one House, elected by popular vote. Woman suffrage was also granted, and the Finnish Diet could now boast of being the most modern of the world's parliaments. In the Baltic Provinces the Lettish peasants rose and pillaged the estates of their German landlords. So widespread was the revolt that an independent Baltic Republic was organized in Riga; but it was unable to maintain itself very long, for it was suppressed by Russian armies. In the Caucasus the Armenians and Georgians rose in rebellion but were likewise suppressed. In the "Pale" a powerful Socialist organization of Jewish workingmen known as the "Jewish Bund" battled against the "Black Hundreds."

strike

The autocracy was tottering fast and it endeavored to save itself from complete destruction by granting concessions. On August 19, 1905, the Tsar promised The general to summon a Duma, or national legislature, to be composed of elected representatives. This promise aroused little enthusiasm, for the reason that the proposed Duma was to be elected by a restricted suffrage, which was so arranged as to deny the vote to the chief enemies of the Government, the professional and working classes. It was plain that the moment was now propitious for a decisive blow against the tottering system. During October, 1905, there took place one of the most extraordinary popular demonstrations in all history. A general strike was declared throughout the whole Empire. It began with the railway men and telegraphers, and all communication was cut off when they ceased working. It then spread rapidly to the shipyards, factories, mines, and shops. The strike fever seemed to seize all classes. Gas and electric companies refused to operate their plants and many cities were in darkness; merchants closed their stores; teachers dismissed their classes; domestic servants refused to cook, to clean house, or to wait on table; druggists refused to prepare prescriptions and doctors closed their offices; lawyers refused to plead in court and judges and juries refused to render verdicts; public bodies, like the city councils and the Zemstvos, adjourned their meetings; and even the ballet

dancers refused to dance. Life in Russia came virtually to a standstill.

The Government was now face to face with a situation such as had never confronted it or any other government before, and there was nothing else to do but to yield. On October 30, 1905, the Tsar issued his famous manifesto which declared that it was his wish to "establish an immutable rule that no law will be considered binding which has not the consent of the Duma; and that to the people will be given the power to exercise an effective supervision over the acts of the officials." Freedom of speech, association and religion, "the immutable foundations of civic liberty," were guaranteed; and the electoral law was drastically revised so as to establish virtual universal suffrage. As a further sign of his liberal intentions, Nicholas dismissed the hated officials, General Trépov and Pobiedonostsev, and appointed the moderate liberal, Count Witte, as his Prime Minister.

The uprising in Mos

COW

In spite of the capitulation of the Government, or rather because of it, the revolutionists continued their activities. Another general strike was declared in November of the same year, but it had to be abandoned on account of the refusal of many workingmen to join. The city of Sebastopol was seized by mutinous soldiers and sailors, and it took an army of twenty thousand men to recapture it. A desperate uprising broke out in Moscow on December 21. Barricade fighting took place such as had not been known in Europe since the "June days" of 1848 in Paris. After a week of desperate struggle, in which about five thousand men were killed, the army succeeded in quelling the revolt. On March 5, 1906, the Tsar issued a manifesto which converted the Council of the Empire, hitherto an advisory body entirely appointed by him, into an upper House of two hundred members, one half to be appointed by him and the other half to be chosen by various bodies, such as the Zemstvos, the universities, chambers of commerce, the Synod of the Orthodox Church, and associations of nobles. A cabinet, called the "Council

waged a desperate war against an autocracy intrenched by the loyalty of a helpless and ignorant peasantry. Were a new revolutionary movement to arise now, it could command the powerful support of the industrial classes. Strange as it might have seemed, it was during the iron régime of Alexander III that conditions were ripening for the great Revolution of 1905.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1905

REFORM MOVEMENT IN THE REIGN OF NICHOLAS II WHEN Alexander III died in 1894, Russia breathed a sigh of relief. His son and successor, Nicholas II, was a Character young man of twenty-six who had traveled and ideas of widely and who was known to possess a genial Nicholas II personality. Many hoped, therefore, that the spirit of Alexander II would once more dominate the Government. But shortly after his accession to the throne, the new Tsar frankly made known his position by declaring, "I shall preserve the principles of autocracy as firmly and unswervingly as my late father of imperishable memory." He rebuked a body representing the Zemstvos, who came to petition for a constitution and a national legislature, by telling them that such things were "senseless dreams." It was soon realized that Nicholas resembled neither his father in strength of purpose nor his grandfather in liberality of spirit; and that he was a weak though amiable man, posses sing only a modicum of statesmanlike ability and likely to be dominated by the strong men among the reactionary bureaucrats.

Finnish liberties restricted

The Tsar's despotic tendencies began to show themselves in his treatment of Finland. That country, enjoying constitutional government and freedom of speech, had always been an eyesore to the Russian officials who regarded this arrangement as an evil example to the rest of Russia. Moreover, the high degree of local autonomy enjoyed by the Finns affronted their pas sionate desire to unify and to Russify every part of the heterogeneous Empire. In spite of the fact that Nicholas had sworn to observe the constitution of the Grand Duchy, he issued an ukase in 1899 which practically rendered it

inoperative. The powers of the local Diet were greatly abridged, and it was put under the tutelage of the central Government; the local army, hitherto under Finnish control and regulation, was incorporated with that of Russia; the Russian tongue was declared the official language; and Russian officials were sent to draft bills for the Diet and to administer the laws, which they did in an arbitrary and persecuting spirit. So great was the indignation of the Finns at this violation of their rights that a day of mourning was declared, which was observed throughout the Grand Duchy. A monster petition, signed by over half a million names, was sent to the Tsar asking for the restoration of the liberties of Finland, but it received no attention. In 1904 the Russian Governor-General, Bobrikov, was assassinated by a Finnish patriot who then committed suicide, leaving a letter in which he explained that this act was due to the desire on his part to call the attention of the Tsar to the outrageous treatment of his country by the Russian officials.

The agitation throughout the Empire for reform soon made great headway under the impetus of the new spirit of opposition to the autocracy manifested by the War on the middle and working classes in the towns. Rev. intellectuals olutionary societies multiplied rapidly. Every form of private association, like engineering societies, academies of sci ence, lawyers' clubs, trade unions, chambers of commerce, and even public bodies, like the provincial Zemstvos and city councils, became identified with some form of agitation for political freedom. Because the intelligentsia were the leaders among the reformers, the Government undertook to wage relentless war on students, teachers, and even books. The writings of Herbert Spencer and James Bryce and Green's Short History of the English People were forbidden to be read in Russia. A distinguished historian and sociologist, Professor Miliukóv, who later became the leader of the Liberals in the Duma, was removed from his university position because of his "generally noxious tendencies." Students especially were under the watchful care of the police, who spied on their activities in and out of the classroom and