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The Russian Voter in the Elections to the Third Duma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Alfred Levin
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Extract

The intent of the framers of the Electoral Law of June 3, 1907, was, as Peter A. Stolypin would have it, “constitutionalist,” but it was very nearly the antithesis of “democratic.” In reverting from a broadly representational to a Prussian-style, tax-property, categorical basis, Stolypin sought no fundamental revision of the principles underlying the Electoral Law for the Imperial Duma of November 11, 1905. He was committed to the concept of a constitution providing for representative government, but in accordance with his own predilections he wished to revise the terms of representation in a way that would ensure a preponderance of “trustworthy” elements in the Duma while still permitting most major segments of public opinion to be represented.

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Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , December 1962 , pp. 660 - 677
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1962

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References

1 The Law of June 3, 1907, is to be found in , Vol. XXVII (St. Petersburg, 1910), No. 29242, hereafter cited as . The Manifesto of June 3, 1907, is in ibid., No. 29240, and the Law of Dec. 11, 1905, is in ibid., Vol. XXV (St. Petersburg, 1908), No. 27029. For official motives see (Berlin, 1938), pp. 117, 118, 108-14; Kokovtsov, V. N., Out of My Past: Memoirs of Count Kokovtsov (Stanford, 1935), pp. 165-66, 178-79Google Scholar; Leroy-Beaulieu, A., Revue des deux mondes, Vol. XLI (Paris, 1907), pp. 370–72 Google Scholar; Chasles, P., Le Parlement Russe (Paris, 1910), pp. 94–95 Google Scholar; Gurko, V. I., Features and Figures of the Past (Stanford, 1937), pp. 510–11 Google Scholar.

2 ., Vol. XXV, No. 26662, for the “Bulygin” Electoral Law of Aug. 6, 1905.

3 For the preliminary and county landowners meetings by the zemstvo board or the rural economy board (of the western provinces), and where such boards did not exist by the police administration; for both categories of city voters by the city board of the county or provincial city or by the boards of cities which elected deputies directly to the Duma; burgher boards of the smallest towns were to assemble their registers separately but publish them together with those of the county city. These lists were to be compiled from the records presented by financial officials, local inspectors, and payroll lists forwarded by employing institutions. Ibid., Vol. XXVII, No. 29242, Arts. 45-53, 59, 60.

4 Officials of factories and railroad shops were to sign statements on the number of worker voters in their enterprises and the number of delegates they were to elect. Ibid., Arts. 68, 69, 71, 72.

5 Ibid., Arts. 70, 73, 74.

6 Ibid., Arts. 23-25, 112-14, 142-44; ibid., Vol. XXV, No. 27029, Part IX.

7 In this connection the preponderance of conservative, and to some extent reactionary, opinion within the local committees now took on added significance. The provincial election committee included the circuit judge as president, the marshal of the nobility of the county of the chief city of the province, the president of the provincial zemstvo board or the rural economy board, a member elected from the district court, a permanent member of the provincial Office of Zemstvo and City Affairs or of the Office of City Affairs, one of the permanent members of the provincial Office of Peasant Affairs appointed by the governor, and finally, the senior councillor of the provincial administration. The county election committee consisted of a member of the district court as president, the county marshal of the nobility, the justice of the peace or city judges appointed by the general assembly of the justices of the peace or of the district judges, president of the county zemstvo board, the mayor of the county city, and (until 1909) a land captain appointed by the county assembly. Ibid., Vol. XXVII, No. 29242, Arts. 46, 49.

8 Ibid., Arts. 54, 56, 58, 64, 67.

9 Ibid., Arts. 61, 62.

10 Ibid., Art. 57.

11 , June 13, 1907, p. 3 c. 3; June 14, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; July 1, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; July 15, 1907, p. 5 c. 1.

12 Ibid., June 5, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; June 6, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; June 7, 1907, p. 2 c. 1; June 26, 1907, p. 3 c. 6, p. 4 c. 1.

13 Ibid., July 7, 1907, p. 3 c. 2; July 14, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; July 15, 1907, p. 4 c. 3; Aug. 5, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; Aug. 8, 1907, p. 2 c. 4; Aug. 26, 1907, p. 3 c. 7, p. 4 c. 1; Oct. 26, 1907, p. 3 c. 4; (Moscow, 1908), p. 30 (hereafter cited as ).

14 , Aug. 23, 1907, p. 2 c. 2-3.

15 Ibid., June 5, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; June 6, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; June 13, 1907, p. 3 c. 3; June 23, 1907, p. 2 c. 5.

16 ibid., June 10, 1907, p. 3 c. 2; June 13, 1907, p. 3 c. 3; June 15, 1907, p. 4 c. 3; June 19, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; June 21, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; June 22, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; July 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 6; July 15, 1907, p. 4 c. 3; July 19, 1907, p. 3 c. 5; Aug. 22, 1907, p. 3 c. 4.

17 ., Vol. XXVII, No. 29242, Arts. 9, 10, 11.

18 , June 7, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; June 15, 1907, p. 3 c. 3.

19 Ibid., June 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 1.

20 ibid., June 14, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; J u n e 23, 1907, p. 3 c. 3.

21 Excluded were military surgeons, usually liberals in politics, who were permitted to register in the second elections. Ibid., June 20, 1907, p. 3 c. 5; June 24. 1907, p. 4 c. 4; July 7, 1907, p. 2 c. 3. The tendency of the bureaucracy to interpret the la- v narrowly is shown, for example, in the action of the governor general of Elets in allowing suffrage only to those whose names appeared on the registration lists; that is, the basic employees of an institution. This eliminated school teachers serving chancelleries of railways, and city and zemstvo boards. Ibid., June 20, 1907, p. 3 c. 3.

22 Ibid., J u n e 27, 1907, p. 2 c. 2; Aug. 3, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; Aug. 8, 1907, p. 1 c. 6.

23 ibid., July 10, 1907, p. 1 c. 7; July 25, 1907, p. 2 c. 1-2. There were 307, 930 voters in the cities canvassed in the second elections and 195, 000 in the third.

24 Ibid., July 2, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; July 12, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; Juty 15, 1907, p. 5 c. 1; July 19, 1907, p. 2 c. 3; July 22, 1907, p. 4 c. 4; July 25, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; July 27, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; July 28, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; Aug. 2, 1907, p. 2 c. 4; Aug. 8, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; Aug. 17, 1907, p. 3 c. 7.

25 ibid., July 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; July 10, 1907, p. 1 c. 7.

26 In Moscow the decrease was evident in all categories. Registration among apartment holders who paid no taxes (small) fell 73.3 per cent; owners of commercial enterprises, 83.7 per cent; payers of a professional tax 83.7 per cent; apartment renters paying a tax, 83.4 per cent; pensioners and employees of government and public institutions, 7.5 per cent; the over-all decline being 78.8 per cent. , July 17, 1907, p. 3 c. 6; Aug. 5, 1907, p. 4 c. 1; Aug. 9, 1907, p. 2 c. 3; Aug. 14, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; Aug. 26, 1907, p. 3 c. 7, p. 4 c. 1.

27 ibid., June 29, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; July 3, 1907, p. 2 c. 1; July 10, 1907, p. 2 c. 1-2; July 15, 1907, p. 5 c. 1; July 25, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; p. 3 c. 7; Aug. 17, 1907, p. 3 c. 7.

28 i n Vladimir, the first category elector represented 90 votes; the second, some 800. In Minsk, 330 votes represented one elector i n the first category and 6, 300 in the second. Ibid., J u l y 10, 1907, p. 2 c. 1-2.

29 Ibid., June 30, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; J u l y 1, 1907, p. 4 c. 1, 5; J u l y 8, 1907, p. 5 c. 5; July 10, 1907, p. 2 c. 1, 4; July 11, 1907, p. 2 c. 4, p. 3 c. 1; July 26, 1907, p. 1 c. 5.

30 ibid., June 15, 1907, p. 4 c. 3-4; J u n e 22, 1907, p. 3 c. 1.

31 Ibid., June 29, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; July 10, 1907, p. 1 c. 7, p. 2 c. 1-2; July 20, 1907, p. 1 c. 4-5.

32 ibid., June 27, 1907, p. 2 c. 3; June 29, 1907, p. 3 c. 6-7; July 7, 1907, p. 2 c. 3-5; July 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 4.

33 Elizavetgrad reported on July 10, that 600 small apartment renters had enrolled “in the past few days” and Simferopol noted 200 registrants in the two-day period preceding July 12. Ibid., July 10, 1907, p. 2 c. 4; July 12, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; July 19, 1907, p. 2 c. 2.

34 Ibid., July 15, 1907, p. 5 c. 1; Aug. 5, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; Aug. 14, 1907, p. 2 c. 6.

35 , June 28, 1907, p. 3 c. 5; July 2, 1907, p. 2 c. 4; July 7, 1907, p. 2 c. 4; July 14, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; July 15, 1907, p. 5 c. 1; July 19, 1907, p. 2 c. 2.

36 ibid., June 27, 1907, p. 2 c. 2; June 28, 1907, p. 3 c. 3; June 29, 1907, p. 2 c. 2; July 1, 1907, p. 4 c. 5; July 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; July 12, 1907, p. 2 c. 3-4; July 23, 1907, p. 3 c. 6.

37 Ibid., June 22, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; July 12, 1907, p. 2 c. 7.

38 ibid., June 21, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; June 29, 1907, p. 2 c. 5-6; June 30, 1907, p. 3 c. 1-2; July 4, 1907, p. 1 c. 5-7; July 14, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; Sept. 9, 1907, p. 4 c. 7.

39 , Vol. XXVII, No. 29242, Arts. 42, 43, 61, 71, 72; Chasles, Le Parlement Russe, p. 90; S. N. Harper, The New Electoral Law for the Russian Duma (Chicago, 1908), p. 11; , June 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 1. In Moscow it was estimated that of some 40, 000 workers “only several hundred at most” could qualify as apartment renters who paid no tax. Ibid., July 27, 1907, p. 2 c. 5.

40 ibid., June 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; June 23, 1907, p. 3 c. 2; June 28, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; July 27, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; July 29, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; Aug. 15, 1907, p. 2 c. 6-7.

41 The pretext of work interruption, presumably due to strikes or layoffs, was interpreted as noncompliance with the requirement of employment for six months at one locality, and plant officials in an enterprise operated by the state might fail to register workers on grounds that they were civil servants. Ibid., July 10, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; Oct. 4, 1907, p. 4 c. 5. A considerable number of workers were probably held to be in arrears in their tax payments. Ibid., July 31, 1907, p. 2 c. 6.

42 ., Vol. XXVII, No. 29242, Art. 32.

43 , July 15, 1907, p. 4 c. 3; Aug. 17, 1907, p. 3 c. 3.

44 in Moscow the first-category list numbered 6, 674; St. Petersburg 3, 833; Kiev 2, 423; Odessa 1, 534; Minsk 1, 372; Kazan 1, 200 and 502 in Stavropol. , July 14, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; July 15, 1907, p. 5 c. 1; Aug. 14, 1907, p. 3 c. 3; Oct. 19, 1907, p. 3 c. 7, p. 4 c. 2. , p. 35.

45 , July 7, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; July 15, 1907, p. 5 c. 3; July 17, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; July 20, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; July 25, 1907, p. 2 c. 2.

46 Ibid., June 15, 1907, p. 3 c. 2; June 24, 1907, p. 4 c. 3, 4; June 29, 1907, p. 2 c. 6-7; July 1, 1907, p. 4 c. 5; July 11, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; July 17, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; Aug. 14, 1907, p. 3 c. 3.

47 15 per cent in the first election, 12 per cent in the second. Ibid., July 10, 1907, p. 2 c. 1.

48 ibid., July 7, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; July 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 4; July 15, 1907, p. 5 c. 3; July 20, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; July 25, 1907, p. 2 c. 2; July 26, 1907, p. 4 c. 1; Aug. 9, 1907, p. 2 c. 3; Aug. 17, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; Aug. 28, 1907, p. 4 c. 5. On the strength of the clergy in the landholding category see ibid., July 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 4; July 20, 1907, p. 2 c. 7, p. 3 c. 1; Sept. 14, 1907, p. 2 c. 4-5.

49 Ibid., July 10, 1907, p. 1 c. 7.

50 The law of June 3, 1907, provided that the peasant homeowners (i.e., the family heads, a restriction not included in the 1905 law) of each township meet to elect two delegates to a county electoral meeting. , Vol. XXVII, No. 29242, Art. 37.

51 In Nizhni Novgorod one-third of the voters of this category in the first elections (over a thousand) lost their suffrage in the third. , June 14, 1907, p. 3 c. 7; June 19, 1907, p. 2 c. 2.

52 , Vol. XXVII, No. 29242, Arts. 35, 38.

53 , June 14, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; June 15, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; June 23, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; Aug. 17, 1907, p. 3 c. 7.

54 Ibid., July 7, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; Aug. 14, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; Aug. 17, 1907, p. 3 c. 7, p. 4 c. 1; Sept. 13, 1907, p. 5 c. 2.

55 Owing to the complexity of the problem only four Russian curiae had been designated in Elizavetpol Province by the end of July. Ibid., July 3, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; July 19, 1907, p. 3 c. 5; Aug. 2, 1907, p. 3 c. 5; , Vol. XXVII, No. 29242, Art. 4, Art. 27 in Appendix to Art. 4.

56 , July 3, 1907, p. 3 c. 2; July 4, 1907, p. 3 c. 2; July 8, 1907, p. 3 c. 6; July 10, 1907, p. 3 c. 2; July 12, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; July 15, 1907, p. 4 c. 3; July 20, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; July 26, 1907, p. 3 c. 1; Aug. 8, 1907, p. 2 c. 6; Aug. 10, 1907, p. 3 c. 2.

57 ibid., July 6, 1907, p. 2 c. 4; July 19, 1907, p. 3 c. 4; July 31, 1907, p. 3 c. 2; Aug. 2, 1907, p. 2 c. 2-3. The Kharkov Provincial Judicial Administration vigorously warned the governor that his appointment of the Chief of the Provincial Gendarme Administration to the provincial electoral committee would bring public opposition, and a replacement was found in the person of an official outside the police administration. Ibid., Aug. 16, 1907, p. 3 c. 6.

58 ibid., Aug. 8, 1907, p. 1 c. 6; Aug. 30, 1907, p. 3 c. 2.

59 Ibid., Sept. 4, 1907, p. 3 c. 3-4; Sept. 18, 1907, p. 3 c. 3.

60 E.g., Kadet candidate Obolianinov from Gdovsk County, St. Petersburg Province, was protested by the governor on grounds that he visited the town of Gdovsk only infrequently from his estate. Ibid., Oct. 16, 1907, p. 4 c. 2.

61 Ibid., Sept. 30, 1907, p. 3 c. 2; Oct. 14, 1907, p. 4 c. 2, 7; Oct. 23, 1907, p. 5 c. 4.

62 ibid., Sept. 21, 1907, p. 3 c. 6-7; Sept. 23, 1907, p. 3 c. 5; Oct. 4, 1907, p. 4 c. 5; Oct. 14, 1907, p. 4 c. 2.

63 ibid., Sept. 29, 1907, p. 3 c. 4; Oct. 5, 1907, p. 2 c. 3; Oct. 6, 1907, p. 3 c. 3; Oct. 7, 1907, p. 4 c. 3; Oct. 14, 1907, p. 4 c. 7. Bobin's case was considered by a provincial committee which included his Octobrist rival A. I. Iakovlev.

64 lbid., Sept. 2, 1907, p. 3 c. 3; Sept. 25, 1907, p. 3 c. 5-6; Sept. 29, 1907, p. 3 c. 6; Oct. 2, 1907, p. 5 c. 4.

65 Ibid., Oct. 2, 1907, p. 1 c. 7; Oct. 14, 1907, p. 4 c. 3.

66 Ibid., July 20, 1907, p. 2 c. 5; Oct. 5, 1907, p. 4 c. 2.

67 ibid., Oct. 2, 1907, p. 1 c. 6-7; Oct. 5, 1907, p. 2 c. 3.

68 For information concerning t h e affair see ibid., Sept. 29, 1907, p. 1 c. 3; Sept. 30, 1907, p. 4 c. 3; Oct. 2, 1907, p. 5 c. 1; Oct. 6, 1907, p. 2 c. 7; , Nov., 1907, p p. 446-49.

69 , Oct. 2, 1907, p. 1 c. 6. The first session of the Third Duma investigated Shmid's qualifications and refused to seat him. , Part I (St. Petersburg, 1908), pp. 1753-61.