State Duma of the Russian Empire of the 4th Convocation and the Crisis of 1917

The paper explains the author’s position regarding the 4th convocation of the State Duma of the Russian Empire as the main representative legislative body of the Russian Empire, whose activities were highly affected by the First World War, elucidates the influence of the State Duma of the Russian Empire of the 4th convocation on the February Revolution of 1917, the October Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War in Russia. To identify the aforementioned influences, the paper considers the legislative initiative of the State Duma of the Russian Empire of the 4th convocation, provides an analysis of the texts of regulatory legal acts adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Empire of the 4th convocation, analyzes general information about the State Duma of the Russian Empire of the 4th convocation, which is of an explication nature. The paper provides links to the texts of contemporaries, researchers and specialists in this field of the history of law and the State of Russia. Examination of sources and analysis of information leads to the conclusion that the work of the State Duma of the Russian Empire of the 4th convocation, as well as the work of state bodies of that time, had a tremendous impact on the development of revolutionary ideas in the Russian Empire, subsequently expressed in the radicalization of Russian socialist movements and public support for the February Revolution of 1917 and the October Revolution of 1917. Nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, such influence was indirect, and the State Duma itself often acted blindly, trying, on the one hand, to maintain its positions limited by the imperial government, and on the other hand, not to enter into sharp confrontations with the emperor himself. The State Duma itself, as it turned out, with the beginning of the Revolution lost authority and, in fact, surrendered its position to a new body — the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. The paper examines how the momentary desire of the authorities led to the collapse of the great empire and to the beginning of a terrible period of Russian history — the February and October Revolution and the Civil War.

1. Artemyev MA. How a powerful Military-Industrial Complex appeared in Russia during the First World War. Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.ru/mneniya/istoriya/234333-kapitalisticheskaya-mobilizatsiya-kak-v-Rossii-v-pervuyu-mirovuyu-voinu-poya [Accessed: 30.06.2024]. (In Russ.).

2. Boiovich MM. Members of the State Duma: (portraits and biographies): Fourth convocation, 1912–1917. Moscow: I.D. Sytin Partnership Publishing House; 1913. (In Russ.).

3. Danilova OS, Kraeva TV. French military mission in Russia (1916–1919) and the memories of its employees about their stay in the Urals. Vestnik of Urals Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Science, Man, Society. 201;1(35):87-98. (In Russ.).

4. Konovalova MA. Legal societies in the theory and legislative practice of Russian liberalism in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries: Cand. Sci. (History) Diss.

5. Lenin VI. Assessment of the 4th Duma. Complete Works in 55 volumes. Vol. 23. Moscow: Political Literature Publishing House; 1973. (In Russ.).

6. Lenin VI. Old tasks and senile laxity of liberalism. Complete works: in 55 vols. Vol. 23. Moscow: Political Literature Publishing House; 1973. (In Russ.).

7. Lukoyanov IV. State Duma of the Russian Empire: historical experience. Leningrad Law Journal. 2005;3:52-69. (In Russ.).

8. Makarov VV. Socio-political activities of A. I. Shingarev: Cand. Sci. (History) Diss.

9. Olivari H. Mission d’un cryptologue français en Russie 1916. Paris: L’Harmattan; 2008.

10. Pakhalyuk KA. World War I and the memory of it in modern Russia. Neprikosnovennyi zapas. 2017б;1:106-128. (In Russ.).

11. Pakhalyuk KA. World War I in the context of the cultural dimension of the foreign policy of modern Russia. Bulletin of Perm University. Political Science. 2017a;1:17-32. (In Russ.).

12. Pavlova AYu. French military missions in Russia during the First World War. In: The Great War 1914–1918: Almanac of the Russian Association of Historians of the First World War. Issue 3. Moscow: MBA, Kvadriga Publ.; 2013. (In Russ.).

13. Popova SS. Between two coups. Documentary evidence of the events of the summer of 1917 in Petrograd (based on French and Russian archival sources). Moscow: Ladomir Publ.; 2010. (In Russ.).