in the
State Duma
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Pavel Milyukov
Alexey Aladyin
 Alexander Guchkov
Party Cadet Trudoviks Octobrist
Seats won 184 124 38
Chairman-designate

Sergey Muromtsev
Constitutional Democratic Party

Tsar Nicholas II's opening speech before the two chambers on 27 April 1906
Sergey Muromtsev (1850–1910) was the President of the First State Duma
Prime Minister Ivan Goremykin (1839–1917) was instrumental in the dissolution of the First State Duma

Legislative elections were held in the

State Duma of the Russian Empire, the legislative assembly
. Election for the First State Duma, which only ran from 27 April to 8 July (O.S.) 1906, returned a significant bloc of moderate socialists and two liberal parties which demanded further reforms. For this reason, it is sometimes called the Duma of Public Anger (Дума народного гнева).

Background

The State Duma was created in a wave of violent attacks against imperial officials and public upheaval, which culminated in a national strike in October 1905 known as Russian Revolution of 1905, paving the way for Russia's first parliament. With the nation's infrastructure all but paralyzed, Tsar Nicholas II signed a historic manifesto of 17 October 1905, promising civil rights to the population and creating Russia's first parliament.

Electoral legislation

The electoral laws were promulgated in December 1905 and introduced franchise to male citizens over 25 years of age, and electing through four electoral colleges. The elections were therefore not universal as they excluded women, soldiers, and officers. Nor were they equal since the constituencies differed greatly in size.

The general elections to the State Duma took place in March 1906 and were boycotted by the some socialist groups and the Bolsheviks. Among the political parties formed were the peasant leaders' Labour Group (

Octobrists
), and the positively reactionary Union of Land-Owners.

Results

As official records are vague about the party composition of the Duma, these figures must be understood as educated guesswork. Among the Leftists, it was alleged by the Kadets that 2 members belonged to the Social-Democrats and 17 were Socialist Revolutionaries.[1]

Out of the 36 Duma members from the Congress Kingdom, 34 were Poles who subsequently joined the Polish Club. Another 19 Polish Duma members were elected in

Jewish Labour Bund had made an electoral agreement with the Lithuanian Labourers' Party (Trudoviks), which resulted in the election to the Duma of two (non-Bundist) candidates in the Lithuanian provinces: Dr. Shmaryahu Levin for the Vilnius province and Leon Bramson for the Kaunas province.[2]

Among the other Jewish deputies were

Simon Yakovlevich Rosenbaum.[4] Two out of twelve, Grigori Borisovich Iollos (Poltava province) and Mikhail Herzenstein, both from the Constitutional Democratic Party, were assassinated by the Black Hundreds antisemite terrorist group.[5]

PartySeats
Constitutional Democratic Party184
Trudoviks124
Union of October 1738
National minorities32
Rightists7
Independents112
Total497
Source: Political Parties in the Russian Dumas

Members of the First Duma

  • Constitutional Democrats.
    Constitutional Democrats.
  • Constitutional Democrats.
    Constitutional Democrats.
  • Constitutional Democrats.
    Constitutional Democrats.
  • Democratic Reform Party/Labour Group.
    Democratic Reform Party/Labour Group.
  • Labour Group.
    Labour Group.
  • Labour Group/Social Democrats.
    Labour Group/Social Democrats.
  • Social Democrats.
    Social Democrats.

Aftermath

Basic Law

In April 1906, only weeks after the election, the

ex officio
issue new legislation during breaks between sessions of the State Duma. Later on, Tsar Nicholas II would frequently use this provision in order to carry out the laws that had not been supported by the State Duma.

Session

The State Duma (and the State Council - the upper house) convened for the first time on 27 April 1906. On 10 May

Saint Petersburg University, was elected President of the Duma. Professor Muromtsev, a leading figure of the liberal Kadet party, tried to maintain some degree of order and dignity in this difficult assembly. He was much praised for the way he chaired the debates, always keeping to the strictest legality, but always pursuing a constitutional and anti-autocratic
agenda.

The anti-autocracy was evident from the first days of the First Duma. In response to the Tsar's opening speech on 5 May, the assembly called for amnesty for political prisoners, real political freedom and equality. Eight days later, the chairman of the

Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Ivan Goremykin
, rejected all these claims. The State Duma in turn adopted a resolution of non confidence of the government and demanded Prime Minister Goremykin's resignation. During the 72-day session of the First Duma, a total of 391 requests about illegal actions of the government were filed. Only two laws were passed: a ban on capital punishment and measures to help provinces that had been hit by a famine.

Dissolution

Due to the growing tensions between the State Duma and Tsar Nicholas II's Council of Ministers, prominently Prime Minister Goremykin, the assembly was dismissed by Imperial

Finland. Despite the hopes of the Kadets and the fears of the government, there was no widespread popular reaction. However, an assassination attempt on Pyotr Stolypin
led to the establishment of field trials for terrorists. For signing this Vyborg Appeal, the Cadets (including Duma President Muromtsev) were arrested and imprisoned for some months - and consequently excluded from future Duma elections. This paved the way for an alternative makeup for the Second Duma of 1907.

See also

References

  1. S2CID 144439744
    .
  2. ISBN 978-1-57181-264-3
    .
  3. ^ Frumkin, Jacob G; Aronson, Gregor; Golʹdenveĭzer, Aleksey Aleksandrovich (1966). Russian Jewry: 1860-1917. New York City: T. Yoseloff.
  4. ISBN 978-1-4067-0729-8
    .
  5. ^ "12. July 1909" (PDF). American Jewish Yearbook (1910–1911): 136. The Russkoe Znamya declares openly that "Real Russians" assassinated Herzenstein and Iollos with knowledge of officials, and expresses regret that only two Jews perished in crusade against revolutionaries.

External links

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