The Duma That Dared: Russia's Brief Parliament

Episode 75 of The Russian Revolution series explores the ill-fated experiment with parliamentary democracy in Tsarist Russia: the State Duma. Established in 1906 after the 1905 Revolution, the Duma was meant to be a legislative body, but Tsar Nicholas II repeatedly dissolved it when it opposed him. This episode focuses on the First and Second Dumas, which were dominated by liberal Kadets and radical Socialist Revolutionaries and Social Democrats. We meet key figures like constitutional lawyer Vasily Maklakov, fiery Kadet leader Pavel Milyukov, and conservative prime ministers Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin. The Duma's confrontations over land reform, amnesty for political prisoners, and the Tsar's veto power led to swift dissolutions. The Third Duma was more compliant, but the failure of constitutionalism paved the way for revolution. We also touch on the controversial Stolypin reforms, the assassination of Stolypin, and how the Duma's impotence radicalized the opposition.

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