The government made 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. Total number deputies decreased from 534 to 442.

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 (on the basis of a decree of January 9, 1906). On the labor issue, a law was adopted on state insurance against accidents and sickness, according to national question 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.

During the period of work of the IV State Duma from November 15, 1912 to February 25, 1917, five sessions were held: two of them fell on the pre-war period and three - on the period of the First World War.
From the first days of its work, the government filled the Duma with "legislative vermicelli". During the first two sessions, more than 2,000 minor bills were submitted to the Duma. Duma deputy Cadet A.I.Shingarev in one of his public speaking spoke of the first session as follows: "The boredom in the Fourth Duma is reminiscent of the state of the passengers of a train stuck at a dead station." The word "boredom" at the beginning of the work of the new Duma became synonymous with hopelessness and impasse, the inability of the deputies to introduce new ideas into the Duma's strategy and tactics. The low efficiency of work was intensified by the practiced "extra-Duma" legislation.
Thus, the discussion of a very important bill on the budget for 1914, which was much talked about from the rostrum of the Duma, ended with the budget being approved by the government and published not as a law "approved by the State Duma and the State Council" (usual wording in such cases), but as a document signed by the tsar and drawn up only "according to the decisions" of the State Duma and the Senate.
An emergency meeting was convened by decree of Emperor Nicholas II on July 26, 1914 in connection with Russia's entry into the war. The decree of Nicholas II to the Governing Senate on the opening of the State Duma and the "Highest Manifesto" on Russia's entry into the war was met with thunderous applause. The speeches of the ministers calling for "unanimity" and "unity" were followed from the rostrum of the Duma by deputies' speeches calling for "rallying around the sovereign leader" in the name of victory over the enemy. Leaders of the main political parties bourgeoisie (Octobrists and Cadets) approved the imperialist foreign policy governments and demonstrated their loyalty to him and the emperor, hoping for reforms after the victorious war.

Four meetings of the third session of the Fourth Duma were held in discussions of deliveries to the front, and the participation of "public circles" in this. During the war years, general meetings of the Duma were held irregularly: in connection with the wartime situation, the main legislation was carried out then in addition to the State Duma.
On July 19, 1915, the fourth session of the State Duma opened. Wishing to stifle the murmur of discontent, the government replaced a number of ministers, including Minister of War Sukhomlinov, hated by the bourgeoisie. The session was held under the traditional motto "War to Victory", although new notes appeared in the speeches of the deputies: the bourgeoisie for the first time formed, albeit on paper, its own government ("defense cabinet") with the inclusion of deputies M.V. Rodzianko, A.I. .Konovalov, P.N.Milyukova, V.A.Maklakova, A.I.Shingareva. On August 9, 1915, a "progressive bloc" was formed in the Duma, uniting the Octobrists, Cadets, a faction of the center, progressists, part of the nationalists, as well as part of the members of the "upper house" of parliament - the State Council. The leading position in the "progressive bloc" was occupied by the Cadets. Only the right and the left remained outside the bloc, although the Mensheviks and Trudoviks supported the political line of the bloc. On September 3, 1915, the tsar interrupted the work of the fourth session of the Duma by issuing a decree on its temporary dissolution. Only five months later, from February 9, 1916, the fourth session was able to continue its work and ended on June 20, 1916. It was the longest session of the IV State Duma, which lasted almost a year, meeting 134 times.
The last, fifth session of the IV State Duma opened on November 1, 1916 and ended on February 25, 1917. The fifth session is characterized by the fact that in the course of its work as deputies it became clear that the role of the State Duma and parliamentarism in Russia is strengthening, the role of the Duma in the socio-political life of the country is increasing. This is explained by the turning point in the course of the protracted war, economic ruin, the growth of a nationwide crisis in the country during the war years, which brought the country to the brink of starvation and economic exhaustion, causing anti-war sentiments among the masses.
During this period, the deputies of the Duma discussed the problems associated with the catastrophic food situation in the country. The statement of the budget commission is being discussed on the need to introduce fixed purchase prices for bread, the possible introduction of a rationing system for the distribution of bread and other food products, and the government is unable to lead the country out of the economic and political impasse, to ensure social world in the country and victory in the war. The aggravation of the contradictions between tsarism and the bourgeoisie was caused not only by the defeat of the Russian armies, but also by the growing desire for a separate peace with Germany in the palace environment. "What is it - stupidity or treason?" - P.N. Milyukov asked in a speech on November 1, 1916 from the rostrum of the Duma, addressing the government.

The deputies demanded the removal from the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs B.V. Shturmer (the minister was dismissed, he was replaced by A.F. Trepov, who was also removed from his post), the Rasputin clique, influential at the royal court. The repressive measures taken by the military censorship and its removal of deputies' sharp political statements caused a new flurry of criticism of the government, exacerbating the already difficult political situation in the country.
The most important issues that worried society at the turn of 1917 were the problems of war and peace, the infringement of the activities of bourgeois and workers' organizations, the illegal actions of censorship and the police, the need to urgently carry out a volost reform in the countryside, the catastrophic situation in the country with food and fuel, bread was needed even the front. It was these questions that were discussed at the meetings of the fifth session of the Fourth Duma.
The criticism of the government by the deputies reached its climax on December 16, 1916. On the same day, the Duma was dissolved by decree of the emperor for the "Christmas holidays." That day PN Milyukov made a long speech in the Duma. The transcript of his speech shows that his words proved to be prophetic. “We are living through a terrible moment,” he said. “Before our eyes, the social struggle is stepping out of the framework of strict legality, the secret forms of 1905 are being revived ... The atmosphere is saturated with electricity. One can feel the approach of a thunderstorm in the air ...”
On the day of the resumption of the work of the fifth session, February 14, 1917, a demonstration of workers came to the Tauride Palace, which frightened the deputies. At the sessions of February 14-25, the speeches of the deputies were mostly restrained, although the topic itself (the abolition of fixed prices for bread) did not encourage this.
By discussing this problem in an atmosphere of uncertainty, confusion and split, the Duma met with stormy workers' demonstrations on the streets of Petrograd on February 23-24, the beginning of the revolution in the country.
On February 25, 1917, by decree of Nicholas II, the meetings of the State Duma were terminated. Deputies of the State Duma (Kadets and Octobrists) headed in February 1917. Provisional Committee of the State Duma, and later entered the Provisional Government: M.V. Rodzianko, P.N. Milyukov, N.V. Nekrasov, S.I. Shidlovsky, V.A. Rzhevsky, V.V. F.Kerensky, N.S.Chkheidze, A.I.Konovalov, A.I.Shingarev, I.V.Godnev, M.I.Skobelev, I.N.Efremov.
After the February Revolution, the State Duma in Russia no longer met, although it formally continued to exist and even tried to exert some influence on the development of events in the country under the guise of "private meetings." October 6, 1917 issued a decree of the Provisional Government on the dissolution of the State Duma in connection with the elections in constituent Assembly. The State Duma was finally liquidated by a decree of the Soviet people's commissars December 18, 1917.

Formally, the IV State Duma lasted the entire prescribed period - until October 6, 1917, but in fact its role was reduced to nothing after its dissolution by the tsar on February 25, 1917 during the days of the February Revolution.

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, therefore, had only 22% of the total number of electors (against 41.4% in the 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; annually the Duma approved the state budget. In 1909 the government, contrary to the fundamental state laws, withdrew 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.

After the dissolution of the 2nd State Duma, the government made 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 a 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 3rd State Duma were held in the autumn of 1907, its work began on November 1, 1907. The 3rd Duma became the only one in history Russian Empire, which worked out the allotted time - five sessions. The Duma worked under the chairmanship of the Octobrists N.A. Khomyakova, A.I. Guchkov and M.V. Rodzianko. The composition of the 3rd State Duma: 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 3rd State Duma depended entirely on the Octobrists. 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, which he headed. 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 3rd State Duma: agrarian, workers, national.

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

Elections to the 4th State Duma were held in the autumn of 1912. The number of deputies was 442, the Octobrist M.V. presided over the entire term. Rodzianko. 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 balance 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 4th Duma, as in the 3rd, two majorities were possible: the Right-Octobrist (283 deputies) and the Octobrist-Cadet (225 deputies) - it became predominant in the work of the 4th 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 4th 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 decay of the State.

The activities of these persons in the State Duma served as an insurmountable obstacle to fruitful work. A spirit of enmity 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"

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NEW ELECTION ORDER

Chapter first

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, Kiev, 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 less connected "nationalists" (26) and 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 right. 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 their spiritual dignity (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. council 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 hoped 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 passed 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. From that time on, the coordination of the actions of the Duma majority and the government 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.