The 1905 Revolution

A revolution started in 1905 which was caused by a mix of long and short term reasons

Long Term Reasons

• Dramatic Reform
• Russia had a 6% annual economic growth rate while Britain and France only had an annual economic growth rate of 2%
• There were big changes to industrialise pressured the workers who had to work hard to obtain good results
• Russian workers had to work an average of 11 work hours per day, with a 10 hour day on Saturday
• Factories had extremely bad and dangerous conditions and accidents often occurred with little concern for safety
• The creation of trade unions (a group of workers to protect their rights) was opposed by factory owners
• A working class and an emerging educated middle class wanted to protect rights and representation
• Peasants were discontent as their responsibilities increased with the growing population as the demand for food increased. It was hard to keep up with these demands as the peasants still used poor farming methods

Short Term Reasons

• The humiliating loss in the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 had demoralised the people as they were promised an easy victory, but were instead defeated by a small Asian nation
• A liberal minister of the interior, Svyatopolk-Mirsky, was appointed, which encouraged those who wanted change to take action
• The loss of trust in the Tsar in the events of Bloody Sunday

• This event sparked the 1905 Revolution
• On 22 January 1905, priest Father Gapon led 200,000 people (including women and children) to ask for rights and the end of the Russo-Japanese war
• This was a peaceful petition that was not delivered violently
• Tsar was absent, so the police and troops took action
• Police and troops fired on the people without the Tsar telling them to do so
• There was no resistance, and this was a one-sided massacre
• Official estimated deaths were at 96, while opposition claimed that the death count could have reached around 4,000

• Trust in the Tsar
• The confidence once placed in the Tsar was shattered
• His reputation was severely damaged even though he did not order the shooting and was absent
• The belief that the Tsar had the people's interests prioritised was destroyed
• After people heard of the news...
• Houses of nobles were attacked by peasants
• Protests were all across the country, 400,000 people were protesting by the end of Janugary
• Big universities shut down, with entire student bodies leaving the school to strike
• Middle-classes established the Union of Unions to demand for a constituent assembly (representatives to create rules to govern a country)
• Railway workers went on strike in October, and the railway network stopped
• Lenin, Trotsky, and the revolutionary Menshevik party (which would later split into the "Mensheviks" and the "Bolsheviks") set up the St Petersburg Soviet
• Over following weeks, 50 more soviets (councils of workers) were formed across Russia, each demanding worker representation
• Sailors on the Potemkin battleship mutinied over serving rotten meat, and the firing squad joined the crew to throw the officers overboard
• The revolt of the sailors continued in other parts of the army and the navy
• Tsar began to lose control over the army in the middle of the Russo-Japanese war