The fourth and last of the State Dumas of the Russian Empire operated from November 15, 1912 to February 25, 1917. It was elected according to the same electoral law as the Third State Duma.

Elections to the Fourth State Duma took place in the autumn (September-October) 1912. They showed that the progressive movement of Russian society was moving towards the establishment of parliamentarism in the country. The election campaign, in which the leaders of the bourgeois parties actively participated, took place in the atmosphere of a discussion: to be or not to have a constitution in Russia. Even some right-wing candidates political parties advocated a constitutional order. During the elections to the Fourth State Duma, the Cadets held several "Left" demarches, putting forward democratic bills on freedom of association and the introduction of universal suffrage. The declarations of bourgeois leaders demonstrated opposition to the government.

The government mobilized its forces to prevent the aggravation of the internal political situation in connection with the elections, to hold them as quietly as possible and to maintain or even strengthen its positions in the Duma, and even more so to prevent its shift "to the left."

In an effort to have his proteges in the State Duma, the government (in September 1911 he headed it after tragic death P.A. Stolypin V.N. Kokovtsev) influenced the elections in certain regions with police repressions, possible frauds such as limiting the number of voters as a result of illegal “clarifications”. It turned to the help of the clergy, giving them the opportunity to participate widely in county congresses as representatives of small landowners. All these tricks led to the fact that among the deputies of the IV State Duma there were more than 75% of landowners and representatives of the clergy. In addition to land, more than 33% of the deputies owned real estate (plants, factories; mines, trade enterprises, houses, etc.). About 15% of the entire composition of deputies belonged to the intelligentsia. They played an active role in various political parties, many of them constantly participated in the discussions of the general meetings of the Duma.

Sessions of the Fourth Duma opened on November 15, 1912. The Octobrist Mikhail Rodzianko was its chairman. Comrades of the Chairman of the Duma were Prince Vladimir Mikhailovich Volkonsky and Prince Dmitry Dmitrievich Urusov. Secretary of the State Duma - Ivan Ivanovich Dmitryukov. Associate Secretary Nikolai Nikolaevich Lvov (Senior Comrade Secretary), Nikolai Ivanovich Antonov, Viktor Parfenievich Basakov, Gaisa Khamidullovich Enikeev, Alexander Dmitrievich Zarin, Vasily Pavlovich Shein.

The main factions of the IV State Duma were: right-wingers and nationalists (157 seats), Octobrists (98), progressists (48), Cadets (59), who still made up two Duma majority (depending on who they were blocking with at that moment). Octobrists: Octobrist-Cadet or Octobrist-right). In addition to them, Trudoviks (10) and Social Democrats (14) were represented in the Duma. The Progressive Party took shape in November 1912 and adopted a program that provided for a constitutional-monarchist system with the responsibility of ministers to the representation of the people, the expansion of the rights of the State Duma, and so on. The emergence of this party (between the Octobrists and the Cadets) was an attempt to consolidate the liberal movement. The Bolsheviks led by L.B. Rosenfeld took part in the work of the Duma. and the Mensheviks, led by Chkheidze N.S. They introduced 3 bills (on the 8-hour working day, on social insurance, on national equality), rejected by the majority.

By nationality, almost 83% of the deputies in the State Duma of the 4th convocation were Russians. There were also representatives of other peoples of Russia among the deputies.

There were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Tatars, Lithuanians, Moldavians, Georgians, Armenians, Jews, Latvians, Estonians, Zyrians, Lezgins, Greeks, Karaites and even Swedes, Dutch, but their share in the general corps of deputies was insignificant. The majority of deputies (nearly 69%) were people between the ages of 36 and 55. Higher education had about half of the deputies, the average - a little more than a quarter of the entire membership of the Duma.

As a result of the elections to the Fourth State Duma in October 1912, the government found itself even more isolated, since the Octobrists were now firmly on a par with the Cadets in the legal opposition.

In an atmosphere of growing tension in society, in March 1914, two inter-party meetings were held with the participation of representatives of the Cadets, Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Left Octobrists, Progressives, and non-party intellectuals, at which questions of coordinating the activities of the left and liberal parties were discussed in order to prepare speeches outside the Duma. Started in 1914 World War temporarily suppressed the flaring opposition movement. At first, the majority of parties (excluding the Social Democrats) spoke in favor of trust in the government. At the suggestion of Nicholas II in June 1914, the Council of Ministers discussed the question of transforming the Duma from a legislative body into a consultative one. On July 24, 1914, emergency powers were granted to the Council of Ministers; he received the right to decide most cases on behalf of the emperor.

At an emergency meeting of the Fourth Duma on July 26, 1914, the leaders of the right-wing and liberal-bourgeois factions issued an appeal to rally around the “sovereign leader leading Russia into a holy battle with the enemy of the Slavs”, postponing “internal disputes” and “accounts” with the government. However, failures at the front, the growth of the strike movement, the inability of the government to manage the country stimulated the activity of political parties and their opposition. Against this background, the Fourth Duma entered into a sharp conflict with the executive branch.

In August 1915, at a meeting of members of the State Duma and the State Council, the Progressive Bloc was formed, which included the Cadets, Octobrists, Progressives, part of the nationalists (236 out of 422 members of the Duma) and three groups of the State Council. The Octobrist S.I. Shidlovsky became the chairman of the bureau of the Progressive Bloc, and P.N. Milyukov became the actual leader. The declaration of the bloc, published in the newspaper Rech on August 26, 1915, was of a compromise nature and provided for the creation of a government of "public confidence". The bloc's program included demands for a partial amnesty, an end to persecution for faith, autonomy for Poland, the abolition of restrictions on the rights of Jews, the restoration of trade unions and the workers' press. The bloc was supported by some members of the State Council and the Synod. The uncompromising position of the bloc in relation to state power, her sharp criticism led to the political crisis of 1916, which became one of the causes of the February Revolution.

On September 3, 1915, after the Duma accepted the loans allocated by the government for the war, it was dismissed for the holidays. The Duma met again only in February 1916. On December 16, 1916, it was again dissolved. It resumed its activities on February 14, 1917, on the eve of the February abdication of Nicholas II. On February 25, 1917, it was again dissolved and no longer officially gathered, but formally and actually existed. The Fourth Duma played a leading role in the establishment of the Provisional Government, under which it actually worked in the form of "private meetings". On October 6, 1917, the Provisional Government decided to dissolve the Duma in connection with preparations for elections to the Constituent Assembly.

On December 18, 1917, one of the decrees of the Leninist Council of People's Commissars also abolished the office of the State Duma itself.

After the dissolution of the Second State Duma, the government introduced changes to the electoral law, and since these changes were made without the participation of the Duma deputies, in Russian society they were regarded as coup d'état. The new electoral law changed the ratio of electors in favor of the landowners and the big bourgeoisie (3% of the top of society elected two-thirds of all deputies), the representation of the national outskirts was reduced. The total number of deputies was reduced from 534 to 442.

Elections to the III State Duma were held in the autumn of 1907, its work began on November 1, 1907. It became the only one in the history of the Russian Empire that worked out the allotted time - 5 sessions. The Duma worked under the chairmanship of the Octobrists N.A. Khomyakov, A.I. Guchkov and M.V. Rodzianko. Compound III State Dumas: 148 centrists from the Union of October 17, 54 Cadets, 144 Black Hundreds, 28 Progressives, 26 bourgeois nationalists, 14 Trudoviks, 19 Social Democrats.

Thus, the outcome of the vote in the Third State Duma depended entirely on the Octobrists. Depending on the task set, they entered into an alliance with the Black Hundreds and organized a center-right majority; in alliance with the Cadets, an Octobrist-Cadet majority was formed. The Duma was an obedient tool in the hands of the government headed by Stolypin. With the support of the right, he blocked all the initiatives of the Cadets, the basis of his policy was the slogan: "First appeasement, then reforms."

The main issues facing the III State Duma: agrarian, workers, national.

The Stolypin version of the agrarian reform was adopted (based on a decree of January 9, 1906). On the labor issue, a law was adopted on state insurance against accidents and sickness; on the national issue, zemstvos were formed in 9 Ukrainian and Belarusian provinces; Finland was deprived of autonomy .

Elections to the IV State Duma were held in the autumn of 1912. The number of deputies was 442, the Octobrist M.V. Rodzianko presided over the entire term. Composition: Black Hundreds - 184, Octobrists - 99, Cadets - 58, Trudoviks - 10, Social Democrats - 14, Progressives - 47, non-party, etc. - 5.

In the alignment of forces, the alignment of the previous Duma remained, the Octobrists still performed the functions of the "center", but the progressives began to have more weight.

However, the Duma of the 4th convocation began to play a lesser role in the life of the country, since the government passed through it only minor laws, leaving behind the solution of the main legislative tasks.

In the Fourth Duma, as in the Third, two majorities were possible: the Right-Octobrist - 283 deputies and the Octobrist-Cadet - 225 deputies (and it became predominant in the work of the Fourth State Duma). Deputies increasingly came up with legislative initiatives and hampered the passage of state laws. However, the vast majority of draft laws objectionable to the government were blocked by the State Council.

The unsuccessful course of hostilities caused sharp criticism of the government from the Duma. Most of the factions demanded the creation of a cabinet of ministers and the transfer of power into his hands. Around this idea, not only the Duma majority, but also representatives of the State Council united. In August 1915, the Progressive Bloc was created in the parliament, consisting of 236 deputies, which included representatives of the Octobrists, Progressives, Cadets, and representatives of the State Council. The Mensheviks and Trudoviks did not support the bloc. Thus, a parliamentary bloc opposed to the government arose.

On February 27, 1917, having gathered at an extraordinary meeting, a group of deputies organized the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, which, on the night of February 28, decided to take power into their own hands and create a government. On March 2, 1917, the Provisional Government was created, which, by its decision of October 6, dissolved the Fourth Duma.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

State Duma of the Russian Empire- legislative, later - legislative body Russian Empire. The Duma was the lower house of parliament, the upper house was State Council of the Russian Empire. In total there were 4 convocations of the State Duma.

Third The State Duma (1907-1912): general characteristics and features of activities

The Third State Duma of the Russian Empire operated for a full term of office from November 1, 1907 to June 9, 1912, and proved to be the most politically durable of the first four State Dumas. She was chosen according to Manifesto on the dissolution of the State Duma, on the time for convening a new Duma and on changing the procedure for elections to the State Duma and Regulations on elections to the State Duma dated June 3, 1907, which were issued by Emperor Nicholas II simultaneously with the dissolution of the Second State Duma.

The new electoral law significantly limited the voting rights of peasants and workers. The total number of electors in the peasant curia was halved. The peasant curia thus had only 22% of total number electors (against 41.4% for suffrage Regulations on elections to the State Duma 1905). The number of electors from the workers was 2.3% of the total number of electors. Significant changes were made to the procedure for elections from the City Curia, which was divided into 2 categories: the first congress of city voters (big bourgeoisie) received 15% of all electors and the second congress of city voters (petty bourgeoisie) received only 11%. The first curia (congress of farmers) received 49% of the electors (against 34% under the regulations of 1905). The workers of most of the provinces of Russia (with the exception of 6) could participate in elections only in the second city curia - as tenants or in accordance with the property qualification. The law of June 3, 1907 gave the Minister of the Interior the right to change the borders constituencies and at all stages of elections to divide electoral assemblies into independent branches. The representation from the national outskirts was sharply reduced. For example, 37 deputies were previously elected from Poland, and now 14, from the Caucasus before 29, now only 10. The Muslim population of Kazakhstan and Central Asia completely lost representation. Demin V.A. State Duma of Russia: history and mechanism of functioning. M.: ROSSNEP, 1996.-p.12

The total number of Duma deputies was reduced from 524 to 442.

Only 3,500,000 people took part in the elections to the Third Duma. 44% of the deputies were landed nobles. After 1906, the legal parties remained: the Union of the Russian People, the Union of October 17, and the Peaceful Renovation Party. They formed the backbone of the Third Duma. The opposition was weakened and did not prevent P. Stolypin from carrying out reforms. In the Third Duma elected under the new electoral law, the number of opposition-minded deputies was significantly reduced, and vice versa, the number of deputies supporting the government and the tsarist administration increased.

The Third Duma had 50 far-right deputies, moderate right-wingers and nationalists - 97. Groups appeared: Muslim - 8 deputies, Lithuanian-Belarusian - 7, Polish - 11. The Third Duma, the only one of the four, worked out everything required by the law on elections to the Duma five-year term, held five sessions.

An extreme right-wing deputy group emerged, headed by V.M. Purishkevich. At the suggestion of Stolypin and with government money, a new faction, the Union of Nationalists, was created with its own club. It competed with the Black Hundred faction "Russian Assembly". These two groupings constituted the "legislative center" of the Duma. The statements of their leaders were often in the nature of clear xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

At the very first meetings of the Third Duma , opened its work on November 1, 1907, a Right-Octobrist majority was formed, which amounted to almost 2/3, or 300 members. Since the Black Hundreds were against the Manifesto of October 17, differences arose between them and the Octobrists on a number of issues, and then the Octobrists found support from the Progressives and the Cadets, who had greatly improved. This is how the second Duma majority, the Octobrist-Cadet majority, formed about 3/5 of the Duma (262 members).

The presence of this majority determined the nature of the activities of the Third Duma and ensured its efficiency. A special group of progressives was formed (at first 24 deputies, then the number of the group reached 36, later the Progressive Party (1912-1917) arose on the basis of the group, occupying an intermediate position between the Cadets and the Octobrists. The leaders of the Progressives were V.P. and P.P. Ryabushinsky The radical factions - 14 Trudoviks and 15 Social Democrats - kept themselves apart, but they could not seriously influence the course of Duma activity.

The number of factions in the Third State Duma (1907-1912) Demin V.A. State Duma of Russia: history and mechanism of functioning. M.: ROSSNEP, 1996.-p.14

The position of each of the three main groups - right, left and center - was determined at the very first meetings of the Third Duma. The Black Hundreds, who did not approve of Stolypin's reform plans, unconditionally supported all his measures to combat the opponents of the existing system. The liberals tried to resist the reaction, but in some cases Stolypin could count on their relatively benevolent attitude towards the reforms proposed by the government. At the same time, none of the groups could either fail or approve this or that bill when voting alone. In such a situation, everything was decided by the position of the center - the Octobrists. Although it did not constitute a majority in the Duma, the outcome of the vote depended on it: if the Octobrists voted together with other right-wing factions, then a right-wing Octobrist majority (about 300 people) was created, if together with the Cadets, then an Octobrist-Cadet one (about 250 people) . These two blocs in the Duma allowed the government to maneuver and carry out both conservative and liberal reforms. Thus, the Octobrist faction played the role of a kind of "pendulum" in the Duma.

During the five years of its existence (until June 9, 1912), the Duma held 611 meetings, at which 2,572 bills were considered, of which 205 were put forward by the Duma itself. The main place in the Duma debate was occupied by the agrarian question, connected with the implementation of the reform, labor and national. Among the adopted bills are laws on the private property of peasants in land (1910), on the insurance of workers against accidents and sickness, on the introduction of local self-government in the western provinces, and others. In general, of the 2197 bills approved by the Duma, the majority were laws on estimates of various departments and departments, and the state budget was approved annually in the Duma. In 1909 the government, contrary to the main state laws removed military legislation from the jurisdiction of the Duma. There were failures in the functioning mechanism of the Duma (during the constitutional crisis of 1911, the Duma and the State Council were dissolved for 3 days). The Third Duma experienced constant crises during the entire period of its activity, in particular, conflicts arose over the reform of the army, agrarian reform, the issue of attitudes towards the "national outskirts", and also because of the personal ambitions of parliamentary leaders.

The bills that came to the Duma from the ministries were first of all considered by the Duma conference, which consisted of the chairman of the Duma, his comrades, the secretary of the Duma and his comrade. The meeting prepared a preliminary conclusion on sending the bill to one of the commissions, which was then approved by the Duma. Each project was considered by the Duma in three readings. In the first, which began with a speech by the speaker, there was a general discussion of the bill. At the end of the debate, the chairman made a proposal to move to article-by-article reading.

After the second reading, the chairman and secretary of the Duma made a summary of all the resolutions adopted on the bill. At the same time, but not later certain period allowed to propose new amendments. The third reading was essentially the second reading by article. Its meaning was to neutralize those amendments that could pass in the second reading with the help of an accidental majority and did not suit the influential factions. At the end of the third reading, the chairman put the bill as a whole with the adopted amendments to the vote.

The Duma's own legislative initiative was limited to the requirement that each proposal come from at least 30 deputies.

In the Third Duma, which lasted the longest, there were about 30 commissions. Large commissions, such as the budget one, consisted of several dozen people. The members of the commission were elected general meeting Dumas by prior agreement of candidates in factions. In most commissions, all factions had their representatives.

During 1907-1912, three chairmen of the State Duma were replaced: Nikolai Alekseevich Khomyakov (November 1, 1907 - March 1910), Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov (March 1910 - 1911), Mikhail Vladimirovich Rodzianko (1911-1912). The chairman's comrades were Prince Vladimir Mikhailovich Volkonsky (Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Deputy Chairman) and Mikhail Yakovlevich Kapustin. Ivan Petrovich Sozonovich was elected Secretary of the State Duma, Nikolai Ivanovich Miklyaev (senior comrade of the Secretary), Nikolai Ivanovich Antonov, Georgy Georgievich Zamyslovsky, Mikhail Andreevich Iskritsky, Vasily Semenovich Sokolov Demin V.A. State Duma of Russia: history and mechanism of functioning. M.: ROSSNEP, 1996.-p.15.

Second Duma

The elections to the Second Duma gave an even greater preponderance to the left parties than in the First Duma. In February 1907, the Duma began work, its attempts to cooperate with the government were outlined (even the Social Revolutionaries announced that they would stop their terrorist activities for the duration of the Duma's activity).

Prime Minister P.A. Stolypin reported on the measures taken during the breaks between the first and second Dumas. In accordance with Article 87 of the Basic Laws, the government passed: Law on Courts-Martial - 1906. (it was not submitted for approval by the Duma, and its effect ceased in the spring of 1907, but on its basis about 700 people were executed); Decree on the equalization of peasants in rights with other estates of October 5, 1906., Decree on the right of peasants to secure their allotments of November 9, 1906, to turn them into their personal property.

Stolypin tried to establish cooperation with the Duma by proposing a broad program of liberal legislation and the expulsion of the most conservative ministers from the government. The prime minister said that the government had prepared a number of bills to ensure freedom of conscience and religious tolerance, guaranteeing the inviolability of the individual (arrest, searches and censorship were to be carried out only on the basis of judgment), the preliminary investigation on political cases was supposed to be transferred to the judicial investigators, seizing it from the gendarmes.

The Duma opposition was critical of the government's program. Bills passed with difficulty state budget and recruitment. The resolution of the right-wing deputies on the encouragement of revolutionary terror was rejected.

The implementation of the agrarian law by the government ran into stiff opposition. To overcome this resistance and create new order formation of the State Duma (according to the current law, the composition of the State Duma could constantly remain radical and opposition to the government), the government took a step that was assessed as a coup d'état. 4

The Duma was dissolved, having existed for 102 days. The reason for the dissolution was the controversial case of the rapprochement of the Duma faction of the Social Democrats with the "military organization of the RSDLP", which was preparing an armed uprising among the troops (June 3, 1907). 5

Third and Fourth Duma

In June 1912, laws on the social insurance of workers were issued: in case of disability due to accidents, pensions were paid in full by the owners of enterprises; for the payment of sickness benefits, "sick funds" were established, contributions to which were made by workers and entrepreneurs.

At the initiative of the government, the Duma adopted laws on the introduction of zemstvo self-government in the southern and western provinces. However, their activities ran into opposition from the conservative state council, which rejected the project in the spring of 1911. At the insistence of Stolypin, the project was put in order by Article 87 of the fundamental laws. The State Council rejected projects on the conduct of zemstvos in Siberia, Far East, Arkhangelsk province, as well as a project on the introduction of volost zemstvos.

In June 1912, the State Duma and the State Council approved the bill "On the transformation of the court into rural areas". Judicial power from the zemstvo authorities was again transferred to the hands of justices of the peace, elected by the county zemstvo assemblies.

Blocked by right-wing deputies of the Duma, the government in 1910 passed the Law "On the Procedure for Issuing Laws and Decrees Concerning Finland of National Importance", opening up wide opportunities for interference in Finnish internal affairs. Negative influence caused and carried out by Stolypin Regulations on the introduction of zemstvos in the western provinces, which also had a nationalist connotation.

In September 1911, P.A. Stolypin was killed by an anarchist, and in the fall of 1912, the term of office of the third "Stolypin" Duma expired. In the same autumn, elections were held to the State Duma of the fourth convocation, where M.V. Rodzianko was elected chairman. In August 1915, the Progressive Bloc was formed in the Duma, which included three-quarters of its deputies. The bloc's program required the creation of a ministry of public confidence, a series of reforms and a political amnesty.

The political bloc included parties that were episodically blocked back in the Second Duma: the Cadets, the "progressives" and the Octobrists. Through mutual concessions, they managed to create a strong connection, which significantly influenced the policy of the state and the political climate in the country.

In January 1916, Chairman of the Council of Ministers I.L. Goremykin was replaced by B.V. Stürmer, in November, Stürmer was replaced by A.F. Trepov, and Trepova - N.D. Golitsyn. The opposition demanded the resignation of this government as well.

On February 25, 1917, the emperor issued a decree dissolving the State Duma. On February 27, its deputies created a provisional committee of the State Duma, on the basis of which the Provisional Government will soon be created.

Together with the Manifesto on the dissolution of the Duma, a new regulation on elections was published. The change in the electoral legislation was carried out with an obvious violation of the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which emphasized that "no new laws can be adopted without the approval of the State Duma."

"THIRD OF JUNE REVOLUTION"

On June 3, 1907, Nicholas II announced the dissolution of the Second Duma and a change in the electoral law (from a legal point of view, this meant a coup d'état). The deputies of the Second Duma have gone home. As P. Stolypin expected, no revolutionary outburst followed. It is generally accepted that the act of June 3, 1907 marked the end Russian revolution 1905-1907.

The Manifesto on the dissolution of the State Duma on June 3, 1907 says: “... A significant part of the composition of the second State Duma did not live up to Our expectations. Not with a pure heart, not with a desire to strengthen Russia and improve its system, many of the persons sent from the population set to work, but with a clear desire to increase confusion and contribute to the decomposition of the State.

The activities of these persons in the State Duma served as an insurmountable obstacle to fruitful work. A spirit of hostility was introduced into the midst of the Duma itself, which prevented a sufficient number of its members from uniting who wanted to work for the benefit of their native land.

For this reason, the State Duma either did not consider the extensive measures worked out by Our Government, or slowed down the discussion, or rejected them, not stopping even at the rejection of laws that punished the open praise of a crime and severely punished the sowers of unrest in the troops. Avoiding condemnation of murder and violence. The State Duma did not render moral assistance to the Government in the matter of establishing order, and Russia continues to experience the shame of criminal hard times.<…>

The right to make inquiries to the Government has been turned by a considerable part of the Duma into a means of fighting the Government and inciting distrust in it among the broad sections of the population.

Finally, a deed unheard of in the annals of history was accomplished. The judiciary uncovered a conspiracy of an entire section of the State Duma against the State and Tsarist Power. But when Our Government demanded the temporary removal, until the end of the trial, of the fifty-five members of the Duma accused of this crime and the imprisonment of the most exposed of them, the State Duma did not immediately comply with the lawful demand of the authorities, which did not allow for any delay.

All this prompted Us by decree given to the Governing Senate on June 3rd, to dissolve the State Duma of the second convocation, setting the date for the convocation of a new Duma on November 1st, 1907 ... "

Encyclopedia "Round the World"

http://krugosvet.ru/enc/istoriya/GOSUDARSTVENNAYA_DUMA_ROSSISKO_IMPERII.html?page=0,6#part-5

NEW ELECTION ORDER

Chapter one

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art. 1. Elections to the State Duma are held:

1) in the provinces and regions specified in Articles 2-4 of this Regulation, and

2) by cities: St. Petersburg and Moscow, as well as Warsaw, Kyiv, Lodz, Odessa and Riga.

Art. 2. Elections to the State Duma from provinces governed by a common institution, as well as from the provinces of Tobolsk and Tomsk, from the region of the Don Army and from the cities of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv, Odessa and Riga are held on the grounds specified in Articles 6 and the following of this Regulation.

Art. 3. Elections to the State Duma from the provinces and cities of the Kingdom of Poland, from the provinces of the Yenisei and Irkutsk, as well as from the Orthodox population of the Lublin and Sedlets provinces and from the Cossacks of the Ural Cossack army, are carried out on the grounds specified in the Regulations on elections to the State Duma, ed. 1906 (Code of laws. vol. I, part II).

Note: Separate elections of a member of the State Duma from the city of Irkutsk are not held. Persons who held the electoral qualification for the city of Irkutsk form a general congress of city voters together with the city voters of the Irkutsk district; the number of electors from the congresses of the Irkutsk province is determined by the schedule attached to this article.

Art. 4. Elections to the State Duma in the regions and provinces of the Caucasus Territory, in the regions of the Amur, Primorsky and Trans-Baikal regions, as well as from the Russian population of the Vilna and Kovno provinces and the city of Warsaw, are carried out on the basis of special rules attached to this.

Art. 5. The number of members of the State Duma by provinces, regions and cities is established by the schedule attached to this article.

From the "Regulations on elections to the State Duma of June 3, 1907" (Nominal Supreme Decree to the Governing Senate of June 3, 1907)

POLITICAL COMPOSITION OF THE THIRD STATE DUMA

From the memoirs of P.N. Milyukov

The first Russian revolution ended with a coup d'état on June 3, 1907: the issuance of a new electoral "law," which we Cadets did not want to call "law," but called "regulation." But to draw this distinction logically was not, however, possible: there was no line here. If the Manifesto of October 17 is considered to be a boundary, then the "regulation" and not the "law" were, in essence, the "fundamental laws" issued just before the convocation of the First Duma: this was already the first "coup d'état". Then and now the forces of the old order have won: the unlimited monarchy and the local nobility. Then and now their victory was incomplete, and the struggle between the old, obsolete right and the embryos of the new continued even now, only to one bridle over popular representation was added another: the class electoral law. But this was, again, only a truce, not peace. The real winners went much further: they strove for a complete restoration...

According to the situation on June 3, the elections remained multistage, but the number of electors who sent deputies to the State Duma at the last stage, in the provincial congresses, was so distributed among various social groups to give preponderance to the local nobility.

So, with an increase from the cities, 154 Octobrists (out of 442) were promoted to the Duma. In order to form its majority, the government, by its direct influence, singled out a group of 70 "moderate right" people from the right. An unstable majority of 224 was formed. They had to be joined by the less connected "nationalists" (26) and the already completely unbridled Black Hundreds (50). Thus, a group of 300 members was created, ready to obey the orders of the government and justifying the double nickname of the Third Duma: the "lordly" and the "servant" Duma.

As you can see, most of this was artificially created and far from homogeneous. If Guchkov could say, in the very first meetings of the Duma, that "the coup d'état carried out by our monarch is the establishment of a constitutional order," then his obligatory ally, Balashov, the leader of the "moderate right," immediately objected: "We do not have constitutions." we recognize and do not mean by the words: "renewed state system" ...

However, there was no unity in this Duma and in the ranks of the vanquished - at least to the extent that, with sin in half, it was nevertheless preserved in the first two Dumas. There we could consider that all "progressive" Russia had been defeated in the struggle against the autocracy. But now we knew that there were not one vanquished, but two. If we fought against the autocratic right for constitutional law, then we could not fail to realize that we were confronted in this struggle by yet another enemy - revolutionary law. And we could not, in conviction and in conscience, but consider that the very word "right" belongs to us alone. "Right" and "law" now remained our special target of struggle, no matter what. "Revolution" has left the stage, but is it forever? Its representatives were right there, nearby. Could we consider them our allies? They did not consider themselves our allies, even if temporary. Their goals, their tactics were and remained different. After the hard lessons of the first two Dooms, it was impossible not to come to terms with this. I said that already in the Second Duma the Constitutional Democratic Party completely emancipated itself from those relations of "friendship-enmity" by which it considered itself bound in the First Duma. In the Third Duma, the division went even further.

THE THIRD STATE DUMA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF STOLYPIN

During the first session, in general, successful interaction was established between the government of Stolypin and the Third Duma. However, in some cases the Duma did not agree with the ministers. A rift appeared between Stolypin and the Octobrists because of opposition speeches and the latter's votes. In particular, in January 1908 the Octobrists voted for the desirability of a draft revision budget rules, in April - against the reservation of the states of the Ministry of Railways and for the survey of the railway. Duma commission in April - May criticized the activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Guchkov in a newspaper interview said that the actions of the authorities "bear all traces of the pre-reform era"), in May they voted against the naval program.

Beginning with the second session (10/15/1908-6/2/1909), Stolypin conferred with deputies not to the left of the Octobrists about the projects being considered in the Duma. The re-elected part of the Presidium of the Duma (consisting of the Octobrists and nationalists) was elected by a majority from the right to the Cadets. On October 20, 1908, the Duma, by the votes of all factions against the Octobrists, decided to consider peasant reform(already operating on the basis of Article 87 of the Fundamental Laws) before the transformation of the local court (as a result of this decision and the world war, it was put into effect only in 10 provinces).

The reform of peasant landownership (after a conciliation procedure with the State Council in 1910 became law) passed the Right-Octobrist, and its most radical provisions (on recognizing communities that had not been redistributed for 24 years as transferred to household ownership (rejected by the Council at the request of Stolypin) and on the replacement of communal property personal (and not family)) - centrist majority with Polish factions. Laws were issued to increase the maintenance of officers (against the extreme left), to increase the penalties for horse-stealing (on the initiative of a peasant group, against part of the left), and to create the Kamchatka region. and the Sakhalin Governorate, as well as Saratov University (against part of the right) and the School Construction Fund (against part of the right or unanimously). At the end of 1908, projects for volost and settlement self-government were submitted to the Duma. Stolypin planned to speed up the first, but actually abandoned these plans.

When considering projects on changing confessions, Old Believer communities and the abolition of restrictions for those who removed the clergy (introduced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Comrade Chief Prosecutor of the Synod A.P. Rogovich objected to the latter), the Octobrists restored the provisions that the government had abandoned under pressure from the Synod. The drafts on these questions were adopted by the Left-Octobrist majority (all factions from the Octobrists to the Social Democrats), as well as the draft on the introduction of probation (with the abstention of the Social Democrats with part of the national right wing). Subsequently, they were formally or actually rejected by the State. council (see denominational issues). Stolypin as minister vn. affairs took back the project on the relations of the state to various confessions in order to obtain the conclusion of the Synod ...

Stolypin's political position during the session weakened significantly. In February 1909 V.M. Purishkevich announced opposition from the right to the government as in favor of a constitutional order. In the spring, Stolypin suffered a severe political defeat in the case of the Naval General Staff of the states, after which he began to gradually abandon his reformist plans (in particular, in religious and volost issues). Conservative features began to intensify in government policy. In May 1909, a project was submitted to create the Kholmsk Bay. (See the Kholm question), although earlier it was supposed to coincide with the introduction of self-government in Poland. Stolypin supported the proposal of the right group of the State. advice on the introduction of elections to the Soviet from the western provinces from the national curia, but abandoned it under pressure from the Octobrists ...

After the early resignation of Khomyakov Stolypin 4/3/1910 addressed the previous. The Central Committee and the fractions of the union on October 17 A.I. Guchkov with a letter with the following content: "I wanted to tell you that for the good of the cause Alexander Guchkov should be the Chairman of the State Duma." He was also elected by a centrist majority (the votes of the Octobrists, nationalists and progressives against the right, while the Cadets abstained and the Trudoviks and Social Democrats evaded the elections). In his opening speech, Guchkov spoke in favor of strengthening constitutional monarchy and demanded various reforms. He stated: "We often complain about various external obstacles that hinder our work or distort its final results ... We have to reckon with them, and maybe we will have to reckon with them." I meant Mr. advice. Obviously, Guchkov received a promise from Stolypin through new appointments or in another way to get from the State. council of approval of the Duma reforms: it is difficult to assume that Guchkov himself expected to get pressure on the upper chamber from Nicholas II or was bluffing.

The main legislative outcome of the session was the approval by the Octobrist-Cadet majority (with some nationalists) of the reform of the local court, which provided for the abolition of volost courts, the deprivation of zemstvo chiefs judiciary and the restoration of an elective magistrate's court. The Right-Octobrist majority issued a law on the right of the legislative chambers of the empire to issue laws on important issues that apply to Finland. Projects on land management were approved (he developed the peasant reform, adopted by the center-right majority, after a conciliation procedure with the State Council in 1911 became law), and the creation of a western zemstvo (by the center-right majority without part of the right and Octobrists, some provisions - by the Octobrist-Cadet majority). When considering these projects, the unity of the Octobrists, nationalists and the government was generally preserved ...

The constitutional crisis of 1911 led to the actual break of the Duma with Stolypin (including the resignation of Guchkov), the split of the Russian national faction (the only one that continued to support the government), and also to the deterioration of relations between the Octobrists and nationalists. Since that time, the coordination of the actions of the Duma majority and the government has finally ceased. When considering the budget of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the speaker of the faction of the union on October 17, S.I. Shidlovsky sharply criticized government policy.