January 22, 1905: (The date was January 9 in Old Style calendar still in use in Russia at the time.)The streets of St. Petersburg, Russia run red with blood. Father Gapon, a popular Russian Orthodox priest, organized the Assembly of Russian Factory and Mill Workers union. The group was patronized by the Department of the Police and the St. Petersburg secret police, Okhrana. The workers' union quickly expanded to 12 branches with 8,000-9,000 members. Gapon, defrocked for "sinfulness" in 1902, continued to be supportive of the working poor. By 1904, job loss and real wage buying power decreases brought the masses to protest.
The 65-hour workweek with harsh and unsafe conditions led more people to the illegal trade unions. Four members of the Workers Union were fired from the Putilov Iron Works. Gapon called for industrial action and a strike by the ill-treated workers. Over 110,000 workers in St. Petersburg went on strike. Father Gapon proposed to take a petition to Tsar Nicholas II. Workers sought an 8-hour workday, wage increases, and improved working conditions. Universal suffrage was proposed as well as a demand for the end of the Russo-Japanese War.
About 150,000 people signed the petition. Gapon led a procession of workers to the Winter Palace in the hope of presenting his petition to the Tsar. The crowd numbered between 150,000 and 200,000. They approached the palace carrying religious symbols and singing patriotic songs including "God Save the Tsar." The peaceful procession was fired on by the Cossacks of the Palace Guard. The Tsar's count of the dead and wounded was 96 and 333 respectively. Anti-government sources claim 4,000 killed while other sources cite 1,000 dead and wounded.
This was the beginning of the 1905 Russian Revolution. Father Gapon survived Bloody Sunday and managed to escape to Geneva. He announced his disassociation with the unions and declared he joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party. It came to light that he had been a member of long standing, playing both sides. His motive for leading the procession to the Winter Palace was to ignite a revolution. While the 1905 Revolution was a failure, eventually another Revolution would succeed in bringing a Socialist based government to Mother Russia.
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"The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it." - Abbie Hoffman
"The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution." - Hannah Arendt
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy
"While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State." - Lenin
Comments
The resultant Bolshevik reign of terror of 90 years duration causing tens of millions of deaths was just one consequence of this movement, which was part and parcel of the world fascist movement of the era.
Hindsight is so different from the view of the world from the perspective of these people in 1905. I wonder what would have come of all of this if the people who gained power had really followed their announced ideals.
I have always been interested in Russian history. What JFK said is true... "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy
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