An interesting study appeared in the latest issue of the abstract journal “Social and Humanitarian Sciences. Domestic and Foreign Literature,” which is published by the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It reveals the features of the election campaign to the Third State Duma using the example of the Grodno province, where the nomination of candidates for electors took into account both political, social, and national factors.
State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia
Choice of seats by deputies of the III State Duma, 1907.
“Thanks to the active role of the Orthodox clergy and the actions of local authorities, candidates who supported the government won,” writes the author of the article, Doctor of Historical Sciences. Dmitry Lavrinovich, professor of Mogilev State University. A.A. Kuleshova.
He notes that the establishment of the State Duma was a key moment in the process of reforming the public administration system of the Russian Empire. Thanks to this, many citizens had the opportunity to participate in legislative work.
However, the implementation of the new management institution was not smooth, and the rules had to be edited on the fly. Thus, after the dissolution of the Second State Duma on June 3, 1907, Emperor Nicholas II changed the election rules.
“The number of electors from workers and peasants was reduced and increased from landowners and the big bourgeoisie,” clarifies Dmitry Lavrinovich. “On the territory of European Russia, electors were distributed among curiae as follows: peasants received 22.4 percent of the seats instead of the previous 43, landowners – 51.3 instead of 34, city residents – 24.2 instead of 23, workers – 2.3 instead of 3.4 percent.”
Taking into account the national and religious composition of the population, according to the new legislation in the Grodno province, landowners elected 41.1 percent of electors to the provincial electoral assembly.
Congresses of landowners were held under the watchful supervision of the Ministry of the Interior, which divided them according to nationality. Thus, the first section included all “non-Poles,” that is, Russians, Orthodox Belarusians, Germans, Tatars, etc. The second section included Poles, to whom the Ministry of Internal Affairs equated Belarusian Catholics.
“The electors from the first congress of city voters in the Grodno and Bialystok districts, as well as the electors from the second congress of city voters in the Grodno district,” the scientist writes, were divided into two sections (“Russian” and “non-Russian”).
The peculiarity of the Grodno province was that the nomination of candidates for electors took into account both political and social, as well as national factors.”
According to him, all-Russian right-wing and liberal parties were counting on the support of the Orthodox population. The most significant right-wing party in Russia at that time was the Union of the Russian People, led by Dubrovin. But the largest right-wing organization in Grodno was the Orthodox Sophia Brotherhood. The position of the liberal forces here was weak.
By the time of the elections of the Third Duma, the departments of the Constitutional Democratic Party ceased their activities. The centrist trend, represented in Russia by parties located on the political spectrum between the Cadets and the Octobrists, was also poorly represented in the western provinces.
It was mainly Polish “Kraevites” who fought for the votes of Catholic electors. And the election committee of landowners of the Grodno province, in fact, became the headquarters of the Polish landowners.
Elections to the Third State Duma were held in September-October 1907. Most of the electors for the landowning curia represented the interests of Polish landowners; right-wing candidates could count on only 23.5 percent of the votes.
“In the city curia, the “progressives” and Jews had an advantage,” the author of the article reports. “In this situation, the victory of the right was possible only with the help of the votes of peasant electors. Of the 38 peasant electors, 36 were Orthodox and 2 Catholics. Only 12 peasants considered themselves to the right, the majority did not indicate their political position in any way.”
Of the 38 peasant electors, only 18 agreed to form a bloc with the Russian electors from the congresses of landowners. Thus, thanks to the electoral law of June 3, 1907 and the actions of the local Orthodox clergy, mainly representatives of moderate and right-wing political forces entered the Duma.
Source: rodina-history.ru
