Bloody Sunday 1905 reasons move results. January execution

Until now, there are people who cannot forgive Nicholas II for Bloody Sunday. Not everyone knows that on that day the Sovereign was in Tsarskoye Selo, and not in the capital, that he did not give the order to shoot at the workers and physically could not receive a delegation "from the people." Moreover, the Sovereign was criminally misinformed about what was happening in the capital.

Sometimes even those who know that the tsar was not in St. Petersburg claim that he deliberately "hid from the people", but "was obliged to come and accept the petition." For many, even among the Orthodox, the idea of ​​January 9 is not compatible with the idea of ​​the holiness of the king.

Is the king responsible?

In the “Materials related to the issue of the canonization of the royal family” (published by the Synodal Commission for the canonization of saints in 1996, hereinafter they are referred to as “Materials”), a separate detailed article is devoted to the tragedy of January 9, in the conclusion to which it says: “The sovereign bore the burden of moral responsibility before God for all the events that took place in the state entrusted to him”, thus, the share of responsibility for the tragic events of January 9, 19 05 lies with the emperor. The sovereign, as we shall see, did not leave her. It should be borne in mind that the “Materials” came out as a separate book: “He forgave everyone ... Emperor Nicholas II. Church about the royal family. St. Petersburg, 2002

“However,” the “Materials” say, “this share of responsibility cannot be compared with the moral and historical guilt for the voluntary or involuntary preparation or failure to prevent the tragedy of January 9, which falls on such historical figures as, for example, G. Gapon, deposed from the priesthood, or P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky. Nicholas II can be reproached for the appointment of the latter to the indicated post or for the fact that this person was not removed from his post in a timely manner. If only such a reproach was not - set on edge - knowledge for the king, as he should have done.

Minister of "Confidence"

In mid-July 1904, Minister of the Interior V.K. was killed by a terrorist. Plehve. The sovereign did not immediately decide who would replace him. The appointment took place only at the end of August 1904. On the part of the emperor, it was obviously a maneuver, since, unlike the conservative Plehve, P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky was known for his liberal attitude. And the autumn of 1904 went down in the history of liberalism in Russia as the “spring of Svyatopolk-Mirsky”, who openly declared the need for trusting relations between the government and society. It was a time of social ferment in Russia. Everywhere in "society", under one pretext or another, there were speeches about the need for changes, about the need for a constitution. In St. Petersburg, a zemstvo congress was held, which did not receive permission for its opening from Nicholas II and received ... tacit permission from P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, who made it clear to the assembled delegates that he would turn a blind eye to its implementation. The congress unanimously adopted the liberal declaration and presented it, much to the embarrassment of the latter, to "their" minister. The sovereign was outraged, but did not accept the resignation of the minister.

When it was already known that a demonstration of unprecedented scope was planned, the Minister of the Interior reassured himself and others by saying that an explanation would suffice: the tsar was not in the capital. And then the people will peacefully disperse ... And the help of the troops, they say, is needed only to prevent a crush in the city center. On the evening of January 8, 1905, P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky arrives in Tsarskoe Selo and reports to the tsar on the situation in the capital. He assures him that, despite the huge number of striking workers, the situation does not cause serious concern, does not say not a word about the upcoming procession of workers to the Winter Palace, about the summoning of troops to the capital and about plans to counter the demonstration with armed force. And, having returned to St. Petersburg, quite late in the evening, he holds a government meeting on plans for the next day ...

Suitable figure

Tragedy was inevitable. For, thanks to the inspired (I would like to say: infernal-inspired) activity of Georgy Gapon in the previous days, tens of thousands of workers gathered tomorrow to go to the tsar as the only intercessor ...

The name of George Gapon has long been associated with the label "provocateur", his personality was considered unworthy of attention. And "Materialy", and the book by I. Ksenofontov "Georgy Gapon: Fiction and Truth" (M., 1997), and the recently published book by M. Pazin "Bloody Sunday. Behind the Scenes of the Tragedy” (M., 2009) represent the priest G. Gapon as a very outstanding and gifted person. From a young age, he felt compassion for working people and thought about how to help them with deeds. Such aspirations were sincere in Georgy Apollonovich, compassion was genuine, otherwise he would not have been able to attract hearts as much as he undoubtedly knew how. But, alas, his best feelings were combined with vanity and exorbitant ambition. Possessing, moreover, an artistic gift, he knew how to gain confidence in himself both from the most ordinary people and from high-ranking officials. A merciful and thoughtful look at this man was expressed by the modern Orthodox historian Father Vasily Sekachev, who published the article “The Tragedy of Priest Gapon” in the journal Neskuchny Sad on the 100th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Indeed, "woe to the one through whom the temptation comes." Already a very suitable figure was Georgy Gapon for the provocateur of the human race, whose “special assignment” he carried out very diligently.

The main brainchild of Gapon was the “Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg”, a legal organization created to provide mutual assistance between workers and conduct various cultural and educational events for workers. The historian S. Oldenburg was not entirely fair, who unambiguously considered Gapon to have taken the side of the revolution. Gapon did not know what he wanted, he was not loyal either to the authorities or to the revolutionaries who penetrated his entourage (it was the Socialist-Revolutionaries who killed him in 1906), he just wanted to be in sight, which is why he inevitably “leveled up”. A certain "secret five", which led the "Assembly", consisted of opposition-minded people associated with the Social Democrats, and, possibly, with the Socialist-Revolutionaries. Police oversight is blatant; but it was here that Gapon's artistry showed up: the authorities completely trusted him.

The idea of ​​a procession to the king

Nevertheless, the procession on January 9 can hardly be considered a provocation systematically prepared by the revolutionaries. There was preparation, there was spontaneity. Another thing is that in September 1904 a congress of the opposition forces of the Russian Empire had already taken place in Paris (with Japanese money), one of the decisions of which was to use any crisis to create a revolutionary situation. However, such a “gift” to the left forces as “execution by the tsar of a peaceful demonstration” became possible largely due to the inspired activity of Georgy Gapon. The concentration of attention on the king, the excitement of common hopes for the king, "barred by officials" from the people, the appeal personally to the king ... - all this was Gapon's creative demagogy. As a result, simple-minded people went to “see the tsar”, dressed in clean clothes, taking their children with them ... None of the activists of the revolutionary movement not only loved (naturally) the tsar, but also did not pay attention to the love for him and the faith in him of the common people. Gapon knew who he was addressing.

In the book mentioned above, I Ksenofontov cites the memoirs of Karelin, one of the members of the "secret five", a Social Democrat, relating to the autumn of 1904: "We blindly introduced the idea of ​​making a petition at every meeting in every department" (we are talking about the departments of the "Meeting of Factory Workers"). The same Karelin testified that Gapon at first had a negative attitude towards the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bperformance. But in early November 1904, he realized that he had to choose. To the questions “When will we perform?” he answered that a big strike was needed, that it was necessary to wait for the fall of Port Arthur, and perhaps his answers were excuses for himself, delays of what he had foreseen ...

December 21 Port Arthur fell. And at the end of December, there was also a reason for a big strike: at the Putilov factory, four workers, members of the Assembly, were allegedly fired. Of the workers, only one was actually fired (!), but lies turned into lies, excitement grew, and the demands concerning fellow workers became already “economic demands”, among which were obviously impossible, somehow an 8-hour working day (unthinkable in wartime at a factory that carried out military orders) or free medical care not only for workers, but also for their families. The strike grew, sometimes spontaneously, sometimes not spontaneously. The activists of the striking enterprise came to the operating enterprise and forced the workers (for example, by threats of beatings) to quit their jobs. How this happened is described in detail in the mentioned book by M. Pazin, as well as in the book by P. Multatuli “The Lord strictly visits us with His anger ... Emperor Nicholas II and the revolution of 1905-1907.” (M., 2003).

By January 6, several tens of thousands of workers were on strike. The text of the petition was already basically ready, on this day Gapon traveled from one department of the "Assembly" to another and made speeches, explaining to the workers the essence of the demands that were formulated on their behalf. He performed at least 20 times. It was on this day that he expressed the idea of ​​going to the king on Sunday "with the whole world." The workers received it with enthusiasm.

Petition or ultimatum?

The text of the petition is given in the book by M. Pazin. It is worth getting to know her in order to understand why the Sovereign left her without attention and spoke directly about the rebellion. It is only in textbooks on the history of Russia that they still write that the workers wanted to convey to the tsar "their needs and aspirations." Written in the unsightly style of "lamentation", the petition first contains a description of the rejection of the workers by their owners, the assertion that laws protect only the lack of rights of the workers, that Russia is perishing under the "bureaucratic government", etc. This is followed by, for example, a passage: “Is it possible to live under such laws? Wouldn't it be better for all of us working people to die? Let the capitalists and officials live and enjoy.” Further: “That is what brought us to the walls of your palace. Here we are looking for the last salvation. Do not refuse to help your people, bring them out of the grave of injustice…etc.” What is the “working” way out? In the Constituent Assembly, no more, no less, for, as the petition says, "it is necessary that the people themselves help themselves and govern themselves." The Tsar is invited: “Immediately ordered to convene representatives of the Russian land ... Ordered that elections to the Constituent Assembly take place under the condition of universal, secret and equal voting. This is our most important request, everything is based on it and on it, this is the main and only plaster for our wounds. Thirteen more points followed: all freedoms, the responsibility of ministers "to the people", a political amnesty, the abolition of all indirect taxes, and even "the termination of the war by the will of the people." The petition ended with the words: “Command and swear to fulfill them ... But if you don’t command, you won’t respond to our request, we will die here on this square in front of your palace.” The devilish "texture" permeates all this "weeping". We will feel the same texture in the description of Gapon’s speeches, who proposed (what a dream!) to personally enter the palace to the tsar and hand him a special copy of the petition printed on the best paper: “Well, I will submit a petition to the tsar, what will I do if the tsar accepts it? Then I will take out a white handkerchief and wave it, which means that we have a king. What should you do? You must disperse to your parishes and immediately elect your representatives to the Constituent Assembly. Well, if the tsar does not accept the petition, what will I do then? Then I will raise the red banner, which means that we do not have a king, that we ourselves must get our rights ”... Such a peaceful procession! Here already, anticipating a further story, it is appropriate to note that one of the columns in the procession on January 9 was simply revolutionary, it was not with portraits of the king, but with red flags.

It was different

About 150 thousand people took part in the demonstration. Columns marched to the center of the city from different ends, they were met by troops blocking the path, despite this, the columns continued to move, after the third warning the troops began to shoot, and only then the people fled. There are memories that the warning horn was not heard. But there are memories that the column continued to move not only after warnings, but also after the first shots. This meant the presence of "animators" in it, encouraging further movement. Moreover, it happened that someone from the column was the first to shoot at the troops. These were also not workers, but revolutionaries or students who had infiltrated the column. The resistance to the troops on Vasilyevsky Island was especially serious. Barricades were built here. Here they threw bricks at the troops from a house under construction, and also shot from it.

In the resulting situation, much depended on specific people. Often (many confirmations of this can be found in the books of M. Pazin and P. Multatuli), the troops behaved very restrainedly. So the most famous sketch by K. Makovsky for the painting “January 9, 1905 on Vasilyevsky Island”, where a man of a spiritual look tears his clothes, offering to shoot at him, had a prototype in reality, only that person who tore his clothes behaved hysterically and screamed senselessly, no one shot at him, they reacted good-naturedly. It happened (for example, on Moskovsky Prospekt or near the Alexander Nevsky Lavra) that the column calmly stopped in front of the troops, listened to persuasion and dispersed. There were examples of bitterness on the part of the military. There are memories of E. Nikolsky about Colonel Rieman, on whose orders people who had nothing to do with the procession were shot without warning, and in general about the terrible impressions of that day. But the behavior of Captain Litke is also known, whose company tried to prevent the accumulation of a raging crowd in the area of ​​​​the Kazan Cathedral. Stones, sticks, pieces of ice were thrown at his soldiers, they were showered with insults. Litke, however, held back his subordinates and preferred to retreat to a secluded area without attempting to solve problems by force. He did not immediately succeed in clearing Nevsky Prospekt, dispersing the crowd with rifle butts “due to its stubbornness and anger,” as he wrote in a report. The crowd that had gathered at the railing of the Alexander Garden was especially aggressive, they shouted insults at the military, shouted, whistled, shouted “shoot” at warnings about shots. After repeated peaceful attempts and three bugle warnings given at intervals, shots were fired, the crowd fled, leaving about 30 dead and wounded on the spot.

According to official statistics, a total of 128 people were killed (including a policeman) and 360 injured (including military and policemen). According to the Bolshevik historian V. Nevsky, who witnessed the events of January 9, 1905, from 150 to 200 people were killed. And some authors (for example, Edvard Radzinsky), and in textbooks still write that there were thousands of victims.

The king found out in the evening

Nicholas II wrote in his diary: “A hard day! Serious riots broke out in St. Petersburg as a result of the desire of the workers to reach the Winter Palace. The troops had to shoot in different parts of the city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and hard!”.

The sovereign found a man who restored, though not immediately, order in the capital. It was D.F. Trepov, who became the governor-general of the capital. On January 18, a ministerial meeting was held on the events that had taken place under the chairmanship of Witte. A proposal for a manifesto was put forward, which would express sorrow and horror in connection with the tragedy of January 9, and would also indicate that the Sovereign did not know about the supposed procession of the people to the palace and that the troops did not act on His orders. However, the Sovereign agreed with the opinion of Count Solsky, who said at the meeting that the troops could not act without the order of the king. The emperor did not want to relieve himself of responsibility and rejected the idea of ​​a manifesto. He instructed D.F. Trepov to assemble a delegation of workers from various factories, which he received on January 19.

“You allowed yourself to be led astray and deceived by traitors and enemies of our Motherland,” said the Sovereign. - ... I know that the life of a worker is not easy. Much needs to be improved and streamlined. But it is a crime to tell Me about your needs with a rebellious crowd.” On the emperor's initiative, a commission was set up to ascertain the needs of the workers, with the participation of elected representatives from among them. The electors got together and… made a number of political demands! The commission has not yet begun its work.

The triumph of those who sought a reason

In his book “At the Turn of Two Epochs,” Bishop Veniamin (Fedchenkov) wrote about January 9: “Faith in the tsar was shot (but not yet shot) here. I, a man of monarchical sentiments,<…>I felt a wound in my heart<…>the charm of the king has fallen.<…>Faith has fallen both in the power of the king and in this system. What can we say about people who are not monarchist? The slogan "Down with autocracy!" and so it was already, as they say, at the hearing. Now the slander against the king could and did reach its climax. No one believed (and now, it happens, they do not believe!) that the Sovereign was not in the capital on January 9th. They wanted to believe and believed that the tsar himself did not want to receive a peaceful delegation from the workers with a peaceful presentation of their needs and aspirations, but gave the order to shoot at the people. Such a presentation of events has become so generally accepted that it is still taught this way (the author of this article knows this from a well-known young Italian) in Italian schools. At the same time, the French left-wing satirical magazine L’Assiette au Beurre (literally “a plate of butter”, “a profitable place”) published a caricature of Nicholas II, where the tsar holds in his arms a more than one-year-old crown prince (who, in fact, was five months old) and with pleasure shows him Palace Square with a mass of people shot.

Osip Mandelstam wrote for a provincial newspaper, on the 17th anniversary of the tragedy, i.e. in 1922, an article titled "The Bloody Mystery of January 9". This article contains the following phrase: "Any children's hat, mitten, women's scarf, pitifully thrown that day on the snows of St. Petersburg, remained a reminder that the Tsar must die, that the Tsar will die." It is unlikely that the poet remembered at the same time the executed royal children or experienced malicious satisfaction from the revenge that had come true, he wrote, rather, about the "mystery of retribution."

Nobody cared about the meeting of the tsar with the workers, nor about the allocation by the tsar of a large sum of money (50,000 rubles) for the needs of the families affected on January 9, nor about the government commission on the needs of the workers, nor about the fact that in the journal Byloye already in 1906 (N1) an article appeared with a truthful and detailed account of the events of January 9, 1905. Let's hope that at least now there are people who want to know the truth about those events.

It is unlikely that there will be a more hardened and more deceitful myth in the Russian history of the twentieth century than the myth of the "bloody" resurrection. In order to remove the heaps of dirty and deliberate lies from this historical event, it is necessary to fix several main points related to the date "January 9, 1905":

1. It was not a spontaneous event. It was an action that had been prepared for many years, under the financing of which significant funds were allocated and significant forces were involved in the implementation of which.

More about it: http://cont.ws/post/176665

2. The very term "Bloody Sunday" was thrown into print on the same day. This term, by the way, was invented by an English journalist of that time, by the name of Dillon, who worked in a semi-socialist newspaper (I don’t know who likes it, but I strongly doubt the spontaneity of such a term, and even from an Englishman).

3. It is necessary to place several important, in my opinion, accents in relation to the events immediately preceding the tragedy of January 9:

1) There was a Russo-Japanese war industry has already been set up for the production of military products. And so precisely at this moment, precisely at defense enterprises, Petersburg, strikes begin, provoked by false information about the alleged mass layoffs of workers at the Putilov plant.

The plant fulfills an important defense order. This is a special railway transporter for transporting submarines to the Far East. Russian submarines can change the unfortunate course of the naval war in our favor, but for this they need to be transferred to the Far East across the country. This cannot be done without the conveyor ordered by the Putilov factory.

After that, using "Meeting of factory workers", SRs organize a wave of strikes. The strikes are being organized according to the plan worked out by Trotsky, who was still abroad at the time.

The principle of chain transmission is used: workers from one strike factory burst into another and agitate for a strike; those who refuse to strike are subject to threats and physical terror.

“In some factories this morning, workers wanted to start work, but they were approached from neighboring factories and persuaded to stop work. And then the strike started.” (Minister of Justice N.V. Ants).

The police reports spoke of the active participation in the spread of the rebellion of the Japanese and British secret services.

On January 4, the strike began at Obukhov and Nevsky plants. 26 thousand people are on strike. A leaflet was issued by the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP "To all the workers of the Putilov factory": "We need political freedom, we need freedom to strike, to form unions and to assemble...".

On January 4 and 5 workers joined them. Franco-Russian shipbuilding plant and Semyannikovsky plant.

Myself Gapon later he explained the beginning of the general strike in St. Petersburg in this way by the workers of precisely these factories. “We decided ... to extend the strike to the Franco-Russian shipbuilding and Semyannikovsky factories, which numbered 14,000 workers. I chose these factories, because I knew that just at that time they were fulfilling very serious orders for the needs of the war."

Thus, under a deliberately far-fetched pretext, it was at defense enterprises, using the methods of threats and intimidation, that a mass strike was organized, which was the predecessor of January 9th.

2) The idea to go with a petition to the Tsar was submitted by the worker Gapon and his entourage on January 6-7.

But the workers, who were invited to go to the Tsar for help, were introduced to purely economic and, one might say, reasonable demands.

Having perceived the incident with the restraint characteristic of him in acute situations, The Sovereign, after the reception of foreign diplomatic representatives scheduled for that day at the Winter Palace, at 4 p.m. of the same day left with his family for Tsarskoe Selo.

However, an artillery shot on January 6 finally intensified the actions of the military and police authorities in St. Petersburg.

Considering it as a possible assassination attempt on the Sovereign, testifying to the existence of a secret terrorist organization in the capital's garrison, the leadership of the Police Department was inclined to consider these events as the results of the activities of a well-hidden revolutionary organization operating on an all-Russian scale, which had begun to implement its plan to seize power in the capital.

Here, including, perhaps, and therefore the commandant nevertheless distributed live ammunition, despite the decision of the authorities.

Until January 8, the authorities did not yet know that another petition was prepared behind the backs of the workers, with extremist demands. And when they found out, they were horrified.

An order is given to arrest Gapon, but it is too late, he has fled. And it is already impossible to stop a huge avalanche - the revolutionary provocateurs have done their best.

On January 9, hundreds of thousands of people are ready to meet with the Tsar. It cannot be canceled: the newspapers did not come out. And until late in the evening on the eve of January 9, hundreds of agitators walked through the working districts, exciting people, inviting them to a meeting with the Tsar, declaring again and again that this meeting was being prevented by the exploiters and officials.

The workers fell asleep with the thought of tomorrow's meeting with the Father-Tsar.

The Petersburg authorities, who gathered on the evening of January 8 for a meeting, realizing that it was already impossible to stop the workers, decided not to let them into the very center of the city.

The main task was not even to protect the Tsar (he was not in the city, he was in Tsarskoe Selo), but to prevent riots, the inevitable stampede and death of people as a result of the flow of huge masses from four sides in the narrow space of Nevsky Prospekt and Palace Square, among the embankments and canals. Tsarist ministers remembered the tragedy of Khodynka

Therefore, troops were drawn to the center, Cossacks with orders not to let people through, to use weapons when absolutely necessary.

In an effort to avert tragedy, the authorities issued a notice banning the January 9 march and warning of the danger.

Despite the fact that the flag over Zimny ​​was half-mast and the whole city knew that the Tsar was not in the city, some also knew about the order forbidding the procession.

ATTENTION: ON THE EVE OF JANUARY 9, ALL THE PRESS WAS ON STRIKE, WHICH DEPRESSED THE AUTHORITY TO DISTRIBUTE THE ANNOUNCEMENT BUT IMMEDIATELY AFTER THIS EVENTS, THEY WERE INSTANTLY COMING OUT IN A HUGE CIRCULATION, AS IF PREPARED, DECUSIVE ARTICLES.

5. The very nature of the procession was not initially peaceful.

The beginning of a mass procession of workers of St. Petersburg in that part of the city where the priest himself was G. Gapon.

The procession from the Narva outpost was led by Gapon himself, who constantly shouted out: "If we are denied, then we no longer have a King."

He described it in his memoirs as follows: “I thought it would be good to give the whole demonstration a religious character, and immediately sent several workers to the nearest church for banners and images, but they refused to give us them. Then I sent 100 people take them by force and after a few minutes they brought them.

Then I ordered that a royal portrait be brought from our department in order to emphasize the peaceful and decent character of our procession. The crowd grew to enormous proportions...

“Should we go straight to the Narva outpost or take a roundabout way?” they asked me. “Straight to the outpost, take heart, or death or freedom,” I shouted. In response, there was a thunderous “hurrah”.

The procession moved to the powerful singing of “Save, O Lord, Thy people”, and when it came to the words “Our Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich”, the representatives of the socialist parties invariably replaced them with the words “save Georgy Apollonovich”, while others repeated “death or freedom”.

The procession was in full force. My two bodyguards walked ahead of me ... Children ran along the sides of the crowd ... when the procession moved, the police not only did not interfere with us, but walked with us without hats ... "

As it is clear from the above description, from the very beginning of the procession of workers led by G. Gapon, the Orthodox-monarchist paraphernalia in this procession was combined with a very active desire of the representatives of the revolutionary parties participating in it to direct the actions of the workers along the path of their tough confrontation with the authorities, even though women and children were present among the workers

Representatives of all parties were distributed among individual columns of workers (there should be eleven of them - according to the number of branches of the Gapon organization).

Socialist-Revolutionary fighters were preparing weapons. The Bolsheviks put together detachments, each of which consisted of a standard-bearer, an agitator and a core that defended them (that is, the same militants).

They prepared banners and banners: “Down with the autocracy!”, “Long live the revolution!”, “To arms, comrades!”

The first meeting of the workers with the troops and the police took place at 12 noon near the Narva Gate.

A crowd of workers, approximately from 2 to 3 thousand people, moved along the Peterhof highway to the Narva triumphal gates, carrying with them portraits of the Tsar and Tsaritsa, crosses and banners.

Police officers, who came out to meet the crowd, persuaded the workers not to go into the city, and repeatedly warned that otherwise the troops would shoot at them.

When all exhortations did not lead to any results, the squadron of the Horse Grenadier Regiment tried to force the workers to return back.

At that moment, lieutenant Zholtkevich was seriously wounded by a shot from the crowd, and the police officer was killed.

The crowd, as the squadron approached, dispersed around, and then 2 shots from a revolver were fired from its side, which did not cause any harm to any of the people of the squadron and hit only the horse's mane. In addition, one of the workers stabbed a platoon non-commissioned officer with a cross.

As you can see, the first shots were fired not from the side of the troops, but from the side of the crowd, and the first victims were not the workers, but the ranks of the police and the army.

Let us also note how one of the “believing” participants in the demonstration behaves: he beats a non-commissioned officer with a cross!

When the squadron met armed resistance and, unable to stop the movement of the crowd, returned back, the officer in command of the troops warned three times about the opening of fire, and only after these warnings had no effect, and the crowd continued to advance, more than 5 volleys were fired, whereupon the crowd turned back and quickly dispersed, leaving over forty dead and wounded.

Assistance was immediately provided to the latter, and all of them, with the exception of the slightly wounded, taken by the crowd, were placed in the hospitals of Aleksandrovskaya, Alafuzovskaya and Obukhovskaya.

Events developed in approximately the same way in other places - on the Vyborg side, on Vasilevsky Island, on the Shlisselburgsky tract.

Red banners appeared, slogans "Down with the autocracy!", "Long live the revolution!" (It's military time!!!)

Isn't it true that this picture is strikingly different from the sadistic execution of an unarmed crowd carried out by forced soldiers under the command of officers who hate the common people?

Two more powerful columns of workers followed the center from the Vyborg and Petersburg sides.

Bailiff of the 1st section of the Petersburg part of Krylov, stepping forward, turned to the crowd with exhortations to stop moving and turn back. The crowd stopped, but continued to stand. Then the companies, closing their bayonets, moved towards the crowd with shouts of “Hurrah!” The crowd was pushed back and began to disperse. There were no casualties among her.

On Vasilyevsky Island, the crowd behaved aggressively and revolutionary from the very beginning.

Even before the first shots were fired, the crowd, led by a Bolshevik L.D. Davydov, took over Schaff's armory. 200 people defeated the administration of the 2nd section of the Vasilyevsky police unit.

Major General Samghin reported: “At about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the crowd on the 4th line, having significantly increased in number, began to arrange wire fences, build barricades and throw out red flags. The companies moved forward. (...) During the movement of the companies from house No. 35 along the 4th line, as well as from the house under construction opposite it, bricks, stones were thrown and shots were fired.

On Maly Prospekt, the crowd rallied and began to shoot. Then one half-company of the 89th infantry. Belomorsky regiment fired 3 volleys. (…)

During these actions, one student was arrested, addressing the soldiers with a defiant speech, and a loaded revolver was found with him. During the actions of the troops on Vasilyevsky Island, the troops detained 163 people for robbery and armed resistance.

It was against such a "peaceful" crowd that the troops on Vasilyevsky Island had to act! 163 armed militants and robbers do not look like peaceful loyal citizens.

By the way, the greatest number of victims on both sides was brought not by the pacification of the demonstrators in the first half of the day, but by the skirmishes with the rioters on Vasilyevsky Island, when the militants tried to hold the arsenals and local weapons stores.

All this clearly shows that any claims about a "peaceful" demonstration are lies.

The crowd, excited by trained militants, smashed weapons stores and erected barricades.

“In Brick Lane,” Lopukhin later reported to Tsar, “the crowd attacked two policemen, one of them was beaten. Major General Elrich was beaten on Morskaya Street, one captain was beaten on Gorokhovaya Street, and a bailiff was killed.”

It should be noted that such militants were in all work columns.

It should be noted that the troops, wherever they could, tried to act with exhortations, persuasion, trying to prevent bloodshed.

Where there were no revolutionary instigators, or there were not enough of them to influence the crowd, the officers managed to avoid bloodshed.

So, in the area of ​​the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and the Rozhdestvenskaya part, there were no casualties or clashes. The same is true in the Moscow part.

None of the columns of demonstrators reached the Palace Square.

The columns did not even cross the Neva (those who moved from Vasilyevsky Island, the Petrograd and Vyborg sides) and the Fontanka (those who moved from the Narva outpost and the Shlisselburg tract).

The most numerous of them, marching under the leadership of Gapon from the Putilov plant, was scattered near the Obvodny Canal. To disperse the columns, weapons were also used at the Shlisselburg fire station and at the Trinity Bridge.

On Vasilyevsky Island there was a real battle with the revolutionaries, who had entrenched themselves on the barricades (these are no longer "columns of a peaceful procession").

Nowhere else were shots fired at the crowd. This is a historical fact confirmed by police reports.

Small groups of hooligan "revolutionaries" really penetrated the city center. On Morskaya Street they beat Major General Elrich, on Gorokhovaya Street they beat one captain and detained a courier, and his car was broken. A cadet of the Nikolaev Cavalry School, who was passing by in a cab, was dragged off the sleigh, the saber with which he defended himself was broken, and he was beaten and wounded. But these "freedom fighters" fled from one kind of Cossack patrols that appeared in the distance.

Later, after the events of January 9, Gapon asked in a narrow circle: “Well, Father George, now we are alone and afraid that dirty linen will be taken out of the hut, there is nothing, and it’s a thing of the past. You know how much they talked about the event of January 9 and how often one could hear the judgment that if the Sovereign accepted the deputation with honor and honor, listen to the deputies kindly, everything would have worked out in a good way. Well, what do you think, Father George, what would happen if the Sovereign went out to the people at?"

Quite unexpectedly, but in a sincere tone, Gapon answered: "They would have killed in half a minute, half a second!"

So, when the enemies of the authorities then wrote that the Sovereign “would have to go out to the crowd and agree to at least one of its demands” (which one - about the 9th constituent assembly?) and then “the whole crowd would kneel before him”, - this was the most gross distortion of reality.

Now, now that we know all these circumstances, we can take a different look at the events of January 9, 1905 itself.

The idea of ​​the revolutionaries was simple: several columns of provoked demonstrators, in whose ranks the revolutionary terrorists were supposed to hide for the time being, intended to be led to the Winter Palace in order to transfer the petition personally to the Sovereign.

Other columns were to be prevented from reaching the Palace Square, but shot on the approaches to the city center, which would have fueled the indignation of those gathered at the palace. At the moment when the Sovereign appeared for a pacifying appeal, the terrorist was supposed to kill the Emperor.

Part of this diabolical plan succeeded.

On the evening of January 9 Gapon writes a slanderous inflammatory leaflet: "January 9, 12 midnight. To the soldiers and officers who killed their innocent brothers, their wives and children, and to all the oppressors of the people, my pastoral curse; to the soldiers who will help the people seek freedom, my blessing. I allow their soldier's oath to the traitor Tsar, who ordered the shedding of innocent people's blood, I allow. Priest Georgy Gapon."

Subsequently, in the press organ of the Socialist-Revolutionaries "Revolutionary Russia" this false priest called: "Ministers, mayors, governors, police officers, police officers, guards, gendarmes and spies, generals and officers who order to shoot at you - kill ... All measures so that you have real weapons and dynamite in time - know, taken ... Refuse to go to war ... At the direction of the combat committee, rise up ... Water pipelines, gas pipelines, telephones, telegraph, lighting , trams, trams, railways, destroy ... ".

Further street clashes were stopped almost within one day. On January 11, the troops were returned to the barracks, and the order on the streets of the city was again controlled by the police, reinforced by Cossack patrols.

January 14, 1905 condemned the riots Holy Synod:

“For almost a year now, Russia has been waging a bloody war with the pagans for its historical calling as a planter of Christian enlightenment in the Far East ... But now, a new test of God, grief - bitterer than the first visited our beloved fatherland ...

The criminal instigators of ordinary working people, having in their midst an unworthy clergyman who boldly violated his holy vows and is now subject to the judgment of the Church, were not ashamed to give into the hands of the deceived workers an honest cross, holy icons and banners forcibly taken from the chapel, so that, under the protection of shrines revered by believers, they would rather lead them to disorder, and others to death.

Workers of the Russian land, working people! Work according to the commandment of the Lord in the sweat of your face, remembering that the one who does not work is not worthy of food. Beware of your false advisers ... they are accomplices or mercenaries of an evil enemy seeking the ruin of the Russian land "

The emperor dismissed the ministers: Svyatopolk-Mirsky and Muravyov. General was appointed as the new governor-general Trepov, stopping the riots in the city without bloodshed.

The general gave the famous order to the troops: “Do not spare the cartridges!”, but at the same time he did everything to ensure that this order became widely known. The riots have stopped.

“The unfortunate events with the sad, but inevitable consequences of turmoil, occurred from the fact that you allowed yourself to be misled and deceived by traitors and enemies of our Motherland. I know that the life of a worker is not easy. Much needs to be improved and put in order” (from the speech of Nicholas II before the deputation of workers on January 19, 1905).

You have allowed yourself to be led astray and deceived by traitors and enemies of our country... Strikes and rebellious gatherings only excite the crowd to such unrest, which has always forced and will force the authorities to resort to military force, and this inevitably causes innocent victims. I know that the life of a worker is not easy. Much needs to be improved and put in order. But it is criminal to tell me about your demands with a rebellious crowd.

Already on January 14, the strike in St. Petersburg began to wane. On January 17, the Putilov plant resumed work.

On January 29, a "Commission was set up to find out the reasons for the discontent of the workers in St. Petersburg and its suburbs and to find measures to eliminate them in the future", which eventually achieved complete appeasement of the workers of the capital.

Thus ended the first act of a pre-planned bloody anti-anti-Russian turmoil, later called the "Russian revolution".

Socialist-Revolutionary fighters were preparing another attempt on the Tsar which was to take place at the ball. Terrorist Tatyana Leontyeva managed to sneak into the confidence of the organizers of one of the secular balls and on the 12th received an offer to engage in a charitable sale of flowers. She offered to personally commit regicide. However, the ball was cancelled.

From the diary of Nicholas II:

“January 9th. Sunday. Hard day! Serious riots broke out in St. Petersburg as a result of the desire of the workers to reach the Winter Palace. The troops had to shoot in different parts of the city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and hard! ... "

According to official statistics, on January 9, 96 people, including police officers, were killed, 233 were injured. According to other sources, there were 130 people, wounded - 311.

Nicholas II donated 50,000 rubles from his personal funds in favor of the workers who suffered on January 9, and issued large monetary compensations to all the families of the victims. (It was then possible to buy a good cow for 25 rubles, and families received an average of 1,500 rubles).

The revolutionaries took advantage of the situation and spread the rumor that in fact about five thousand people were killed and injured ...

But the primary source on which the capital's journalists relied was a leaflet, distributed in St. Petersburg since 5 p.m. on January 9 . It was in it that "thousands of workers shot on Palace Square" were reported.

But, excuse me, how could it have been written and replicated by that time, especially since on Sunday the printing houses did not work, sent to the districts and distributed to distributors? It is obvious that this provocative leaflet was made in advance, no later than January 8, i.е. when neither the place of execution nor the number of victims was known to the authors.

According to the results of a study carried out by Doctor of Historical Sciences A.N. Zashikhin in 2008, there are no grounds for recognizing this figure as reliable.

Similar inflated figures were reported by other foreign agencies. Thus, the British agency Laffan reported 2,000 killed and 5,000 wounded, the Daily Mail reported more than 2,000 killed and 5,000 wounded, and the Standard newspaper reported 2,000-3,000 killed and 7,000-8,000 wounded.

Subsequently, all this information was not confirmed.

Liberation magazine reported that a certain "organizing committee of the Technological Institute" published "secret police information" that determined the number of people killed at 1216 people. No confirmation of this message was found.

Gapon was stripped of his church title and declared the most notorious criminal of the Orthodox Church. He was accused by the clergy of the fact that (I quote) "called to inspire the Orthodox with the words of truth and the Gospel, obliged to distract them from false directions and criminal aspirations, he, with a cross on his chest, in clothes

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On January 9, 1905, in the city of St. Petersburg, tsarist troops shot down a peaceful procession of workers. They went to the king to hand him a petition with their demands. This event happened on a Sunday, so it went down in history as Bloody Sunday. It served as an impetus for the beginning of the revolution of 1905-1907.

background

The mass procession of people happened for a reason. It was preceded by a series of events in which the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire played an important role. At the initiative of the police department in 1903, it was created Collection of Russian factory workers. The organization was legal, and its main task was to weaken the influence of various revolutionary currents on the working class.

A special department of the Police Department placed the priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Georgy Apollonovich Gapon (1870-1906) at the head of the workers' organization. This man was extremely proud. Very soon he imagined himself a historical figure and the leader of the working class. This was facilitated by the representatives of the authorities themselves, since they themselves withdrew from control, placing the workers' business under the complete control of Gapon.

The nimble priest immediately took advantage of this and began to pursue his own policy, which he considered the only true and correct one. As planned by the authorities, the organization they created was supposed to deal with issues of education, education, and mutual assistance. And the newly minted leader founded a secret committee. Its members began to get acquainted with illegal literature, studied the history of revolutionary movements and actively discussed plans for the struggle for the political and economic interests of the workers.

Georgy Apollonovich enlisted the support of the Karelins. They came from a social-democratic milieu and had great prestige among the workers. With their direct assistance, the Assembly of Russian Factory Workers significantly increased its numbers. In the spring of 1904, the organization already numbered several thousand people.

In March 1904, a secret program was adopted, the so-called "program of five". It contained clear economic and political demands. They formed the basis of the petition with which the workers went to the tsar on January 9, 1905.

Very soon, the Karelinas took a leading position in the Assembly. They had many of their people, and they organized a kind of opposition. She began to play a much more important role than the leader of the organization. That is, Gapon turned into a convenient cover, which his leaders from the Police Department did not even know about.

However, Georgy Apollonovich himself was an energetic and purposeful person, so he cannot be regarded as a puppet in the hands of the Karelins. He lacked the experience of revolutionary struggle, authority among the working masses, but he quickly learned and acquired the necessary skills.

At the end of November 1904, he put forward a proposal to apply to the authorities with a working petition. This proposal was supported by a majority vote. Accordingly, the authority of Georgy Apollonovich grew, and the number of members of the organization began to grow even faster. In January 1905, it already numbered 20 thousand people.

At the same time, the initiative of the clergyman gave rise to serious disagreements among like-minded people. The Karelins and their supporters insisted on the immediate filing of a petition, and Gapon believed that first it was necessary to organize an uprising, show the strength of the masses, and only after that demand economic and political freedoms. Otherwise, the Assembly will be shut down and the leaders arrested.

All this aggravated relations between the Karelins and Georgy Apollonovich to the extreme. The couple began to actively campaign for the overthrow of the leader. It is not known how it would all end, but circumstances intervened.

Incident at the Putilov factory

In early December 1904, 4 workers were fired at the Putilov factory. These are Fedorov, Injections, Sergunin and Subbotin. All of them were members of the Assembly. The master Tetyavkin fired them for production violations. But rumors quickly spread among the workers that people had been kicked out of the factory for their membership in the Assembly.

All this came to Gapon, and he stated that this dismissal was a challenge to him personally. The Assembly is obliged to protect its members, otherwise it is worthless. It was decided to send 3 deputations. The first to Smirnov, the director of the plant. The second to Chizhov, the inspector in charge of the plant. And the third to Fullon, the mayor.

A resolution with requirements was approved. This is the reinstatement of the dismissed and the dismissal of master Tetyavkin. In case of refusal, it was supposed to start a mass strike.

Deputations came to Smirnov and Chizhov on December 28 and were categorically refused. The third deputation was met the next day by the mayor Fullon. He was polite, helpful and promised to render all possible assistance.

Fullon talked personally with Witte about the unrest at the Putilov factory. But he decided not to make concessions to the working class. On January 2, 1905, Gapon and his like-minded people decided to start a strike, and already on January 3, the Putilov factory stopped. At the same time, leaflets with a list of economic demands on the authorities began to be distributed at other factories.

After the start of the strike, Georgy Apollonovich, at the head of the delegation, appeared to the director of the plant, Smirnov. The economic demands were read to him, but the director replied that he refused to fulfill them. Already on January 5, the strike began to cover other factories in the capital, and Gapon decided to address his demands directly to the emperor. He believed that only the king could decide this issue.

On the eve of Bloody Sunday

The revolutionary clergyman believed that many thousands of workers were to come to the royal palace. In this case, the sovereign was simply obliged to consider the petition and somehow respond to it.

The text of the petition was read to all members of the Assembly. All who heard her signed the appeal. By the end of the day on January 8, there were more than 40,000 of them. Gapon himself claimed that he had collected at least 100,000 signatures.

Familiarization with the petition was accompanied by speeches with which Georgy Apollonovich spoke to people. They were so bright and sincere that the listeners fell into ecstasy. People swore that they would come to Palace Square on Sunday. The popularity of Gapon in these 3 days before the bloody events reached unimaginable heights. There was a rumor that he was a new messiah sent by God to free the common people. At one word, plants and factories that employed thousands of people stopped.

At the same time, the leader called for the march without any weapons, so as not to give the authorities a reason to use force. It was also forbidden to take alcohol with you and to allow hooligan antics. Nothing should have disturbed the peaceful procession to the sovereign. They also appointed people whose duty it was to protect the king from the moment he appeared before the people.

However, the organizers of the peaceful demonstration became more and more convinced that the emperor would not appear before the workers. Most likely, he will send troops against them. This scenario was more likely. The use of weapons by the troops was also allowed. But there was no going back. On the eve of January 9, the city froze in anxious expectation.

The tsar and his family left St. Petersburg for Tsarskoe Selo on the evening of January 6th. On the evening of January 8, the Minister of the Interior held an urgent meeting. It was decided not only not to allow workers to the Palace Square, but also to the city center. They decided to set up military outposts along the route of the demonstration, and in case of excesses, use force. But no one even thought of organizing a massive bloody massacre. Officials believed that the mere sight of armed soldiers would frighten the workers, and they would be forced to go home. However, things did not work out as planned in advance.

In the early morning of January 9, 1905, the workers began to gather in their districts on the Vyborgskaya and Petersburg sides, behind the Neva and Narva outposts, in Kolpino, on Vasilyevsky Island. The total number of demonstrators numbered about 140 thousand people. All this mass of people moved in several columns to the Palace Square. There, the columns were to join by 2 o'clock in the afternoon and wait for the sovereign to come out to them.

The emperor had to accept the petition, and its delivery was entrusted to Gapon. At the same time, it was planned that the tsar would immediately sign 2 decrees: on the amnesty of political prisoners and on the convening of the Constituent Assembly. In the event that Nicholas II agreed with this demand, then the rebellious clergyman would come out to the people and wave a white handkerchief. This would serve as a signal for a nationwide celebration. In case of refusal, Gapon had to wave a red handkerchief, which would mean a signal for an uprising.

On the evening of January 8, the troops of the St. Petersburg Military District began to arrive in the capital of the empire. Already on the night of January 9, combat units took up combat positions. In total, there were about 31 thousand cavalry and infantry. You can also add 10 thousand police officers to this. Thus, the government put up more than 40,000 people against the peaceful demonstration. All bridges were blocked by military detachments, cavalrymen rode along the street. The city in a few hours turned into a huge military camp.

Chronology of events

The workers of the Izhora plant from Kolpino were the first to move to Palace Square. because they had to travel the longest distance. At 9 o'clock in the morning they connected with the workers of the Nevsky Zastava. On the Shlisselburg tract, they were blocked by the Cossacks of the Ataman regiment. There were about 16 thousand workers. There were two hundred Cossacks. They fired several volleys with blanks. The crowd retreated, broke down the fence separating the street from the Neva, and moved on along the ice of the river.

On Vasilyevsky Island, the workers set off at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. There were about 6 thousand of them. The Cossacks and infantry blocked their way. The cavalry detachment of Cossacks wedged into the crowd. People were chopped down with swords, whipped with whips, trampled on by horses. The human mass retreated and began to build barricades from fallen telegraph poles. Red flags appeared from somewhere.

The soldiers opened fire, captured one barricade, but by this time the workers had already built another. Before the end of the day, the proletarians erected several more barricades. But all of them were captured by the troops, and live ammunition was fired at the rebels.

At the Narva outpost, Gapon came to the assembled workers. He put on the full vestments of a priest. A huge crowd of 50,000 people gathered at this place. People walked with icons and portraits of the king. The troops blocked their path at the Narva Gate. At first, the peaceful procession was attacked by the grenadiers, but the horsemen did not frighten the huge mass of people. Then the infantry began to shoot. The soldiers fired five volleys and the crowd began to disperse. The dead and wounded lay on the snow. In this skirmish, one of the bullets wounded Gapon in the arm, but he was quickly taken away from the fire.

On the Petersburg side, the crowd reached 20 thousand people. People walked in a dense mass, holding hands. The Pavlovsky regiment blocked their way. The soldiers started firing. Three shots were fired. The crowd trembled and rushed back. The dead and wounded lay on the snow. The cavalry was sent after the fleeing. Those who were caught up were trampled on by horses and cut down with swords.

But on the Vyborg side there were no casualties. The cavalry was sent to meet the procession. She dispersed the crowd. People, fleeing from horses, crossed over the ice across the Neva and continued on their way to the city center in small groups.

Despite the continuous military barriers, by noon a significant mass of people had gathered on Palace Square.. They managed to penetrate the city center in small groups. In addition to the workers, there were many onlookers and passers-by in the crowd. The day was Sunday, and everyone came to see how the rebellious people would hand over the petition to the tsar.

At two o'clock in the afternoon the cavalry units tried to disperse the crowd. But people joined hands, insults rained down on the soldiers. The Preobrazhensky Regiment entered the square. The soldiers lined up in a line and, on command, took their guns to the ready. The officer shouted to the crowd to disperse, but the crowd did not budge. The soldiers fired 2 volleys at the people. Everyone started to run. The dead and wounded remained lying on the square.

A huge crowd crowded on Nevsky Prospekt. By 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the entire avenue was blocked by workers and onlookers. They were not allowed to pass to the Palace Square by cavalry detachments. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, volleys were heard from the side of Palace Square. This made people angry. Stones and pieces of ice flew at the cavalrymen. Those, in turn, tried to cut the crowd into pieces, but the riders did it poorly.

At 4 o'clock a company of the Semyonovsky regiment appeared. She began to push the demonstrators, but met with fierce resistance. And then came the order to open fire. In total, 6 volleys were fired at people. Local clashes continued until late in the evening. The workers even built a barricade blocking the Nevsky. Only by 11 p.m. the demonstrators were dispersed and order was put on the avenue.

Thus ended Bloody Sunday. As for casualties, a total of 150 people were killed and several hundred wounded. The exact figures are still unknown, and data from different sources vary significantly.

The yellow press called the figure more than 4 thousand killed. And the government reported 130 dead and 299 wounded. Some researchers are of the opinion that at least 200 people died and about 800 people were injured.

Conclusion

After the bloody events, Georgy Gapon fled abroad. In March 1906, he was strangled by the Socialist-Revolutionaries at one of the dachas near St. Petersburg. His body was found on 30 April. The dacha was rented by the Socialist-Revolutionary Pyotr Rutenberg. Apparently, he lured the former labor leader to the dacha. The failed leader was buried at the Assumption cemetery in the capital.

On January 10, 1905, the sovereign dismissed the mayor Fullon and the Minister of the Interior Svyatopolk-Mirsky. On January 20, the tsar received a delegation of workers and expressed sincere regret over what had happened. At the same time, he condemned the mass procession, saying that it was a crime to go to him in a rebellious crowd.

After the disappearance of Gapon, the enthusiasm of the workers disappeared. They went to work and the mass strike ended. But it was only a small respite. In the near future, new victims and political upheavals awaited the country.

The negotiations opened in favorable conditions for Japan, as the Japanese government had already enlisted the support of the United States in advance and discussed spheres of influence in the Far East. However, Russia was not satisfied with the state of affairs, and the Russian delegation continued to insist on softening the terms of peace.

First of all, Russia managed to defend the right not to pay indemnity. Despite the fact that Japan was in dire need of money, the continuation of hostilities, which could occur if the peace treaty was not signed, could completely ruin the country, so the Japanese government had to make concessions.

Negotiations on the territory of Sakhalin also lasted quite a long time. Japan wanted to annex these territories, but Russia refused. As a result, a compromise was reached - Japan received only the southern part of the island, and also gave an obligation not to engage in fortification on the island.

In general, as a result of the peace treaty, spheres of influence in the territories of Korea and Manchuria were designated, as well as the rights of both states to engage in navigation and trade in these lands. Peace has been achieved.

Consequences of the peace treaty

Despite the conclusion of peace, the Russo-Japanese War did not bring significant success to both countries. Japan was actually ruined, and the world was perceived by citizens as humiliating. For Russia, the loss in the Russo-Japanese War and the forced peace meant the last straw in the brewing popular dissatisfaction with the government. After the war, a revolution broke out in Russia.

Bloody Sunday 1905 (briefly)

On January 9 (22 according to the new style), 1905, 2,500 demonstrations of workers were shot in St. Petersburg. This day has since been referred to as Bloody Sunday. Here are the events of Bloody Sunday briefly. The beginning of January was marked by a general political strike. At least 150 thousand people took part in it. The main demands of the workers were: a guaranteed minimum wage, an 8-hour working day, and the abolition of mandatory overtime work.

The plan for organizing a peaceful march to the tsar with a petition was proposed by the priest Gapon. This petition included not only economic but also political demands. The scope of the strike movement frightened the government so much that serious forces were brought to Moscow - up to 40,000 policemen and military men.

On the date of Bloody Sunday, January 9, a march to the tsar was scheduled, since a small part of the workers still retained faith in him. It should be noted that in the current situation, the demonstration had a very provocative character. It failed to prevent it.

The workers, accompanied by their wives and children, carrying portraits of the tsar and banners, moved towards the Winter Palace. But the procession at 12 noon was attacked at the Nevsky Gate by cavalry, and the infantry fired 5 volleys. Gapon then fled. At the Trinity Bridge, an hour later, fire was opened on the demonstrators from the Petersburg and Vyborg sides. At the Winter part of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, they also fired several volleys at people in the Alexander Garden. In total, during the Bloody Sunday of 1905, up to a thousand people died, and up to 2 thousand people were injured. This massacre marked the beginning revolutions of 1905 - 1907

October Manifesto

The Manifesto of October 17, 1905 (October Manifesto) is a legislative act developed by the Supreme Power of the Russian Empire in order to put an end to riots and strikes in the country.

The manifesto was drafted by order Nicholas 2 in the shortest possible time and became a response to the ongoing strikes that have been taking place throughout the country since October 12. The manifesto was written by S. Witte , the full name of the document is "The Highest Manifesto on the improvement of the state order."

The main essence and purpose of the manifesto of October 17, 1905 is to give civil rights to the striking workers and fulfill a number of their demands in order to stop the uprising. The manifesto became a necessary measure.

The manifesto became one of the most notable events of the first Russian revolutions of 1905-1907 . By the beginning of the 20th century, the country was in a rather deplorable state: there was an industrial decline, the economy was in a state of crisis, the public debt continued to grow, and lean years caused massive famine in the country. The abolition of serfdom had a strong impact on the economy, but the current system of government in the country could not adequately respond to the changes.

Hard-pressed peasants and workers who could not feed themselves and, moreover, had limited civil rights, demanded reforms. Distrust of the actions of Emperor Nicholas 2 led to the growth of revolutionary sentiment and the popularization of the slogan "Down with the autocracy."

The trigger at the beginning of the revolution was the events "Bloody Sunday" when the imperial troops shot the civilian. Demonstration on January 9, 1905. Mass riots, strikes and riots began all over the country - people demanded to take away the sole power from the Emperor and give it to the people.

In October, the strikes reached their peak, more than 2 million people were on strike in the country, pogroms and bloody clashes were regularly held.

The government tried to somehow cope with the riots by issuing various decrees. In February 1905, two documents were issued simultaneously that contradict each other in their content: a decree that allowed the population to submit documents for consideration on changing and improving the state system and a decree that proclaimed the inviolability of autocracy. On the one hand, the government gave citizens the freedom to express their will, but in fact this freedom was fictitious, since the right to make a decision still remained with the emperor, and the power of the monarchy in Russia could not be legally reduced. The demonstrations continued.

In May 1905, a new project was submitted to the Duma for consideration, which provided for the creation in Russia of a single legislative body that would allow taking into account the interests of the people in making important decisions for the country. The government did not support the project and tried to change its content in favor of the autocracy.

In October, the riots reached their peak, and Nicholas 2 was forced to make peace with the people. The result of this decision was the manifesto of 1905, which laid the foundation for a new state structure - a bourgeois constitutional monarchy.

The royal manifesto granted freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the creation of unions and public organizations;

Wider sections of the population could now participate in the elections - suffrage appeared in those classes that had never had it before. Thus, practically all citizens could now vote;

The manifesto obligated to consider and approve all bills in advance through the State Duma. From now on, the sole power of the emperor weakened, a new, more perfect legislative body began to form;

Results and Significance of the October Manifesto

The adoption of such a document was the first attempt in the history of Russia by the state to give the people more civil rights and freedoms. In fact, the manifesto not only gave suffrage to all citizens, it proclaimed certain democratic freedoms that were necessary for Russia's transition to a new type of government.

With the introduction of the Manifesto, the legislative right from the sole (only the Emperor had it) was now distributed between the Emperor and the legislative body - the State Duma. A parliament was established, without whose decision no decree could come into force. However, Nicholas did not want to lose power so easily, so the autocrat reserved the right to dissolve the State Duma at any time, using the right of veto.

The changes made by the manifesto to the basic laws of the Russian Empire actually became the beginning of the first Russian constitution.

The right to freedom of speech and assembly has led to the rapid growth of various organizations and unions throughout the country.

Unfortunately, the manifesto was only a temporary agreement between the peasantry and the Emperor and did not last long. In 1917 a new revolution and autocracy was overthrown.

January 9 (according to the new style, January 22) 1905 is an important historical event in the modern history of Russia. On this day, with the tacit consent of Emperor Nicholas II, a 150,000-strong procession of workers was shot in St. Petersburg, who were going to hand over to the tsar a petition signed by tens of thousands of Petersburgers with a request for reforms.

The reason for organizing the procession to the Winter Palace was the dismissal of four workers of the largest Putilov plant in St. Petersburg (now the Kirov plant). On January 3, a strike of 13,000 factory workers began demanding the return of those laid off, the introduction of an 8-hour working day, and the abolition of overtime work.

The strikers created an elective commission from the workers to jointly with the administration analyze the claims of the workers. Demands were developed: to introduce an 8-hour working day, to abolish compulsory overtime, to establish a minimum wage, not to punish strikers, etc. On January 5, the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDLP) issued a leaflet calling on the Putilovites to extend the strike, and to workers of other factories to join it.

The Putilovites were supported by the Obukhovsky, Nevsky shipbuilding, cartridge and other factories, by January 7 the strike became general (according to incomplete official data, over 106 thousand people took part in it).

Nicholas II handed over power in the capital to the military command, which decided to crush the labor movement before it turned into a revolution. The main role in suppressing the riots was assigned to the Guard, it was reinforced by other military units of the Petersburg District. 20 infantry battalions and over 20 cavalry squadrons were concentrated at predetermined points.

On the evening of January 8, a group of writers and scientists, with the participation of Maxim Gorky, turned to the ministers with a demand to prevent the execution of workers, but they did not want to listen to her.

On January 9, a peaceful procession to the Winter Palace was scheduled. The procession was prepared by the legal organization "Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg" headed by priest Georgy Gapon. Gapon spoke at meetings, calling for a peaceful procession to the tsar, who alone could intercede for the workers. Gapon assured that the tsar should go out to the workers and accept an appeal from them.

On the eve of the procession, the Bolsheviks issued a proclamation "To all St. Petersburg workers", in which they explained the futility and danger of the procession conceived by Gapon.

On January 9, about 150,000 workers took to the streets of St. Petersburg. The columns headed by Gapon headed for the Winter Palace.

The workers came with their families, carried portraits of the tsar, icons, crosses, sang prayers. Throughout the city, the procession met armed soldiers, but no one wanted to believe that they could shoot. Emperor Nicholas II was in Tsarskoye Selo that day. When one of the columns approached the Winter Palace, shots suddenly rang out. The units stationed at the Winter Palace fired three volleys at the procession participants (in the Alexander Garden, at the Palace Bridge and at the General Staff building). The cavalry and mounted gendarmes chopped down the workers with swords and finished off the wounded.

According to official figures, 96 people were killed and 330 wounded, according to unofficial data - more than a thousand killed and two thousand wounded.

According to journalists from St. Petersburg newspapers, the number of killed and wounded was about 4.9 thousand people.

The murdered police secretly buried at night at the Preobrazhensky, Mitrofanevsky, Uspensky and Smolensky cemeteries.

The Bolsheviks of Vasilyevsky Island distributed a leaflet in which they called on the workers to seize weapons and start an armed struggle against the autocracy. The workers seized weapons stores and warehouses, disarmed the police. The first barricades were erected on Vasilyevsky Island.