The First Russian Revolution: on the Eve of the October Events

The article deals with the problem of cardinal renewal of all spheres of society from the economy to the state system, which the Russian Empire kept facing at the turn of the century. In the conditions of increasing social tension associated with the modification of economic forms, domestic policy was still built on the basis of a great power, headed by the anointed of God. Capitalist foundations were born in the vast expanses of the empire, oriented by feudal remnants and the best traditions of conservatism. Management in the field of a dramatic revival of commodity-money relations had to be taken into his own hands by S. Y. Witte. Thus, on the thorny path to bourgeois constitutionalism, the reign of the last monarch of the Romanov dynasty, full of concessionary maneuvering, plays a huge role. It seems that the origins of the revolutionary situation in 1905 can be seen long before the January events. After a series of assassinations, Emperor Alexander II clearly realizes that in the name of saving the autocracy, it is necessary to limit it. The crowned peacemaker who replaced him, who actually «froze» the empire, which did not have time to overcome the reactionary fear of the transformation of feudalism properly, taught a historical lesson: it is dangerous to start reforms in Russia, but it is even more dangerous to stop them. Would 1905 have turned out to be a reality if the Russian chronicle had not included the political course of Emperor Alexander III or the extreme views of K. P. Pobedonostsev? But the history does not admit the subjunctive mood. The study of the scholarship reveals the relevance of the aspects touched upon by the legislator of the First Russian Revolution. These include proper registration of the legal status of subjects and established government institutions. The naming of one of them is familiar today: the State Duma, as the basis of popular representation and a bicameral parliament, seems to be a merit of the transformation of the political and legal system of that time. The following question gets resolved. What combined factors allowed Nicholas II to put an autocratic signature on an epoch-making document on October 17, 1905?

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