ABSTRACT
The revolutionary movement in the Caucasus is examined as a case study of an area that saw some of the most violent disturbances, both in the oil-producing city of Baku and in the countryside. By October, with railway strikes escalating, and preventing the return of troops from the Far East, both St Petersburg and Moscow saw major strikes. The government gave in and issued the October Manifesto, which went further than concessions earlier in the year, and announced civil freedoms. It also extended the franchise for the State Duma, promised earlier, and gave it limited legislative power, which ended the unlimited autocratic power of the tsar. Witte became, effectively, a Prime Minister.
Witte hoped to cooperate with the more moderate liberals in the new Duma, but this proved impossible. Moreover, the granting of the Manifesto ironically led to greater violence. As those celebrating clashed with newly formed radical right wing monarchist parties, pogroms broke out. The ‘days of freedom’ became days of anarchy. In many cities ‘soviets’ became local ‘republics’, electing their own leaders and running their own services. In St Petersburg, the soviet briefly became an alternative government, and in Moscow and some other cities, armed uprisings erupted and were brutally suppressed.
