"It's time to crack"

On June 3, 1907, the Second State Duma was dissolved by royal decree

When, at the height of the revolutionary events of 1905, Nicholas II, under pressure from Witte, reluctantly signed the Manifesto on October 17, it seemed that the Constitution in Russia would have a long life. And monarchies too. The emergence of the Duma satisfied and calmed various political forces. Only the socialists refused to participate in the new, representative body of power, hoping nevertheless to undermine the foundations of the monarchy and break it.

But this first State Duma almost immediately discredited itself. Having received a majority in it, the Cadets, euphoric from their success, began to present one demand after another to the authorities: the abolition of the death penalty, amnesty for political prisoners, the creation of a cabinet of ministers responsible to the Duma. The main reason for the confrontation was the agrarian question.

Despite the certain loyalty of Nicholas II at this time and his, let’s say, correct behavior towards parliamentarians, the government headed by Goremykin did not remain in debt to the Duma. It pointedly did not consider her seriously. During the 72 days of its existence, the government sent only one bill to parliament - appropriating 40 thousand rubles. for the construction of a greenhouse and laundry at Yuryev University. Essentially, the activities of the First Duma were thereby paralyzed. And on July 9, 1906 it was dissolved.

Second try

The new Prime Minister of Russia P.A. Stolypin hoped that the second Duma would be loyal to the government, or at least functional. And in order to guarantee the necessary dialogue with the Duma members, the supreme power did everything to change its future composition in its favor. First, a new electoral law was adopted. From now on, peasants who were not householders were deprived of the right to participate in elections. The workers were deprived of their passive suffrage. Secondly, everything was done to discredit the cadets. In December 1906, a trial took place over 167 deputies of the First Duma, mostly cadets who signed the so-called Vyborg Appeal. For distributing a document “calling on the population to oppose the law,” they were sentenced to three months in prison and thereby deprived of the opportunity to run for the new Duma.

However, the Cadets were replaced by more radical parties. The fact is that the left did not take part in the first Duma, they boycotted it, hoping for a revolution. But by the time of the elections of the new Duma, the revolution had already actually failed. That is why the Socialist Revolutionaries and Social Democrats took part in the elections, considering it appropriate to start a parliamentary struggle. As a result, they jointly received 65 mandates, making up the third largest faction after the Trudoviks and Cadets.

Terror and order

It should be noted that the dissolution of the first State Duma, although it was not too “loud,” still had extremely negative consequences. Left radicals, Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists, taking advantage of the interrupted dialogue between the authorities and society, unleashed real terror. The government responded to the unprecedented actions of terrorists no less harshly.

On August 19, 1906, society was shocked by the news of the assassination attempt Stolypin. As a result of the explosions at the prime minister's dacha on Aptekarsky Island in St. Petersburg, 27 people were killed and over 30 were injured, including Stolypin's daughter and son. After this, the tsar issued a decree according to which a state of emergency or martial law was introduced in 82 out of 87 provinces. In total, 2,600 terrorist attacks were committed in 1906. Among them are the murder of the St. Petersburg mayor Launitz, the commander of the Semenovsky regiment Min, the chief military prosecutor Pavlov, and an attempt was made on the life of Moscow Governor General Dubasov.

To combat terrorism, military courts were established on the basis of Article 87 of the Basic Laws. They consisted of officers from local garrisons and tried cases of terrorists according to martial law. The trial took place behind closed doors, without the participation of lawyers and could not last more than two days; the sentences were not subject to appeal and were carried out within 24 hours. As a result, 1,102 people were executed by court verdicts, while 4,131 people died at the hands of terrorists in 1906-1907.

It was in these conditions that the second State Duma, which opened on February 20, 1907, was formed and operated. The state of emergency for the civilian population was in effect until April 20, 1907 (for the army - until the February Revolution of 1917).

Stolypin tie

When assessing such a tough, even cruel government policy to suppress terror, one must keep in mind that at the same time Stolypin tried to carry out completely liberal reforms and achieve peace in society, and not “great upheavals.”

By the way, two famous sayings related to the legendary Prime Minister require some explanation. As for “great Russia and great upheavals,” when giving a speech on May 10, 1907, Stolypin said not “to you,” but “to them.” In it, he addressed not the left, but, on the contrary, the sane part of the Duma, precisely contrasting it with the radicals. But after the death of Stolypin on his monument in Kyiv, his phrase was reproduced with an error, which later came into use: “You need great upheavals, we need a great Russia.”

As for the statement of the cadet deputy F.I. Rodichev, who compared the gallows to a “Stolypin tie,” the conflict between him and the Prime Minister already occurred in the third State Duma on November 17, 1907. The reason for it was the report that Stolypin presented to the Duma. In it, he promised to continue to fight in every possible way against the revolutionary movement in Russia. The leader of the right-wing nationalists, Purishkevich, has repeatedly advocated such a policy, who uttered an equally famous phrase in defense of military courts: “Where are the murderers, are they all strung up and given Ant’s tie?” (This meant Count M.N. Muravyov, nicknamed the hangman for the brutal pacification of the Polish uprising of 1863.)

Answering Purishkevich, Rodichev said: “At a time when the Russian government was in the fight against the excesses of the revolution, only one remedy was seen, one palladium in what Mr. Purishkevich calls the Ant’s collar and what his descendants will perhaps call the Stolypin tie " As punishment for “unparliamentary expression” F.I. Rodichev was expelled by the Duma for 15 meetings, and P.A. Stolypin even challenged him to a duel. It did not take place - the deputy apologized to the prime minister, but the “Stolypin tie” entered into history.

Zurabov's case

...It is believed that the decision to dissolve the Duma was made on April 17, 1907, when the law on the next military conscription passed through it with difficulty. During its discussion, a deputy from the Social Democratic faction Zurabov insulted the emperor, saying that the tsarist army was capable of fighting only with its own people (hinting at Bloody Sunday) and “will always suffer defeats in the east.” This was already a cruel hint at the Russian-Japanese war that had just been miserably lost.

The king was furious. In a note to Stolypin, written in energetic tones, Nikolai directly stated, referring to the Duma: “It’s time to crack.” And Stolypin had no choice but to carry out the monarch’s will.

On May 7 (based on Azef’s denunciation), a group of Socialist Revolutionaries was arrested. Having announced this, Stolypin emphasized that the socialists were preparing attempts on the lives of royalty. The police searched the house of deputy I.P. Ozola (his apartment was, in fact, the headquarters of the Social Democratic faction). The search was prompted by an agent's report that a group of soldiers had addressed the faction with a statement that they would defend parliament with arms in hand. In general, the usual police provocation: reports from certain Shornikova and Brodsky served as the basis for accusing the Social Democrats of plotting to overthrow the system.

Arrest of deputies

On June 1, Stolypin, the Minister of Justice, and the prosecutor of the Trial Chamber came to the Duma at once and demanded that 55 deputies be removed from meetings and 16 deprived of parliamentary immunity. At the same time, the Prime Minister added: “I undertake to add that any delay in meeting this demand or satisfaction in full will make it impossible for the government to be responsible for the security of the state.”

A response from parliament was demanded by June 4. But since it was obvious that the Duma members would not allow such a precedent in relation to their colleagues, the Social Democratic deputies were arrested on June 3. And the Duma was dissolved by royal decree.

Soon another decree was issued - on a new electoral law. And the new, third State Duma finally became loyal to the government. And she was the only one that lasted its entire lifespan.

Mindless power

The events of June 3 went down in history as the “June 3rd coup,” and Stolypin as the initiator of this forceful decision. In fact, this is not entirely true. Many politicians of the time and historians believed that the prime minister himself wanted to preserve the Duma, and its dispersal was not a victory for Stolypin, but for the “Purishkeviches” and the “Union of the Russian People,” that is, right-wing nationalists in whom the tsar had almost unlimited faith.

If Witte, as many believed, saved the monarchy with the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, then Stolypin tried to save the Constitution and preserve the dialogue between the monarchy and society.

In particular, with the cadets.

The fact is that in the Second Duma the Cadets found themselves in the center, as it were, and were already a completely sane part of parliament. Now they did not put the question bluntly - all or nothing. It was possible and necessary to negotiate with them. And Stolypin understood this.

But, according to the informed right-wing cadet V. Maklakov, the emperor himself prevented this. Nicholas II even pretended to Witte, his previous prime minister, that he was communicating with “extreme currents,” to which the tsar included the cadets.

Many public figures of that time believed that there was no need to regret the Second Duma itself. “It was unsuccessful both in composition and in its exceptionally low cultural level,” wrote one of them. “Gray, colorless, headless” - such epithets in relation to this Duma were not uncommon. Nevertheless, assessing the decisions of the supreme power to dissolve the Second State Duma, Maklakov wrote: “This was not “state expediency,” but the eternal claim of the supreme power to consider itself above the law.”

The resulting constitutional coup threw many on the left back into the revolution. A civilized, legal dialogue with the authorities did not work out. On the other hand, the moderate right did not want to further support the reform activities to which they were initially inclined. And the government, having gone off the legal rails, unknowingly rushed into the abyss.

Anatoly BERSTEIN, Dmitry KARTSEV