Sovereign!
We, workers and residents of St. Petersburg of different classes, our wives, and children, and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection. We are impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent. We have endured, but we are being pushed further and further into the pool of poverty, lawlessness and ignorance, we are being strangled by despotism and tyranny, and we are suffocating. There is no more strength, sir. The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than continuation of unbearable torment.
And so we quit work and told our employers that we would not start working until they fulfilled our demands. We didn’t ask for much, we wanted only that without which there would be no life, but hard labor, eternal torment. Our first request was that our hosts discuss our needs with us. But we were denied this - we were denied the right to talk about our needs, finding that the law did not recognize such a right for us. Our requests also turned out to be illegal: to reduce the number of working hours to 8 per day; set the price for our work together with us and with our consent, resolve our misunderstandings with the lower administration of the factories; increase wages for unskilled workers and women for their work to 1 ruble. in a day; cancel overtime work; treat us carefully and without insults; arrange workshops so that you can work in them, and not find death there from terrible drafts, rain and snow.
Everything turned out, in the opinion of our owners and the factory administration, to be illegal, every request we made was a crime, and our desire to improve our situation was insolence, offensive to them.
Sire, there are many thousands of us here, and all of these are people only in appearance, only in appearance - in reality, we, as well as the entire Russian people, are not recognized with a single human right, and even the right to speak, think, gather, discuss needs, take measures to improve our situation. We were enslaved, and enslaved under the auspices of your officials, with their help, with their assistance. Any of us who dares to raise our voice in defense of the interests of the working class and the people are thrown into prison and sent into exile. They are punished as if for a crime, for a kind heart, for a sympathetic soul. To feel sorry for a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted person means to commit a serious crime. The entire people, workers and peasants, are given over to the mercy of an bureaucratic government consisting of embezzlers and robbers, who not only do not care about the interests of the people, but trample on these interests. The bureaucratic government brought the country to complete ruin, brought upon it a shameful war and is leading Russia further and further towards destruction. We, the workers and the people, have no say in how the huge taxes levied on us are spent. We don’t even know where and for what the money collected from the impoverished people goes. The people are deprived of the opportunity to express their desires, demands, and participate in setting taxes and spending them. Workers are deprived of the opportunity to organize into unions to protect their interests.
Sovereign! Is this in accordance with the divine laws, by whose grace you reign? And is it possible to live under such laws? Isn’t it better to die—to die for all of us, the working people of all Russia? Let the capitalists - exploiters of the working class and officials - embezzlers and robbers of the Russian people, live and enjoy. This is what stands before us, sir, and this is what has brought us to the groans of your palace. Here we are looking for the last salvation. Do not refuse to help your people, bring them out of the grave of lawlessness, poverty and ignorance, give them the opportunity to decide their own destiny, throw off the unbearable oppression of officials. Destroy the wall between you and your people, and let him rule the country with you. After all, you are assigned to the happiness of the people, and officials snatch this happiness from our hands, it does not reach us, we only get grief and humiliation. Look carefully at our requests without anger, they are directed not towards evil, but towards good, both for us and for you, sir! It is not the insolence that speaks in us. but the awareness of the need to get out of a situation that is unbearable for everyone. Russia is too large, its needs are too diverse and numerous for officials alone to govern it. Popular representation is necessary, it is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves and govern themselves. After all, he alone knows his true needs. Do not push away his help, they commanded immediately, now to call upon representatives of the Russian land from all classes, from all estates, representatives and from workers. Let there be a din of capitalists, and workers, and officials, and priests, and doctors, and teachers - let everyone, no matter who they are, elect their representatives. Let everyone be equal and free in the right to vote - and for this they ordered that elections to the Constituent Assembly take place under the condition of universal, secret and equal voting.
This is our most important request, everything is based on it and on it, this is the main and only plaster for our sore wounds, without which these wounds will ooze heavily and quickly move us towards death.
But one measure still cannot heal our wounds. Others are also needed, and we speak to you directly and openly, like a father, sir, about them on behalf of the entire working class of Russia.
Necessary.
I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people.
1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs, strikes and peasant riots.
2) Immediate announcement of freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion.
3) General and compulsory public education at the state expense.
4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantee of the legitimacy of government.
5) Equality is the law of everyone without exception.
6) Separation of church and state.
II. Measures against people's poverty.
1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with a direct progressive income tax.
2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of land to the people.
3) The execution of orders from the military maritime department must be in Russia, and not abroad.
4) Ending the war by the will of the people.
III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor.
1) Abolition of the institution of factory inspectors.
2) The establishment at plants and factories of permanent commissions elected from workers, which, together with the administration, would examine all the claims of individual workers. The dismissal of a worker cannot take place except by a decision of this commission.
3) Freedom of consumer-production and trade unions - immediately.
4) 8-hour working day and normalization of overtime work.
5) Freedom of struggle between labor and capital - immediately.
6) Normal wage- immediately.
7) The indispensable participation of representatives of the working classes in the development of a bill on state insurance for workers - immediately.
Here, sir, are our main needs, with which we have come to you, only if they are satisfied is it possible for the liberation of our Motherland from slavery and poverty, perhaps its prosperity, perhaps for workers to organize to protect their interests from the brazen exploitation of capitalists and the bureaucratic government that plunders and strangles the people . Command and swear to fulfill them, and you will make Russia both happy and glorious, and you will imprint your name in the hearts of ours and our descendants for eternity; but if you don’t command, if you don’t respond to our prayer, we will die here, on this square, in front of your palace. We have nowhere else to go and no reason to. We have only two paths: either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave. Let our lives be a sacrifice for suffering Russia. We do not regret this sacrifice, we willingly make it.
Priest Georgy Gapon
Petition of workers and residents of St. Petersburg for submission to Nicholas IIJanuary 9, 1905
Sovereign!
We, workers and residents of the city of St. Petersburg of different classes, our wives, and children, and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection. We are impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent. We have endured, but we are being pushed further and further into the pool of poverty, lawlessness and ignorance, we are being strangled by despotism and tyranny, and we are suffocating. There is no more strength, sir. The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than continuation of unbearable torment.
And so we quit work and told our employers that we would not start working until they fulfilled our demands. We didn’t ask for much, we wanted only that without which there would be no life, but hard labor, eternal torment. Our first request was that our hosts discuss our needs with us. But we were denied this - we were denied the right to talk about our needs, that the law does not recognize such a right for us. Our requests also turned out to be illegal:
reduce the number of working hours to 8 per day;
set the price for our work with us and with our consent; consider our misunderstandings with the lower administration of factories;
increase wages for unskilled workers and women for their work to 1 ruble. in a day;
cancel overtime work;
treat us carefully and without insults;
arrange workshops so that you can work in them, and not find death there from terrible drafts, rain and snow.
Everything turned out, in the opinion of our owners and the factory administration, to be illegal, every request we made was a crime, and our desire to improve our situation was insolence, offensive to them.
Sire, there are many thousands of us here, and all of these are people only in appearance, only in appearance - in reality, we, as well as the entire Russian people, are not recognized with a single human right, not even the right to speak, think, gather, discuss needs, take measures to improve our situation. We were enslaved, and enslaved under the auspices of your officials, with their help, with their assistance.
Any of us who dares to raise our voices in defense of the interests of the working class and the people are thrown into prison and sent into exile. They are punished as if for a crime, for a kind heart, for a sympathetic soul. To feel sorry for a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted person means to commit a serious crime. The entire people, workers and peasants, are given over to the mercy of an bureaucratic government consisting of embezzlers and robbers, who not only do not care about the interests of the people, but trample on these interests. The bureaucratic government brought the country to complete ruin, brought upon it a shameful war and is leading Russia further and further towards destruction. We, the workers and the people, have no say in how the huge taxes levied on us are spent. We don’t even know where and for what the money collected from the impoverished people goes. The people are deprived of the opportunity to express their desires, demands, and participate in setting taxes and spending them. Workers are deprived of the opportunity to organize into unions to protect their interests.
Sovereign! Is this in accordance with the divine laws, by whose grace you reign? And is it possible to live under such laws? Isn’t it better to die—to die for all of us, the working people of all Russia? Let the capitalists - exploiters of the working class and officials - embezzlers and robbers of the Russian people, live and enjoy. This is what stands before us, sir, and this is what has brought us to the walls of your palace. Here we are looking for the last salvation. Do not refuse to help your people, bring them out of the grave of lawlessness, poverty and ignorance, give them the opportunity to decide their own destiny,
relieve him of the unbearable oppression of officials. Destroy the wall between you and your people, and let them rule the country with you. After all, you are assigned to the happiness of the people, and officials snatch this happiness from our hands, it does not reach us, we only get grief and humiliation. Look carefully at our requests without anger: they are directed not towards evil, but towards good, both for us and for you, sir! It is not insolence that speaks in us, but the awareness of the need to get out of a situation that is unbearable for everyone. Russia is too large, its needs are too diverse and numerous for officials alone to govern it. Popular representation is necessary, it is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves and govern themselves. After all, he alone knows his true needs. Do not push away his help, they commanded immediately, now to call upon representatives of the Russian land from all classes, from all estates, representatives and from workers. Let there be a capitalist, a worker, an official, a priest, a doctor, and a teacher - let everyone, no matter who they are, elect their representatives. Let everyone be equal and free in the right to vote - and for this they ordered that elections to the Constituent Assembly take place under the condition of universal, secret and equal voting.
This is our most important request, everything is based on it and on it, this is the main and only plaster for our sore wounds, without which these wounds will ooze heavily and quickly move us towards death.
But one measure still cannot heal our wounds. There are others that are also necessary, and we tell you directly and openly, like a father, about them, sir, on behalf of the entire working class of Russia.
Required:
I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people.
1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs, strikes and peasant riots.
2) Immediate announcement of freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion.
3) General and compulsory public education at the state expense.
4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of the legality of government.
5) Equality before the law for everyone without exception.
6) Separation of church and state.
II. Measures against people's poverty.
1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with a direct progressive income tax.
2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of land to the people.
3) The execution of orders from the military maritime department must be in Russia, and not abroad.
4) Ending the war by the will of the people.
III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor.
1) Abolition of the institution of factory inspectors.
2) The establishment at plants and factories of permanent commissions elected from workers, which, together with the administration, would examine all the claims of individual workers. The dismissal of a worker cannot take place except with a decision of this commission.
3) Freedom of consumer-production and professional labor unions - immediately.
4) 8-hour working day and normalization of overtime work.
5) Freedom of struggle between labor and capital - immediately.
6) Normal wages - immediately.
7) The indispensable participation of representatives of the working classes in the development of a bill on state insurance for workers - immediately.
Here, sir, are our main needs with which we came to you; Only if they are satisfied is it possible for our Motherland to be liberated from slavery and poverty, for it to prosper, and for workers to organize to protect their interests from the brazen exploitation of capitalists and the bureaucratic government that plunders and strangles the people. Command and swear to fulfill them, and you will make Russia happy and glorious, and you will imprint your name in the hearts of ours and our descendants for eternity, and if you do not command, do not respond to our prayer, we will die here, on this square, in front of yours. palace. We have nowhere else to go and no reason to. We have only two paths: either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave...
I suggest you familiarize yourself with this version of events:
At the first sprouts of the labor movement in Russia, F.M. Dostoevsky keenly noticed the scenario according to which it would develop. In his novel “Demons,” the Shpigulinskys “revolt,” that is, the workers of a local factory, “pushed to the extreme” by their owners; they crowded together and waited for “the authorities to sort it out.” But behind their backs lurk the demonic shadows of “well-wishers.” And they know that they are guaranteed to win no matter the outcome. If the authorities meet the working people halfway, they will show weakness, which means they will lose their authority. “We won’t give them a break, comrades! Let’s not stop there, tighten the requirements!” Will the authorities take a tough position and begin to restore order - “Higher is the banner of holy hatred! Shame and curse on the executioners!”
By the beginning of the 20th century. The rapid growth of capitalism made the labor movement one of the most important factors in domestic life in Russia. Economic struggle of workers and state development factory legislation led a joint attack on the arbitrariness of employers. By controlling this process, the state tried to contain the process of radicalization of the growing labor movement, which was dangerous for the country. But in the fight against the revolution for the people, it suffered a crushing defeat. And the decisive role here belongs to an event that will forever remain in history as “Bloody Sunday.”
Troops on Palace Square.
In January 1904, the war between Russia and Japan began. At first, this war, going on on the distant periphery of the Empire, did not affect the internal situation of Russia in any way, especially since the economy maintained its usual stability. But as soon as Russia began to suffer setbacks, society showed a lively interest in the war. They eagerly awaited new defeats and sent congratulatory telegrams to the Japanese emperor. It was joyful to hate Russia together with “progressive humanity”! Hatred of the Fatherland became so widespread that Japan began to regard Russian liberals and revolutionaries as its “fifth column.” A “Japanese trace” appeared in the sources of their financing. By shaking the state, haters of Russia tried to cause a revolutionary situation. The terrorist Socialist-Revolutionaries undertook ever more daring and bloody deeds; by the end of 1904, a strike movement began in the capital.
Priest Georgy Gapon and mayor I. A. Fullon at the opening of the Kolomna department of the Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg
At the same time, revolutionaries in the capital were preparing an action that was destined to become “Bloody Sunday.” The action was conceived only on the basis that there was a person in the capital capable of organizing and leading it - priest Georgy Gapon, and it must be admitted that this circumstance was used brilliantly. Who could lead a hitherto unprecedented crowd of St. Petersburg workers, most of them yesterday's peasants, if not their beloved priest? Both women and old people were ready to follow the “father,” multiplying the mass of the people’s procession.
Priest Georgy Gapon headed the legal labor organization “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers.” In the “Meeting”, organized on the initiative of Colonel Zubatov, the leadership was actually captured by the revolutionaries, which the ordinary participants in the “Meeting” did not know about. Gapon was forced to maneuver between opposing forces, trying to “stand above the fray.” The workers surrounded him with love and trust, his authority grew, and the number of the “Assembly” grew, but, drawn into provocations and political games, the priest committed betrayal of his pastoral ministry.
At the end of 1904, the liberal intelligentsia became more active, demanding decisive liberal reforms from the authorities, and at the beginning of January 1905, a strike engulfed St. Petersburg. At the same time, Gapon’s radical circle “threw” into the working masses the idea of submitting a petition to the Tsar about the people’s needs. The presentation of this petition to the Emperor will be organized as a mass procession to the Winter Palace, which will be led by the priest George, beloved by the people. At first glance, the petition may seem like a strange document; it seems to have been written by different authors: the humbly loyal tone of the address to the Sovereign is combined with the utmost radicalism of the demands - right up to the convening of a constituent assembly. In other words, the legitimate authorities were demanded to abolish themselves. The text of the petition was not distributed among the people.
Sovereign!
We, workers and residents of the city of St. Petersburg of different classes, our wives, and children, and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection. We are impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent. We have endured, but we are being pushed further and further into the pool of poverty, lawlessness and ignorance, we are being strangled by despotism and tyranny, and we are suffocating. There is no more strength, sir. The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than death. continuation of unbearable torment (...)
Look carefully at our requests without anger, they are directed not towards evil, but towards good, both for us and for you, sir! It is not insolence that speaks in us, but the consciousness of the need to get out of a situation that is unbearable for everyone. Russia is too large, its needs are too diverse and numerous for officials alone to govern it. Popular representation is necessary, it is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves and govern themselves. After all, he alone knows his true needs. Do not push away his help, they commanded immediately, now to call upon representatives of the Russian land from all classes, from all estates, representatives and from workers. Let there be a capitalist, a worker, an official, a priest, a doctor, and a teacher - let everyone, no matter who they are, elect their representatives. Let everyone be equal and free in the right to vote - and for this they ordered that elections to the Constituent Assembly take place under the condition of universal, secret and equal voting. This is our most important request...
But one measure still cannot heal our wounds. Others are also needed:
I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people.
1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs, strikes and peasant riots.
2) Immediate announcement of freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion.
3) General and compulsory public education at the state expense.
4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of the legality of government.
5) Equality before the law for everyone without exception.
6) Separation of church and state.
II. Measures against people's poverty.
1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with a direct progressive income tax.
2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and transfer of land to the people.
3) Orders from the military and naval departments must be executed in Russia, not abroad.
4) Ending the war by the will of the people.
III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor.
1) Abolition of the institution of factory inspectors.
2) The establishment of permanent commissions of elected workers at factories and factories, which, together with the administration, would examine all the claims of individual workers. The dismissal of a worker cannot take place except with a decision of this commission.
3) Freedom of consumer-production and trade unions - immediately.
4) 8-hour working day and normalization of overtime work.
5) Freedom of struggle between labor and capital - immediately.
6) Normal work pay - immediately.
7) The indispensable participation of representatives of the working classes in the development of a bill on state insurance for workers - immediately.
Here, sir, are our main needs with which we came to you. Only if they are satisfied is it possible for our homeland to be liberated from slavery and poverty, for it to flourish, and for workers to organize to protect their interests from the exploitation of capitalists and the bureaucratic government that robs and strangles the people.
Command and swear to fulfill them, and you will make Russia both happy and glorious, and you will imprint your name in the hearts of us and our descendants for eternity. If you don’t believe us, don’t respond to our prayer, we will die here, on this square, in front of your palace. We have nowhere to go further and there is no need to. We have only two paths: either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave... Let our lives be a sacrifice for suffering Russia. We do not regret this sacrifice, we willingly make it!”
http://www.hrono.ru/dokum/190_dok/19050109petic.phpGapon knew for what purpose his “friends” were raising a mass procession to the palace; he rushed about, realizing what he was involved in, but did not find a way out and, continuing to portray himself as the people's leader, until the last moment he assured the people (and himself) that there would be no bloodshed. On the eve of the procession, the tsar left the capital, but no one tried to stop the disturbed popular element. Things were coming to a head. The people strove for Zimny, and the authorities were determined, realizing that the “capture of Zimny” would be a serious bid for victory by the enemies of the Tsar and the Russian state.
Until January 8, the authorities did not yet know that another petition with extremist demands had been prepared behind the workers’ backs. And when they found out, they were horrified. The order is given to arrest Gapon, but it is too late, he has disappeared. But it is no longer possible to stop the huge avalanche - the revolutionary provocateurs have done a great job.
On January 9, hundreds of thousands of people are ready to meet the Tsar. It cannot be canceled: newspapers were not published (In St. Petersburg, strikes paralyzed the activities of almost all printing houses - A.E.). And until late in the evening on the eve of January 9, hundreds of agitators walked through working-class areas, exciting people, inviting them to a meeting with the Tsar, declaring again and again that this meeting was being hindered by exploiters and officials. The workers fell asleep with the thought of tomorrow's meeting with Father the Tsar.
The St. Petersburg authorities, who gathered on the evening of January 8 for a meeting, realizing that it was no longer possible to stop the workers, decided not to allow them into the very center of the city (it was already clear that an assault on the Winter Palace was actually planned). The main task was not even to protect the Tsar (he was not in the city, he was in Tsarskoe Selo and had no intention of coming), but to prevent riots, the inevitable crush and death of people as a result of the flow of huge masses from four sides in the narrow space of Nevsky Prospekt and Palace Square, among the embankments and canals. The tsarist ministers remembered the Khodynka tragedy, when, as a result of the criminal negligence of local Moscow authorities, 1,389 people died in a stampede and about 1,300 were injured. Therefore, troops and Cossacks were gathered in the center with orders not to let people through and to use weapons if absolutely necessary.
In an effort to prevent a tragedy, authorities issued an announcement banning the January 9 march and warning of the danger. But due to the fact that there was only one printing house, the circulation of the advertisement was small, and it was posted too late.
January 9, 1905. Cavalrymen at the Pevchesky Bridge delay the movement of the procession to the Winter Palace.
Representatives of all parties were distributed among separate columns of workers (there should be eleven of them, according to the number of branches of Gapon’s organization). Socialist Revolutionary fighters were preparing weapons. The Bolsheviks put together detachments, each of which consisted of a standard bearer, an agitator and a core that defended them (i.e. the same militants).
All members of the RSDLP are required to be at the collection points by six o'clock in the morning.
They prepared banners and banners: “Down with Autocracy!”, “Long live the revolution!”, “To arms, comrades!”
Before the start of the procession, a prayer service for the health of the Tsar was served in the chapel of the Putilov plant. The procession had all the features of a religious procession. In the first rows they carried icons, banners and royal portraits (it is interesting that some of the icons and banners were simply captured during the looting of two churches and a chapel along the route of the columns).
But from the very beginning, long before the first shots were fired, at the other end of the city, on Vasilyevsky Island and in some other places, groups of workers led by revolutionary provocateurs built barricades from telegraph poles and wire, and hoisted red flags.
Bloody Sunday participants
At first, the workers did not pay much attention to the barricades; when they noticed, they were indignant. Exclamations were heard from the work columns moving towards the center: “These are not ours anymore, we don’t need this, these are students playing around.”
The total number of participants in the procession to Palace Square is estimated at approximately 300 thousand people. Individual columns numbered several tens of thousands of people. This huge mass fatally moved towards the center and, the closer it came to it, the more it was subjected to the agitation of revolutionary provocateurs. There were no shots yet, and some people were spreading the most incredible rumors about mass shootings. Attempts by the authorities to bring the procession within the framework of order were rebuffed by specially organized groups (pre-agreed routes for the columns were violated, two cordons were broken and scattered).
The head of the Police Department, Lopukhin, who, by the way, sympathized with the socialists, wrote about these events: “Electrified by agitation, crowds of workers, not succumbing to the usual general police measures and even cavalry attacks, persistently strove for the Winter Palace, and then, irritated by the resistance, began to attack to military units. This state of affairs led to the need to take emergency measures to restore order, and military units had to act against huge crowds of workers with firearms.
The procession from the Narva outpost was led by Gapon himself, who constantly shouted: “If we are refused, then we no longer have a Tsar.” The column approached the Obvodny Canal, where its path was blocked by rows of soldiers. The officers asked the increasingly pressing crowd to stop, but they did not obey. The first volleys followed, blanks. The crowd was ready to return, but Gapon and his assistants walked forward and carried the crowd along with them. Combat shots rang out.
Events developed in approximately the same way in other places - on the Vyborg side, on Vasilyevsky Island, on the Shlisselburg tract. Red banners and slogans appeared: “Down with Autocracy!”, “Long live the revolution!” The crowd, excited by trained militants, smashed weapons stores and erected barricades. On Vasilievsky Island a crowd led by the Bolshevik L.D. Davydov, seized Schaff's weapons workshop. “In Kirpichny Lane,” Lopukhin reported to the Tsar, “a crowd attacked two policemen, one of them was beaten.
On Morskaya Street Major General Elrich was beaten, on Gorokhovaya Street one captain was beaten and a courier was detained, and his engine was broken. The crowd pulled a cadet from the Nicholas Cavalry School who was passing by in a cab from his sleigh, broke the saber with which he defended himself, and inflicted beatings and wounds on him...
Gapon at the Narva Gate called on the people to clash with the troops: “Freedom or death!” and only by chance did he not die when the volleys rang out (the first two volleys were blank, the next volley of combat ones over the heads, the subsequent volleys into the crowd). The crowds going to “capture Winter” were scattered. About 120 people were killed, about 300 were injured. Immediately, a cry was raised throughout the whole world about the many thousands of victims of the “bloody tsarist regime”, calls were made for its immediate overthrow, and these calls were successful. The enemies of the Tsar and the Russian people, posing as his “well-wishers,” extracted the maximum propaganda effect from the tragedy of January 9. Subsequently, the communist government included this date in the calendar as a mandatory Day of Hate for the people.
Father Georgy Gapon believed in his mission, and, walking at the head of the people's procession, he could have died, but the Socialist-Revolutionary P. Rutenberg, who was assigned to him as a “commissar” from the revolutionaries, helped him escape alive from the shots. It is clear that Rutenberg and his friends knew about Gapon's connections with the Police Department. If his reputation had been impeccable, he would obviously have been shot dead under volleys in order to bring his image to the people in the aura of a hero and martyr. The possibility of destruction of this image by the authorities was the reason for Gapon’s salvation that day, but already in 1906 he was executed as a provocateur “in his circle” under the leadership of the same Rutenberg, who, as A.I. writes. Solzhenitsyn, “then left to recreate Palestine”...
In total, on January 9, 96 people were killed (including a police officer) and up to 333 people were wounded, of whom another 34 people died before January 27 (including one assistant police officer).” So, in total 130 people were killed and about 300 were wounded.
Thus ended the pre-planned action of the revolutionaries. On the same day, the most incredible rumors began to spread about thousands of people being executed and that the execution was specially organized by the sadistic Tsar, who wanted the blood of the workers.
Graves of victims of Bloody Sunday 1905
At the same time, some sources give a higher estimate of the number of victims - about a thousand killed and several thousand wounded. In particular, in an article by V.I. Lenin, published on January 18 (31), 1905 in the newspaper “Forward”, the figure of 4,600 killed and wounded, which subsequently became widely circulated in Soviet historiography, is given. According to the results of a study performed by Dr. historical sciences A. N. Zashikhin in 2008, there is no reason to recognize this figure as reliable.
Other foreign agencies reported similar inflated figures. Thus, the British Laffan agency reported 2,000 killed and 5,000 wounded, the Daily Mail newspaper reported more than 2,000 killed and 5,000 wounded, and the Standard newspaper reported 2,000–3,000 killed and 7,000–8,000 wounded. Subsequently, all this information was not confirmed. The magazine "Liberation" reported that a certain "organizing committee of the Technological Institute" published "secret police information" that determined the number of killed at 1,216 people. No confirmation of this message was found.
Subsequently, the press hostile to the Russian government exaggerated the number of victims tens of times, without bothering with documentary evidence. Bolshevik V. Nevsky, who already in Soviet times studied the issue from documents, wrote that the number of deaths did not exceed 150-200 people (Red Chronicle, 1922. Petrograd. T.1. P. 55-57) This is the story of how revolutionary parties cynically used the sincere aspirations of the people for their own purposes, exposing them to the guaranteed bullets of the soldiers defending Winter.
From the diary of Nicholas II:
January 9th. Sunday. Hard day! Serious riots occurred in St. Petersburg as a result of the workers’ desire to reach the Winter Palace. The troops had to shoot in different places in the city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and difficult! ...
On January 16, the Holy Synod addressed the latest events with a message to all Orthodox Christians:
«<…>The Holy Synod, in sorrow, begs the children of the church to obey the authorities, the shepherds to preach and teach, those in power to defend the oppressed, the rich to generously do good deeds, and the workers to work by the sweat of their brow and beware of false advisers - accomplices and mercenaries evil enemy».
You allowed yourself to be drawn into delusion and deception by traitors and enemies of our homeland...Strikes and rebellious gatherings only excite the crowd to the kind of disorder that has always forced and will force the authorities to resort to military force, and this inevitably causes innocent victims. I know that the life of a worker is not easy. Much needs to be improved and streamlined... But for a rebellious crowd to tell me their demands is criminal.
Speaking about the hasty order of the frightened authorities who ordered the shooting, it should also be remembered that the atmosphere around the royal palace was very tense, because three days earlier an attempt had been made on the life of the Sovereign. On January 6, during the Epiphany blessing of water on the Neva, a fireworks display was fired in the Peter and Paul Fortress, during which one of the cannons fired a live charge towards the Emperor. A shot of grapeshot pierced the banner of the Naval Corps, hit the windows of the Winter Palace and seriously wounded the gendarmerie police officer on duty. The officer commanding the fireworks immediately committed suicide, so the reason for the shot remained a mystery. Immediately after this, the Emperor and his family left for Tsarskoe Selo, where he remained until January 11. Thus, the Tsar did not know about what was happening in the capital, he was not in St. Petersburg that day, but revolutionaries and liberals attributed the blame for what happened to him, calling him “Nicholas the Bloody” from then on.
By order of the Sovereign, all victims and families of the victims were paid benefits in the amount of one and a half years' earnings of a skilled worker. On January 18, Minister Svyatopolk-Mirsky was dismissed. On January 19, the Tsar received a deputation of workers from large factories and plants of the capital, who already on January 14, in an address to the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, expressed complete repentance for what had happened: “Only in our darkness did we allow that some persons alien to us expressed political desires on our behalf” and asked convey this repentance to the Emperor.
sources
http://www.russdom.ru/oldsayte/2005/200501i/200501012.html Vladimir Sergeevich ZHIKIN
Remember how we found out, and also tried to expose
The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -
05:00 — REGNUM An event that happened 113 years ago, remember in modern Russia not accepted. We are talking about the tragic events of Sunday on January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg, as a result of which hundreds of innocent people were killed and injured. On this day, a demonstration of workers who petitioned the Russian emperor was shot Nikolai Romanov.
In the history of Russia, this day was called “Bloody Sunday”. As a result of the shooting of a peaceful demonstration, according to official data from the police department alone, 130 people were ultimately killed and about 300 more were injured. “Bloody Sunday” became the trigger for the beginning of the Russian Revolution of 1905–1907, the number of victims of which was no longer in the hundreds, but in the thousands.
Today, very often and rightly, we hear how representatives of the authorities and the clergy declare the need to remember the history of our country as it is, without falsehood. It’s hard to disagree with this, and therefore it’s worth remembering what preceded the events of January 9 and what intentions were those who came out on that day to “seek truth and protection” from Emperor Nicholas II.
In December 1904, several workers were fired at the Putilov plant in St. Petersburg. All of them were members of the “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers”. At the end of December, a meeting of workers was held, following which it was decided to submit a petition to the director of the plant and the mayor. Threatening a strike, the workers demanded that all those laid off have their labor rights restored. A deputation from among the members of the “Assembly” was sent to the director. However, the director ignored their demands, saying that the deputation had no authority. As a result, on January 3, 1905, a strike of workers of the Putilov plant began, which was subsequently supported by workers of other enterprises in the city. By January 8, the number of strikers in St. Petersburg numbered about 150 thousand people.
However, by January 5, it became clear to the strikers that, despite the protests of the workers, the plant owners did not intend to make concessions, and the “Assembly” decided to directly appeal to Nicholas II. Petition drawn up by a priest Georgy Gapon, was approved and sent to the emperor on January 8. What did the workers demand? To do this, you need to refer to the text of the petition:
“Sovereign! We, workers and residents of the city of St. Petersburg of different classes, our wives, and children, and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection. We are impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent. We have endured, but we are being pushed further and further into the pool of poverty, lawlessness and ignorance, we are being strangled by despotism and tyranny, and we are suffocating. There is no more strength, sir. The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than continuation of unbearable torment.”
The petition further states that the factory owners do not even intend to discuss the needs of the workers, and that the demands for an 8-hour working day, the abolition of overtime and increased wages are called “illegal” by the factory owners:
“Everything turned out, in the opinion of our owners and the factory administration, to be illegal, every request of ours is a crime, and our desire to improve our situation is insolence, offensive to them.”
“Any of us who dares to raise our voices in defense of the interests of the working class and the people are thrown into prison and sent into exile. They are punished as if for a crime, for a kind heart, for a sympathetic soul. To feel sorry for a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted person means to commit a serious crime. The entire people, workers and peasants, are given over to the mercy of an bureaucratic government consisting of embezzlers and robbers, who not only do not care about the interests of the people, but trample on these interests. The bureaucratic government has brought the country to complete ruin, brought upon it a shameful war and is leading Russia further and further to destruction.”
Further, the workers propose to take measures to organize popular representation to govern Russia, since, according to the demonstrators, “officials are embezzlers and robbers of the Russian people” are not capable of governing the state and a Constituent Assembly is required on the basis of equal rights of election and subject to universal, secret and equal election votes. The petition also indicates the necessary measures that should be taken against the poverty and lawlessness of the Russian people:
"I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people. 1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs, strikes and peasant riots. 2) Immediate announcement of freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion. 3) General and compulsory public education at the state expense. 4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of the legality of government. 5) Equality before the law for everyone without exception. 6) Separation of church and state. II. Measures against people's poverty. 1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with a direct progressive income tax. 2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of land to the people. 3) The execution of orders from the military maritime department must be in Russia, and not abroad. 4) Ending the war by the will of the people.”
Did the workers demand much? By today's standards, their demands are reasonable and fair. I am convinced that many of our fellow citizens would subscribe to them today. But by the standards of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, all these demands, as well as the way they were presented, were revolutionary. The workers not only demanded the “impossible,” they did this by directly appealing to the emperor, which is illegal under the laws of the Russian Empire.
“I know that the life of a worker is not easy. Much needs to be improved and streamlined, but be patient. You yourself, in all conscience, understand that you should be fair to your employers and take into account the conditions of our industry. But telling Me about your needs in a rebellious crowd is criminal.<…>I believe in the honest feelings of working people and their unwavering devotion to Me, and therefore I forgive them their guilt.” “, - said Nicholas II on January 19, 1905 in his speech to the deputation.
However, as time has shown, the “devotion” of the workers to Nicholas II after the bloody events on Sunday, January 9, 1905, was considerably shaken. Over the next year and a half, the First Russian Revolution will begin to blaze in Russia, during which workers and peasants defended not only their labor rights, but also the right to be considered people, and not silent and powerless slaves.
As we know from subsequent events, the revolution will be suppressed. Nicholas II will make some concessions, in particular, the The State Duma, and also the unaffordable redemption payments of former landowner peasants, which they paid for land after liberation from serfdom by the reform of 1861, were reduced and then abolished.
However, these measures did not, and could not, remove the social tension that caused the First Russian Revolution. The contradictions accumulated over the past centuries were never resolved, which determined the preconditions for the revolutionary events of 1917. This is why we need to remember the events of Sunday, January 9, 1905. Moreover, according to a number of contemporaries, on that day a bloody outcome could have been avoided, and even raised the prestige of the monarchy. To do this, Nicholas II should have accepted the petition and deputation of the workers on the same day, made some concessions and influenced the inspirer of the procession, priest Gapon. Others disputed such assumptions, believing that Bloody Sunday was inevitable.
But what is absolutely indisputable is that the protests at the beginning of the 20th century are interconnected with the plight of the working people in Russian Empire, who began the fight for his basic rights, which seem inalienable today. And the revolutionary events of the early 20th century in Russia are not the result of a conspiracy of foreign powers and the use of “orange technologies,” but a consequence of deep-seated contradictions that Nicholas II was never able to resolve “from above.” And if in 1905 repressions against workers were able to preserve the monarchy, then the dissatisfaction of workers and peasants with the existing regime, driven underground, turned into a large powder keg, which in 1917 exploded so that the very existence of historical Russia was called into question. And it was possible to defend statehood largely thanks to the iron will of the Bolsheviks, who defended the independence of Soviet Russia during Civil War and interventions by foreign powers.
There is no doubt that 2018 in our country will be marked by the centenary of the execution of Nikolai Romanov, who abdicated the throne in March 1917, and his family. And this event needs and must be remembered. However, at the same time, we have no right to forget a whole series of bloody events during the reign of the last emperor, including the shooting of a peaceful demonstration on January 9, 1905 of poor and oppressed people who were only demanding legal right consider ourselves human.
On December 27, 1904, a meeting of the “Meeting of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg” was held, headed by priest Georgy Gapon. It was decided to go on strike. The reason was the dismissal of workers at the Putilov plant.
On January 3, 1905, the Putilov Shipyard went on strike, on January 4, the Franco-Russian Shipyard and the Nevsky Shipyard, and on January 8, the total number of strikers reached 150 thousand people.
On the night of January 6-7, priest Georgy Gapon wrote a petition to Nicholas. On January 8, the text of the petition was approved by members of the society.
Priest Georgy Gapon.
“Petition of the workers of St. Petersburg January 9, 1905
Sovereign!
We, workers and residents of the city of St. Petersburg of different classes, our wives, and children, and helpless old parents, came to you, sir, to seek truth and protection. We are impoverished, we are oppressed, burdened with backbreaking labor, we are abused, we are not recognized as people, we are treated like slaves who must endure our bitter fate and remain silent. We have endured, but we are being pushed further and further into the pool of poverty, lawlessness and ignorance, we are being strangled by despotism and tyranny, and we are suffocating. There is no more strength, sir. The limit of patience has come. For us, that terrible moment has come when death is better than continuation of unbearable torment.
And so we quit work and told our employers that we would not start working until they fulfilled our demands. We didn’t ask for much, we wanted only that without which there would be no life, but hard labor, eternal torment. Our first request was that our hosts discuss our needs with us. But we were denied this - we were denied the right to talk about our needs, that the law does not recognize such a right for us. Our requests also turned out to be illegal: to reduce the number of working hours to 8 per day; set the price for our work with us and with our consent; consider our misunderstandings with the lower administration of factories; increase wages for unskilled workers and women for their work to 1 ruble. in a day; cancel overtime work; treat us carefully and without insults; arrange workshops so that you can work in them, and not find death there from terrible drafts, rain and snow.
Everything turned out, in the opinion of our owners and the factory administration, to be illegal, every request we made was a crime, and our desire to improve our situation was insolence, offensive to them. Sire, there are many thousands of us here, and all of these are people only in appearance, only in appearance - in reality, we, as well as the entire Russian people, are not recognized with a single human right, not even the right to speak, think, gather, discuss needs, take measures to improve our situation. We were enslaved, and enslaved under the auspices of your officials, with their help, with their assistance.
Any of us who dares to raise our voices in defense of the interests of the working class and the people are thrown into prison and sent into exile. They are punished as if for a crime, for a kind heart, for a sympathetic soul. To feel sorry for a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted person means to commit a serious crime. The entire people, workers and peasants, are given over to the mercy of an bureaucratic government consisting of embezzlers and robbers, who not only do not care about the interests of the people, but trample on these interests. The bureaucratic government brought the country to complete ruin, brought upon it a shameful war and is leading Russia further and further towards destruction. We, the workers and the people, have no say in how the huge taxes levied on us are spent. We don’t even know where and for what the money collected from the impoverished people goes. The people are deprived of the opportunity to express their desires, demands, and participate in setting taxes and spending them.
Workers are deprived of the opportunity to organize into unions to protect their interests. Sovereign! Is this in accordance with the divine laws, by whose grace you reign? And is it possible to live under such laws? Isn't it better to die - to die for all of us, the working people of all Russia? Let the capitalists - exploiters of the working class and officials - embezzlers and robbers of the Russian people, live and enjoy. This is what stands before us, sir, and this is what has brought us to the walls of your palace. Here we are looking for the last salvation. Do not refuse to help your people, bring them out of the grave of lawlessness, poverty and ignorance, give them the opportunity to decide their own destiny, throw off the unbearable oppression of officials. Destroy the wall between you and your people, and let them rule the country with you. After all, you are assigned to the happiness of the people, and officials snatch this happiness from our hands, it does not reach us, we only get grief and humiliation. Look carefully at our requests without anger: they are directed not towards evil, but towards good, both for us and for you, sir! It is not insolence that speaks in us, but the awareness of the need to get out of a situation that is unbearable for everyone. Russia is too large, its needs are too diverse and numerous for officials alone to govern it. Popular representation is necessary, it is necessary for the people themselves to help themselves and govern themselves. After all, he alone knows his true needs. Do not push away his help, they commanded immediately, now to call upon representatives of the Russian land from all classes, from all estates, representatives and from workers. Let there be a capitalist, a worker, an official, a priest, a doctor, and a teacher - let everyone, no matter who they are, elect their representatives. Let everyone be equal and free in the right to vote - and for this they ordered that elections to the Constituent Assembly take place under the condition of universal, secret and equal voting.
This is our most important request, everything is based on it and on it, this is the main and only plaster for our sore wounds, without which these wounds will ooze heavily and quickly move us towards death. But one measure still cannot heal our wounds. Others are also needed, and we speak to you directly and openly, like a father, sir, about them on behalf of the entire working class of Russia.
Required:
I. Measures against ignorance and lawlessness of the Russian people.
1) Immediate release and return of all victims for political and religious beliefs, strikes and peasant riots.
2) Immediate announcement of freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience in matters of religion.
3) General and compulsory public education at the state expense.
4) Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of the legality of government.
5) Equality before the law for everyone without exception.
6) Separation of church and state.
II. Measures against people's poverty.
1) Abolition of indirect taxes and replacing them with direct progressive income taxes
tax.
2) Cancellation of redemption payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of land
to the people.
3) The execution of orders from the military maritime department must be in Russia, and not abroad.
4) Ending the war by the will of the people.
III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor.
1) Abolition of the institution of factory inspectors.
2) Establishment of standing commissions elected from factories at factories
workers who, together with the administration, would sort out all claims
individual workers. The dismissal of a worker cannot take place except with
decisions of this commission.
3) Freedom of consumer-production and professional labor unions - immediately.
4) 8-hour working day and normalization of overtime work.
5) Freedom of struggle between labor and capital - immediately.
6) Normal wages - immediately.
7) The indispensable participation of representatives of the working classes in the development of a bill on state insurance for workers - immediately.
Here, sir, are our main needs with which we came to you; Only if they are satisfied is it possible for our Motherland to be liberated from slavery and poverty, for it to prosper, and for workers to organize to protect their interests from the brazen exploitation of capitalists and the bureaucratic government that plunders and strangles the people. Command and swear to fulfill them, and you will make Russia happy and glorious, and you will imprint your name in the hearts of ours and our descendants for eternity, but if you do not command, do not respond to our prayer, we will die here, on this square, in front of yours. palace. We have nowhere else to go and no reason to. We have only two paths: either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave...”
The priest of the St. Petersburg transit prison Georgy Gapon and the mayor Ivan Fullon at the opening of the Kolomna department of the "Meeting of Russian Factory Workers of St. Petersburg." 1904
On January 8, Nicholas II became familiar with the contents of the petition. Minister of Internal Affairs Prince P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky reassured the king, assuring him that, according to his information, nothing dangerous was foreseen. The Tsar did not come from Tsarskoe Selo to St. Petersburg.
According to Count S. Yu. Witte, the decision to prevent the procession from taking place on Palace Square was made on the evening of January 8 at a meeting with the Minister of Internal Affairs P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky. The meeting was attended by St. Petersburg mayor I. A. Fullon, Minister of Finance V. N. Kokovtsov, Comrade Minister of Internal Affairs K. N. Rydzevsky, Chief of Staff of the Guard Troops and the St. Petersburg District, General. N.F. Meshetich and others. At the meeting, it was decided to arrest Gapon, but the arrest could not be carried out, since “he sat down in one of the houses of the working-class district and for the arrest it would have been necessary to sacrifice at least 10 police people.”
On the evening of January 8, by order of the emperor, martial law was introduced in St. Petersburg. All power in the capital passed into the hands of the military administration, headed by the commander of the Guards Corps, Prince. S. I. Vasilchikov. The direct superior of the prince. Vasilchikov was the commander-in-chief of the St. Petersburg Military District and the troops of the Guard, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. All military orders came from the Grand Duke, but the orders were signed by Prince Vasilchikov. Orders for the guard in sealed packages were transmitted to the units at night, with the obligation to print them at 6 am on January 9.
On the evening of January 8, a delegation came to Svyatopolk-Mirsky: Maxim Gorky, A. V. Peshekhonov, N. F. Annensky, I. V. Gessen, V. A. Myakotin, V. I. Semevsky, K. K. Arsenyev, E I. Kedrin, N. I. Kareev and worker D. Kuzin demanding the abolition of military measures. Svyatopolk-Mirsky refused to accept them. Then they came to S. Yu. Witte, trying to convince him to help the tsar accept the petition from the workers. Witte avoided taking decisive action. On January 11, 9 out of 10 deputies were arrested.
Sergei Witte.
On the morning of January 9, workers who had gathered behind the Narva and Nevskaya outposts, on the Vyborg and St. Petersburg sides, on Vasilievsky Island and in Kolpino, moved towards Palace Square. Their total number reached about 50-100 thousand people.
The workers came with their families, children, festively dressed, they carried portraits of the Tsar, icons, crosses, and sang prayers. At the head of one of the columns walked the priest Gapon with a cross raised high.
At 11.30 in the morning, a column of 3 thousand people led by Gapon was stopped near the Narva Gate by the police, a squadron of horse grenadiers and two companies of the 93rd Irkutsk Infantry Regiment. At the first volley the crowd lay down on the ground, after which they tried to move forward again. The troops fired only five volleys into the crowd, after which they fled.
At 11.30 at the Trinity Bridge (approximately 10 thousand people) was stopped by the police and units of the Pavlovsky Regiment at the beginning of Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt. A salvo was fired.
Cavalrymen at the Pevchesky Bridge delay the movement of the procession to the Winter Palace. By 12 noon, the Alexander Garden was filled with crowds of men, women and teenagers. A company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment fired two volleys at the masses of people filling the Alexander Garden right through the garden bars.
At the Police Bridge, the 3rd battalion of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment under the command of Colonel N.K. Riman shot the crowd on the embankment of the Moika River.
From the memoirs of M. A. Voloshin:
“The sleigh was passed everywhere. And they let me cross the Police Bridge between the ranks of soldiers. At that moment they were loading their guns. The officer shouted to the cab driver: “Turn right.” The cab driver drove off a few steps and stopped. “It looks like they’re going to shoot!” The crowd was dense. But there were no workers. It was the usual Sunday crowd. “Murderers!.. Well, shoot!” - someone shouted. The horn sounded the attack signal. I ordered the cab driver to move on... As soon as we turned the corner, a shot was heard, a dry, weak sound. Then again and again."
From the memoirs of V. A. Serov:
“I will never forget what I saw from the windows of the Academy of Arts on January 9 - a restrained, majestic, unarmed crowd walking towards cavalry attacks and gun sights - a terrible sight.”
At five o'clock in the afternoon on Maly Prospekt, between the 4th and 8th lines, a crowd that reached up to 8 thousand people built a barricade, but was dispersed by troops who fired several volleys directly into the crowd.
In addition, volleys were fired on the Shlisselburgsky tract, on the corner of Nevsky Prospect and Gogol Street and on Kazan Square.
According to official figures, 130 people were shot and 299 were wounded.
"Hard day! Serious riots occurred in St. Petersburg as a result of the workers’ desire to reach the Winter Palace. The troops had to shoot in different places in the city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and difficult!”
By the highest order of January 11, 1905, Major General D. F. Trepov, a determined fighter against revolutionary uprisings, was appointed to the new post of Governor General of St. Petersburg.
“It’s already been a year since Russia has been waging a bloody war with the pagans for its historical calling as the planter of Christian enlightenment<…>But now, a new test of God, a grief worse than the first, visited our beloved fatherland. Worker strikes and street riots began in the capital and other cities of Russia... The criminal instigators of ordinary working people, having in their midst an unworthy clergyman who boldly violated the holy vows and is now subject to the judgment of the Church, were not ashamed to give into the hands of the workers they had deceived, forcibly taken from the chapel honest cross, holy icons and banners, so that, under the protection of shrines revered by believers, it would be more likely to lead them to disorder, and others to destruction. Toilers of the Russian land, working people! Work according to the commandment of the Lord by the sweat of your brow, remembering that he who does not work is not worthy of food. Beware of your false advisors<…>they are accomplices or mercenaries of an evil enemy seeking the ruin of the Russian land.”
On January 19, 1905, Emperor Nicholas II, in his speech to the deputation, stated: “I know that the life of a worker is not easy. Much needs to be improved and streamlined, but be patient. You yourself, in all conscience, understand that you should be fair to your employers and take into account the conditions of our industry. But telling Me about your needs in a rebellious crowd is criminal.<…>I believe in the honest feelings of working people and their unwavering devotion to Me, and therefore I forgive them their guilt.<…>“
After January 9, Nicholas II did not appear in public until the celebrations in honor of the tercentenary of the House of Romanov in 1913.
