THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1905

Up to the end of the 19th century, Russia was an autocratic

country. It was ruled by an autocratic Czar. He ruled as he
liked. His will was the sole source of law, of taxation and
justice. He controlled the army and all the officials. Through
his special position on the Holy Synod, he controlled even
religious affairs. His autocratic rule was supported by the
privileged nobles, who possessed land and serfs, and held all
the chief offices in the Czar's administration.
The mass of people were serfs. Serfs were 'slaves'. They
worked on the estates of the nobles. They could be punished
in any form by the nobles. They could even be sold as chattels
by the nobles. Besides the serfs, there was a very small
middle class in the towns. They were discontented with the
backwardness of Russia.
The main theme of the Russian history in the 19th century is
that the non-noble classes asked for an improvement in their
wretched and poor conditions of life. When the Czarist
government failed to do so, they revolted for the first time in
1905 and then for the second time in 1917, by which Czardom
was finally overthrown.
The causes of the 1905 Revolution went far back into Russian
history. It was the product of more than a century of
discontent and the discontent grew more rapidly after 1861.
WHY DID THE 1905 REVOLUTION FAIL TO OVERTHROW
CZARDOM?
(I) Although the political parties shared the same ultimate goal
of overthrowing the existing order--Czardom, they were
divided from one another. The Liberals, the Mensheviks, the
Bolsheviks and the Social Revolutionaries had different political
programmes. In 1905 each political party made its own
struggles against Czardom. Thus the Czarist government could
suppress these political parties one by one. Besides the
division between the political parties, there was much
dissension within each of the political parties: the right-wing
Liberals disagreed with the radical Liberals, the Mensheviks
disagreed with the Bolsheviks, and the moderate Social
Revolutionaries disagreed with the radical Social
Revolutionaries. The internal division within each party gravely
weakened the strength of its struggle against Czardom.
(2) The chief driving force of the 1905 Revolution was the
masses. But the masses were not properly led by the political

parties to seize power. Both the Social Democrats and Social

Revolutionaries had wrong conceptions of the role they should
take in the 1905 Revolution. They believed that the bourgeois
revolution should precede the socialist revolution and that they
should wait for the liberals to establish a bourgeois
government in 1905. Thus they did not make use of the
potential revolutionary strength of the masses to capture
power from the Czarist government as soon as the 1905
Revolution broke out. But the Liberals were too weak in
number that they could not become an independent political
force to replace the Czarist government.
(3) The political programmes of the political parties failed to
secure wholehearted support from the masses because their
programmes did not represent the wishes of the masses. The
Liberals did not include social and economic reforms in their
programme. The programme of the Social Democrats
advocated the establishment of a Socialist State through a
class struggle but few of the workers understood revolutionary
theories and they just wanted a better economic livelihood.
The Social Revolutionaries advocated the nationalization of
land, but the peasants just wanted the division of large estates
among themselves. In 1917 the Bolsheviks could secure
temporary support from the masses because Lenin changed
part of the Bolshevik programme. He promised 'Land and
Peace' to the people.
(4) The revolts of the national minorities were in the
borderland areas. They were too localized in nature. These
revolts chiefly aimed at obtaining local autonomy and not the
overthrow of Czardom.
(5) With the promulgation of the October Manifesto, concerted
opposition to the government melted away. The landed
proprietors, the liberals and the less radical socialists were at
least partially satisfied. They were afraid of going too far. Only
the radical socialists, radical workers and hungry peasants
continued the revolution.
(6) The dynasty retained the support of the bureaucracy, the
major part of the army and the nobility. Thus the Czar was
able to suppress the strikes and the revolts after the division
had appeared among the opposition forces.
In short, the opposition forces, divided, unprepared to seize
power, unable to represent the wishes of the peasants and the
workers, failed to overthrow the decadent and demoralized
dynasty which retained the support of the nobles, the
bureaucrats and the army.