Electoral law of 1905. Samara Region

On December 11, 1905, during the armed uprising in Moscow, a decree "On changing the provisions on elections to the State Duma" was issued, which significantly expanded the circle of voters. Almost the entire male population of the country over the age of 25, except for soldiers, students, day laborers and part of the nomads, received voting rights. The right to vote was not direct and remained unequal for voters of different categories (curiae).

The deputies were elected by electoral assemblies consisting of electors from each province and a number of large cities. The electors were elected by four separate curiae of voters: landowners, city dwellers, peasants, and workers.

Landowners with a full land qualification (150 acres) directly participated in the county congresses of landowners who voted for electors from the province. Small landowners elected delegates to the district congress, one for each full qualification.

Peasant elections were four-stage: first, they elected representatives to the volost gathering, then to the district congress of delegates from the volosts, at the congress electors were elected to the provincial electoral assembly.

The workers elected a congress of their delegates, at which electors were elected to the electoral meeting of the provinces or large cities. Representation from townspeople and workers was three-stage.

The electoral law of December 11, 1905 introduced a curial system of elections. Women, military personnel, and men under 25 were deprived of the right to vote. On the basis of this law, I and II Duma were elected. Their fate was sad, both were dispersed by the king. On June 3, 1907, a new electoral law was issued, according to which the III and IV Duma were elected.

Electoral system of 1907 - the system of elections according to the Regulations on elections to the State Duma of June 03, 1907, adopted after the dissolution of the II Duma. The electoral system was used in elections to the State Duma of the III and IV convocations. The establishment of this electoral system increased the representation in the Duma of landowners and wealthy citizens, as well as the Russian population in relation to national minorities, which led to the formation of a government majority in the III and IV Duma. At the same time, the increased disproportionality of the electoral system led to a general decline in public confidence in both the Duma and the tsarist government.

The elections according to the 1907 Regulations were indirect, did not provide for equal representation and had to take place according to the curia system: the main curiae (officially curiae were called voter lists) were: (volost (that is, peasant); landowner; 1st city (highest electoral qualification); 2nd city ​​(lowest electoral qualification); working).

Household peasants, who owned allotment or private land and personally managed the household, had the right to vote in the volost curia. These voters did not participate in the electoral congress directly, but only elected from every ten households one participant of the volost gathering, after which the volost gathering elected two delegates to the county electoral congress. If the peasants had enough property to vote in the census curiae, they could enroll in these curiae instead of the volost.

For the electoral right in the landowning curia, a year before the elections, it was required to own in the same county, to choose from: the amount of land, property that did not constitute a commercial and industrial institution.

For suffrage in the 1st city curia, it was required to own at least a year before the elections in the same city, to choose from: for cities of provincial, regional, with city administrations and with a population of at least 20 thousand people - real estate worth at least 1000 rubles, requiring sampling certificates by a commercial enterprise - the first two categories, by an industrial enterprise - the first five categories.

For suffrage) in the 2nd city curia, it was required at least a year before the elections in the same city, to choose from: pay the state apartment tax, pay the main trade tax for personal employment, receive maintenance or a pension for service in state, zemstvo, city, estate institutions or on the railways.

For the right to vote in the workers' curia, it was required to work for more than six months at an enterprise with at least 50 workers. The workers did not participate in the electoral congress directly, but only elected delegates to the congress: from each enterprise with the number of workers from 50 to 1000 - one, more 1000 - one from every full 1000 workers. Workers could be voters only in the workers' curia, even if they met the qualification requirements of other curia.

Elections and suffrage in the history of Russia

The history of elections in Russia should be counted from the Novgorod feudal republic, which existed from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Although in the past, veche meetings, as a political institution that solved the most important issues of local and state importance, were widespread in Russia. But it was in Veliky Novgorod that elective institutions were first formed.

Geographically, Novgorod was divided into five independent regions (ends). The smaller units were “hundreds” and “streets”. In each district there was a territorial assembly-veche, where decisions were made on various day-to-day issues. Officials were elected - the headman and his assistants. The highest power in the republic formally belonged to the citywide veche meeting. It was convened at the initiative of the prince, the mayor as needed. The participants were persons of various strata of the population.

At the veche, the most important questions state life... All decisions were made through the electoral principle: those present were invited to speak "for" or "against" the proposals formulated by the executive branch. Veche also had the right to choose (call) a prince. The main officials of Novgorod were also elected - the mayor, the thousand, the archbishop. Democratic traditions have developed: alternative elections, strict control over the actions of elected officials, up to displacement in case of gross violation of community rights and customs.

Elections and Electoral Procedures in the Russian State in the 16th – 17th Centuries. receive legal registration and this was primarily due to the formation of a unified Moscow state. In 1497, a nationwide Code of Laws was adopted, according to which the powers of the elected bodies were expanded. In the first half of the XVI century. the system of local government is being reformed, new self-government bodies are being established - labial and zemstvo huts, which were elected bodies; a specific election procedure.

A special place among organs state power in the XVI - XVII centuries. are occupied by Zemsky Sobors, which were the estate-representative body, formed according to the principle of participation, according to position and socio-political status, as well as according to the principle of elective territorial and estate delegation. Zemsky councils elected kings, declared war or peace, approved taxes, appointed officials, etc., but they were not a permanent body, they were assembled as needed.

The most important events in the activity Zemsky Cathedrals there were elections of kings. The elections of tsars were held in 1598 - Boris Godunov was elected to the kingdom, in 1606 - Vasily Shuisky, in 1613 - Mikhail Romanov. The elections were held in an atmosphere of intense electoral struggle and were accompanied by widespread electoral campaigning. The procedure for the election of tsars was not formalized into a special procedure, but implied a special tactic for holding council meetings, appeals to the opinion of the population, and reaching compromises between boyar groups.

At the council meetings in 1645 and 1682. the election of tsars was replaced by the procedure for approving the legal heir to the throne, which meant the development of the estate-representative monarchy into an absolutist one.

XIX - early XX centuries. in Russia - this is the time of large-scale reforms in all spheres of state life. The reforms also affected the electoral law. Before the reforms of the 60s - 70s. XIX century. the concept of "electoral law" mainly refers to the institutions of estate and local self-government. These bodies (city councils, noble gatherings) were formed on the basis of census representation and age, property, social qualification. The electoral law in the pre-reform period had an extremely narrow field of application.

In the second half of the XIX century. following the peasant, zemstvo, city, judicial and other reforms, the formation of the electoral law system in Russia begins and the granting of electoral rights to broad strata of the population. Zemskaya reform of 1864 and city reform in 1870 entailed significant changes in the Russian electoral law. Zemstvos, as bodies of local self-government, were formed with the participation of all estates of the then Russian society. The electoral system was based on the principle of elections by estates. Voters were divided into three curiae: local landowners, peasant societies, and city dwellers who owned real estate. The elections were indirect. The congresses of representatives of each of the curiae elected a fixed number of vowels. County zemstvo assemblies elected the vowels of the provincial zemstvo assembly. Persons over 25 years of age were allowed to participate in the elections. Foreigners and persons convicted by a court sentence, under investigation or trial, could not participate in the elections.

According to the city reform, an all-estate system of city self-government was established. Elected bodies - city Dumas - received significant rights in solving many issues of urban life. Voters could be owners of trade and industrial establishments, all those who had certificates for entrepreneurial activity and who paid taxes to the city treasury. Various departments, institutions, societies, monasteries and churches that owned real estate in the city, represented by their representatives, also enjoyed the right to vote. Voters were required to have Russian citizenship and be at least 25 years old. Workers and artisans, all those who were engaged in mental labor and did not have real estate, were deprived of their voting rights.

All voters were divided into three curiae: large, medium and small taxpayers. Each curia paid a third of the city's taxes and elected a third of the vowels. The vote was secret. Proxy voting was allowed. The candidates who received more than half of the votes in the elections were considered elected. Moreover, the number of voters present at the meeting should have exceeded the number of elected vowels.

At the beginning of the XX century. v state structure Russia has undergone significant changes. Revolutionary events 1905 - 1907 forced the autocracy to make political concessions. For the first time in the history of Russia, a nationwide government body was created - the State Duma. The population received political rights, a multi-party system became a reality. All this led to changes in electoral law: a system of electoral legislation was formed, which determined the procedure for the formation of the State Duma and State Council... On October 17, 1905, Nicholas II's manifesto "On the improvement of state order" was promulgated, which proclaimed political freedoms.

Following the Manifesto, new legislative acts, which constituted the legal basis for the activities of the State Duma: Decree "On Amendments to the Regulation on Elections to the State Duma" (October 11, 1905), Manifesto "On Changing the Institution of the State Council" and revising the "Institution of the State Council" and revising the "Institution of the State Duma" ( February 20, 1906), as well as the new "Establishment of the State Duma" (Decree of February 20, 1906).

The electoral system established by the Decree of December 11, 1905 was the most progressive in Russian history until 1917, but still it was limited. The Russian electoral law lacked such principles as universality and equality. The elections were indirect, multi-stage, were of a class and qualification nature. The law established a high age limit: men who had reached the age of 25 were allowed to participate in the elections. Women did not receive the right to vote, as did the military, students, and nomadic peoples. Those convicted of crimes and those under investigation, etc. were not allowed to take part in the elections. Officials could not participate in them - governors and vice-governors and others, as well as police officers.

To participate in the elections, a property qualification was established, which did not allow significant strata of society, for example, workers, to participate.

All persons who received electoral rights were divided into several curiae, placed in different conditions. In the largest cities of the country, elections were two-stage, in the provinces, three-stage.

A four-stage election system was established for the peasants. The different quality of the stages of the electoral process led to the fact that the electors from the curiae represented a different number of voters. So in the landowning curia (landowners) one elector represented 2 thousand voters, in the city - 7 thousand, in the peasant - 30 thousand, in the working class - 90 thousand.

"Regulations on elections to the State Duma" of July 3, 1907 changed the electoral legislation. It deprived the residents of the outskirts of the country from voting rights, and the representation from cities was reduced. The electorate of the lower estates narrowed significantly. So in the peasant curia, one elector was now elected from 60 thousand, in the working class from 125 thousand (previously from 90 thousand). As a result, the percentage of voters dropped from 25 to 15%.

The February Revolution of 1917 marked the beginning of a new stage in the history of Russian electoral law and, although they did not last long, were a large-scale phenomenon for Russia. On the basis of the adopted legal acts regulating the electoral practice, the bodies of zemstvo and city self-government were democratically elected and elections to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly were held.

On May 27, 1917, the "Provisional Regulations on the Production of Elections of Provincial and Uyezd Zemstvo Vowels" and the Resolution "On the Volost Zemstvo Administration" were issued. Estate and property restrictions were canceled. The elections became general, equal and direct with secret ballot. Russian citizens of "both sexes of all nationalities and religions" who had reached 20 years of age were vested with active suffrage.

On October 2, 1917, the Provisional Government approved the "Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly". New law corresponded to the level of the advanced electoral laws of its time. It was envisaged to introduce a system of elections according to the lists nominated by political parties. For the first time in Russia, qualifications were abolished: property, literacy, settlement, as well as restrictions on national and religious grounds. The composition of voters was expanding - the right to vote was given to women, military personnel. Minimum age for participation in elections was set at 20 years. The deaf and dumb, those under guardianship, convicted by the court, insolvent debtors, military deserters, members of the royal family were deprived of the right to participate in elections.

For the conduct of elections, Russia was divided into territorial districts, polling stations were created. The “Regulations” determined the competence and procedure for the work of election commissions at all levels. A single form of ballot paper was established, each voter was given a personal identification card, upon presentation of which he was allowed to vote.

Thus, the electoral legislation of the period of a democratic republic in Russia was the most modern state-legal document at that time. On its basis, on November 12, 1917, a Constituent Assembly was elected, which, however, existed for a short time.

With the confirmation of the Bolsheviks in power and the dissolution Constituent Assembly the prospect of Russia's democratic development was lost. The tough one-party political system established in the country did not allow free elections. And although the electoral legislation of Soviet Russia included democratic principles for holding elections, in fact the elections were under the strict control of the authorities, and it was only in the post-Soviet period that electoral legislation began to develop on democratic principles.

Electoral laws of December 11, 1905

Parliament of autocratic Russia:
The State Duma
and its deputies,
1906 — 1917

Perm: Perm University Publishing House, 1995 .-- 168 p.

Russia in elections:
four steps from hope to apathy

Elections to the lower house of the Russian parliament were regulated by three main acts: "Regulations on elections to the State Duma" of August 6, 1905, decree "On amendments and additions to the Regulations on elections to the State Duma" of December 11, 1905 and "Regulations on elections to the State Duma "dated June 3, 1907. The evolution of electoral legislation, however, did not affect basic principles electoral system: multistage elections, combining the class principle with the non-class, qualification, territorial division of electoral districts. In all cases, women were denied the right to vote; men under 25; persons trained in educational institutions; military personnel; persons who have been prosecuted for the restriction or deprivation of the rights of the state; persons excluded from the ranks of class societies but the latter's sentences; foreign nationals.

Elections to the State Duma, according to the act of August 6, 1905, were to be held, firstly, by provinces and regions, and secondly, in 26 cities of the Russian Empire, for which direct representation in the Duma was introduced (St. Petersburg, Moscow, Astrakhan , Baku, Warsaw, Vilno, Voronezh, Yekaterinoslav, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kiev, Chisinau, Kursk, Lodz, Nizhny Novgorod, Odessa, Oryol, Riga, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saratov, Tashkent, Tiflis, Tula, Kharkov, Yaroslavl. In the first case, the deputies were elected at the provincial election meetings under the chairmanship of the provincial leader of the nobility, in the second - at the city election meetings under the chairmanship of the mayor.

The election of electors to the provincial electoral meetings was supposed to be carried out in three curiae: landowning, urban, and peasant.

At the congresses of county landowners (landowning curia), the right to vote was received by persons: a) those who owned or owned land for life in the county in the amount determined for each county (the full land qualification ranged from 100 dess. In the counties of the Volyn and Kiev provinces to 600 dec. in a number of districts of the Arkhangelsk province);

b) those who owned mining dachas in the county on the basis of possession;

c) who owned real estate other than land in the county (with the exception of commercial industrial enterprises) cost, according to the zemstvo estimate, not less than 15 thousand rubles;

d) authorized by owners who owned land and real estate in the amount of not less than a tenth of the full qualification established for the county;

e) authorized by the clergy. Commissioners from the last two categories were to be elected at preliminary congresses, one for each full qualification. In the Arkhangelsk province, the congresses of county landowners were not supposed, and those who had the right to vote could exercise it at the congresses of city voters. According to statistics from 1905, in 50 provinces of European Russia, 88.2% of owners owned land holdings of up to 100 dess. and only 11.8% - more than 100 dess. According to A.E. Lozitsky, about 490 thousand small owners out of 690 thousand: land holdings were less than 10 dess. At the congresses of city voters (city curia), the right to vote was given to persons: a) those who owned or owned life-long real estate within the urban settlements of the county with a value of at least 1,500 rubles, according to the zemstvo estimate;

b) who owned commercial and industrial enterprises on the territory of the county that required a selection of trade certificates of the first two categories for trade enterprises and the first five for industrial enterprises, or a shipping company from which the main trade tax was paid at least 50 rubles per year;

c) those who paid within the urban settlements of the county the state apartment tax for the tenth category and higher;

d) those who paid within the county the main trade tax on personal trade in the first category. The first two categories of commercial enterprises involved operations in the amount of more than 50 thousand rubles a year or a profit of more than 6 thousand rubles in the capitals and over 2 thousand rubles in the provinces. The first five categories of industrial enterprises included production with more than 15 workers (with the use of mechanical engines - more than 10 people), with a production volume of, for example, coal - over 400 thousand poods. per year, oil - more than 600 thousand poods, salt - more than 250 thousand poods. or with a profit of more than 2 thousand rubles per year.

The state apartment tax of the tenth category and higher implied payment in the capitals of at least 1,320 rubles a year, in most provincial cities at least 700 rubles, in middle-sized county towns at least 540 rubles.

In the district congresses of delegates from volosts (peasant curia), two delegates from each volost took part. Rural gatherings were sent to the volost meetings of their delegates - one from ten households. A similar system was envisaged for the Cossack villages.

Thus, in the early stages, the elections had to be largely of a class character. At the last stage, the provincial electoral meeting, electors from the three listed curiae elected the deputies of the State Duma. True, an exception was introduced for the peasantry and the Cossacks. In the provinces of European Russia, it was assumed that the electors from the peasant curia initially elect from among their midst a compulsory peasant deputy. The same applied to the provinces, where elections were scheduled from the Cossacks.

In cities with direct representation, Duma deputies were elected at city electoral meetings out of 160 electors in St. Petersburg and Moscow and out of 80 in other cities. For the election of electors, the electorate of these cities was divided into polling stations corresponding to the division of the city into police units.

The right to vote in these cities, with the exception of St. Petersburg and Moscow, was granted to the same categories of the population as in the congresses of city voters. A higher qualification was established for capitals. Electoral rights in them were received by: a) owners of real estate, assessed for taxation by city taxes in the amount of at least 3 thousand rubles;

b) owners of commercial enterprises of the first category; industrial - the first three categories; shipping companies from which the tax was paid at least 500 rubles per year. However, for the holders of all the listed qualifications, another one was established. Only those who owned real estate and commercial and industrial enterprises for at least one year, and paid the apartment tax for at least three years, were included in the voter lists.

On December 11, 1905, Nicholas II signed a decree "On Amendments and Additions to the Regulations on Elections to the State Duma". According to this decree, the right to vote in cities was given to all those who owned real estate that were subject to city taxes or city tax for at least a year; commercial and industrial enterprises requiring sampling of trade certificates; paid the state apartment tax or the main trade tax on personal trade; those who lived within cities and received maintenance or a civil service pension, in local government bodies, including estate; who occupied a separate apartment within the city in their own name.

Lowering the property qualification increased the urban electorate in European Russia and the Kingdom of Poland from 229575 to 2709458 people. However, even with such a more than tenfold increase, 10-15% of the urban population received voting rights, and even less in a number of cities: in Moscow - 4.8%, St. Petersburg - 5.1%, Odessa - 7, 1%.

The composition of the congresses of county landowners expanded at the expense of those who for at least a year, on the basis of official documents, managed estates equal in area to the full land qualification established for the county, or rented land under the same conditions. Abbots of churches and houses of worship were allowed to participate in the preliminary congresses, if the church or house of worship owned land in the county, as well as all small county owners who had owned land or other real estate for at least a year.

The right to elect electors to provincial and city electoral assemblies was given to workers of enterprises with at least fifty employees. From enterprises that employed from 50 to 1000 people, one representative was elected to the congress of authorized representatives from enterprises, and from more large enterprises- one more for every full thousand employed. In fact, this meant that one representative was elected at enterprises with 50 and 1999 workers. At the same time, persons who had worked at the enterprise for at least six months could be elected as authorized representatives.

In total, 412 members of the State Duma were to be elected from European Russia (without the Kingdom of Poland), and from the rest of the empire - 112. The right to directly elect deputies from European Russia received 5982 electors of provincial electoral meetings and 1,760 electors of city electoral meetings.

Of the total number of provincial electors, representatives of the peasant curia could count on 2,532 seats, or 42.3%. The greatest advantage to the electors from the peasant curia was given in the Vyatka province - 74%, Kazan - 70.5%, Stavropol - 70.2%. More than 50% of the seats for electors from the peasant curia were allotted in 15 provinces, and in 16 - peasant electors could count on a relative majority.

The electors from the landowning curia were assigned 1,956 seats in the provincial assemblies, or 32.7% (in the Poltava province - 60.2%, in the Minsk province - 54.8%, in another 13 provinces the representatives of this curia received a relative majority.

Congresses of urban voters at provincial assemblies were supposed to represent 1,343 electors, or 22.5% (in Moscow province - 68.5%, in Vladimir province - 52.2%, in three other provinces electors from cities received a relative majority).

The smallest representation was given to electors from the workers' curia - 151 seats, or 2.5%. The electors from the workers' curia were also assigned 56 seats at city electoral assemblies (3.2% of the total electors in cities with direct representation).

The estates laid down in the foundation of the electoral system led to the fact that there was one elector for about 2,000 landowners, 4,000 townspeople, 30,000 peasants and Cossacks, 90,000 workers.

The compositions of the first two Dumas opposed to the autocracy, formed as a result of the elections under the electoral law on August 6 / December 11, 1905, predetermined the fate of this law. Already in May 1906, the chairman of the Council of Ministers I.A. Goremykin instructed the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs S.E. Kryzhanovsky to develop a draft of a new electoral law. But for fear of a repetition of the events of December 1905, the authorities did not dare to change the electoral law after the dissolution of the first Duma. Considering the situation in the country, I.L. Goremykin believed in June 1906 that "Now there is nothing left to do but dissolve the Duma, then convene it again, influencing the elections by all possible means, and if this does not help, then again dissolve the Duma and issue a new electoral law"... It was according to this scenario that further events unfolded. By May 1907 S.E. Kryzhanovsky developed three draft electoral laws. In May, the Council of Ministers approved the draft, which the participants in the discussion themselves defined as "shameless" .

On June 3, 1907, along with the manifesto and decree on the dissolution of the second Duma, a new "Regulation on elections to the State Duma" was promulgated. The publication of a new electoral law bypassing the Duma and the State Council was a violation of the Basic Laws and was perceived by the opposition as a coup d'etat.

Let's highlight the most fundamental changes in the electoral system. The single city curia was divided into two categories. In the first congress of urban voters, the right to vote was received by: a) those who owned at least a year within the urban settlements of the county on the basis of ownership or lifetime ownership of real estate, assessed for taxation by city or zemstvo taxes in provincial cities and cities with a population of more than 20 thousand people in the amount of not less than 1000 rubles, in other cities - at least 300 rubles;

b) those who owned commercial and industrial enterprises in urban settlements of the county or on the territory of the county that required a selection of trade certificates of the first two categories for trade enterprises and the first five for industrial ones, or a shipping company from which the main trade tax was paid at least 50 rubles per year. The second congress of urban voters made up the rest of the city electorate, which received the right to vote on the basis of a decree on December 11, 1905. High-ranking elements of cities, and there were about half a million people in Russia, elected 788 electors to provincial election meetings (i.e. 15.1% their composition), and the 8 million electorate of the second congresses of urban voters - 590 electors (11.2%). For a more concrete idea of ​​the ratio of the electorates of the first and second congresses of urban voters, let us point out that in the Bessarabian province there were 1948 owners of the first two categories of commercial enterprises and the first five industrial enterprises, as well as persons who paid the main trade tax on personal trade - 19,787 people, in the Vladimir province. - respectively 1888 and 15537 people, in Vyatka - 1856 and 18556 people, Ekaterinoslavskaya - 3843 and 25580 people, Kazan - 1866 and 17010 people.

According to the new electoral law, the number of cities with direct representation also sharply decreased, there are only seven of them left (St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, Kiev, Lodz, Odessa, Riga). City electoral assemblies were also divided by property qualification into two categories, electing three deputies in St. Petersburg, two in Moscow, and one in other cities. In these cities, direct voting was introduced, which deprived workers from participation in city electoral meetings. In Moscow, 6674 people received the right to vote in the city electoral assembly of the first category, 39755 people in the second category, i.e. 46429 people in total. During the first elections, 56,428 people could use voting rights in Moscow, during the second election campaign - 54,866 people.

In addition to removing workers from electoral assemblies in cities with direct representation, the new law prohibited workers who had the right to vote in their curia from including landowners and townspeople on the congresses, even if they had established qualifications. Persons assigned to the composition of rural and volost societies were not subject to inclusion in the voter lists from landowners and townspeople. Could not participate in the elections for the landowning curia and the peasants who bought their allotments.

The law of June 3, 1907 sharply reduced the electorate of the national borderlands. More than eight million inhabitants of the Central Asian part of Russia, the Yakutsk region, the Kyrgyz and Kalmyks who roamed in the Astrakhan and Stavropol provinces, the Siberian Cossack army were deprived of voting rights. According to the previous "Regulations on elections", this part of the empire elected 26 deputies. The representation in the Duma and in Siberia as a whole was reduced - from 11 to 8 deputies. The Caucasus lost 19 seats (10 instead of 29), the Kingdom of Poland - 23 (14 instead of 37). Thus, the representation from the provinces of the non-European part of the Russian Empire was reduced from 105 to 32, i.e. for 73 deputies. Moreover, the law provided for special representation for the Russian population of the Baltic States, the Kingdom of Poland and the Caucasus: one deputy each from Transcaucasia, the Kovno province, as well as one deputy from the Orthodox population of the Lublin and Sedletsky provinces. As a result, in Transcaucasia, the Russian population, numbering 217,945 people, elected one deputy, 954,498 Cossacks - two, and more than seven and a half million indigenous population- seven.

S.E. Kryzhanovsky supplemented the world theory of electoral law by introducing articles into the text of the law, according to which the Minister of Internal Affairs was able to divide the congresses of voters by district, ethnicity, categories according to the type and size of the qualification, thereby creating an advantage for average landowners over small, entrepreneurial elements before the urban intelligentsia, the Russians and the Orthodox before the rest.

The redistribution of representation in the provincial election meetings between the curiae was of a fundamental nature. Comparing the data on such representation, fixed by the electoral laws of 1905 and 1907, we get the following results for 50 provinces of European Russia. In the first case, the electors from the landowning curia were given 32.7% of seats in the provincial assemblies, in the second - 49.6%; from the peasant - 42.3 and 21.8, respectively; from the city - 22.5 and 26.3; from the worker - 2.5 and 2.3.

The revolution of 1905-1907, the active participation of the rural population in it demonstrated that the view of the peasantry as a reliable social support to the throne was erroneous, and its political conservatism clearly exaggerated. Most of the deputies from the peasant curia, united in the Trudovik faction, showed themselves in the first two Dumas as a very leftist opposition to the existing order. Realization by the autocracy of a perfect mistake led to a very real defeat of the peasant curia. The number of electors of provincial electoral assemblies from district congresses of delegates from volosts decreased by more than half (by 56%), and in a number of provinces this reduction was even more significant. So, in the Perm, Orenburg, Simbirsk, Orel, Kherson provinces the reduction was more than 60%, in the Astrakhan, Voronezh and Tambov provinces - more than 70%, and in the most "peasant" provinces, such as Vyatka, Tobolsk, Tomsk, - more than 80% ...

At the stage of provincial election meetings, the class factor grew in importance. The electoral system of 1905 provided for obligatory peasant deputies, elected as electors from the peasant curia. The law of June 3, 1907 provided for the election by the provincial assemblies of one deputy from the congresses of delegates from volosts and villages, from the landowning curia, in 25 cities from electors from the first and second categories of urban voters, in six provinces (St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vladimir , Ekaterinoslavskaya, Kostroma, Kharkovskaya) from the workers' curia. And only after that did the provincial assembly re-elect the number of deputies assigned to it, regardless of their “curial origin”. The clear predominance of electors from the landowning curia at these meetings significantly reduced the chances of victory for opposition candidates from peasants, townspeople and workers.

Listing the "advantages" of the new system, S.Ye. Kryzhanovsky noted that "In addition to its simplicity and stability" she gave “The ability to predetermine the number of representatives from each class of the population, thus establishing the composition of the Duma in accordance with the types of government power« (bold by us. - I.K., M.L. ) .

Subsequently, numerous attempts were made to "improve" the creation of S.Ye. Kryzhanovsky, but they all turned out to be ineffectual. Perhaps the most "delicate" was the proposal of the chief manager of agriculture and land management A.V. Krivoshein on the partial annual renewal of the composition of the State Duma. In a "completely confidential" note discussed in the Council of Ministers on January 5, 1912, the author noted that "The existing members of the Third Duma now, after five years of their experience within the walls of the Tauride Palace, are, in fact, the only Russian people from the non-serving, and perhaps even the serving class, prepared for further legislative work." However, in his opinion, "It would be imprudent to rely on the fact that they will be elected to the fourth Duma." With this in mind, as well as the benefits of a partial update such as "Continuity of work, great experience of chambers, great stability political life», A.V. Krivoshein considered it necessary to submit the relevant bills to the State Duma and the State Council, "Having secured in advance the consent of the majority of the members of the said institutions» .

The electoral law of June 3, 1907 was absolutely logical within the framework of the new political system, which, by the way, he gave its name to. The fragility of the electoral legislation in the form in which it was developed by the end of 1905 was predetermined primarily by the fact that it did not fit into any system. The absurdity of the situation was that the norms regulating the election process turned out to be developed earlier than the legislative characteristics of the representative institution where the elections were supposed to be held appeared.

Election campaigns to the State Duma were held four times in Russia. The first two took place during a revolutionary crisis (March - April 1906 and January - February 1907), the last two fell on a period of relative political stability (September - October 1907 and September - October 1912). The change in the situation in the country was one of the decisive factors that influenced the evolution electoral behavior the population, and on the degree of activity of political parties in election campaigns, and on the extent of the intervention of the executive power in the course of elections. Sources do not allow to compare with sufficient completeness all election campaigns on equal grounds. Therefore, in the further presentation, we will focus primarily on the analysis of the results of the elections to the third State Duma. It is in relation to these elections that the most complete statistical information of an official nature is available. However, this data, published four years after the election campaign, is not comprehensive. The official collection includes materials only on 50 provinces of European Russia and the Don Cossack region and only on the election of Duma deputies through provincial electoral meetings.

Total number of persons who received the right to participate in elections in the provinces of European Russia amounted to 3,528,378 people, or 3% of the total population (excluding residents of cities with direct representation), or 16% of all men over 25 years old.

The elections of representatives at volost gatherings and stanitsa meetings, at preliminary congresses of small property owners and church rectors were held from September 1 to September 15, 1907; the election of electors at the county congresses of representatives from volosts, landowners, city voters - in the period from September 20 to 30; provincial election meetings were held on October 14, and in nine provinces on October 19.

Landowning curia. 276,003 people were included in the electoral lists of the preliminary congresses of this curia. Small landowners dominated in the composition of these congresses - 195887 people (71%). Owners of other real estate were counted in the lists of 49346 people (17.9%), representatives of the clergy - 30797 (11.1%). The latter category made up the majority in the lists of two provinces - Arkhangelsk (75%) and Kazan (more than 50%). The most numerous were the preliminary congresses in the Poltava (17951), Kherson (17024), Bessarabian (15434) provinces, and the least representative in the Courland (137), Astrakhan (165), Livonia (399) provinces.

Of the total number of voters included in the lists of preliminary congresses, 27,623 people (10%) came to the polls. The highest voter turnout was noted in the Astrakhan (44%), Podolsk (42%), Kiev (38%) provinces. In total, at the preliminary congresses, 5857 delegates were elected out of 7270 who were required to participate in the county congresses of landowners (15.4% of seats were allotted to the delegates from small proprietors and rectors of churches in county congresses. Among the elected delegates, only 12.3% expressed oppositional sentiments (9% - cadets and 3.3% - to the left of the cadets).

As in the previous elections, the percentage of those who attended the preliminary congresses was the lowest in comparison with other categories of voters. During the first elections, 15.4% of the delegates who received the right to be elected took part in the preliminary congresses, and during the second election campaign - 12%. For the sake of objectivity, we note that the absenteeism of small proprietors was not always deliberate. Quite often, the reasons for the electoral passivity of this category of voters were explained by the fact that the owners of small land holdings were peasants who, as a rule, lived on the borders of the county or even outside of it. It was very, very difficult for many to get out of their bearish corners to the district center.

During the election campaign for the third Duma, the division of preliminary congresses was widely practiced. In the districts of most provinces, three preliminary congresses were organized: for church rectors; for persons who owned at least one fifth of the full qualification; for everyone else. In counties with a significant number of small owners, the barrier was set at the level of a tenth of the full qualification. In most of the western provinces, separate congresses of small owners of Polish origin were held.

By organizing separate abbot congresses, the executive branch killed two birds with one stone.

First, this measure contributed to the formation of a more right-wing composition of the landowning curia. Indicative in this respect is the document sent out by Bishop Stephen of Mogilev to the clergy of his diocese. In a kind of pre-election circular, the bishop emphasized that the electoral law of June 3, 1907 placed the clergy in favorable conditions, although “It is easier for the government than for any other class of the population to deprive Orthodox clergy his electoral rights under the pretext that the canons of the Orthodox Church itself prohibit the participation of the clergy in worldly affairs. " Such punishment may follow, Stephen warned, if the clergy do not justify the government's confidence and send persons like "To those degenerates of the spiritual class, who declared themselves from the side of belonging to the left" .

Secondly, the stake on the clergy ensured an effective outcome of the preliminary congresses themselves. So, out of 230 individual abbot congresses, only 12 (5.2%) did not take place, and out of 493 preliminary congresses, in the lists of which only laymen were listed, 302 (61.3%) did not take place. At 53 congresses with a mixed composition, priests secured a quorum on 50 occasions. As a result of the activity of this category in 11 Central Russian provinces, 915 delegates were elected from the clergy, and only 276 from other categories.

The practice of separating the preliminary congresses was developed during the fourth elections. Acquaintance with concrete examples of such actions of the administration gives the impression that the latter did not even care about elementary decency. In the Oryol province, in some counties, the barrier was established at the level of a third of the full qualification, in others - a quarter, in the third - a fifth, in the fourth - a tenth. A similar situation was observed in the Vitebsk, Saratov, Tambov, Ufa provinces.

And again special meaning was attached to the church electorate. In more than 70% of the counties, separate abbots' congresses were envisaged. To guide the "election campaign" of the clergy, the Synod sent an official on special assignments, Prince V.N. Shakhovsky. For failure to appear at the preliminary congresses of priests, various penalties were envisaged. The diocesan congress of one of the districts of the Kasimovsky district of the Ryazan province decided to fine those who avoided participating in the elections, "As for treason to the cause of the Orthodox Church." In the Bendery district of the Bessarabian province, the priests signed up to undertake "Come to the polls, if not, then pay a fine of 50 rubles in favor of the widows and orphans of the district and be tried by comrades"... Such actions led to the fact that more than 80% of the delegates elected at the preliminary congresses in the provinces of European Russia were priests. A record figure was achieved in the Vyatka province - almost all of the commissioners were representatives of the clergy.

30673 persons with full qualifications were included in the electoral lists of county congresses of landowners in the elections to the third Duma. The main category among them was landowners - 29,436 people (96%). This was followed by the owners of real estate other than land - 1184 (3.8%) and the owners of mining dachas - 53 (0.2%). The second category was represented in 33 provinces of European Russia, and the third - only in three (Novgorod, Orenburg and Perm provinces). The division of congresses was carried out in some counties of 15 provinces.

Of the 37,943 potential members of county congresses, 16048 people (42%) took part in the elections. The greatest activity was shown by landowners in the Grodno, Kiev, Minsk, Podolsk provinces (from 62 to 67%), the least - in the Orenburg and Don Cossacks region (from 10 to 20%). As expected, the opposition political forces suffered a crushing defeat in the landowning curia: 77.3% of those elected to the provincial assemblies were Octobrists, moderate and right-wing (in the elections to the first Duma this figure was 48.5%, in the second - 70.5% ). The Cadets were rapidly losing ground from election to election. If in the elections to the first Duma they were able to hold 22.6% of the electors, then in the elections to the second - already 9.2%, and in the third - only 5.4%.

Peasant curia. The total number of members of volost assemblies who received the right to participate in the election of representatives in the elections to the third Duma was 1,494,751 people. In terms of the number of voters of the peasant curia, the leading position was occupied by the Stavropol (86,846 people) and Perm (66,970) provinces. Olonets (7275), St. Petersburg (8E56) and Arkhangelsk (9531) provinces have the last positions on this indicator. Out of 10,842 volosts and Cossack villages, elections of delegates did not take place in 970 cases (8.9%). However, only in the Moscow province was a 100% result achieved - the elections were successfully held in all 168 volosts. In total, 972,639 people, or 65%, took part in the election of the commissioners (72% in January 1907).

The peasants of the Moscow (85%), Kiev (77%), St. Petersburg and Grodno (75%) provinces participated most actively in the voting, the least - Tauride (36%), Vilenskaya (37%), Simbirsk (48%), Bessarabian (49%) provinces. In other districts, from 50 to 75% of the voters of the peasant curia took part in the voting. In the elections held in the volosts, 19,426 delegates were elected to county congresses (91% of the required number).

17,588 people (91%) took part in the election of electors in the district congresses of delegates from volosts and Cossack villages. According to rough estimates, the opposition (Cadets, left-wing progressives, socialists) had only 11.3% of the vote, the conservative part of the delegates numbered 58.1%, and 30.6% of the congresses were non-partisan. The given data are approximate not only because of their incompleteness, but also because of inadequate statements by a significant part of the representatives of their political orientations. This is eloquently evidenced by the voting results, from which it follows that the left won 18.8% of the seats among the electors, the progressives - 14.2%, the cadets - 3.9%, the moderate and right - 42.6%, the non-party - 20.5 %. And this is with the absolute majority of the delegates who declared themselves moderate and right-wing, with significant interference from the authorities in the organization and course of the elections (in 19 counties of six provinces with a mixed ethnic composition of the population, Russians elected electors separately)! However, compared to the previous elections, the results were still fundamentally different. A feature of the first election campaign was the predominance of non-party electors from county congresses - 79.7%. In the second elections, the opposition in the peasant environment was able to hold 59.1% of its electors (the left - 28.8%, progressives - 25.9%, cadets - 4.4%).

At the same time, in each election campaign, conservative forces strengthened their positions in the peasant curia. If in March 1906 they were forced to settle for 6.1% of the seats among the electors from the peasant curia, then in January 1907 they achieved a result of 28.6%, and in September 1907, as already noted, the moderate and right-wing were able to hold 42.6% of their representatives to the provincial assemblies.

Urban Curia: First Congresses of Urban Voters. In total, in European Russia (excluding cities with direct representation), the electorate of the first city congresses numbered 149,257 people, among whom were dominated by property owners - 120,399 people (81%). The owners of commercial and industrial enterprises constituted a relatively large category of voters in the region of the Don Army (42.1% of the total electorate of the first city congresses), Yekaterinoslavskaya, Grodno, and Taurida provinces. The most representative first city congresses were in the Volyn, Kiev, Grodno, Minsk provinces.

In those counties where it was supposed to elect more than one elector from the congresses to the provincial assemblies, the division was carried out according to the localities of the county (7 cases) and ethnicity (in 39 cases, including in all counties that were part of the Jewish settlement line). Three congresses were held in the Minsk district, electing one elector each. The first included 154 Russians, 6 Tatars, 11 Germans, the other - 241 Poles, the third - 844 Jews. It is quite obvious that if the general meeting was held, the chances of the Conservatives to hold at least one of their electors would be scanty. The authorities applied a similar dividing approach during the elections to the Fourth Duma.

54,591 people (37%) took part in the election of electors. The highest voter turnout was observed in Grodno (67%), Estland (63%), Kiev (66%), Minsk (56%) provinces, the lowest - in Kherson (12%) and Astrakhan (16%) provinces. In a number of county towns, it was not difficult to achieve a high percentage of participation in elections. For example, in the voter lists for the first city congress in Solvychegodsk there were 3 people, Gorodishche - 4, Novorzhev - 7.

Urban Curia: Second Congresses of Urban Voters. 832365 people were included in the voter lists of the second city congresses. This category of the electorate was subdivided according to the type of qualification into the following groups: owners of real estate - 340063 people (40.9%), owners of commercial and industrial enterprises - 115167 (13.8%), persons who paid the apartment tax - 122,218 (14.7%), tenants who did not pay the tax - 45328 (5.5%), persons who paid the main trade tax on personal fishing activities - 58627 (7.0%), persons who received maintenance or a pension - 150962 (18.1%). The most representative electorate of the second congresses was in the Kherson (43003 people), Kiev (41020), Podolsk (39516) provinces.

The division of congresses was carried out in 39 counties. The most common reason for such an operation was the desire of the administration to provide an advantage to the Russian voters (in 25 cases). In Bialystok 112 Russians elected one elector, and 5789 Poles and Jews - two. The same thing happened in all the districts included in the Jewish Pale of Settlement, as well as in the territories where the Russian part of the electorate was a minority.

271,004 people (33%) took part in the elections. Only in two provinces - Kurland and Estland - more than half of the voters voted, and in the Kursk and Kherson provinces less than a quarter of voters exercised their rights. Meanwhile, 50.5% of urban voters took part in the first elections, and 59.4% in the second.

The more democratic composition of the second congresses also predetermined the more oppositional composition of electors elected from this category of the electorate to the provincial assemblies. If the privileged voters of the first congresses held 43.2% of the representatives of the Octobrist-conservative bloc as electors, then the voters of the second congresses - only 18.9%. This bloc gained about the same number (15.2 and 16.1%) in the last elections. The Cadets received 39.2% of the vote at the second congresses and 27.7% at the first. And again, attention is drawn to the fact that in the last elections the Cadets in the cities received about the same number of votes - 39%. On the whole, the city electorate remained constant in its political predilections, but dividing it into two categories helped the authorities to get a more acceptable electoral base.

Working curia. The right to elect delegates to the provincial congresses was given to 2,932 factory enterprises and railway workshops, which employed 1,067,031 people. Of the total number of workers, 745333 people (69.9%) could participate in the elections. In September 1907, elections were held at 1935 enterprises. In 997 cases (34%) the elections did not take place or ended in vain. A total of 157879 people (21.2%) took part in the voting. They elected 2091 delegates. 1,732 people arrived at the provincial congresses of authorized representatives from enterprises. The most active election of electors took place in Vilna (93%), Kurland (76%), Kherson (74%) provinces. In 16 provinces, less than 20% of the delegates took part in the voting.

Despite the fact that the attitude of the workers to the elections, starting from the second election campaign, became more and more conscious, and the elections themselves were of a pronounced party character, the workers-voters were not particularly active. Even in January 1907, in the event of the most massive participation of workers in the elections, 24 to 33% of the workers exercised their right to vote in the election of delegates. In March 1906, workers of 227 enterprises in St. Petersburg province (54%) responded to the calls of the left-wing parties to boycott the elections, including in St. Petersburg itself, 133 enterprises (49%) did not take part in the elections of delegates, - 40 enterprises (70%). The situation was similar in other industrial centers: in Kharkov province, 50.5% of enterprises boycotted the elections, in Kostroma - 36.1%, in Kherson - 33.6%, in Moscow - 22.3%. Quite often, the workers showed their negative attitude towards the elections to the first Duma in a mocking form: at the St. Petersburg plant of Bauman, a dog named Rose was chosen, at the Balakirev plant and the Moscow printing house of Kushnarev, the deaf and dumb were elected, there was a precedent in Moscow for election to the commissioners and the factory pipe. If we ignore these extreme cases, then, as a rule, the workers' curia elected the left-wing electorate to the provincial assemblies. During the second election campaign, 96.5% of the electors from the workers' curia declared their socialist orientation, during the third - 92.9.

Provincial election meetings. In total, 5150 electors out of 5241 determined by law were elected in European Russia during the third campaign. In social terms, the provincial electorate can be characterized as follows. The predominant class group were nobles - 1896 people (36.8%), followed by peasants - 1244 (24.2%), clergy - 631 (12.3%), merchants - 395 (7.7%), philistines - 320 (6.2%), hereditary citizens - 318 (6.2%). The overwhelming majority of the electors were of the Orthodox faith - 4307 people (83.7%). There were 942 (18.3%) persons under the age of 35, 1883 (36.6%) from 35 to 45, 1493 (29%) from 45 to 55, 726 (14.1%) over 55 ... Among the electors, persons with lower and home education prevailed - 2201 people (42.8%), 1474 people (28.6%) received secondary education, 1473 (42.6%) received higher education. There were 995 landowners engaged exclusively in agriculture (19.3%), farmers - 968 (18.8%), persons in the public service - 813 (15.8%), in the public service - 634 (12, 3%), Orthodox priests- 587 (11.4%), persons engaged in commercial and industrial activities (including workers) - 475 (9.2%), persons in the free professions - 397 (7.7%).

An analysis of the social characteristics of electors from various curia allows us to highlight the social priorities of the main categories of the Russian electorate. Voters of the landowning curia gave preference to noblemen with secondary education who received income from Agriculture and with experience in government or public service. The representatives of the volosts were guided by peasants with a lower education, who were engaged in agricultural labor. Among the electors from the first city congresses, persons of merchant rank with a lower or home education, associated with commercial and industrial activities, prevailed, and among the electors from the second congresses, noblemen with higher education, who devoted themselves to free professions, prevailed. The working electorate was guided by young people of peasant origin with a lower education, who were employed.

Comparison of the social characteristics of the electors of European Russia and the characteristics of the 387 deputies elected by them allows, to a certain extent, to judge what social characteristics the provincial electors were guided by, what qualities they preferred. The difference between the proportion of a particular attribute in the composition of electors and deputies may indicate such priorities. Differences of a fundamental nature were recorded for such parameters as class and nationality, religion, level of education, occupation. The proportion of the nobility rose sharply in the composition of the deputies (49.6% and 36.8%, respectively). The share of clergymen remained stable (12.7% and 12.2%). On the contrary, the representation of other estates decreased, first of all, of the merchants (2.1% and 7.7%). The share of Orthodox Christians changed by 5.3 points (88.9% and 83.6%), Russians - by 6 points (88.6% and 82.6%). A 15.6 point difference was recorded for people with higher education (44.2% and 28.6%), and a 13.5 point difference characterized a decrease in the share of people with lower education (29.2% and 42.7%). On the basis of "occupation", there was an increase in the proportion of such categories as public (20.9% and 15.8%) and public service (15.8% and 12.3%). The share of Orthodox priests (11.6% and 11.4%) and persons of free professions (7.8% and 7.7%) remained stable. The share of all other categories decreased: farmers - by 4.9 points (13.9% and 18.8%), persons engaged in trade and industrial activities - by 4.5 points (4.7% and 9.2%), landowners - by 2 points (17.3% and 19.3%). Thus, the provincial electors were guided mainly by the nobles with higher education, who had experience in public or state service.

Politically, the provincial electors of the deputies of the Third Duma turned out to be much more moderate than their predecessors, but nevertheless more oppositional than their counterparts in 1912. The electors of the left orientation had 466 votes or 9.1% at the provincial assemblies (in the first, second, and fourth campaigns, respectively 0.4; 21.4; 9.0%). There were 652 cadets among the provincial electors, or 12.7% (14.2; 14.7; 8.1%). The best result for all election campaigns was achieved by the Octobrists, who, together with political forces close to them, had 1,046 votes, or 20.3% (4.4; 7.9; 8.9%). Conservative political forces confidently strengthened their positions from election to election. There were 2,432 electors with a similar orientation, or 47.2% (9.3; 28.9; 62.0%).

The success of the right was to a large extent facilitated, on the one hand, by the change in the electoral law that was beneficial to them, and on the other, by the increasing interference of the authorities in the course of the elections, on the other. The first election campaign was distinguished by relative freedom, although during the elections from 87 provinces and regions of Russia (except Finland) 60 were declared in a state of one of the types of state of emergency (30 in whole and 30 in parts). The latter did not prevent at first Nicholas II in a letter to S.Yu. Witte on April 15, 1906, to reproach the dignitary for "The complete abstinence of all authorities from the election campaign", and then at the beginning of June, the new chairman of the Council of Ministers to blame his predecessor for not ensuring proper control over the elections and assembling instead of the Chamber of Deputies "Dirty scum of the population, rallied in a band of robbers" .

During the second election campaign, the administration tried to ensure "proper control" through restrictive clarifications by the Senate of the decree of December 11, 1905 (it was primarily the peasants who were "explained" at the congresses of landowners; the disadvantage of which was that they acquired land with the assistance of the Peasant Bank, and the tenants in city congresses, the apartments of which, according to the administration, did not fit the definition separate: did not have a separate entrance, communicated with other rooms in the house, food was prepared in a common kitchen, etc.), removal from the elections of deputies of the first Duma (due to criminal prosecution of the persons who signed the Vyborg Appeal, 180 members of the first convocation were deprived of their voting rights ), the creation of government parties (legalization of the Union on October 17 and the Union of the Russian People), the preparation of a suitable composition of electors (arrests of "unwanted" candidates for electors, cassation, at least, 70 elections and 225 electors), etc. ...

In the course of the third elections, along with the already tested methods of influence, a new one was applied, which consisted in the fact that the voter lists could be published only with the approval of the Deputy Minister of the Interior after checking them in a special department of this department. First of all, the authorities tried to exclude opposition leaders from the lists. A few hours before the elections, the well-known cadet leader V.M. Hesse on the grounds that he did not have an apartment qualification for the county. As a deputy of the second Duma, V.M. Hesse, for quite objective reasons, had to live in Petersburg. The highest authority found such an exclusion illegal, but the elections have already taken place. An attempt was made to deprive the cadet leader P.N. Milyukov. His "offense" was that he did not live "in fact" for a whole year in his apartment, although the apartment was under the contract and belonged to him. However, in addition to the housing qualification, P.N. Milyukov also possessed a trade, which retained his electoral rights.

The scale "Exceptional administrative impact" For the elections to the Fourth Duma, the leader of the Octobrists A.I. Guchkov, who said that the government wants representatives with the label to enter the Duma: "Permitted by the Governor and Permitted by the Synod", and therefore "In the fourth Duma, legislative work should fade into the background," for the Octobrists "Must first of all protest against the falsification of the people's representation"... (By the way, a similar request was made by the cadets. It contained 130 typewritten pages and was read over several hours.)

During the fourth election campaign, the local administration clearly accepted the "theory" of the Nizhny Novgorod governor A.N. Khvostov, which he developed at the beginning of September 1912 at a meeting with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers V.N. Kokovtsov. In his opinion, the governors not only should, but could "To get into the Duma only those whom they want." Having set such a goal, A.N. Tails, it was impossible "Hesitate in the choice of means." He recommended to his colleagues "not to pay attention to the shouts of the press and not to be afraid of complaints about the incorrectness of the elections."

Such actions of the authorities quite often forced many electors to hide their real political convictions under the guise of non-partisanship or declare themselves to be supporters of a more right-wing orientation than they really were. It is significant that five deputies of the third convocation, who passed from the peasant curia, declared themselves right in the elections, registered in the Duma in more left-wing factions, four more joined non-party ones.

At first glance, the results of the elections of deputies of the third Duma from the provincial electoral assemblies look unexpected. 150 Octobrists and Peaceful Renovators close to them became parliamentarians, which constituted 38.8% of the 387 members of the Duma from the provinces of European Russia. The Octobrists themselves were able to hold 145 of their candidates (37.5%). Not a single political force could come close to this indicator. The Cadets held 39 deputies (10.1%), the Social Democrats - 11 (2.8%), and in general, political formations that held more left-wing positions in comparison with the Octobrists and Peaceful Renovators received 92 seats in the Duma (23.7%) ... The Conservatives were able to hold 145 deputies (37.5%). However, this indicator, in our opinion, does not give grounds to repeat, following many liberal and socialist-minded contemporaries, as well as Soviet historians, the thesis about the right-wing, let us emphasize, Black-Hundred danger for Russia at that time. Conservative deputies did not represent a “monolith,” in the Duma they were divided into three factions (moderate right, nationalist, right) and did not always vote in unison. Those who can be identified as Black Hundreds, united in the faction of the right, went to the Duma from the provincial assemblies 53 people (13.7%). The moderate right got 66 seats (17.1%). The Octobrist bloc with the moderates predetermined the outcome of the elections to the third Duma.

The provincial electors gave preference to the Octobrist party, which in those conditions held the position of a political center. The Cadets in 1907, although they were already striving to occupy a place in the same center, were still perceived by the public and the authorities as a party with a pronounced left-liberal orientation. Feeling this, P.N. Miliukov, in his articles in Rech, declared that his party had finally acquired the moral right to say that "She and all of Russia have enemies on the left." But at the same time, he divided the "enemies on the left" into two categories: those who "Replaces the work of political struggle with the work of general destruction", meaning anarchists, maximalists, etc., and social democrats, the criticism of which was not entirely intelligible. However, in response to this statement, P.N. Milyukov, the Social Democrats proclaimed their main task in the elections "war with the Cadets." But, when in the conditions of excitement about the "right danger" the cadet A.A. Stakhovich, who hastily arrived in St. Petersburg to establish "technical unions" between the Octobrists and the Cadets, and the Octobrists demanded that the Cadets completely break with the Left, the Party of People's Freedom did not dare to agree to such an alliance. The Cadets believed that no "left danger" threatened the Third Duma and that it would be a big mistake to cut off the socialists from parliamentary activity. The position of the party of people's freedom between a rock and a hard place could not but be reflected in the disastrous outcome of the elections for it.

The provision of the third June law on obligatory deputies from the curia gave political struggle a very tense character, as a result of which the Octobrists in almost all categories were able to achieve either an absolute or a relative majority. When electing deputies from the landowning curia, they ran 26 of their candidates (52%), while the conservatives - only 14 (28%), including the extreme right - 6 (12%). From the peasant curia, the Octobrists held 17 deputies (30.9%), as many as the moderate right. From the first congress of urban voters, the Octobrists held 13 deputies (44.8%), from the second - 18 (36.7%).

During the elections of deputies from two more categories, very characteristic results were recorded. From the workers' curia, all six deputies were Social Democrats. From the Russian population of the three provinces passed two rightists and one nationalist. In both cases, the election results showed that there were simply no electors with other political orientations in these curiae.

In 45 provinces, in addition to the election of mandatory deputies from the curia, 194 parliamentarians were elected by the general composition of the assemblies, regardless of which curia the candidates were elected to the provincial assemblies. And here the Octobrists achieved relative success, having won 71 of their deputies (36.6%). The moderate right got 34 seats (17.5%), the right - 33 (17.0%), the nationalists - 18 (9.3%), the cadets - 15 (7.7%).

Let us consider elections in cities with spicy representation using the example of Moscow. 46,429 voters of the capital were divided according to the size and type of qualification between the first (6674 people) and the second (39755 people) congresses. Householders dominated the lists of the first congress - 6507 people (97.5%). There were 167 owners of commercial and industrial establishments (2.5%). The lists of the second congress of householders included 327 people (0.8%), owners of commercial and industrial enterprises - 7105 (17.9%), employees of commercial and industrial establishments - 12511 (31.5%), employees of state and public institutions - 10519 (26.5%), landlords who paid the tax - 8480 (2.3%), tenants who did not pay the tax - 685 (1.5%), pensioners - 128 (0.3%).

Compared to the previous elections, the Moscow electorate has declined significantly. The lists of the first election campaign included 56,428 people, the second - 54866. The reduction affected the tenants who did not pay the tax to the greatest extent. If in March 1906 8714 representatives of this category of the electorate were included in the lists, then in January 1907 - 2275 people ( vivid example consequences of the Senate clarification), and in September 1907, as already noted, only 685.

The activity of certain categories of the Moscow electorate of the second congress was as follows: tenants who did not pay taxes - 93.3% (in the first and second election campaigns - 64.5 and 91.6%, respectively), pensioners - 88.0%, - industrial establishments - 73.6% (82.0 and 75.9%), employees of state and public institutions - 72.9% (78.0 and 77.8%), owners of commercial and industrial enterprises - 63.2% (73.4 and 68.2%), landlords who paid the tax - 61.1% (75.4 and 67.6%), property owners - 48.9% (63.2 and 62.2%).

The Octobrists won the elections in the first congress, having led two of their candidates to the Duma; in the second congress, the Cadets achieved a similar result. At the elections in April 1906, Moscow sent three Cadets and one Social Democrat to the Duma, in February 1907 - four Cadets, and the same number in November 1912.

It should be emphasized that in cities with direct representation, it was the People's Freedom Party that most often won elections, which was one of the reasons for the sharp reduction in the number of such cities under the law on June 3, 1907. Of the 28 Duma deputies elected from 20 cities of European Russia in April 1906, 26 (92.9%) were cadets, and in February 1907 - 18 (64.3%). The selection of high-ranking voters for a special congress has yielded results. The first and second congresses of five cities of European Russia with direct representation each elected 8 deputies. In the elections to the third Duma, the Octobrists were able to get 6 of their candidates through the first congresses, and the Cadets - only one. But at the second congresses the Cadets celebrated a convincing victory - 7 out of 8 deputies were their representatives. In total, 8 deputies (50%) held the city electoral meetings of the cadets in October 1907. In November 1912, the cadets managed to get 10 seats in the Duma (3 from the first congresses and 7 from the second). The sensation of the last election campaign was the failure of the Octobrists. They did not manage to get a single seat in the Duma from cities with direct representation. Lost the elections in Moscow and the leader of the Octobrists A.I. Guchkov.

In total, 403 deputies were elected from European Russia to the third State Duma (387 from provincial election meetings and 16 from city ones). Treasury expenditures for holding elections in European Russia exceeded 500 thousand rubles. The average expenses for the election of one member of the Duma amounted to 1,030 rubles (from 480 rubles in the Samara province to 2,530 rubles in the Arkhangelsk province), and throughout the empire - 1,185 rubles. On the outskirts and in cities with direct representation, the cost of electing one parliamentarian amounted to 3450 rubles.

The short history of parliamentary elections in Russia reflected a quite typical evolution of the electoral behavior of a society that is taking the first timid steps towards democracy. Languishing in the atmosphere of the dying old regime, society was stirred up by the hopes associated with the State Duma, which seemed to be an institution capable of performing miracles, and moreover, in the shortest possible time.

The miracle did not take place, the realization of this gave rise to disappointment. "Absenteeism. apathy. fatigue. disbelief. "- contemporaries resorted to such definitions to characterize the election campaigns in the third and fourth Dumas.

1 From the Kingdom of Poland, the regions of the Ural and Turgai provinces and regions of Siberia, the general-governorships of the Steppe and Turkestan, the governorship of the Caucasian, nomadic peoples, elections were to be made on the basis of special rules.

2 Italics indicate cities for which special rules were assumed.

3 Lozitsky A.E. The electoral system of the State Duma // Themes of life. 1906. No. 2. Dept. 2.P. 6.

4 See: Charter on Direct Taxes (Edition 1903) // Complete Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. SPb., 1911. Book. 1.S. 2071-2216.

5 See; Complete collection of laws. T. XXV. No. 26803. S. 749-758.

6 Lozitsky A.E. Decree. op. S. 19-20.

7 See: Complete collection of laws. T. XXV. No. 27029. S. 877-882.

8 Calculated by: Lazarevsky N.I. Transitional legislative acts. 1904-1906 SPb., 1907. S. 158-176.

9 Lozitsky A.E. Decree op. S. 30, 34.

10 See: Avrekh A.Ya. PA Stolypin and the fate of reforms in Russia. M., 1991. P. 25.

11 Red archive. 1923.Vol. 4, p. 114.

12 See: Avrekh A.Ya. Decree. op. S. 26-27.

13 See: Complete collection of laws. T. XXVII. No. 29242. S. 321-335.

14 See: Milyukov P.N. In the light of two revolutions // Historical archive. 1993. N 1.S. 157.

15 Calculated by: All Russia. Kiev, 1911-1912. Dept. 1.S. 3-232.

16 See: Elections in Moscow to the State Duma of the third draft. M., 1908. P. 121.

17 See: Vorovskiy V.V. Before the third Duma // Selected works about the first Russian revolution. M., 1953. S. 240-292; Pontovich E. Division of electoral congresses during elections to the State Duma // Law. 1912. No. 47. P. 2542.

16 See: Lazarevsky N.I. Legislative acts. S. 366-402; Pontovich E. Decree. op. S. 2544; Emmons T. The Formation of Political Parties. P. 373.

19 The fall of the tsarist regime. M.-L., 1926. T. 5.P. 426.

20 RGIA, f. 1276, op. 1, 1905-1907, d. 34, fol. 297-300 (vol).

21 Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. SPb., 1911.

23 Ibid. S. VII.

24 Ibid. S. XXIII.

25 Calculated by: Levin A. The Third Duma. P. 99.

26 See: Krol M.A. How the elections to the State Duma were held. SPb., 1906. P. 21; Smirnov A. How the elections to the 2nd State Duma were held. SPb., 1907. S. 101-102; Sidelnikov S.M. Formation and activity of the first State Duma. M., 1962. P. 137. Emmons T. Op. cit. R.254-260.

27 See: A. Smirnov. op. P. 185.

28 Russian thought. 1907. No. 10. P. 176.

29 Ibid. S. 170-171.

30 Pontovich E. Op. Cit. S. 2679, 2680, 2681.

31 Ibid. S. 2552.

32 Larsky I. Pre-election clericalism // Modern world. 1912. No. 6. S. 250-251.

33 Ibid. S. 252.258.

34 Pontovich E. Decree. op. S. 2617-2618.

35 Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. S. IX.

36 Ibid. S. XXIII.

37 Calculated by: Horn Vl. Forecast and actual outcome of the third elections // Modern World. 1907. No. 11. S. 145-146; Iordansky N. Jordan N... Questions of current life // Modern world. 1907. No. 11. S. 93, 94; Smirnov A. Decree. op. S. 195-196: Emmons T. Op. cit. P. 260-263; Levin A. Op. cit. P. 101.

38 Smirnov A. Decree. op. P. 186.

39 Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. S. XIX-XX.

41 Data are recalculated based on: Levin A. Ibid. P. 99, 178.

42 Calculated by: Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. S. XXX; Speech. 1907 September 21; Horn Vl. Decree. op. S. 145-146; Iordansky N. Questions of current life // Modern world. 1907. No. 2. P. 112; Iordansky N. Smirnov A. Decree. op. S. 168, 186; Levin A. Op. cit. P. 101.

43 Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. S. IX-X.

44 See: Pontovich E. Decree. op. S. 2673.

45 Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. S. XXIV-XXV.

46 See: Russian Thought. 1907. No. 10 P. 172.

47 Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. C. X-XI.

48 See: Pontovich E. Decree. op. S. 2673-2674.

49 Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. S. XXV.

50 See: Smirnov A. Decree. op. S. 201.

51 Calculated by: Speech. 1907., September 30; Horn Vl. Decree. op. S. 145-146; Iordansky N. Questions of current life // Modern world. 1907. No. 2. S. 112; Iordansky N. Questions of current life // Modern world. 1907. No. 11. P. 93; Smirnov A. Decree. op. S. 185, 201; Emmons T. Op. cit. R. 271-277; Levin A. Op. cit. P. 103.

52 Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. From XX-XXII.

53 See: Sidelnikov S.M. UK. op. P. 151; Emmons T. Op. cit. P. 290-291.

54. See: Krol M.A. Decree; op. From 45.

55 Calculated by: Iordansky N. Questions of current life // Modern world. 1907. No. 2. P. 112; Iordansky N. Questions of current life // Modern world. 1907. No. 11. C 93; Lenin V.I.... Full collection op. T. 15, p. 39; Emmons T. Op. cit. P. 286-292.

56 Calculated by: RGIA, f. 1276, op. .1, 1912-1914, d. 35, fol. 20-21; Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. S. XXVI-XXXIII.

57 Calculated by: Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. S. XXX; Horn Vl. Decree. op. S. 141-159; Iordansky N. Questions of current life // Modern world. 1907. No. 2. S. 108-120; Iordansky N. Questions of current life // Modern world. 1907. No. 11. S. 91-103; Smirnov A. Decree. op. S. 168-201; Emmons T. Op. cit. P. 294-352; Levin A. Ibid. P. 101-103.

58 Law. 1906. No. 10. S. 910-916.

59 Witte S.Yu. Memories. T. 3.P. 357.

60 See: Tyutyukin S.V. July 1906 political crisis in Russia. M., 1991. From 40.

61 For more details see: Smirnov A. Decree. op. S 1-39, 213.

62 See: Russian Thought. 1907. No. 10. P. 177.

63 See: Zhilkin I. Lessons from the current elections // Bulletin of Europe. 1912. No. 11. C 356.

64 See: Avrekh A.Ya. Tsarism and the IV Duma, 1912-1914. M., 1981. From 19.

65 See: Kokovtsov V.Ya. From My Past: Memoirs, 1911-1919. M., 1991. S. 168-169.

66 See: Izgoev A.S. Before the Third Duma // Russian Thought. 1907. No. 10. S 212-213.

67 Ibid. From 217.

68 See: Elections in Moscow to the State Duma of the third draft. P. 121.

69 See: Elections in Moscow to the State Duma of the first draft. M., 1908. P. 47; Elections in Moscow to the State Duma of the second draft. M., 1908. P. 40.

70 See: Elections in the city of Moscow to the State Duma of the first draft. P. 59; Elections in Moscow to the State Duma of the second draft. P. 46; Elections in Moscow to the State Duma of the third draft. P. 121.

72 See: Elections to the State Duma of the third convocation. S. XXXVIII.

Chapter 1. - Establishment of the State Duma: bureaucracy at work ( I.K. Kiryanov, M.N. Lukyanov) The collapse of the policy of "uncompromising conservatism." and “the era of trust” by P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky. - Bureaucracy and problems of popular representation in 1905-1906. - Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo meetings. - "Bison" and "enlightened bureaucrats". - The first stage of the reform of the state system: orientation towards tradition. - Acts of August 6, 1905 - Manifesto of October 17. - The second stage of the reform of the state system: a model of a new political system. - Creation of a joint ministry. - Reform of the State Council. - "Establishment of the State Duma" dated February 20, 1906 - Basic state laws on April 23, 1906: legal basis the third June monarchy. Chapter 2. - Russia in the elections: four steps from hope to apathy ( I.K. Kiryanov) Evolution of electoral legislation. - "Regulations on elections to the State Duma" of August 6, 1905 - Decree of December 11, 1905 - June Third Electoral Law. - Elections in the landowning curia. - Elections in the peasant curia. - Elections in the city curia. - Elections in the workers' curia. - Provincial election meetings. - Administration and elections. - Elections in cities with direct representation. - Russian society and elections. Chapter 3. - Russian parliamentarians: social image and political orientations ( I.K. Kiryanov, M.N. Lukyanov) Social portrait of the Duma members. - Age. - Nationality and religion. - Class affiliation. - Education. - Occupation. - Experience in social activities. - Parliamentary factions. - Social Democrats. - Trudoviks. - Cadets. - Octobrists. - National-regional-confessional groups. - Moderate right. - Nationalists. - Right. - Sociocultural factors of political choice. Chapter 4. - Parliamentary procedure: domestic precedents and European traditions ( I.K. Kiryanov) Development of an order from the State Duma. - The first meetings of the next convocation. - Election of the Presidium. - Council of Elders. - Functions of the chairman. - Deputy discipline and problems of parliamentary ethics. - Duma Commission. - General meetings... - Duma debates and voting. - Bills and inquiries in the State Duma. Instead of a conclusion - Society - Duma - autocracy: a failed dialogue ( I.K. Kiryanov, M. N. Lukyanov)

The preconditions for the decision to create the State Duma were the revolutionary events in the country from the beginning of 1905, which forced Nicholas II to make certain concessions to the population of Russia. The basis of revolutionary actions was the question of changing the power in the country, transferring it to a democratic vector of development. The people demanded the limitation of autocracy, the establishment of popular representation, the holding of general elections on the basis of equal direct suffrage by secret ballot.

The legislation on the State Duma was formed in several stages.

At the first stage, in August 1905, it was not radical. The Duma was proclaimed a representative body, elected for a term of 5 years, on the basis of qualification and estate suffrage. only men over 25 years old (except for the military; convicted or prosecuted on charges of serious crimes and some other categories) who owned (individually or collectively) real estate could participate in the elections. According to the tradition, women were deprived of suffrage (they did not have this right also in England, Germany, France), conscripts (it was believed that the army expresses purely state interests and does not participate in politics), wandering foreigners (nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples due to their image life).

The rest of the population that could participate in the elections was divided into three curia: landowners, urban voters, and peasants. The elections were supposed to be multi-stage.

At the first stage, "electors" were elected, and of them - the Duma deputies. The peasantry, as the main support of the monarchy, had to give 42% of the electors, the other two curiae, respectively, 34% and 24%. For the first two curiae, a fairly high property qualification was established, thanks to which the middle class of the population was eliminated from the elections: small owners, hired workers, the intelligentsia. The purpose of the introduction of qualifications, which did not allow a significant part of the population of Russia to participate in the elections, was to prevent representatives of "free-thinking" from entering the State Duma.

The Duma was supposed to consist of 524 deputies, but practically until its dissolution (working time: from April 27, 1906 to July 8, 1906, 72 days), it was not in full complement... The reasons for this were the repeated cancellations and 2 postponements of elections in some regions of the country due to the revolutionary actions of the masses. Thus, 330 members of the Duma were elected. In addition, 51 deputies (1 from the province) were elected by peasant electors from among their composition, 3 deputies (one each from Donskoy, Astrakhan and Orenburg Cossack troops) - Cossack electors also from among its members. twenty largest cities had separate representation, electing 28 members of the Duma by a two-stage vote.

At this stage, the Duma was conceived as a body that combined the features of the Western parliament and the ancient Zemsky Sobors of Muscovite Rus. The main thing in it was the legislative principle. The Duma was supposed to carry out a preliminary development and discussion of legislative proposals, which were then transferred through the State Council for approval to the tsar. The Duma could not have the right to vote on budget issues and was dissolved ahead of schedule by decree of the tsar.

The next step of the government in the direction of giving the state system of Russia constitutional features was the Manifesto prepared by Witte on October 11, 1905 "On the improvement of the state order", the immediate reason for the publication of which was the October political strike. The manifesto established political rights and freedoms for Russian citizens: personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and unions (trade unions and parties). He granted electoral rights to all strata of the population deprived of them according to the law of August 1905. The State Duma in the manifesto changed its meaning and acquired the features of a developed parliament. She was proclaimed the legislature, since "no law could have force without the approval of the State Duma," and the elected representatives of the people could in fact participate in monitoring the legality of the actions of the sovereign.

At the same time, according to the law of October 19, the supreme body of executive power was transformed. Although the ministries remained subordinate to the emperor, their actions were united and coordinated in the hands of the prime minister. The Council of Ministers could act independently, without the intervention of the emperor, which can be regarded as a step towards the formation of principles of responsibility between parliament and ministers.

The next stage in the formation of legislation on the State Duma was the law of December 11, 1905. He was admitted to

In December 1905, amendments were made to the Regulations on Elections by the tsarist decree of December 11, 1905, which significantly amended the electoral legislation. In total, four curiae were established: landowning, urban, workers and peasants. In terms of representation, they differed significantly - 1 elector from 2 thousand of the population in the landowner, from 4 thousand in the city, from 30 thousand in the peasant and from 90 thousand in the workers' curia. Obviously, the State Duma elected under such rules could not be considered a popularly elected representative body.

In the congress of urban voters, the right to participate was held by persons who met the requirements of the qualification of "apartment independence", i.e. for a year or more renting an apartment (an example of a statement not being included in the lists is given), or paying the apartment tax for the same time. For small owners, three-stage elections were established, since they were represented at the congresses by delegates elected at a special congress. Four-stage elections were established for the peasants: 1 - village gathering; 2 - volost gathering; 3 - congress of representatives from volost gatherings (2 peasants from each gathering); 4 - electors elected by this congress to the provincial electoral assembly. Thus, at first the peasant village gathering elected representatives to the volost gathering, then the volost gathering elected two commissioners to the new congress, and he already elected electors to the provincial electoral meeting. In the provincial election meeting, peasant electors nominated one member of the State Duma from their circle, after which the entire meeting elected the rest of the Duma deputies.

Amendments to the Election Regulations, introduced on December 11, 1905, granted the right to vote to factory workers, i.e. a "working" curia was introduced. Any workers, men, could participate in the elections of delegates from workers, and only those who reached 25 years of age and worked at the enterprise for at least 6 months could participate in the elections.

To control the observance of the electoral legislation, to consider applications and complaints during the election campaign, provincial and district commissions were created to deal with elections to the State Duma. Provincial was headed by the chairman of the district court.

The provincial or city electoral meeting was chaired by the provincial leader of the nobility or the mayor. A meeting was considered competent to elect members of the State Duma if it was attended by at least half of the total number of electors. In the absence of a quorum, the meeting was dissolved and convened again after 7 days. The new meeting was considered valid regardless of the number of electors.

Manifesto, October 17 p. published, we announced our unyielding will, without stopping the intended elections to the State Duma, to involve in it, as far as possible, those classes of the population who did not enjoy electoral rights, providing further development general suffrage to the newly established legislative order.

I. Provide participation in the election of electors to city electoral assemblies: 1) to persons who own within the city, on the basis of ownership or life-long possession, at least a year of real estate subject to state tax or city tax; 2) persons who own a trade and industrial enterprise within the city for at least a year, requiring a sample of a trade certificate; 3) persons who pay state apartment tax within the city for at least a year;

4) persons who pay within the city for at least a year the main trade tax on personal trade activities; 5) persons who occupy a separate apartment within the city in their own name for at least a year, and 6) persons (with the exception of lower servants and workers) who have lived within the city for at least a year and receive maintenance or a pension for public service or for service in zemstvo , city or estate institutions or on the railways. ...

V. To grant participation in the election of electors to provincial and city electoral services to workers in the enterprises of the factory, mining and mining industry on the following grounds:

1. Participation in the election of electors to provincial and city electoral assemblies shall be granted to workers of all the provinces and cities named below, in Article 2, of the enterprises of the factory, mining and mining industry, in which the total number of male workers is not less than fifty. Railway workshops with the indicated total number of male workers are also considered to be enterprises of the factory industry. ...

8. The general list of enterprises in which elections are held, indicating the total number of workers and the number of delegates to be elected from them, shall be announced by the governor or mayor, according to their affiliation, for general information in the manner most ensuring the publicity of this list.

9. Election of delegates from workers is carried out in all enterprises of the province or city, if possible, on the same day, appointed by the governor or mayor, according to their affiliation.

13. Lists of delegates, elected by the workers of each enterprise, are signed by the chairman and at least ten voters. These lists are transferred to the factory or factory management, or to the management of the railway workshop, who immediately forward them to the governor or mayor, according to their affiliation. Copies of the lists are posted in prominent places for the information of workers. These lists must indicate: name, patronymic, surname, rank and age of the persons elected to be authorized.

14. The list of workers' delegates, general for the province, region or city, with an indication of the enterprises from which the delegates were elected, is announced by the governor or mayor, according to their affiliation, for general information in the manner most ensuring the publicity of this list.

15. Congresses of delegates from workers are convened under the chairmanship of the mayor or his substitute: provincial - in provincial cities, and city - in cities, in Art. 2 indicated. The day and place of the elections at the congresses is announced in advance by the governors or mayors, according to their affiliation, for general information in the manner most ensuring the publicity of such an announcement.

17. The congresses of workers' delegates elect electors from among themselves by secret ballot ballot. Persons who have received more than half of the electoral votes in the order of the seniority of the electoral points are considered elected. In the event of an equality of votes, the election is determined by lot. If the number of persons who received more than half of the votes at the congress does not reach the number of electors to be elected, then the next day, the final elections of the missing number of electors are held, and those who have received a relative majority of votes are considered elected. ...

19. Complaints about irregularities in the election of delegates from the workers are brought to the county, and to the provincial election commissions - to the provincial election commissions, and are resolved by these commissions in compliance with the rules established in Articles 45-47 of the regulations on elections in The State Duma. When considering the aforementioned complaints, the composition of the provincial and district election commissions includes one of the officials of the factory or mining supervision, appointed by the governor.

20. Elected by the province or city electors from workers participate in the election of members of the State Duma as part of the subject provincial or city electoral meeting, according to affiliation.

21. The delegates and electors from the workers, in the event of their petition, are reimbursed from the treasury travel costs for a trip to the provincial city for congresses (Article 15) and electoral meetings (Article 20) at the rate of 5 kopecks. a mile in both ways. ...

In the Lublin and Siedlec provinces, the communes, which have to be specially indicated, are chosen in excess of those indicated in Art. 7 of the aforementioned rules of representatives from the communes' gatherings, two more representatives from each of these communes. The congresses of these plenipotentiaries shall be convened in the respective county towns, under the chairmanship of justices of the peace, at the appointment of the local congresses of justices of the peace. The aforementioned congresses elect from their midst electors to a special electoral meeting, which is formed in the town of Kholm, Lublin province, chaired by the chairman of the congress of justices of the peace, by appointment of the Minister of Justice. The number of these electors has to be determined separately. The election meeting in Kholm elects from among its midst one member of the State Duma, in addition to the number of members of the Duma specified in the annex to Art. 2 of the aforementioned rules for scheduling their total number for the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland and their cities.

State Duma and Russia in documents and materials. - M., 1957. - S. 94-102.

Initially, the regulation on elections to the State Duma was issued on August 6/9, 1905. Electoral rights were granted only to persons "owning property." Whole categories of the population directly listed in the law could not participate in the elections: women, persons under 25 years of age, military personnel on active duty, students, "wandering foreigners", that is, peoples who led a nomadic lifestyle, all the poor - workers, artisans, farm laborers, rural poor who are not householders; 85% of the seats in the Duma were given to landowners.

The restrictions were also contained in the new law of December II, 1905. Thus, according to clause 3 (I), only workers who occupied the most expensive apartments could take part in the elections. Contemporaries described the electoral tricks and machinations of the tsarist government, when each governor acted according to his own understanding, each bailiff in his own way "interpreted" the electoral law.

Voter corner

Elections and suffrage in the history of Russia

The history of elections in Russia should be counted from the Novgorod feudal republic, which existed from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Although in the past, veche meetings, as a political institution that solved the most important issues of local and state importance, were widespread in Russia. But it was in Veliky Novgorod that elective institutions were first formed.

Geographically, Novgorod was divided into five independent regions (ends). The smaller units were “hundreds” and “streets”. In each district there was a territorial assembly-veche, where decisions were made on various day-to-day issues. Officials were elected - the headman and his assistants. The highest power in the republic formally belonged to the citywide veche meeting. It was convened at the initiative of the prince, the mayor as needed. The participants were persons of various strata of the population.

The most important issues of state life were considered at the veche. All decisions were made through the electoral principle: those present were invited to speak "for" or "against" the proposals formulated by the executive branch. Veche also had the right to choose (call) a prince. The main officials of Novgorod were also elected - the mayor, the thousand, the archbishop. Democratic traditions have developed: alternative elections, strict control over the actions of elected officials, up to displacement in case of gross violation of community rights and customs.

Elections and Electoral Procedures in the Russian State in the 16th – 17th Centuries. receive legal registration and this was primarily due to the formation of a unified Moscow state. In 1497, a nationwide Code of Laws was adopted, according to which the powers of the elected bodies were expanded. In the first half of the XVI century. the system of local government is being reformed, new self-government bodies are being established - labial and zemstvo huts, which were elected bodies; a specific election procedure.

A special place among state authorities in the 16th - 17th centuries. are occupied by Zemsky Sobors, which were the estate-representative body, formed according to the principle of participation, according to position and socio-political status, as well as according to the principle of elective territorial and estate delegation. Zemsky councils elected kings, declared war or peace, approved taxes, appointed officials, etc., but they were not a permanent body, they were assembled as needed.

The most important events in the activities of the Zemsky Councils were the election of tsars. The elections of tsars were held in 1598 - Boris Godunov was elected to the kingdom, in 1606 - Vasily Shuisky, in 1613 - Mikhail Romanov. The elections were held in an atmosphere of intense electoral struggle and were accompanied by widespread electoral campaigning. The procedure for the election of tsars was not formalized into a special procedure, but implied a special tactic for holding council meetings, appeals to the opinion of the population, and reaching compromises between boyar groups.

At the council meetings in 1645 and 1682. the election of tsars was replaced by the procedure for approving the legal heir to the throne, which meant the development of the estate-representative monarchy into an absolutist one.

XIX - early XX centuries. in Russia - this is the time of large-scale reforms in all spheres of state life. The reforms also affected the electoral law. Before the reforms of the 60s - 70s. XIX century. the concept of "electoral law" mainly refers to the institutions of estate and local self-government. These bodies (city dumas, noble assemblies) were formed on the basis of qualification representation and age, property, social qualification. The electoral law in the pre-reform period had an extremely narrow field of application.

In the second half of the XIX century. following the peasant, zemstvo, city, judicial and other reforms, the formation of the electoral law system in Russia begins and the granting of electoral rights to broad strata of the population. Zemskaya reform of 1864 and city reform in 1870 entailed significant changes in the Russian electoral law. Zemstvos, as bodies of local self-government, were formed with the participation of all estates of the then Russian society. The electoral system was based on the principle of elections by estates. Voters were divided into three curiae: local landowners, peasant societies, and city dwellers who owned real estate. The elections were indirect. The congresses of representatives of each of the curiae elected a fixed number of vowels. County zemstvo assemblies elected the vowels of the provincial zemstvo assembly. Persons over 25 years of age were allowed to participate in the elections. Foreigners and persons convicted by a court sentence, under investigation or trial, could not participate in the elections.

According to the city reform, an all-estate system of city self-government was established. Elected bodies - city Dumas - received significant rights in solving many issues of urban life. Voters could be owners of trade and industrial establishments, all those who had certificates for entrepreneurial activity and who paid taxes to the city treasury. Various departments, institutions, societies, monasteries and churches that owned real estate in the city, represented by their representatives, also enjoyed the right to vote. Voters were required to have Russian citizenship and be at least 25 years old. Workers and artisans, all those who were engaged in mental labor and did not have real estate, were deprived of their voting rights.

All voters were divided into three curiae: large, medium and small taxpayers. Each curia paid a third of the city's taxes and elected a third of the vowels. The vote was secret. Proxy voting was allowed. The candidates who received more than half of the votes in the elections were considered elected. Moreover, the number of voters present at the meeting should have exceeded the number of elected vowels.

At the beginning of the XX century. significant changes have taken place in the state structure of Russia. Revolutionary events 1905 - 1907 forced the autocracy to make political concessions. For the first time in the history of Russia, a nationwide government body was created - the State Duma. The population received political rights, a multi-party system became a reality. All this led to changes in electoral law: a system of electoral legislation was formed, which determined the procedure for the formation of the State Duma and the State Council. On October 17, 1905, Nicholas II's manifesto "On the improvement of state order" was promulgated, which proclaimed political freedoms.

Following the Manifesto, new legislative acts were issued, which formed the legal basis for the activities of the State Duma: the Decree "On changing the regulation on elections to the State Duma" (October 11, 1905), the Manifesto "On changing the Institution of the State Council" and revising the "Institution of the State Council" and the revision of the "Institution of the State Duma" (February 20, 1906), as well as the new "State Duma institution" (Decree of February 20, 1906).

The electoral system, established by the Decree of December 11, 1905, was the most progressive in Russian history until 1917. Yet it was limited. The Russian electoral law lacked such principles as universality and equality. The elections were indirect, multi-stage, were of a class and qualification nature. The law established a high age limit: men who had reached the age of 25 were allowed to participate in the elections. Women did not receive the right to vote, as did the military, students, and nomadic peoples. Those convicted of crimes and those under investigation, etc. were not allowed to take part in the elections. Officials could not participate in them - governors and vice-governors and others, as well as police officers.

To participate in the elections, a property qualification was established, which did not allow significant strata of society, for example, workers, to participate.

All persons who received electoral rights were divided into several curiae, placed in different conditions. In the largest cities of the country, elections were two-stage, in the provinces, three-stage.

A four-stage election system was established for the peasants. The different quality of the stages of the electoral process led to the fact that the electors from the curiae represented a different number of voters. So in the landowning curia (landowners) one elector represented 2 thousand voters, in the city - 7 thousand, in the peasant - 30 thousand, in the working class - 90 thousand.

"Regulations on elections to the State Duma" of July 3, 1907 changed the electoral legislation. It deprived the residents of the outskirts of the country from voting rights, and the representation from cities was reduced. The electorate of the lower estates narrowed significantly. So in the peasant curia, one elector was now elected from 60 thousand, in the working class from 125 thousand (previously from 90 thousand). As a result, the percentage of voters dropped from 25 to 15%.

The February Revolution of 1917 marked the beginning of a new stage in the history of Russian electoral law and, although they did not last long, were a large-scale phenomenon for Russia. On the basis of the adopted legal acts regulating the electoral practice, the bodies of zemstvo and city self-government were democratically elected and elections to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly were held.

On May 27, 1917, the "Provisional Regulations on the Production of Elections of Provincial and Uyezd Zemstvo Vowels" and the Resolution "On the Volost Zemstvo Administration" were issued. Estate and property restrictions were canceled. The elections became general, equal and direct with secret ballot. Russian citizens of "both sexes of all nationalities and religions" who had reached 20 years of age were vested with active suffrage.

On October 2, 1917, the Provisional Government approved the "Regulations on elections to the Constituent Assembly". The new law was in line with the advanced electoral laws of its time. It was envisaged to introduce a system of elections according to the lists nominated by political parties. For the first time in Russia, qualifications were abolished: property, literacy, settlement, as well as restrictions on national and religious grounds. The composition of voters was expanding - the right to vote was given to women, military personnel. The minimum age for participation in elections was set at 20 years. The deaf and dumb, those under guardianship, convicted by the court, insolvent debtors, military deserters, members of the royal family were deprived of the right to participate in elections.

For the conduct of elections, Russia was divided into territorial districts, polling stations were created. The “Regulations” determined the competence and procedure for the work of election commissions at all levels. A single form of ballot paper was established, each voter was given a personal identification card, upon presentation of which he was allowed to vote.

Thus, the electoral legislation of the period of a democratic republic in Russia was the most modern state-legal document at that time. On its basis, on November 12, 1917, a Constituent Assembly was elected, which, however, existed for a short time.

With the confirmation of the Bolsheviks in power and the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the prospect of Russia's democratic development was lost. The tough one-party political system established in the country did not allow free elections. And although the electoral legislation of Soviet Russia included democratic principles for holding elections, in fact the elections were under the strict control of the authorities, and it was only in the post-Soviet period that electoral legislation began to develop on democratic principles.

December 11, 1905 electoral law

Decree on amendment of the regulation on elections to the State Duma and legislation issued in addition to it. 1905 g.

The Manifesto for the Improvement of the State Order of 1905 (see) provided for the democratization of the electoral law. In November 1905, the chairman of the Council of Ministers gr. S.Yu. Witte entrusted the development of relevant projects on a different basis to S.E. Kryzhanovsky and Moscow landowner D.N. Shipov, who in 1893-1904 served as chairman of the Moscow provincial zemstvo council and had great authority in zemstvo circles.

Kryzhanovsky's project was based on the system of the Regulations on the elections to the State Duma in 1905 (see). It included the politically active urban middle strata and the rural intelligentsia (in the urban curia) and industrial workers (in the newly created workers' curia with independent representation in the Duma). Shipov convened a group of public figures (cadets, future Octobrists and peace renewers), which worked out the main provisions of the project drawn up on their basis by Shipov and S.A. Kotlyarevsky. It provided for the introduction of universal (for men) and equal two-degree (in large cities - direct) voting.

In the same month, these projects were considered by the Council of Ministers with the participation of several members of the State. council and public figures. Most of the ministers supported Kryzhanovsky's project out of a desire to prevent the dissolution of the "cultural organic parts of society: private landowners, all large-scale industry, finally, all educated classes" among the voters and the establishment of "mass despotism, this most painful of all types of tyranny." Several ministers supported Shipov's project as more popular, and also because of the internal inconsistency of Kryzhanovsky's text, which combined a curial system based on the principle of property qualifications and voting by the poor.

The projects were finally considered in December at the first Tsarskoye Selo special meeting chaired by the emperor. Nicholas II, not without hesitation, considered the draft of universal and equal voting too radical and leading to a democratic republic. Kryzhanovsky's project was adopted with some amendments. The most important one deprived the workers' curia of independent representation.

Approved on December 11, 1905, the imperial decree gave the right to vote on the curia of landowners - tenants and managers of large estates, and at its preliminary stage - to small private landowners, as well as to the rectors of churches who owned land; by the urban curia to the middle strata, including the rural intelligentsia (owners of any taxable real estate, officials and pensioners, employees of local and class self-government, railway and commercial enterprises (except for workers and service personnel). As a result of the reform, the number of urban voters in Moscow increased from 8 thousand to 48 thousand. In the curia of landowners, the influence of the peasants significantly increased, who in 1906 in many provinces competed with the landowners in it.

In the provinces, where the number of industrial workers exceeded 10 thousand, a workers' curia was created, in which the workers of large and medium-sized industrial enterprises and railway workshops voted. In 60 provinces and 1 region of European Russia (with Poland, but without Finland), she elected 236 electors, of whom at least 83 voted in provincial electoral assemblies, and the remaining 153 were divided between cities with a separate representative office and their provinces. In the provincial elections, the curia had no more than 1-2% of the vote, in cities - up to 10%.

Verification of the election of members of the Duma was entrusted not to the Senate, but to the chamber itself. The rights of the governor to govern the elections were somewhat reduced. Representation of the Orthodox population of the Kholmsk region was introduced. The presence of the police at the preliminary meetings of the electors was canceled. The voting was expanded with notes and a number of more specific changes were introduced. The document is abbreviated.

In addition to the Regulations on the elections and the proposed decree, in October 1905 - April 1906. 9 laws on elections in the outskirts and about a dozen decrees of a private nature were issued. In general, they provided for the election of 524 deputies, incl. 413 from 50 provinces and 1 region of European Russia, 37 from Poland, 29 from the Caucasus, 14 from Siberia, 13 from the Turkestan Territory (Central Asia and southeast of Kazakhstan), 11 from the Steppe Territory (Kazakhstan without the southeastern part, but with Omsk district) and the Internal Kazakh Horde, 7 from the Far East.

Places between regions were distributed in proportion to the taxes paid, taking into account government expenditures (i.e., to the detriment of the outskirts), and within them - the size of the population. Provided representation of all provinces (regions), as well as the Cossack and the rest of the Russian population of some outskirts. In general, in the empire, 1 deputy represented 279 thousand inhabitants, in the Far East - 209 thousand, in the Steppe Territory - 254 thousand, in European Russia - 267 thousand, in Poland - 296 thousand, in the Caucasus - 325 thousand, in Siberia - 377 thousand, in Turkestan - 473 thousand. A separate representative office had 26 cities, incl. some with 60-70 thousand inhabitants. Elections were not held in the Turukhansk Territory and in remote areas of the Far East (Chukotka, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, etc.). Finland had a special Seim and was not represented in the Duma. In general, the peasant curia had about half of the votes, the landowning curia almost a quarter, the urban curia a little more than 1/5.

The desire of the peasants to redistribute the land, as well as the support of the majority of the townspeople for the ideas of freedom and equality, predetermined the victory of the left. The leading position in the Duma was given to a bloc of radical intellectuals and peasants, united on the ideas of redistribution of property and the demolition of the traditional state that stood guard over it. Within this framework, due to the disunity and lack of education of the peasants, the outcome of the elections (especially on a personal level) was largely random and depended on the dexterity of various groups and their ability to negotiate with the peasants.

The election regulation of 1905 was based on the idea of ​​representation of property owners, including the peasantry, which most dignitaries viewed as a conservative force. The proposed Edict, while retaining the foundations of the old system, gave the right to vote to the politically active underprivileged strata. Because of this contradiction and an incorrect assessment of the position of the peasantry, the final text turned out to be unacceptable to anyone. Radical and liberal democratic forces were dissatisfied with the absence of universal, equal and direct voting, which was considered the only correct, overstated representation of landowners and the absence of real influence of the workers. For the government and conservative circles, the predominance of radical peasants and intellectuals in the Duma was unacceptable.

The decree was in effect until the publication of the Regulations on the elections on June 3, 1907 (see Acts on changing the procedure for elections to the State Duma in 1907), which, however, repeated its main decisions.

By the manifesto, published on October 17 of this year, we announced our unyielding will, without stopping the intended elections to the State Duma, to involve in it, as far as possible, those classes of the population who did not enjoy electoral rights, providing the further development of the general electoral right again the established legislative order.

Accordingly, in order to amend the provision on elections to the State Duma and the legalizations issued in addition to it, we command:

I. Provide participation in the election of electors to city electoral assemblies (Pol.about., Art. 19): 1) persons who own within the city, on the basis of the right of ownership or life-long possession, at least a year of real estate, imposed by state tax or city collection; 2) persons who own a commercial and industrial enterprise within the city for at least a year, requiring a sample of a trade certificate; 3) persons who pay state apartment tax within the city for at least a year; 4) persons who pay within the city for at least a year the main trade tax on personal trade activities; 5) persons who occupy a separate apartment within the city in their own name for at least a year, and 6) persons (with the exception of lower servants and workers) who have lived within the city for at least a year and receive maintenance or a pension for public service or for service in zemstvo , city or estate institutions or on the railways.

II. Provide participation in the congresses of city voters (Pol. V., Art. 16): 1) persons who own within the city, on the basis of ownership or life-long possession, for at least a year, real estate subject to state tax or city tax; 2) persons who own a commercial and industrial enterprise within the city for at least a year, requiring a sample of a trade certificate; 3) persons who pay state apartment tax within the city for at least a year; 4) persons who pay within the city for at least a year the main trade tax on personal trade activities; 5) persons who occupy a separate apartment within the city in their own name for at least a year, and 6) persons (with the exception of lower servants and workers) who have lived within the city for at least a year and receive maintenance or a pension for public service or for service in zemstvo , city or estate institutions or on the railways.

III. Provide participation in the congresses of county landowners, except for the persons specified in the regulations on elections to the State Duma, also to persons who, on the basis of a written agreement or power of attorney, manage an estate within the county that reaches the territory of the levied land for at least a year for zemstvo duties, of the size specified in the annex to Article 12 of the aforementioned provision, or on the same grounds, they rent, within the county, the same land in the mentioned quantity.

IV. Provide participation in preliminary congresses (Pol. V., Art. 14): 1) rectors of churches and houses of prayer of all denominations, if the church or its clergy or house of prayer owns land in the county, and 2) persons who own at least years on the right of ownership or life-long possession of land or other immovable property levied on zemstvo duties, if the amount of such land or the value of such property does not reach the size that gives the right to directly participate in the congress of county landowners (Pol. items a and c).

V. To grant participation in the election of electors to provincial and city electoral meetings to workers in the enterprises of the factory, mining and mining industry on the following grounds:

1. Participation in the election of electors to provincial and city electoral assemblies shall be granted to workers of all the provinces and cities of enterprises of the factory, mining and metallurgical industries named below, in Article 2, in which the total number of male workers is not less than fifty. Railway workshops with the indicated total number of male workers are also considered to be enterprises of the factory industry.

4. Workers (Art. 1) elect from their midst the commissioners according to the existing calculation: in enterprises with a total number of male workers from fifty to a thousand - one authorized person, and in enterprises with a total number of workers over a thousand - one authorized person for every full thousand workers.

5. The delegates from the workers (Art. 4) elect from among their midst in the provinces and cities specified in Article 2, electors at the congresses of the provincial or city by affiliation.

6. The male workers mentioned in Art. 1 enterprises, whoever owns the latter. Foreign nationals do not take part in elections and cannot be elected to the authorized or to the electors, as well as the persons indicated in Art. 7 provisions on elections to the State Duma.

7. By the time the elections are held, in each enterprise whose workers take part in the elections, an announcement is posted, signed by the subject official of the factory or mining supervision, and in the railway workshops - by the head of the workshop, an announcement about the total number of workers in this enterprise and the number of delegates to be elected from them.

8. The general list of enterprises for the province or city in which elections are held, indicating the total number of workers and the number of delegates to be elected from them, is announced by the governor or mayor of affiliation for general information in the manner most ensuring the publicity of this list.

9. Election of delegates from workers is carried out in all enterprises of the province or city, if possible, on the same day, appointed by the governor or mayor of the affiliation.

10. The election of delegates from the workers is carried out in the premises allocated for this purpose by the owners of the enterprises. During the conduct of elections, persons who did not participate in them are not allowed into the indicated premises.

11. The method and procedure for electing delegates are determined by the workers of each enterprise. To maintain order during elections and to guide the course of the latter, the workers elect from among their midst one or more chairmen.

12. Male workers who have reached the age of 25 and have been working in the enterprise in which the elections are held for at least six months may be elected as commissioners.

13. Lists of delegates, elected by the workers of each enterprise, are signed by the chairman and at least ten voters. These lists are transferred to the factory or factory management, or to the management of the railway workshop, who immediately forward them to the governor or town governor according to their affiliation. Copies of the lists are posted in prominent places for the information of workers. These lists must indicate: name, patronymic, surname, rank and age of the persons elected to be authorized.

14. The list of workers' delegates, general for the province, region or city, indicating the enterprises from which the delegates were elected, is announced by the governor or mayor of affiliation for general information in the manner most ensuring the publicity of this list.

15. Congresses of delegates from workers are convened under the chairmanship of the mayor or his substitute: provincial - in provincial cities, and city - in cities, in Art. 2 indicated. The day and place of the elections at the congresses is announced in advance by the governors or mayors, according to their affiliation, for general information in the manner most ensuring the publicity of such an announcement.

16. The way of verifying the identity of workers' representatives is provided to the chairmen of the congresses.

17. The congresses of workers' delegates elect electors from among themselves by secret ballot ballot. Persons who have received more than half of the electoral votes in the order of the seniority of the electoral points are considered elected. In the event of an equality of votes, the election is determined by lot. If the number of persons who received more than half of the votes at the congress does not reach the number of electors to be elected, then the next day, the final elections of the missing number of electors are held, and those who have received a relative majority of votes are considered elected.

19. Complaints about inaccuracies made in the election of delegates from workers are brought to the county, and complaints about inaccuracies in the election of electors - to the provincial election commissions and are resolved by these commissions in compliance with the rules established in Articles 45-47 of the provisions on elections to the State thought. When considering the aforementioned complaints, the composition of the provincial and district election commissions includes one of the officials of the factory or mining supervision appointed by the governor.

20. Electors elected by the province or city from workers participate in the election of members of the State Duma as part of the subject provincial or city electoral assembly by affiliation.

21. The delegates and electors from the workers, in the event of their petition, are reimbursed from the treasury travel costs for a trip to the provincial city for congresses (Article 15) and electoral meetings (Article 20) at the rate of 5 kopecks. a mile in both ways.

XI. In amending Articles 57-61 of the Regulations on Elections to the State Duma, decide the following rules:

2. Verification of the rights of elected members of the State Duma belongs to the Duma itself. Complaints about the incorrectness of the elections to the members of the Duma are brought by interested persons to the name of the Duma. These complaints are filed within three days from the day of the closing of the subject electoral meeting to the governor or mayor according to their affiliation, they are forwarded to the Duma with explanations from the chairmen of electoral meetings within a week from the date of receipt of the complaint.

3. The resolution of the State Duma on the abolition of elections due to their incorrectness shall be valid in the event that a majority of two-thirds of the existing members of the Duma in its general meeting.

XIII. In addition to Art. 33 approved by us on September 18 p. d. of the rules on the application and implementation of the institution of the State Duma and the provisions on elections to the Duma, to decide:

1. Pre-election by volost assemblies of delegates to electoral congresses, rural societies may reappoint electives to volost assemblies.

2. The election of the commissioners is carried out at the rural municipality assemblies by closed voting by means of ballot.

XIV. In the amendment and addition to the ones approved by us on October 11 of this year. d. of the rules on the application of the provisions on elections to the State Duma to the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, to decide:

In the Lublin and Siedlec provinces, the communes, which have to be specially indicated, are chosen in excess of those indicated in Art. 7 of the aforementioned rules of representatives from the communes' gatherings, two more representatives from each of these communes. The congresses of these plenipotentiaries shall be convened in the respective county towns, under the chairmanship of justices of the peace, at the appointment of the local congresses of justices of the peace. The aforementioned congresses elect from their midst electors to a special electoral meeting, which is formed in the town of Kholm, Lublin province, chaired by the chairman of the congress of justices of the peace, by appointment of the Minister of Justice. The number of these electors has to be determined separately. The election meeting in Kholm elects from among its midst one member of the State Duma, in addition to the number of members of the Duma specified in the annex to Art. 2 of the aforementioned rules for scheduling their total number for the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland and their cities.

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On December 11, 1905, after the armed uprising in Moscow was suppressed, a decree was issued on changing the Regulations on elections to the State Duma, which significantly expanded the circle of voters. The government rejected a number of concessions made during the revolution.

A fourth was added to the three curia - workers. Almost the entire male population of the country over the age of 25, except for soldiers, students, day laborers and part of the nomads, received voting rights. The new law provided for 4 electoral curia: from landowners, urban population, peasants and workers).

The deputies were elected by electoral assemblies consisting of electors from each province and a number of large cities.

Landowners with a full land qualification (150 acres) directly participated in the county congresses of landowners who voted for electors from the province. Small landowners elected delegates to the district congress, one for each full qualification. Urban population small towns voted for electors to provincial electoral assemblies; large cities had their own electoral meetings, on a par with provincial ones. The workers elected a congress of their delegates, at which electors were elected to an electoral meeting of provinces or large cities.

Representation from townspeople and workers was three-stage. The scheme for electing delegates from enterprises was as follows: from small enterprises with 50 or more workers, one delegate, from large enterprises - 1 delegate from a full thousand workers. Thus, an advantage was given to small enterprises and limited representation from large ones, where there was an organized proletariat. The peasant elections were four-degree: the first degree forms the volost gathering, the second - the congress of delegates from the volosts, the third - the provincial electoral assembly.

Changes in the Regulation on elections to the State Duma

On June 3, 1907, the tsar signed a manifesto to dissolve the Duma and to amend the electoral law. On the same day, some members of the Social Democratic faction were arrested. Duma Chairman F. A. Golovin gave the following assessment to Stolypin's actions: "there was indeed a conspiracy, but not a conspiracy of 55 members of the Duma against the state, as stated in the manifesto, but a conspiracy of Stolypin and Co. against popular representation and fundamental state laws."

The issuance of the new electoral law was in fact a coup d'etat, since it violated the "Basic State Laws", according to which no law could be followed without the approval of the Duma.

As a result of the June 1907 Black Hundred coup d'état, the electoral law of December 11, 1905 was replaced by a new one, which in the Cadet-liberal milieu was referred to as "shameless" wing.

The new electoral law retained the anti-democratic provisions of the previous law and added three more:

1) in 53 provinces of European Russia, the electors were redistributed in such a way that large landowners received 49.4% of electors, workers and peasants - about 25%.

2) changed the procedure for electing deputies: before they were elected by electors from the curia, now - by the entire provincial electoral assembly;

3) peoples Central Asia and Siberia, nomadic peoples were completely deprived of the right to vote. In the Kingdom of Poland, out of 37 deputies, 14 were left, in the Caucasus, out of 32 deputies - 10.

The law of June 3, 1907 granted the Minister of the Interior the right to change the boundaries of electoral districts and to divide electoral assemblies into independent divisions at all stages of elections. The total number of Duma deputies was reduced from 524 to 442.

The electoral law of June 3, its Senate "clarifications", actions local administration, a wide electoral campaign of the right-wing and Black-Hundred parties, an atmosphere of disenchantment with the revolution, repression gave the result of the elections in line with the government's hopes.

“... Having ordered the authorities subject to take measures to eliminate direct manifestations of disorder, atrocities and violence, to protect peaceful people striving for the quiet fulfillment of their duty, we, for the successful implementation of the common measures we have planned to pacify state life, recognized the need to unite the activities of the highest government.

It is the responsibility of the government that we fulfill our unshakable will:

1. To grant to the population the unshakable foundations of civil freedom on the basis of the real inviolability of the individual, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and unions.

2. Without stopping the intended elections to the State Duma, to attract now to participate in the Duma, as far as possible, corresponding to the multiplicity of the term remaining until the convocation of the Duma, those classes of the population that are now completely deprived of voting rights, giving for this the further development of the beginning of general suffrage the newly established legislative order, and

3. Establish as an unshakable rule that no law can accept force without the approval of the State Duma and that the elected representatives of the people be provided with the opportunity to actually participate in the supervision of the lawfulness of the actions of the authorities appointed by us.

We call on all the faithful sons of Russia to remember their duty to the Motherland, to help end this unheard-of turmoil and, together with us, strain all their forces to restore silence and peace in their native land. "