Open Access

Vladimir Levin

• The period discussed in this work can be defined with absolute precision: it started on June 3, 1907, when the second Duma was dispersed, and ended on July 19, 1914 (August 1 in the Gregorian calendar), when the war against Germany and Austro-Hungary was proclaimed. This period followed right after the first Russian Revolution, which altered the regime: from unlimited autocracy it became half-parliamentary. Although the revolution was aborted and the tsarist government regained control, several important features characterized the period of 1907- 1914. First of all, there was the very existence of the State Duma – the elected lower house of the Parliament with legislative power; second, the establishment of voluntary associations was eased; third, preliminary censorship was abolished. Thus, public life was characterized by a degree of freedom, such as had never existed in Russia before 1905 and would not exist after October 1917. However, the freedom was relative and very narrow; the government tracked all oppositional or near-oppositional activities and did not hesitate to stop them. The basic tension and mutual suspicion between the authorities and society remained intact and eventually brought the collapse of the regime in 1917. But the revolution of February 1917 was not inevitable. In the period under discussion the interest in politics drastically declined, the Russian political forces became more moderate and the majority sought evolution, rather then revolution as the mechanism for change. ...