THE JOURNAL OF REGIONAL HISTORY V.7 No.3
The Authorities and Society in the Elections to the Fourth State Duma (Based o...
THE JOURNAL OF REGIONAL HISTORY V.7 No.3

The Authorities and Society in the Elections to the Fourth State Duma (Based on the Materials of Vologda Governorate)

Authors:
Andrey N. Egorov
DOI:
Full text:
The article deals with the interaction of the authorities and society during the election campaign to the Fourth State Duma of the Russian Empire and is based on the materials of Vologda Governorate. The decline in social activity after the end of the First Russian Revolution led to a certain weakening of the population’s attention to election campaigns, and interest in the parliament as a new political institution was clearly fading. However, in 1912, on the eve of the elections to the Fourth Duma, there was a clear revival of social and political life in Vologda Governorate as well as a shift of public sentiments to the left, which caused concern of the authorities at all levels. The article considers the actions of M. Shramchenko, the governor of Vologda, taken to ensure the election to the Duma of the right-wing candidates who were needed by the authorities. On the eve of the elections to the Fourth Duma, polarization of political forces in the governorate as well as throughout the country could be seen: the opposition relied on the Kadet Party and moderate socialists and stood against the right-wing candidates nominated by the authorities. Formally, the Kadets did not have their own organization, but they acted as a united group and enjoyed serious prestige with the voters of the city curia and, to some extent, peasant curia. The article analyzes electoral slogans of the right-wingers and the opposition, the course of the election campaign, and its results. Particular attention is paid to the mechanisms of support for right-wing candidates by the governorate administration and the use of administrative resources by it. The conclusion is made that the opposition sentiments, which were clearly manifested during the elections at the governorate level, tended to grow and the influence of the authorities tended to decline. Despite all the restrictions of the electoral law of June 3, 1907, the elections to the Fourth State Duma showed obvious social demand for reforming the country. However, at the level of Vologda Governorate, the governorate authorities failed to satisfy that demand by entering into a limited dialogue with the opposition and to properly consolidate the right-wing forces. Applying a wide range of administrative measures against the opposition, the governorate administration drove the situation into a dead end even deeper, which led to an increase in contradictions between the government and the public.
Andrey N. Egorov
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor
Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets, Russia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1196-3748
anegorov65@mail.ru
Akul'shin, P.V., and I.S. Knyazeva. Parlamentskaya istoriya Tsentral'noi Rossii: vybory i predstavitel'stvo Ryazanskoi gubernii v Gosudarstvennoi dume i Uchreditel'nom sobranii
(1906–1917 gg.) [Parliamentary history of Central Russia: elections and representation of Ryazan Governorate in the State Duma and the Constituent Assembly (1906–1917)]. Moscow: AIRO-XXI, 2021. (In Russian)
Egorov, A.N. “Dokumenty gubernskikh zhandarmskikh upravlenii kak istochnik formirovaniya obraza provintsial'nogo liberala (po materialam Vologodskoi i Novgorodskoi gubernii)” [Documents of the governorate gendarme departments as a source of shaping the image of a provincial liberal (based on the materials of Vologda and Novgorod governorates)]. Vestnik Cherepovetskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 3 (49), vol. 1 (2013): 34–37. (In Russian)
Egorov, A.N. “Politicheskie predpochteniya deputatov Gosudarstvennoi dumy Rossiiskoi imperii ot severnykh gubernii” [Political preferences of the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Empire from the Northern provinces]. In Tavricheskie chteniya 2014. Aktual'nye problemy parlamentarizma: istoriya i sovremennost': sbornik nauchnykh statei [Tauride Readings 2014. Current problems of parliamentarism: history and modernity: collected scientific papers], 2 pts., edited by A.B. Nikolaev, pt. 1, 254–64. St Petersburg: ElekSis, 2015. (In Russian)
Egorov, A.N. “Vybory v Gosudarstvennye dumy Rossiiskoi imperii v Vologodskoi gubernii: regional'nye osobennosti” [Elections to the State Dumas of the Russian Empire in Vologda Governorate: regional features]. In Tavricheskie chteniya 2015. Aktual'nye problemy parlamentarizma: istoriya i sovremennost': materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii (Sankt-Peterburg, 10–11 dekabrya 2015 g.): sbornik nauchnykh statei [Tauride Readings 2015. Current problems of parliamentarism: history and modernity. Proceedings of the International scientific conference (St Petersburg, the Tauride Palace, December 10–11, 2015): collected scientific papers], 2 pts., edited by A.B. Nikolaev, pt. 1, 85–93. St Petersburg: ElekSis, 2016.
(In Russian)
Ezhegodnik gazety “Rech'” na 1913 god [Yearbook of the newspaper Rech for 1913]. St Petersburg: Izdanie redaktsii gazety “Rech'”, 1913. (In Russian)
Karnishin, V.Yu. “V ispytaniyakh dumskimi vyborami: vlast' i provintsial'noe obshchestvo v politicheskikh realiyakh nachala XX veka” [Tested by the Duma elections: power and provincial society in the political realities of the early 20th century]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya, no. 5 (25) (2013): 21–23. (in Russian)
Kir'yanov, I.K., and E.V. Chugainova. “Administrativnyi resurs na vyborakh v Gosudarstvennuyu dumu Rossiiskoi imperii chetvertogo sozyva: permskii variant” [Administrative resource in the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Empire of the fourth convocation: the Perm version]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya, no. 3 (30), 2015: 199–204. (In Russian)
Kokovtsov, V.N. Iz moego proshlogo. Vospominaniya. 1903–1919 gg. [From my past. Memoirs. 1903–1919]. 2 bks. Bk. 2. Moscow: Nauka, 1992. (In Russian)
Kostylev, A.V. “Vybory v IV Gosudarstvennuyu dumu Rossiiskoi imperii (sentyabr' – oktyabr' 1912 g.)” [Elections to the Fourth State Duma of the Russian Empire (September–October 1912)]. In Tavricheskie chteniya 2012. Aktual'nye problemy parlamentarizma: istoriya i sovremennost': materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii (Sankt-Peterburg, Tavricheskii dvorets, 19 oktyabrya 2012 g.): sbornik nauchnykh statei: v 2 ch. [Tauride Readings 2012. Current problems of parliamentarism: history and modernity. Proceedings of the International scientific conference (St Petersburg, the Tauride Palace, October 19, 2012: Collected scientific papers], 2 pts., edited by A.B. Nikolaev, pt. 1, 193–206. St Petersburg: ElekSis, 2013. (In Russian)
Kotsyubinskii, D.A. Russkii natsionalizm v nachale XX stoletiya. Rozhdenie i gibel' ideologii Vserossiiskogo natsional'nogo soyuza [Russian nationalism at the beginning of the 20th century. Birth and death of the ideology of the All-Russian National Union]. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2001. (In Russian)
Malysheva, O.G. Izbiratel'naya sistema i praktika Rossii v period dumskoi monarkhii 1905–1917 [The electoral system and practice of Russia during the Duma monarchy, 1905–1917]. Moscow: Kvadriga, 2018. (In Russian)
Nikolaev, A.B. Dumskaya revolyutsiya: 27 fevralya – 3 marta 1917 goda [The Duma Revolution: February 27 – March 3, 1917]. 2 vols. Vol. 2. St Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo RGPU im. A.I. Gertsena, 2017. (In Russian)
Panov, L.S. Neprimirimyi Trapeznikov. Ocherk zhizni politicheskogo deyatelya, yurista i kraeveda V.N. Trapeznikova [Irreconcilable Trapeznikov. Essay on the life of politician, lawyer and local historian V.N. Trapeznikov]. Vologda: VGPU, 2013. (In Russian)
Panov, L.S. “Vybory v IV Gosudarstvennuyu Dumu v Vologodskoi gubernii” [Elections to the Fourth State Duma in Vologda Governorate]. In Sotsial'nye protsessy, vlast' i obshchestvo v Rossii v XX veke: obshcherossiiskii i regional'nyi rakurs: sbornik nauchnykh statei [Social processes, power and society in Russia in the 20th century: an all-Russian and regional perspective: collected research articles], edited by M.A. Beznin, 18–31. Vologda: VoGU, 2018. (In Russian)
Patrikeeva, O.A. Rossiiskaya obshchestvennost' i vybory v I i II Gosudarstvennye Dumy
(1905–1907 gg) [The Russian public and elections to the First and Second State Dumas
(1905–1907)]. St Petersburg: SPbGU, 2005. (In Russian)
Savich, N.V. Vospominaniya [Memoirs]. St Petersburg: Logos; Dusseldorf: Goluboi vsadnik, 1993. (In Russian)
Shelokhaev, V.V., et al., eds. Gosudarstvennaya duma Rossii, 1906–2006: entsiklopediya [The State Duma of Russia, 1906–2006: an encyclopedia]. 2 vols. Vol. 1, Gosudarstvennaya duma Rossiiskoi imperii (1906–1917) [The State Duma of the Russian Empire (1906–1917)]. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2006. (In Russian)
Shelokhaev, V.V., et al., eds. Gosudarstvennyi sovet Rossiiskoi imperii: 1906–1917: entsiklopediya [The State Council of the Russian Empire: 1906–1917: an encyclopedia]. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2008. (In Russian)
Shilovskii, M.V. “Organizatsiya i provedenie vyborov v I–IV Gosudarstvennye dumy v Sibiri (1906–1913)” [Organization and conduct of elections to the First–Fourth State Dumas in Siberia (1906–1913)]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya, no. 5 (25) (2013): 29–34. (in Russian)
Solov'ev, K.A. Samoderzhavie i konstitutsiya: politicheskaya povsednevnost' v Rossii v
1906–1917 godakh [Autocracy and the constitution: political everyday life in Russia in
1906–1917]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2019. (In Russian)
Stepanov, S.A. Chernaya sotnya [The Black Hundred]. Moscow: Eksmo; Yauza, 2005. (In Russian)
Trapeznikov, V.N. “V strane nevoli” [In the land of captivity]. In Katorga i ssylka, no. 6 (19) Revolyutsiya 1905 goda [The 1905 Revolution], (1925): 196–221. (In Russian)

Keywords:
election campaigns, pre-election struggle, governorate administration, right-wingers, opposition, State Duma
For citation:
Egorov, A.N. “The Authorities and Society in the Elections to the Fourth State Duma (Based on the Materials of Vologda Governorate).” Historia Provinciae – the Journal of Regional History, vol. 7, no. 3 (2023): 911–64, https://doi.org/10.23859/2587-8344-2023-7-3-4

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

ISSN 2587-8344 (Online)