what happened??
While tsar Nicholas II did manage to hold on to power until 1917, there was a close call in 1905. From 1904, Russia was engaged in a war with Japan, which they then lost in January 1905. This was a humiliating defeat for the Russian from beginning to end, especially since Nicholas had entered the war thinking it would be an easy win to make him look good the the increasingly discontent russian public. This loss added to the ever increasing anti-government sentiments and so, when four workers were fired from Putilov Engineering Works a strike was called. Two days later, on Sunday the 9th of January 1905 150,000 workers marched to the Winter Palace in the aim of seeking out the Tsar. They had formed a petition to bring to him, begging for an 8 hour work day, a set minimum wage, and for generally better treatment.
These strikers, however, were not how you would imagine them to be. Normally people on strike, protesting conditions as dire as those the russian workers were suffering through, would be carrying banners with harsh words and insults directed towards those responsible, the people would just come as they were. This was not the case in 1905. The workers instead came dressed in their Sunday Best, carrying pictures and icons of the tsar, and holding a generally good sentiment towards him. They seemed to just want to ask for his help.
When they reached the Winter Palace, they were met with violence. They were charged at by the Cavalry and the russian troops open fired upon the crowd. Although the figures are somewhat unclear, it is thought that about 130 people were killed, with another 300 injured.
significance??
As you can imagine, this event, nicknamed ‘Bloody Sunday’ had a very profound effect on the public opinion of the tsar. The people had come to beg and plead with the man who was supposed to be their patriarchal caretaker figure, and he didn’t even hear them out, he simply threw violence at them.
From then on, until his abdication in 1917 and then assassination in 1918, Nicholas was no longer looked upon as the caretaker, supposedly saviour figure he had been portrayed as before – all good public opinion of him was lost and there was no trust between population and monarch.
‘ In the one vital moment the popular myth of a God Tsar which had sustained the regime through the centuries was suddenly destroyed’
– Orlando Figes
Furthermore, the breaking of the bond between the people and the tsar was not the only significance. People all over the country heard about the event of Bloody Sunday and, by the end of January, 400,000 people were out on strike and there was civil unrest and disturbance more frequently than ever before.
A translation of the worker’s petition to the tsar
‘… O sire we have no strength left and our endurance is at an end. We have reached the frightful moment when death is better than the prolongation of our unbearable sufferings… we ask but little: to reduce the working day to eight hours, to provide a minimum wage of one rouble a day …’