At
the beginning of the 20th century the Russian industrial employee
worked on average an 11 hour day (10 hours on Saturday). Conditions
in the factories were extremely harsh and little concern was shown
for the workers' health and safety. Attempts by workers to form trade
unions were resisted by the factory owners and in 1903, a priest,
Father George Gapon, formed the Assembly
of Russian Workers. Within a year it had over 9,000 members.
1904
was a bad year for Russian workers. Prices of essential goods rose
so quickly that real wages declined by 20 per cent. When four members
of the Assembly of Russian Workers were dismissed at the Putilov Iron
Works, Gapon called for industrial action. Over the next few days
over 110,000 workers in St. Petersburg went out on strike.
In
an attempt to settle the dispute, George Gapon
decided to make a personal appeal to Nicholas
II. He drew up a petition outlining the workers' sufferings and
demands. This included calling for a reduction in the working day
to eight hours, an increase in wages and an improvement in working
conditions. Gapon also called for the establishment of universal
suffrage and an end to the Russo-Japanese
War.
Over
150,000 people signed the petition and on 22nd January, 1905, Gapon
led a large procession of workers to the Winter Palace in order to
present the petition to Nicholas II. When
the procession of workers reached the Winter Palace it was attacked
by the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and some
300 wounded. The incident, known as Bloody Sunday, signalled the start
of the 1905 Revolution.
The people
believe in thee. They have made up their minds to gather at the Winter
Palace tomorrow at 2 p.m. to lay their needs before thee. Do not fear
anything. Stand tomorrow before the party and accept our humblest
petition. I, the representative of the workingmen, and my comrades,
guarantee the inviolability of thy person.
(2)
Extract from the petition that George Gapon
hoped to present to Nicholas II on 22nd
January, 1905.
We workers,
our children, our wives and our old, helpless parents have come, Lord,
to seek truth and protection from you. We are impoverished and oppressed,
unbearable work is imposed on us, we are despised and not recognized
as human beings. We are treated as slaves, who must bear their fate
and be silent. We have suffered terrible things, but we are pressed
ever deeper into the abyss of poverty, ignorance and lack of rights.
(3)
The demands made by George Gapon
and the Assembly of Factory Workers.
(1) An
8-hour day and freedom to organize trade unions.
(2) Improved
working conditions, free medical aid, higher wages for women workers.
(3) Elections
to be held for a constituent assembly by universal, equal and secret
suffrage.
(4) Freedom
of speech, press, association and religion.
(5) An
end to the war with Japan.
(4)
Nicholas II, diary entry (21st January,
1917)
There was
much activity and many reports. Fredericks came to lunch. Went for
a long walk. Since yesterday all the factories and workshops in St.
Petersburg have been on strike. Troops have been brought in from the
surroundings to strengthen the garrison. The workers have conducted
themselves calmly hitherto. Their number is estimated at 120,000.
At the head of the workers' union some priest - socialist Gapon. Mirsky
came in the evening with a report of the measures taken.
The procession
moved in a compact mass. In front of me were my two bodyguards and
a yellow fellow with dark eyes from whose face his hard labouring
life had not wiped away the light of youthful gaiety. On the flanks
of the crowd ran the children. Some of the women insisted on walking
in the first rows, in order, as they said, to protect me with their
bodies, and force had to be used to remove them.
Suddenly
the company of Cossacks galloped rapidly towards us with drawn swords.
So, then, it was to be a massacre after all! There was no time for
consideration, for making plans, or giving orders. A cry of alarm
arose as the Cossacks came down upon us. Our front ranks broke before
them, opening to right and left, and down the lane the soldiers drove
their horses, striking on both sides. I saw the swords lifted and
falling, the men, women and children dropping to the earth like logs
of wood, while moans, curses and shouts filled the air.
Again we
started forward, with solemn resolution and rising rage in our hearts.
The Cossacks turned their horses and began to cut their way through
the crowd from the rear. They passed through the whole column and
galloped back towards the Narva Gate, where - the infantry having
opened their ranks and let them through - they again formed lines.
We were
not more than thirty yards from the soldiers, being separated from
them only by the bridge over the Tarakanovskii Canal, which here masks
the border of the city, when suddenly, without any warning and without
a moment's delay, was heard the dry crack of many rifle-shots. Vasiliev,
with whom I was walking hand in hand, suddenly left hold of my arm
and sank upon the snow. One of the workmen who carried the banners
fell also. Immediately one of the two police officers shouted out
"What are you doing? How dare you fire upon the portrait of the
Tsar?"
An old
man named Lavrentiev, who was carrying the Tsar's portrait, had been
one of the first victims. Another old man caught the portrait as it
fell from his hands and carried it till he too was killed by the next
volley. With his last gasp the old man said "I may die, but I
will see the Tsar".
Both the
blacksmiths who had guarded me were killed, as well as all these who
were carrying the ikons and banners; and all these emblems now lay
scattered on the snow. The soldiers were actually shooting into the
courtyards at the adjoining houses, where the crowd tried to find
refuge and, as I learned afterwards, bullets even struck persons inside,
through the windows.
At last
the firing ceased. I stood up with a few others who remained uninjured
and looked down at the bodies that lay prostrate around me. Horror
crept into my heart. The thought flashed through my mind, And this
is the work of our Little Father, the Tsar". Perhaps the anger
saved me, for now I knew in very truth that a new chapter was opened
in the book of history of our people.
(6)
Nicholas II, diary entry (22nd January,
1917)
A painful
day. There have been serious disorders in St. Petersburg because workmen
wanted to come up to the Winter Palace. Troops had to open fire in
several places in the city; there were many killed and wounded. God,
how painful and sad.
(7)
Alexandra
Kollontai was one of those who witnessed Bloody Sunday.
Bloody
Sunday, 1905, found me in the street. I was going with the demonstrators
to the Winter Palace, and the picture of the massacre of unarmed,
working folk is for ever imprinted on my memory. The unusual bright
January sunshine, trusting, expectant faces, the fateful signal from
the troops drawn up round the palace, pools of blood on the white
snow, the whips, the whooping of the gendarmes, the dead, the injured,
children shot.
(8)
Maxim Gorky was one of those who took part
in the march to the Winter Palace. That night Gapon took refuge in
Gorky's house.
Gapon by
some miracle remained alive, he is in my house asleep. He now says
there is no Tsar anymore, no church, no God. This is a man who has
great influence upon the workers of the Putilov works. He has the
following of close to 10,000 men who believe in him as a saint. He
will lead the workers on the true path.
(9)
Bernard Pares, a British academic, was
a regular visitor to Russia during the reign
of Nicholas II.
Gapon's organization was based on a representation of
one person for every thousand workers. He planned a peaceful demonstration
in the form of a march to the Winter Palace, carrying church banners
and singing religious and national songs. Owing to the idiocy of the
military authorities, the crowd was met with rifle fire both at the
outskirts of the city and the palace square. The actual victims, as
certified by a public commission of lawyers of the Opposition, was
approximately 150 killed and 200 wounded; and as all who had taken
a leading part in the procession were then expelled from the capital,
the news was circulated all over the Empire.
