October Manifesto

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The October Manifesto was published at the peak of Revolution of 1905, following the general strike of October of 1905 in which 2 million people took to the streets and railroads were blocked. The government considered two possible solutions to the crisis: a military dictatorship and liberal reforms to win popular support. Those who supported reforms were led by Sergei Witte, who wrote a report urging Tsar Nicholas II to grant a constitution, a representative assembly, and civil freedoms. On October 27 (October 14 O.S.) Nicholas ordered that the main points of the report were to be listed in the form of a manifesto. The draft was written overnight by Prince Alexei Obolensky. Nicholas signed it on October 30 (October 17 O.S.), and the next day it was published in the newspaper Pravitelstvennyi Vestnik (Governmental Courier).

The October Manifesto gave the ruling body permission to use every means to end disorders, disobedience, and abuse, and gave the "highest government" the responsibility to act, in accordance with the tsar's "unbendable" will, to "Grant the population the undisputable foundation for civil freedom on the basis of protection of identity, freedom of conscience, speech, assemblies and unions." Voting rights were promised, "to some extent, to those classes of the population that, at present, do not have the right to vote," and it was proclaimed as an "undisputable rule that no law can be passed without the approval of the Duma and for the possibility of supervision of the lawfulness of the actions of the administration to be given to the national representatives." The manifesto concluded by calling upon "all true sons of Russia to end the unimaginable revolt" and, along with the emperor, "to concentrate all forces on restoring peace and quiet on the homeland."

The October Manifesto was highly controversial. There were mass meetings and demonstrations welcoming its promise of freedom in the regional capitals and many other cities. Similarly, there were mass meetings and demonstrations, often violent, calling for an autocracy of "patriots" and condemning the manifesto as perpetrated by revolutionaries and Jews. In the three weeks after the manifesto was issued, there were outbreaks of violence in 108 cities, 70 small towns, and 108 villages, leaving at least 1,622 dead, and 3,544 crippled and wounded.

The liberal reaction to the manifesto was mixed. Right-wing liberals saw it as a realization of their political hopes and united as the Union of October 17. Left-wing liberals, joining together to organize the Constitutional Democratic Party, believed that further reforms were needed, and their leader, Paul Milyukov, stated that nothing changed and the struggle would continue. Left-wing parties and leaders saw the manifesto as a sign of the government's weakness; its capitulation under revolutionary pressure showed that the pressure on the government had to be intensified.

The political program embodied in the manifesto began to take effect on October 19, 1905, with the appointment of a government headed by Witte. Between October 1905 and March 1906 the government published a series of orders regarding political amnesties, censorship, modification of the State Council, and other matters. All of these were incorporated in the second edition of the Fundamental Laws, passed on April 23, 1906.

The most important outcome of the October Manifesto was the creation of a bicameral representative institution and the legalization of political parties, trade unions and other social organizations, and a legal oppositionist press.

Bibliography

Ascher, Abraham. (1988, 1992). The Revolution of 1905. Vol.1: Russia in Disarray; Vol. 2: Authority Restored. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Harcave, Sidney. (1970). First Blood: The Russian Revolution of 1905. New York: Macmillan.

Harcave, Sidney, trans. and ed. (1990). The Memoirs of Count Witte. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.

Mehlinger, Howard D., and Tompson, John M. (1972). Count Witte and the Tsarist Government in the 1905 Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Szeftel, Marc. (1976). The Russian Constitution of April 23, 1906: Political Institutions of the Duma Monarchy. Brussels: Editions de la Libraire encyclopédique.

—OLEG BUDNITSKII

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

Demonstration 17 October 1905 by Ilya Repin
(Russian Museum. St. Petersburg).

The October Manifesto (Russian: Октябрьский манифест, Манифест 17 октября), officially The Manifesto on the Improvement of the State Order (Манифест об усовершенствовании государственного порядка), is a document that served as a precursor to the Russian Empire's first constitution, which would be adopted the next year. The Manifesto was issued by Emperor Nicholas II, under the influence of Count Sergei Witte, on 17 October [O.S. 30 October] 1905 as a response to the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Contents 1 Provisions 2 Opposition 3 References 4 Link

Provisions

The October Manifesto addressed the unrest throughout the Russian Empire and pledged to grant basic civil liberties, including personal immunity; and freedom of assembly, association, press, religion, and speech. Other provisions include the allowance of a broad participation in the Duma (parliament), the introduction of universal male suffrage, as well as a decree that no law should come into force without the consent of the Duma.

The Manifesto was a precursor to the Empire's first constitution. Neither document, however, resulted in significant reform, and the Emperor continued to exercise absolute veto power over parliamentary legislation. Between 1906–7 the Duma was dissolved and reformed twice.^{[citation needed]}

Opposition

The October Manifesto divided opposition to the Emperor. The Kadets were appeased by the idea of having freedom of speech and a truly representative government, and the Union of October 17 (informally known as the Octobrists, this Party took its name from the October Manifesto. The Marxists, however, maintained that Nicholas had only made small concessions, arguing that the Duma was only a shell of democracy as it could not pass laws without the approval of the monarch, and that freedom of speech was heavily regulated.

References

Wikisource has original text related to this article: October Manifesto (in English)

• The Memoirs Of Count Witte New York & Toronto (1921), Armonk, New York (1990). ISBN 0-87332-571-0.
• Fiehn, Terry. (1996). Russia & The USSR 1905-1941. Hodder Headline Group, London. ISBN 0-7195-5255-9.

Link

The October Manifesto of 1905

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