murder of Sypjagin, minister for home affairs, who during his thirty months of office had ordered the arrest on political grounds of 60,000 persons. The turn of Pleve came next (1904): the assassination of Grand Duke Sergius followed; the attempt on Pobědonoscev miscarried.
Apart from these isolated terrorist deeds the organised workers made ready for a mass struggle. From the day of Nicholas Il's advent to the throne, continuous increase in the strength of the political opposition was noticeable, culminating in the widespread revolutionary movement of the year 1905.[1]
Doubtless the tsar's government and advisers marked the threatening storm, but they continued to hope that petty concessions would suffice to save absolutism. In a manifesto promulgated in March 1903 the tsar made a few obscurely formulated promises; in June 1903 the Poles were granted the privilege of giving religious instruction in the Polish tongue. But there was no change in administrative methods; discontent continued to increase in Russia proper, in Finland (where Bobrikov, the governor-general, was assassinated on June 16, 1904), in Caucasia, and universally. Svjatopolk-Mirskii, appointed Pleve's successor on September 8, 1904, wooed "the confidence of society," but his attitude towards the zemstvo congress in Moscow showed how weak was his liberalism.
- ↑ The following data of proceedings against political offenders give a picture of the growth of the revolutionary movement after Nicholas' ascent to the throne.
Year. Legal proceedings. Number of
Persons.Administrative
Proceedings.Number of
Persons.1894 158 919 56 559 1895 259 944 90 623 1896 309 1,668 67 561 1897 289 1,427 122 1,474 1898 257 1,144 149 1,004 1899 338 1,884 166 1,325 1900 384 1,580 144 1,363 1901 520 1,784 250 1,238 1902 1,053 3,744 347 1,678 1903 1,988 5,590 1,522 6,405 The information is derived from the secret reports of the ministry for justice, which were published by the social revolutionaries. The arrests made by the police during the year 1903 under Pleve's regime numbered 64,000.
