Question

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTION
What do you know about Bloody Sunday? What is its significance in the history of Russia?

Answer 1

Russian workers were deeply dissatisfied because in 1904 prices of essential goods rose so quickly that real wages declined by 20 per cent. Their grievances aggravated when four members of the Assembly of Russian workers were dismissed at the Putilov Iron works. They went on strike demanding a reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages and improvement in working conditions.

When the procession of workers reached the Winter Palace it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and about 300 wounded. This incident came to be known as Bloody Sunday.

The incident had great significance in the history of Russia, because it started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution. Strikes took place all over the country and universities closed down. Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-class workers established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly.

This led to the creation of Duma or an elected consultative Parliament in Russia. The workers finally formed an organisation known as `Soviet' or 'Council'. This was the Petrograd Soviet. These workers played an important role in the downfall of the Tsarist autocracy in Russia in 1917.