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The Duma’s Attitude toward War-Time Problems of Minority Groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

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Extract

By the Fundamental State Law of the Russian Empire, as revised in 1906, certain guarantees were defined concerning freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly. These were civil rights presumably to be applied without reference to such limitations as nationality or religion. However, sufficient loopholes were left for the Government, so that it is more to the point to speak of temporary concessions rather than rights, liberties, or freedoms. From time to time, and in varying degrees, the Government placed restrictions on their practice by both Russians and non-Russians, Orthodox and non-Orthodox. This was especially true during World War I. Russia's executive remained autocratic and arbitrary, regardless of the physiognomy of the constitutional mask. Many of the traditions of the Russia of the Romanov dynasty were in direct contradiction to the principles of Western European liberal thought which had been superimposed on the autocratic base in 1906 to form the so-called “constitutional” regime. Therefore, there were basic ideological conflicts inherent in the political structure as defined by the new Fundamental State Law.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , February 1954 , pp. 29 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1954

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References

1 Gosudarstvennaja Duma (State Duma), Ukazatel’k stenografičeskim otčetam (Index to the Stenographic Reports), Fourth Duma, first session, third session, fourth session (3 vols., St. Petersburg, 1913; Petrograd, 1915–1916), Index of Persons.

2 All dates are New Style.

3 Gosudarstvennaja Duma, Stenografičeskie otčety, Fourth Duma, third session, third meeting, p. 283. References to the Stenographic Reports will be cited hereafter in the following manner: SOGD, III/3 (the Roman numeral designating the number of the session, the Arabic numeral designating the number of the meeting).

4 Article 87 allowed the Council of Ministers, in “extraordinary circumstances,” and upon approval of the Emperor, to promulgate laws during the absence of the Duma. Such laws were not to effect any change in the Fundamental State Law, and would become inoperative unless introduced into the Duma within two months after its convocation, or if defeated by either the Duma or the State Council. See Osnovnye gosudarstvennye zakony (Fundamental State Laws), Article 87 in Svod zakonov Rossijskoj Imperii (Code of Laws of the Russian Empire) (St. Petersburg, 1906), Vol. I, Part I, Division I.

Government abuse of Article 87 was quite flagrant during the war. Many decrees were issued by invocation of its authority just before or just after a Duma session. In addition, the Government sometimes resorted (illegally) to renewal of a decree after the two-month time limit, rather than introducing it into the Duma for confirmation. SOGD, IV/22, p. 1755; IV/23, pp. 1897, 1917.

5 SOGD, IV/5, p. 491. Sobranie uzakonenij i rasporjaženij Pravitel'stva, izdavaemoe pri Pravitel'stvuyuščem Senate (Collection of Statutes and Decrees of the Government, Published under the Authority of the Governing Senate), 1915, First Half-year, Division I (Petrograd, 1915), No. 39, Articles 349–51.

6 Constitutional-Democrat. Party members preferred, in Duma debate, to use the term “Party of Peoples’ Freedom.”

7 SOQD, IV/14, pp. 1087–93.

8 Ibid., IV/5, pp. 414–15.

9 The Rightist faction was the most extreme of the Duma's Rightist groups. In general, it supported the Government and was, in turn, supported by the Government.

10 SOGD, IV/5, pp. 360–76.

11 Ibid., IV/5, pp. 407–9, 412, 514; IV/23, p. 1821; IV/29, pp. 2558–60; IV/31, p. 2768; IV/33, pp. 2938–56.

12 Ibid., IV/I, p. 59; IV/5, p. 421. The Stundists were Russian peasants who insisted on their right to interpret the Bible as their conscience should dictate. The movement originated near Odessa, where Russian peasants came into contact with German colonists adhering to the Lutheran and Mennonite faiths. The practice of these Germans of participating in Bible discussion periods, called Stunden (hours), was copied by these Russian peasants. The Stundists had no clergy, since the Bible was considered the supreme authority which could be interpreted by any individual. The emphasis on Bible reading led to a demand for education. This education, coupled with the practice of free discussion, led to suspicions on the part of the Government of potential subversive influence. Leroy-Beaulieu, Anatole, The Empire of the Tsars and the Russians (New York, 1896), III, 451–56.Google Scholar

13 The peasants in the Duma were scattered throughout most of the factions. However, on occasion, they banded together in order to present resolutions which they felt tended to further the interests of the peasantry.

14 SOGD, IV/2, p. 152; IV/5, pp. 473–77.

15 The Progressive faction was a Left-of-Center group. It can be considered to the Left of the Kadets and to the Right of the various socialist groups. It should not be confused with the Progressive Bloc, a coalition of Center groups formed in August, 1915, for the purpose of defining the conditions under which the Duma could cooperate with the Government.

16 SOGD, IV/5, pp. 383–85.

17 Menshevik.

l8 SOGD, IV/5, pp. 404–6.

19 Ibid., p. 418.

20 Laborite Group is the closest linguistic equivalent to the Russian Trudovaja Gruppa. The term Laborite, however, should not be understood in the sense that the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have given to the word labor. The Laborites were essentially members of the illegal Socialist-Revolutionary party, whose program of reform rested on their concept of the best interest of the peasantry.

21 SOGD, IV/5, p. 427.

22 Ibid., IV/5, p. 498.

23 Ibid., IV/5, p. 507.

24 Ibid., IV/5, pp. 497–508.

25 Ibid., IV/5, p. 393. Biron was a member of the German-descended nobility of the Baltic province of Kurland. Elevated to prominence in the Russian Government by the Empress Anne in 1730, he was the first of a long line of members of the Baltic nobility to hold influential positions in the Government.

26 SOGD, IV/5, p. 412.

27 Ibid., IV/28, pp. 2478–2512.

28 Ibid., IV/18, pp. 1269-70; IV/22, p. 1821; IV/28, pp. 2463, 2478–2512; IV/29, pp. 2560, 2599; IV/36, pp. 3277–79. 3287–91.

29 Ibid., IV/31, pp. 2806–7.

30 Ibid., IV/31, pp. 2757–68.

31 The Octobrists might be called “enlightened conservatives,” who, although they had reservations concerning political democracy, wanted to see the constitutional guarantees of 1906 upheld. They were divided into two groups, the Zemstvo-Octobrists and the Union of 17 October.

32 SOGD, IV/41, pp. 3953, 3966.

33 Ibid., IV/56, pp. 5394–97, 5466–74.

34 Ibid., IV/57, pp. 5577–80. The coalition known as the Progressive Bloc included the following factions: Nationalist-Progressive, Center, Zemstvo-Octobrist, Union of 17 October, Constitutional-Democrat, Progressive.

35 SOGD, IV/57, P . 5574.

36 Petrograd Reč’ (Speech), August 15, 1914, p. 1, cols. 6–7.

37 SOQD, III/I, p. 28.

38 Ibid., IV/I, pp. 9–10.

39 Ibid., IV/I, pp. 85–87.

40 Ibid., IV/17, pp. 1223, 1238.

41 S. D. Sazonov, Vospominanija (Memoirs) (Paris, 1927), pp. 350, 362–63, 380. Šturmer assumed the responsibilities of the Foreign Ministry when Sazonov was relieved early the following summer.

42 SOGD, IV/37, p. 3384.

43 Ibid., IV/II, pp. 868–72.

44 Ibid., IV/37, p. 3385.

45 Ibid., IV/19, pp. 1436–37.

46 Ibid., IV/37, pp. 3385–86.

47 Ibid., V/I, pp. 6–9.

48 Ibid., p. 12. The Polish problem was being considered against a backdrop of the most stormy session of the Duma's war-time experience. Except for the extreme Right, complete lack of confidence in the Government was displayed on this day. The Government had blundered seriously and had insulted the Duma overtly in its handling of a general food crisis. In addition, suspicion was strong that the Government was making overtures to Germany for a separate peace. This was the occasion of Miljukov's famous “stupidity or treason” charge against Šturmer. Ibid., V/I, pp. 3–48.

49 Ibid., V/I, p. 16.

50 Ibid., V/I, p. 35

51 Ibid., V/6, pp. 257–58.

52 Ibid., IV/52, pp. 4917–18.

53 Ibid., IV/7, pp. 640–46; IV/9, pp. 747–48.

54 Ibid., IV/24, p. 1964. Markov was the publisher of the reactionary, government-subsidized newspaper Zemščina (Commonwealth); IV/14, p. 1057.

55 Ibid., IV/24, pp. 1964–78; IV/33, pp. 3028–35; IV/36, pp. 3360–61.

56 Ibid., IV/29, p. 2589.

57 Ibid., IV/33, p. 3039.

58 Ibid., IV/33, p. 3025.

59 Ibid., IV/29, p. 2775.

60 Ibid., IV/53, p. 5045.

61 Ibid., IV/2, pp. 173–76; IV/19, p. 1424; IV/33, pp. 2924–34; IV/36, pp. 3308–23.

62 Ibid., IV/2, pp. 153–54; IV/31, p. 2749.

63 Ibid., IV/41, pp. 3939–48, 3954. Ckhenkeli was a Georgian, but not an Adžarian.

64 Ibid., III/I, pp. 34–35.

65 Ibid., IV/42, pp. 4029–31; Pankratova, A. M., Istorija SSSR (History of the USSR) (Moscow, 1941), III, 122–25.Google Scholar

66 SOQD, IV/41, p. 3952.

67 Ibid., III/I, p. 36; IV/2, p. 187.

68 Ibid., IV/I, p. 10.