Russian Constitution of 1906

• 1. Autocratic Foundations Before 1906

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  The Russian Empire operated as an absolute monarchy before the year 1906. An autocratic emperor held virtually limitless power under the laws codified in 1832 by Mikhail Speransky. These Fundamental Laws allowed the Tsar to alter or repeal regulations at will. The only constraints on imperial authority involved religious faith and succession rules set by Emperor Paul I. A Boyar Duma existed from Muscovite times until Peter I abolished it in 1721. This advisory body lacked any legislative prerogatives and was replaced by the Governing Senate. The Senate consisted of nine members appointed directly by the sovereign. It served as a judicial organ but remained under direct monarch control. Alexander I formed a Privy Committee to investigate introducing a parliament, yet opposition from conservative nobility caused the project to fail. His nephew Alexander II entertained reformist ideas through Count Mikhail Loris-Melikov in August 1880. That proposal died with the murdered Tsar's assassination on the very day he intended to sign it into law.

• 2. Revolutionary Pressure And The October Manifesto

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  Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War combined with rising revolutionary feeling to produce the Revolution of 1905. Bloody Sunday sparked this upheaval when thousands of unarmed protesters were met by imperial troops who opened fire. Word of this tragedy spread across the empire alongside catastrophic losses in the Far East. Count Sergei Witte returned home from New Hampshire after negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth. He proposed an elected legislature and basic civil rights to save the monarchy. Nicholas strenuously resisted these ideas until Grand Duke Nicholas threatened to shoot himself if the Tsar did not accept Witte's suggestion. Nicholas unwillingly agreed and issued the October Manifesto on the 17th of October 1905. This document promised an elected parliament called the Duma without whose approval no laws would be enacted. Three drafts revised Speransky's Fundamental Laws before Peter Kharitonov's draft was chosen as the basis for the new constitution. The State Chancellory discussed alterations during five sessions of the Council of Ministers to strengthen imperial prerogatives.

• 3. Structure Of The Bicameral Legislature

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  The new constitution provided a bicameral Russian parliament composed of the State Council and the State Duma. Half of the upper house members were appointed by the Tsar while the other half were elected by governmental, clerical, and commercial interests. Members of the lower house were chosen through a complex scheme of indirect elections weighted toward propertied classes. Both houses possessed equal rights in legislative matters under Article 106. Either or both could be dissolved at any time by the emperor according to Articles 104 and 105. The Duma held the power of legislation and the right to question ministers but lacked control over their appointment. It could not alter the constitution save upon the emperor's initiative. The State Council met at least once per year though session duration remained the emperor's prerogative. Members of the Duma were elected for a five-year term according to state election statutes. Securing governmental loans fell beyond the legislature's purview under Article 118. The Imperial Court Ministry was not subject to the Duma's control as stated in Article 115.

• 4. Preservation Of Imperial Prerogatives

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  Chapter One declared that the emperor possessed supreme sovereign power mandated by God himself under Article 4. The Tsar retained an absolute veto over all legislation as specified in Article 9. He held sole power to declare war, make peace, and negotiate treaties under Article 13. The emperor also maintained charge over Russia's administrative and external affairs alongside supreme command of the armed forces. Authority over minting money rested with the monarch under Article 16 while he granted pardons and quashed judicial proceedings under Article 23. Ministers were appointed and dismissed at will by the Tsar who decided the nature and scope of their duties. Nicholas issued decrees during the Duma's absence which lost validity if not approved within two months. This decree power could not be used to change the Constitution itself or alter laws for elections to the Duma. The system offered no right of impeachment to the legislative branch of government. The Council of Ministers established the office of Chairman responsible solely to the emperor under Articles 123 and 124.

• 5. The June Coup And Electoral Manipulation

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  Nicholas abhorred restrictions upon his power which he had sworn to pass on to his son at his coronation. He dismissed the First and Second Dumas when they proved unsatisfactory to him through a Ukase dated the 3rd of June 1907. The Tsar unilaterally altered election statutes in violation of the constitution to ensure more landed persons would be elected. This unilateral alteration damaged his reputation among Russian liberals and led many to conclude the entire document was ultimately a sham. The resulting Third and Fourth Dumas proved more lasting yet still quarreled with the Tsar over state policy direction. Violations of provisions regarding election laws contributed to revolutionary agitation and the Tsar's eventual overthrow in February 1917. The coup undermined the democratic intent of the charter by ensuring dominance of propertied classes in future assemblies. Liberal groups viewed these actions as evidence that the constitutional monarchy existed only in name while autocracy remained intact beneath the surface.

• 6. Path To Abolition In 1917

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  With the abdication of Tsar Nicholas in February 1917, the government was initially taken over by a Provisional Government established by the Fourth Duma. Alexander Kerensky became the most prominent leader of this new administration before unilaterally abolishing the Russian monarchy on the 1st of September 1917. This act formally abrogated the 1906 Constitution and ended the imperial system entirely. In November Russia was taken over by the Bolshevik party leading to the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the 30th of December 1922. Prior to that time Communists enacted a new constitution establishing Russia as a Bolshevik state. This document was superseded by the 1924 Soviet Constitution followed by constitutions of 1936 and 1977. The last of those lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union and adoption of Russia's current governing document in 1993. The Duma took a leading role in bringing about the Tsar's abdication which led to the ascent to power of the Provisional Government under Kerensky.