A great impression was made throughout the country by this congress. At first authorised by Svjatopolk-Mirskii, it was subsequently prohibited at the instigation of Pobědonoscev and some of the grand dukes. Held none the less on November 19, 20, 21, 1904, it demanded a constitution, extensive administrative reforms, and general measures of social utility.
The mass revolutionary movement may be considered to date from the procession of St. Petersburg operatives led by the pope, Gapon. The workmen organised by Gapon in St. Petersburg, like those organised by Zubatov in Moscow, were loyal subjects of the tsar. Reinforced by some of the social democrats, they made their ingenuons demonstration in front of the winter palace.
It is true that the assembly was dispersed by the imperial troops, but bloody Sunday, January 22, 1905, was nevertheless the defeat of absolutism. It is proved that the workers went in peace to the winter palace, the only disorders occurring on the Vasilii-Ostrov, where some barricades were erected and some stores of arms plundered. Excitement was greatly increased by the slaughtering of the defenceless people. Strikes were general in towns and country districts. Bulygin's ministry endeavoured to pacify the country, and in the beginning of March was promulgated a manifesto containing a rescript to the minister (instructing him to summon deputies to consider legislative proposals) and a ukase to the senate (granting the right of petition to the ministerial council); but these concessions failed to restore tranquillity. The sanctioning of religious freedom in April produced a better impression. The preparations for the organisation of a panrussian peasant league, and the congress held by this body in Moscow from August 14th to 16th, could not fail to convince the government that Bulygin's plans were an anachronism.
During the summer of 1905 the whole country was in an uproar—not alone Russia proper and the Russian capitals, but in addition Poland and the Baltic provinces. The disorders in Livonia, in Finland, and in Caucasia, were especially grave; and the ferment extended even into Siberia. For these reasons, immediately after the close of the Japanese war in the peace signed at Portsmouth on August 16, 1905, a constitution was granted on August 19th, based upon the decrees of March, and the law concerning the establishment
