Vyborg Appeal of 1906 Actuality: Vyborg Appeal

The reason for cracking down on the recalcitrant parliament was the discussion in the Duma of the agrarian bill. This question, the decision of which millions of peasants were waiting for, was raised by the deputies in May, shortly after the start of the Duma sessions. The Cadets proposed a project in the spirit of their program: the creation of a land fund to provide for poor peasants at the expense of state, monastic lands and partially confiscated landlord estates. At the same time, the estates, which were recognized as "generally useful", that is, they contributed to the development Agriculture in Russia, were exempted from confiscation. The Trudoviks, on the other hand, proposed to include in such a land fund all privately owned, primarily landlord lands, leaving their former owners only a labor rate equal to that which every working farmer should have received. Thus, while the Kadet project provided for only a certain redistribution of landowners' and peasants' lands in favor of the peasants, the Trudoviks' project led to the complete abolition of landownership.

The discussion of the agrarian question was stormy in the Duma; its course was closely followed by the whole country and, above all, by the peasantry. Of course, the tsarist government, having secured for itself all the fullness of real power, would never have allowed the transformation of a bill objectionable to it into law. However, according to the authorities, the Duma debate on the agrarian question had a revolutionary effect on the masses.

On June 20, the government saw fit to publish a report on the agrarian question, resolutely rejecting the very principle of forced confiscation. The Duma began to prepare a countermessage. At first, it was meant to give it a tough anti-government character, to declare that the Duma "will not retreat from the forced alienation of land, rejecting all proposals that disagree with this." However, in the last edition, under the influence of the Cadets, alarmed by rumors of a possible dissolution of the Duma, the text of the appeal was significantly softened: its meaning was now determined by the desire to support the faith of the population in a successful solution of the agrarian question by peaceful legislative means.

But the government has already made a decision. On July 9, the deputies who arrived at the Tauride Palace, where Duma sessions were held, found its doors closed. The gates of the palace were guarded by sentries, and a decree on the dissolution of the Duma was pasted on the pillar, which, for attempting to appeal to the people, was accused of illegal actions and inciting unrest.

In the evening of the same day, 182 deputies, mostly Cadets and Trudoviks, gathered in Vyborg. This city, located not far from St. Petersburg, was already on the territory of Finland, which at that time continued to enjoy autonomy. The activities of the Russian police were very difficult here, which allowed the deputies to hold their unexpected “exit” meeting without interference. After long disputes, an appeal was drawn up to the people: not to pay taxes and not to perform military service "up to the convening of a new popular representation." It is characteristic that the “Vyborzhtsy” deliberately called for only passive protest - from their point of view, active revolutionary actions could only interfere with the normal formation of the “constitutional system” in Russia.

However, the dissolution of the Duma did not cause any direct protests on the part of the population, either passive or active. The Vyborg appeal did not receive a serious response either. Such indifference to the fate of the Duma, on which such high hopes had only recently been placed, testified once again to the fact that the revolution was gradually fading away.

Groups of deputies of the 1st State Duma to the citizens of Russia (10.7.1906) with a call to refuse to pay taxes and serve in the army in protest against the dissolution of the Duma. The signatories were brought to trial (December 12, 1907, St. Petersburg). 167 defendants ... ... Big encyclopedic Dictionary

VYBORG APPEAL, an appeal by a group of deputies of the 1st State Duma to the citizens of Russia (10.07.1906) with a call to refuse to pay taxes and serve in the army in protest against the dissolution of the Duma. Compiled in Vyborg (hence the name). ... ... Russian history

Appeal of a group of deputies of the 1st State Duma to the citizens of Russia (July 10, 1906) with an appeal to refuse to pay taxes and serve in the army in protest against the dissolution of the Duma. The signatories were put on trial (December 12 18, 1907, Petersburg). ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (“To the people from people's representatives”) appeal of a group of deputies of the 1st State Duma [see. State Duma in Russia (1906 17)] Cadets, Trudoviks and Social Democrats (about 120 Cadets, about 80 representatives of other parties) ... Big soviet encyclopedia

- (To the people from people's representatives) appeal of a group of deputies of the 1st State. Duma of the Cadets, Trudoviks and Social Democrats (of which there were about 120 Cadets, and about 80 representatives of the other parties), adopted in Vyborg on July 10, 1906 in response to the dissolution ... ...

Mikhail Yakovlevich Gertsenstein ... Wikipedia

Coordinates: 55°44′06″ s. sh. 37°39′16″ E  / 55.735° N sh. 37.654444° E etc. ... Wikipedia

In Russia (1906 1917) a representative legislature. an institution with limited rights, created by the autocracy under the onslaught of the revolution of 1905 07 in Russia for an alliance with the bourgeoisie and transferring the country to the rails of a bourgeois monarchy while maintaining ... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

State Duma of the Russian Empire of the 1st convocation ... Wikipedia

The city of Vyborg Flag Coat of arms ... Wikipedia

Books

• Before and after the provisional government, V. Nabokov. In 1906, V. D. Nabokov was a deputy of the First State Duma, after the dissolution of which, together with his colleagues, he signed the Vyborg Appeal, for which he was sentenced to three months in prison and deprived of the right ...

call for civil disobedience

"Vyborg Appeal"- the name of the appeal of July 9 (22), 1906, adopted in the literature, “To the People from People's Representatives”, drawn up in the city of Vyborg and signed by a significant group of deputies of the State Duma of the 1st convocation 2 days after its dissolution by decree of Emperor Nicholas II. The appeal called for passive resistance to the authorities (civil disobedience) - not to pay taxes, not to go to military service etc.

Duma deputies at the Vyborg railway station, second from left V. D. Nabokov

• 1 History of compilation and content of the appeal
• 2 Criminal trial of the signatories
• 3 Some of the signatories
  • 3.1 Duma leadership
  • 3.2 Cadets faction
  • 3.3 Trudovik faction
  • 3.4 Social Democrat faction
  • 3.5 Muslim faction
  • 3.6 Autonomist faction
  • 3.7 Democratic Reform Party faction
• 4 Literature
• 5 Notes

History of compilation and content of the appeal

meeting former members The First State Duma was held on 9-10 (July 22-23), 1906 in the Belvedere hotel in Vyborg; about 220 former deputies from all Duma factions participated. The editorial commission was headed by M. M. Vinaver; 2 projects were considered: from the leader of the Cadets P. N. Milyukov and from the Trudoviks. Milyukov's project was taken as a basis.

After reporting on the circumstances of the unlawful, from the point of view of the audience, dissolution of the Duma, the authors of the appeal called for civil disobedience to the government:

Citizens! Stand firm for the trampled rights of popular representation, stand for State Duma. Not a single day should Russia remain without popular representation. You have a way to achieve this: The government has no right, without the consent of the popular representation, neither to collect taxes from the people, nor to call the people for military service. And therefore, now that the Government has dissolved the State Duma, you have the right not to give it either soldiers or money.

According to the memoirs of Cadets A. V. Tyrkova-Williams, only one of the Cadets, E. I. Kedrin, fulfilled the order of the Vyborg Appeal, refusing to pay taxes.

Criminal proceedings against the signatories

On July 16 (29) criminal prosecution was initiated against the former members of the State Duma who had signed the Appeal: 167 former deputies were brought to trial by the Special Presence of the St. Petersburg Court of Justice.

As one of the defendants' lawyers, Vasily Maklakov, a member of the Cadet Party, testifies in his memoirs (he was not a deputy of the 1st Duma and therefore did not sign the appeal, he subsequently condemned it), the defense had "fertile ground" for work. The deeds of the defendants did not contain Article 129, which they were charged with: the “vyborzhtsy” were guilty of compiling, but not distributing the appeal. From the point of view of the criminal, there was a huge difference here: for one "drafting" the defendants could not be deprived of political rights. But the court inexorably bent its line. Another lawyer for the defendants, Oscar Pergament, stated in his speech that “the wreath of glory of the defendants is so magnificent that even undeserved suffering will not weave an extra leaf into it ... But if it is necessary to inflict violence on them, then why add more to violence against people violence against the law?

“In this dispute, the lawyers won a moral victory, although they did not convince the judges,” V. Maklakov concludes on this matter.

The vast majority of those put on trial were sentenced to three months in prison and disenfranchised. Thus, they also lost the right to engage in political activities in the future and could not become deputies of the State Duma in the future. Of the 169 defendants, only three (I. D. Bugrov, S. P. Pritula and A. L. Shemyakin) were acquitted. The first two of them managed to provide an irrefutable alibi during the investigation. And about A. L. Shemyakin, it turned out that when the appeal was published, the signature of V. M. Shemet, who was involved instead of him, was taken for his signature.

Some of the signatories

Duma Leadership

• Muromtsev, Sergei Andreevich, Chairman of the Duma, member of the Cadets faction.
• Dolgorukov, Pyotr Dmitrievich, comrade (deputy) chairman, member of the Cadets faction.
• Gredeskul, Nikolai Andreevich, comrade (deputy) chairman, member of the Cadets faction.

Cadets faction

1. Aivazov, Artemy Gavrilovich
2. Afanasiev, Klavdy Ivanovich
3. Balakhontsev, Sergei Petrovich
4. Balyasnikov, Vasily Fyodorovich
5. Borodin, Nikolai Andreevich
6. Bremer, Arvid Ottonovich
7. Brook, Grigory Yakovlevich
8. Bukeikhanov, Alikhan Nurmukhamedovich
9. Bystrov, Pavel Alexandrovich
10. Vinaver, Maxim Moiseevich - member of the editorial committee of the appeal from the Cadets faction.
11. Volkovich, Alexey Onufrievich
12. Vyazlov, Andrey Grigorievich
13. Gellat, Karl Petrovich
14. Gertsenstein, Mikhail Yakovlevich - killed shortly after the dissolution of the Duma
15. Delarue, Mikhail Danilovich
16. Dolgorukov, Pyotr Dmitrievich
17. Ezersky, Nikolai Fyodorovich
18. Zamyslov, Ivan Vasilievich
19. Zemtsov, Mikhail Evstafievich
20. Ivanitsky, Fedor Igorevich
21. Imshenetsky, Yakov Kondratievich
22. Iollos, Grigory Borisovich - killed before the end of the trial
23. Isupov, Alexander Evgrafovich
24. Kedrin, Evgeny Ivanovich
25. Karandashev, Vasily Egorovich
26. Katsenelson, Nison Iosifovich
27. Kvaskov, Mikhail Alexandrovich
28. Kovalevsky, Nikolai Nikolaevich
29. Kokoshkin, Fedor Fedorovich - member of the editorial committee of the appeal from the Cadets faction.
30. Kolokolnikov, Stepan Ivanovich
31. Komissarov, Mikhail Gerasimovich
32. Kotlyarevsky, Sergey Andreevich
33. Krylov, Pyotr Petrovich
34. Kulikov, Mikhail Fyodorovich
35. Lebedev, Mikhail Dmitrievich
36. Levin, Shmaria Khaimovich
37. Lednitsky, Alexander Robertovich
38. Nabokov, Vladimir Dmitrievich
39. Nekrasov, Konstantin Fyodorovich
40. Nechaev, Viktor Savvich
41. Novgorodtsev, Pavel Ivanovich
42. Obninsky, Viktor Petrovich
43. Obolensky, Vladimir Andreevich
44. Ognev, Nikolai Vasilievich
45. Ogorodnikov, Nikolai Alexandrovich
46. Petrazhitsky, Lev Iosifovich
47. Petrunkevich, Ivan Ilyich
48. Petrunkevich, Mikhail Ilyich
49. Rosenbaum, Semyon Yakovlevich
50. Rutzen, Alexander Nikolaevich von
51. Sadyrin, Pavel Alexandrovich
52. Safonov, Pyotr Alekseevich
53. Sitsinsky, Leopold Egorovich
54. Skulsky, Dmitry Arkadievich
55. Tolstoy, Pyotr Petrovich
56. Tumanyan, Levon Filippovich
57. Tynisson, Jaan
58. Cakste, Janis
59. Shakhovskoy, Dmitry Ivanovich
60. Shershenevich, Gabriel Feliksovich
61. Sheftel, Mikhail Isaakovich
62. Shirkov, Nikolai Vladimirovich - a member of the faction, but not a member of the party
63. Steingel, Fyodor Rudolfovich
64. Schepkin, Evgeny Nikolaevich
65. Yakushkin, Vyacheslav Evgenievich
66. Yanovsky, Vasily Vasilievich
67. Yasnopolsky, Leonid Nikolaevich

Faction Trudoviks

1. Andreev, Alexander Alekseevich
2. Baratov, Joseph Alexandrovich
3. Bondarev, Sergei Ivanovich - member of the editorial committee of the appeal from the faction of the Trudoviks.
4. Bramson, Leonty Moiseevich
5. Buslov, Fedor Efimovich
6. Bychkov, Ivan Dmitrievich
7. Vikharev, Vasily Silvestrovich
8. Vozovik, Alexey Nikitich
9. Volkov, Timofey Osipovich
10. Enemies, Vasily Fyodorovich
11. Galetsky, Ivan Vladislavovich
12. Gudilin, Maxim Konstantinovich
13. Dietz, Jacob Egorovich
14. Dyachenko, Maxim Fyodorovich
15. Dyumaev, Pyotr Evdokimovich
16. Zhilkin, Ivan Vasilyevich - member of the editorial committee of the appeal from the faction of the Trudoviks.
17. Zubchenko, Gavriil Leontievich
18. Kalyanov, Pavel Vasilievich
19. Korniliev, Sergei Mikhailovich
20. Kryukov, Fedor Dmitrievich
21. Kubilis, Joseph Iosifovich
22. Kuznetsov, Ivan Osipovich
23. Kutomanov, Mikhail Danilovich
24. Lokot, Timofey Vasilievich
25. Nikolaevsky, Nikolai Fyodorovich
26. Onipko, Fedot Mikhailovich
27. Sedelnikov, Timofey Ivanovich
28. Seffer, Fedor Afanasyevich
29. Solomka, Illarion Egorovich
30. Shaposhnikov, Grigory Nikitich - Deputy Secretary of the Duma.
31. Shilikhin, Ivan Osipovich

Faction of Social Democrats

1. Antonov, Ivan Ivanovich
2. Vyrovoy, Zakhary Ivanovich - secret police officer
3. Gomarteli, Ivan Gedevanovitch
4. Japaridze, Sergey Davidovich - member of the editorial commission of the appeal from the faction of the Social Democrats
5. Ershov, Pyotr Andreevich
6. Zhordania, Noy Nikolaevich - head of the Social Democratic faction, member of the editorial commission of the appeal from the Social Democratic faction.
7. Ishersky, Vladimir Ivanovich
8. Ramishvili, Isidor Ivanovich
9. Rogov, Vasily Mikhailovich
10. Savelyev, Ivan Feoktistovich, compositor from Moscow

Muslim faction

1. Alkin, Seid-Girey Shagiakhmetovich, member of the bureau of the Muslim faction.
2. Akhtyamov, Abussugud Abdelkhalikovich, member of the bureau of the Muslim faction.
3. Dzhantyurin, Salimgirey Seidkhanovich
4. Ziyathanov, Ismail Khan Abulfat Khan oglu
5. Topchibashev, Alimardan-bek, chairman of the Muslim faction.

Autonomist faction

1. Vitkovsky, Pyotr Iosifovich, Lithuanian section, also a member of the Polish Colo
2. Shemet, Vladimir Mikhailovich, member of the Ukrainian People's Party

Faction of the Democratic Reform Party

1. Urusov, Sergei Dmitrievich
2. Fedorovsky, Vladimir Kapitonovich

Literature

1. Kuzmin-Karavaev, V. Vyborg process. SPb.: Type. t-va "Public benefit", 1908.
2. State Duma of the Russian Empire 1906-1917: Encyclopedia. Moscow: Russian Political Encyclopedia, 2008, pp. 113-114.
3. Vyborg appeal, text with signatures
4. The text of the appeal and signature, another version

Notes

1. Vyborg Appeal
2. A. Tyrkova-Williams. Kadet Party
3. "Processes of the century: the Vyborg case of the pioneers"www.newspeak.by
4. 1 2 Rodionov Yu. P. "Investigation case on the Vyborg Appeal" as a historical source
5. Vyborg process. SPb. 1908.
6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin. Complete collection of speeches in the State Duma and State Council

Vyborg appeal

Doctor of Historical Sciences G. IOFFE.

In 1905 the first Russian revolution began. A thorough analysis of the events of a hundred years ago can also clarify a lot about what is happening today: how relations between the people and the authorities are built, which leads to a rupture of ties between them. A serious political result of that revolution must be recognized as the manifesto of Nicholas II of October 17, 1905, which, if not meant the end of autocracy in Russia, then, in any case, marked the beginning of his departure from the political arena. The key point of the manifesto is consent to the creation of the State Duma (in other words, parliament), elected by the population, with which the tsar agreed to share legislative power. The dream of several generations who devoted their lives to the Russian liberation movement, it would seem, was close to being realized.

ASSISTANT OR ENEMY?

The elections to the Duma were held in March 1906 and brought a large preponderance to the democratic parties and groups: constitutional democrats (Kadets), peasant representatives, social democrats and others. The nationalists and the Black Hundreds suffered a serious defeat. It was difficult to expect that such a left-wing radical State Duma would be able to interact with the tsarist government. When Sergei Witte, reassuring the tsar, told him that he would find support and support in the Duma, Nicholas II objected, not without bitterness: I console myself with the thought that I will be able to nurture a state force that will prove useful in order to provide Russia with a path of peaceful development in the future, without a sharp violation of the foundations on which she has lived for so long.

Meanwhile, many deputies of Russia's first State Duma perceived themselves as the only "bearers of people's hopes." And the ritual of opening the Duma confirmed the high self-esteem of its representatives. On April 26, the deputies were taken on boats along the Neva to the Winter Palace, where they were supposed to listen to the tsar's speech. The deputies were noisily greeted by crowds of people gathered on the banks. On the way back from the Winter Palace to the Tauride Palace, which was specially assigned to the Duma and has just been renovated, the people's representatives walked through the tapestries of thousands of jubilant people.

The work of the Duma immediately began with an attack on the government. Ministers were met with hostility, insulting cries were often heard: "Executioner!", "Bloodsucker!" The pressure went mainly in two directions. First of all, there was a demand for a full amnesty for all those convicted of political crimes, including terrorist ones, who last years shocked Russia. "Free Russia," deputy Ivan Petrunkevich said, "demands the release of all those who suffered for freedom." This was a direct challenge to the authorities, dozens of representatives of which - from ministers to policemen - were sent to the next world by bombs and bullets of revolutionaries. Deputy Mikhail Stakhovich tried to call on the Duma to condemn the political killings, "considering them an insult to the moral feeling of the people and the very idea of ​​popular representation." But his voice was never heard. The State Duma refused to condemn terror, to condemn those who, in the words of one of the deputies, "lay down their lives for their friends, who, in the opinion of the people, are victims for freedom and great sufferers."

The second direction of the Duma's attack is the land question. The Cadet deputies presented a draft for the forced expropriation of landlord, government, monastic and other lands in favor of the peasants. At the same time, many deputies insisted that this alienation be carried out free of charge. Representatives of the government objected: "cuts" would undermine the most stable, cultural farms. However, deputy Mikhail Gertsenstein, persistently convincing the Duma of the insignificance of such considerations, recalled the peasant uprisings in many provinces of the country: "Or is it not enough for you that the July illumination, which carried off 150 estates in the Saratov province?"

The deputies were sure: the State Duma is the only holder of the mandate of people's trust. It is no coincidence that deputy Vladimir Nabokov (the father of the future writer) declared: "We will not allow such a government, which intends to be not an executor of the will of the people's representation, but a critic and a denial of this will.<...>Let the executive power submit to the legislative power.” Nevertheless, the executive power did not want to submit.

Pyotr Stolypin wrote: "The main position captured by the revolution is the State Duma. From its inviolable walls, as from a high fortress, truly shameless calls are heard for the destruction of property, for the defeat of the state."

The government organized special monitoring of the activities of the Duma, for which considerable funds were allocated to the police department. Secret agents were introduced into the Duma guards. The situation escalated. At the beginning of July 1906, at one of its meetings, the Duma adopted an appeal to the people, in which it declared that "it will not retreat from the forced alienation of privately owned lands, rejecting all proposals that disagree with this."

The authorities were challenged. In response, the government had reason to dissolve the Duma. On July 9, Nicholas II signed the imperial decree, and the very next day, July 10, 1906, all the doors of the Tauride Palace, surrounded by troops, were tightly locked.

"GIVE NO SOLDIERS, NO MONEY"

A deputy from the Don, a Cossack veteran Fyodor Kryukov (later some would attribute the authorship of The Quiet Don to him) wrote in those days: "The people will hardly come to terms with the death of the Duma." The deputies decided to address the people directly. The draft appeal was written by Pavel Milyukov. However, another cadet leader - Maxim Vinaver - assessed the project "as a pitiful minimum of action", believing that "a cry of indignation should sound like a flash of lightning, illuminating the population the true meaning of what happened." However, it was difficult to widely discuss the appeal in St. Petersburg: the cadet club on Potemkinskaya Street was cordoned off by troops, everyone was afraid of arrests. We decided to go to Vyborg: Finland, which was part of the Russian Empire, enjoyed considerable autonomy.

Many years later, Ariadna Tyrkova, a member of the Central Committee of the Cadet Party, recalled: “After the members of the Duma, journalists, Russian and foreign, the wives of deputies, party leaders, just people carried away by political curiosity, rushed to Vyborg.” Of the 478 Duma deputies, almost half arrived in Vyborg. The small town was overcrowded. There were not enough places in the hotel "Belvedere", allotted by the city authorities to the Duma members ...

The discussion of the appeal ended unexpectedly. An instruction came from the Russian authorities: if the Duma meeting does not stop, Vyborg will be declared under martial law - with all the ensuing consequences. The Finnish authorities asked the deputies "not to allow such an insult to Finland." The drafting of the appeal "To the People from the People's Representatives" had to be hastily completed. It was signed by 180 people, a little later 52 more joined.

The appeal said: "Citizens! Stand firmly for the trampled rights of the people's representation, stand for the State Duma. Russia must not remain for a single day without the people's representation. You have a way to achieve this: the government has no right, without the consent of the people's representation, to collect taxes from people, nor to call the people for military service ... Until the convocation of the people's representative office, do not give a penny to the treasury, not a single soldier to the army.

This is not the first time Russian politicians have appealed to the people. But usually there were calls for rebellion or, on the contrary, for the expression of loyal feelings. This time (seemingly for the first time) democratic politicians called the people to peaceful resistance.

Foreign correspondents urgently transmitted the text of the appeal abroad. In Vyborg it was printed in the form of leaflets and handed out to the deputies, who on July 11, having left Vyborg, went to St. Petersburg. They expected arrests, attacks by the Black Hundreds, but nothing like that happened then. The revolutionary unrest in the country had not yet subsided, and the authorities decided in that situation not to create a martyr's halo around the "Vyborzhites". However, no one met the people's representatives at the Finland Station, and there was no one near the locked Tauride Palace. As one of his contemporaries wrote, "merchants traded, officials served, workers worked. The capital lived, as always, without traces of any unrest. And so it was throughout Russia." The call for civil disobedience hung in the air.

"THE PEOPLE DID NOT FOLLOW YOU"

The authorities were in no hurry. The trial of the signatories of the Vyborg Appeal took place only a year and a half later, in December 1907.

The Russian press responded widely to him. The right-wing newspaper Novoye Vremya characterized the incident as a "sad tragicomedy" and thanked God that Vyborg did not bring "its poisonous fruits to suffering Russia." The liberal "Rus" compared the "Vyborzhians" with the Decembrists. The Cadet Rech noted: "The very fact that the deputies are in the dock shows that we are still very far from normal living conditions, from real 'calming down'." The newspaper Nash Den wrote about the defendants: "Tomorrow the doors of the prison will open before them... And not only are we not shocked, but, as you can see, it is quite clear to us that this cannot shock us..."

167 people were brought to the court of the Special Presence of the St. Petersburg Court of Justice, including 100 Cadets, 50 Trudoviks, 13 Social Democrats, 4 non-party people. The presidency was a real state councilor Nikolai Krasheninnikov. The court consisted of representatives of the chamber and class representatives: the St. Petersburg marshal of the nobility, a member of the city council, and the volost foreman. The defendants were defended by a large group of lawyers, including such stars as Vasily Maklakov, Nikolai Teslenko, Oscar Pergament.

The prosecutor, rejecting the statements of some of the accused, who claimed that the "Vyborg Appeal" was dictated by patriotic feelings, said: "I think that in a difficult moment for the motherland, citizens in no country<...>they would not issue such an appeal that could serve as harm to their homeland. " And finishing the accusatory speech, he remarked, not without gloating: "You say that the people have justified you, the people believe you; but history will doubt this, too, since history will say that if the people had believed you, they would have followed you, but the people would not have followed you.

The defendants pleaded not guilty and denied the charges. Petrunkevich, in particular, said that the intentions and actions of the "vyborzhtsy" did not go beyond the legal framework. "We did not want to create confusion in the country," he said, "but to strengthen the order of things that existed at that time and was sanctioned by the supreme power, the order that we, as citizens, were obliged to protect." The defendants' lawyer O. Pergament, justifying the deputies, stated that the wreath of glory of the defendants "is so magnificent that even undeserved suffering will not weave an extra leaf into it<...>But if it is necessary to exercise violence against them, then why add violence against the law to violence against people?

On December 18, 1907, the verdict was announced. All defendants (with the exception of two) were found guilty and sentenced to three months in prison. But the convicts lost the right to "representation" and could no longer be elected to the new, 2nd State Duma. Most of the convicts sent a cassation appeal to the Governing Senate, but after considering it, it decided: "Leave without consequences."

The history of the Vyborg Appeal has shown that liberals and revolutionaries can be just as far from the people as conservatives and monarchists. The fierce struggle between the government and the opposition for power had little effect on the millions of ordinary people who lived in the depths of vast Russia. First sprouts civil society were just breaking through. (A few years will pass, and these weak shoots will be mercilessly crushed by the Bolshevik terror.)

By the autumn of 1907, the enthusiasm dried up, the country emerged from the revolutionary turmoil hard, tired and indifferent. Vladimir Kuzmin-Karavaev wrote in the Slovo newspaper: “Life began to give phenomena and facts of incriminating, difficult, oppressive and liquidating properties. The public consciousness is tired of them and is in a hurry to pass by. It is tired of violence, blood and arbitrariness reigning everywhere, right and left<...>It is weary of the fact that these facts and phenomena, being related by their origin to the past, do not reveal anything ahead. And most importantly, it is tired of the aimlessness of the reaction.

The people were silent. Gentlemen of the intelligentsia, who considered themselves his defenders and intercessors, were shocked. Didn't the uprisings, riots and strikes of 1905 testify to the revolutionary nature of the masses? However, those who rebelled are only part of the people. Let the most active, politicized, but still part. The vast majority stayed away folk wisdom realizing that there will be no quick decisions - there will not be enough strength, and the authorities will not give. And therefore, probably, without enthusiasm looked at those who impatiently sought to rebuild, even "turn over" Russia. These ideas did not change in 1917, when the Bolsheviks were followed not by the people, but by trained militants.

The Vyborg Appeal was adopted by the deputies of the first State Duma of Russia in response to the decision of Tsar Nicholas II to dissolve the Duma. The meeting of deputies at which the appeal was adopted was held in Vyborg in the premises

The dissolution of the State Duma, which was announced on the morning of July 9, 1906, came as a surprise to the deputies: the deputies came to the Taurida Palace for a regular meeting and stumbled upon the locked doors. Nearby, on a pillar, hung a manifesto signed by the tsar on the termination of the work of the First Duma, since it, designed to "bring calm" to society, only "ignites confusion."

About 200 deputies, most of whom were Trudoviks and Cadets, immediately left for Vyborg with the sole purpose of discussing the text of the appeal to the people "To the People from People's Representatives." Already on the evening of July 11, the deputies themselves began to distribute the text of the printed appeal, returning to St. Petersburg. The appeal called for civil disobedience in response to the dissolution of the Duma (non-payment of taxes, refusal of military service).

The reaction in the country to the Vyborg Appeal was calm, only in some cases there were attempts to arrest the deputies who disseminated the appeal. The people, contrary to the expectations of the deputies, practically did not respond to this action, although by that moment the opinion had strengthened in the mass consciousness that the Duma was still needed.
The First Duma ceased to exist, but the tsar and the government could no longer say goodbye to the State Duma forever. The Manifesto on the dissolution of the First Duma stated that the law on the establishment of the State Duma "was kept unchanged." On this basis, preparations began for a new campaign for elections to the Second State Duma.

To the people from the people's representatives

Citizens of all Russia!

When you elected us as your representatives, you instructed us to seek land and liberty. Fulfilling your commission and our duty, we drafted laws to ensure freedom for the people, we demanded the removal of irresponsible ministers who, breaking laws with impunity, suppressed freedom; but above all, we wanted to issue laws on the allocation of land to the working peasantry by converting state, appanage, office, monastery, church lands for this subject and by compulsory alienation of privately owned lands. The government declared such a law unacceptable, and when the Duma once again insistently confirmed its decision on expropriation, the dissolution of the people's representatives was announced.

Instead of the current Duma, the government promises to convene another in seven months. For seven whole months Russia must remain without people's representatives at a time when the people are on the verge of ruin, industry and trade are undermined. When the whole country is in turmoil and when the Ministry has finally proved its inability to meet the needs of the people. For seven whole months the Government will act according to its own will and will struggle with the popular movement in order to obtain an obedient, servile Duma, and if it manages to completely crush the popular movement, it will not convene any Duma.

Citizens! Stand firm for the violated rights of popular representation, stand for the State Duma. Not a single day should Russia remain without popular representation. You have a way to achieve this: The government has no right, without the consent of the popular representation, neither to collect taxes from the people, nor to call the people for military service. And therefore, now that the Government has dissolved the State Duma, you have the right not to give it either soldiers or money. If the government, in order to raise funds, begins to make loans concluded without the consent of the people's representation, they are no longer valid, and the Russian people will never recognize them and will not pay for them. So, until the convocation of the people's representation, do not give a single penny to the treasury, not a single soldier to the army.

Be firm in your refusal, stand up for your right all as one man. No force can resist the unified, unbending will of the people.
Citizens! In this forced but inevitable struggle, your elected people will be with you.