1905 revolution (jan 22, 1905 – jun 16, 1907)

Description:

The 1905 revolution was a series of spontaneous uprisings, not a coordinated attack on the Tsar's government.

Peasant revolt:
- authorities lost control of 15% of rural Russia by the summer of 1905
- Violence against government officials, landowners and government property
- Zemstvos' petitions demanding land, which were organised by moderate SRs
- Land seizures

National minorities
- Finns and Poles also rebelled - strikes in the Baltic states
- Violence in Poland
- Tsar restored FInland's traditional rights to replace the policy of Russification because of the impact

Military unrest
- The mutiny of the Battleship Potemkin of June 1905
- Sailors rebelled officers and took control of the ship
- Revolutionary sailors sailed to Odessa where they fired on government forces

Urban Unrest
- Anti-semitic violence
- at least 400 Jews were killed and over 1,600 Jewish homes were destroyed

The St Petersburg Soviet
The nature of the soviet - an elected committee comprising around 500 delegates, representing 200,000 workers across 147 factories. A majority of workers elected to the Soviet supported the Mensheviks. Set up initially in October 1905 to coordinate the strikes.
The impact of the Soviet - 50 towns across Russia, including Moscow and Odessa, had their own Soviets, linked to large-scale strikes. Started political campaigns - for 8 hour working day, and encouraged workers not to pay tax.
Trotsky's role - Intellectual and revolutionary. Trotsky played a leading role among the members of the RSDLP who were a part of the Soviet. He also helped the Soviet avoid confrontations with the government and employers by urging the Soviet to act pragmatically and abandon some of its more radical demands

The end of the Soviet:
- Closed by force in early December
- Tsarist troops stormed a meeting while Trotsky was speaking
- In response a Bolshevik-led armed uprising took place in Moscow - crushed and over a thousand died
- By December 1905 the Tsar was in a stronger position. Soviet was crushed and Soviets in Moscow and Odessa were suppressed by Tsarist troops. End of the 1905 revolution

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