Russian Revolution Freedom of Speech Propaganda Gulak postcard c. 1905

The October Manifesto(Russian: Октябрьский манифест, Манифест 17 октября), officially The Manifesto on the Improvement of the State Order (Манифест об усовершенствовании государственного порядка), is a document that served as a precursor to the Russian Empire’s first constitution, which would be adopted the next year.

The Manifesto was issued by Emperor Nicholas II, under the influence of Sergei Witte, on 30 October [O.S. 17 October] 1905 as a response to the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Nicholas strenuously resisted these ideas, but gave in after his first choice to head a military dictatorship, Grand Duke Nicholas, threatened to shoot himself in the head if the Tsar did not accept Witte’s suggestion.

Nicholas reluctantly agreed, and issued what became known as the October Manifesto, promising basic civil rights and an elected parliament called the Duma, without whose approval no laws were to be enacted in Russia in the future.

According to his memoirs Witte did not force the Tsar to sign the October Manifesto, which was proclaimed in all the churches.

The Russian Revolution of 1905 was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire, some of which was directed at the government.

It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies. It led to Constitutional Reform including the establishment of the State Duma, the multi-party system, and the Russian Constitution of 1906.