Rise of the Eurasian Alliance: Aftermath and the Constitution
With Trotsky’s departure into Mongolia, the Second Russian Civil War officially came to a close. While sporadic fighting would continue for many months against various pro-Bolshevik resistance movements, organized opposition ceased to exist. All of European Russia was under the direct control of the Transitional Government (TSG) in St. Petersburg, while the Far Eastern territories were also for the most part under government authority. The Central Asian SSRs, including the Kazakh SSR, the Uzbek SSR, the Turkmen SSR, Tajik SSR, and the Kirghiz SSR had yet to be integrated into the TSG, as had most of Russian Siberia.
Fortunately, the independence movements in these SSRs were relatively weak, with the local governments simply maintaining authority and the rule of law until they could be fully reintegrated into the state. The leaders of the pro-White resistance movements during the civil war were granted authorization to act as official “military tribunals” within these territories, to ensure no attempt at secession was made on the part of the local authorities and to hunt down any Communist insurgents in the region.
While the drive for independence amongst the SSRs in Central Asia was relatively light, there was a rapidly growing discontent in the three Caucasian states. While the people there had for the most part supported the White Revolution during the Civil War, now that it was over and their bellies were full enough for them to again focus on other aspects of life, the desire for their own countries began to grow once more. The White Army would maintain a sizeable garrison in the Caucasus in the immediate months following the end of the Civil War, and the military tribunals there would heavily suppress all resistance to the TSG, Bolshevik or otherwise.
Throughout Russia, the governing Soviets had been abolished and military tribunals installed in their place. They were given authorization to use whatever means necessary to suppress insurgency and restore order. With the help of the military and later the Ochrana secret police, they were able to successfully crush most of the significant underground resistance movements that attempted to spring up in the immediate aftermath of the war. Though their methods could be brutal at times, it was viewed as a necessary evil by the TSG in order to protect the Russian people from potential Bolshevik terrorism.
In the Ukraine the Nationalists were stirring, the Transitional Government had promised them autonomy, and now that the civil war was over they were eager to see that promise fulfilled. They had been supportive of the TSG mainly because of the disastrous effects of the Holodomor, which is said to have killed over 3 million Ukrainians. After the death of Stalin and his supporters’ fall from power, the true scope of the tragedy became general public knowledge due to the weakening of the NKVD at the start of the Civil War.
Enraged at the Bolsheviks for this seeming act of genocide against the Ukrainian people, they eagerly threw their support behind the White Revolution when St. Petersburg fell into their hands in November of 1933. While most would have preferred an independent Ukraine, the Ukrainian intelligentsia was well aware that they lacked the strength to fight against the Bolsheviks on their own, and any bid for independence would likely be crushed in the end, resulting in the deaths of many more innocent Ukrainians.
The Transitional Government had many other issues besides Ukrainian autonomy to deal with however. The first and foremost was the shape and structure of the Russian government. The Mensheviks, far-left Kadets, and SRs wanted a democratic Constitutional Republic, with a directly elected President and a Prime Minister chosen by the Duma. This was strongly opposed by the Nationalists and Reactionary elements, and was also against the preference of the Octobrists, Centrists, moderate-left Kadets and the majority of the Progressivists. The SRs were the most vocal of the opposition, and many feared they would attempt to organize terrorist attacks, as they had during the days of the empire.
Some proposed a public referendum to determine the future state of the country. The Reactionaries opposed this solution, believing that Russia’s future should not be left in the hands of the “ignorant masses”. The Nationalists were also somewhat against it, believing that the minds of the populace had been “corrupted” by years of Bolshevik rule, and that they would need to be reeducated before they were capable of making “rational decisions” again. The Octobrists supported the referendum idea, as did the Kadets and Mensheviks, for the most part. The SRs opposed it almost as strongly as the reactionaries, feeling the referendum would merely be a tool for the bourgeoisie to “manipulate the minds of the workers into restoring the oppressive Tsarist system.”
Despite the opposition to the referendum from both the far left and the far right (who ironically united briefly to vote against it), it was agreed to by the majority of the parties who made up the Transitional Government. The Russian Constituent Assembly in late July/early August of 1934 was comprised of a balance of all of the major political parties in Russia prior to the Bolshevik takeover, so no single party held a significant majority over the other, requiring cooperation and the formation of coalitions to accomplish the initial passing of laws and initiatives.
On July 30, the referendum was held throughout all of Russia, with the final results of the elections arriving on August 5. Having been the “Voice of the White Revolution” with his frequent radio broadcasts during the civil war, Grand Duke Kyrill had become fairly popular with his patriotic speeches and his strong oratory abilities. He had also been featured widely in White propaganda, with posters often showing depictions of him handing out bread to starving children and families. This “fatherly” image helped to garner the support of a large portion of the Russian population, and during the civil war he had more or less served as the public face of the Transitional Government.
When all the votes were tallied, the results showed a strong majority for constitutional monarchy. 63.4% of the population voted for the restoration of the Monarchy, with a voter turnout of nearly 70% for the first truly democratic elections since the rise of the Bolsheviks. Despite the solid majority of the people voting in favor of the restoration, the SRs still labeled the elections fraudulent and accused the more moderate and center-right parties of “manipulating the people with propaganda”. The referendum is considered to have been free and fair for the most part by the majority of modern historians however, and it was also seen as such by the wider world.
Fearing that the SRs would attempt to stir up trouble amongst the lower class, the coronation date was placed at August 11th, in order to guarantee a swift consolidation of power for the new government. Though they would have preferred a republic, the Mensheviks and far left Kadets announced their acceptance of the free and fair referendum and agreed to support the government when it was formed. On August 11, amongst much splendor and pomp, Grand Duke Kyrill Vladimirovich was crowned His Imperial Majesty Kyrill I Romanov, Emperor of all the Russias.
Unlike the coronation of Nicholas II, Kyrill’s coronation had been open to all classes, though there was a heavy military and police presence there to ensure order and the safety of the new Tsar. Many hundreds of thousands gathered in Moscow to view the coronation, which took place in the Dormition Cathedral, where Nicholas II was coronated. Russian Patriarch Sergius I carried out the crowning of the Tsar, Sergius having returned to Russia following the outbreak of the Civil War to lend his support to the White Revolution and rally the faithful to it’s side.
The crowds cheered in jubilation as the Tsar rode past them in his ceremonial carriage, throwing flower petals and wreaths as he waved to them from the open window. Radio transmissions describing the coronation were broadcasted throughout all of Russia, and several foreign heads of state attended crowning, including the Kings of Denmark, Norway, Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands. The King of Sweden also attended, in order to start relations with the new Russian government off on the right foot.
The SRs strongly condemned the “anti-democratic, anti-socialist political office of Tsar”, and accused the Transitional government of fraud and of rigging the referendum. They officially boycotted the State Duma elections scheduled for September 1, and organized protests, stating their vehement opposition to the restoration of the “oppressive monarchy that caused the rise of Bolshevism in the first place”. Nevertheless, the elections proceeded on schedule, and saw the Constitutional Democratic Party win the largest majority of the seats.
The makeup of the 5th Imperial Duma was as follows:
173 seats for the Constitutional Democratic Party
137 seats for the Octobrists
101 seats for the Mensheviks (Socialist Democratic Party)
87 seats for the Nationalists
44 seats for the Extreme Right
The boycott of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party likely diminished the advantage the leftists would have held had they ran, and allowed for hard right parties like the Nationalists and Extreme Right to gain a fair number of seats. The more hard right Octobrists, the Nationalists and Extreme Right had all labeled the Menshevik-dominated Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) as being psuedo-Communists, something which was still a stigma amongst the population following the fall of the Soviet government, when the full knowledge of the oppression and famine they had inflicted on Russia was revealed to the general populace.
Despite this, the Mensheviks had a strong showing, capturing over 100 seats and solidifying themselves as a major political party within the new Russian state. They officially presented their ideology as being “Democratic Socialism” in order to distance themselves from the Bolsheviks they had once shared the Social Democratic Party with in the past. The Mensheviks were lead primarily by Fedor Dan, who had long been a staunch opposer of Lenin’s Bolsheviks, and a supporter of liberalism in Russia.
Controversial about this election was the banning of the various so-called “minority nationalist parties”, parties that represented specifically a single ethnic group of people. Many in the Transitional Government had felt that such parties encouraged separatism and secessionism. Rather, the Transitional Government encouraged the various parties to open high positions within their organizations, and allow minorities to hold seats in the Duma in representation of their shared ideology.
The Constitutional Democratic Party, the leading party in the Duma following the elections, was divided between the hard left, more moderate left wingers and the moderate right. A political commentator during the election remarked, “Voting for the Kadet Party was like getting a surprise present at the end of the election. You never knew what would pop out.” Similarly, the party was divided on whom they should form a coalition government with. The hard left wanted to form a coalition government with the Mensheviks of the SDP, but many feared that such a coalition would be weak and unstable in the face of strong opposition from the right. A Kadet-Menshevik coalition would yield 274 seats, against 268 from the right, not accounting for possible party splits in the Kadets from the more center-right seats that might be alienated by such a coalition.
In contrast, a coalition with the Octobrists, the party with the second most seats in the Duma, would yield 310 seats. Even accounting for a possible split with the hard left of the party; this would give them a solid majority. Despite the harsh protests of the leftwing Constitutional Democrats, the Kadet-Octobrist Coalition was formed on September 7th. This caused a schism within the party, and the hard left of the Kadets broke from the Constitutional Democratic Party to join the SDP. They took 34 seats with them and thus gave the Mensheviks a total of 135 seats. The moderate right now held 276 seats, only 2 more than a Kadet-Menshevik coalition would have yielded, but with a much weaker opposition. The Nationalist Party did not join in on the coalition, feeling that it was too indecisive and soft to rebuild Russia following 16 years of Bolshevik rule, and combined with the Extreme Right to form the National Conservative Party of Russia, carrying 131 seats.
The Socialist Democratic Party accused the National Conservatives of being fascistic and racist for their support of Slavism and Russification, and their promotion of authoritarian political and economic policies. They in turn accused the SDP of being Communists who wanted to return to the terrors of Bolshevism and of plotting to overthrow the government with the Socialist Revolutionaries. This bickering was considered advantageous for the Kadet-Octobrist coalition, as there was now no remote possibility of the two opposition parties uniting against them and their policies.
Alexander Kerensky had returned to Russia near the end of the Civil War, having finally decided to throw his support behind the democratic White government. He had been hoping for his old Kadet Party’s nomination for Prime Minister upon them achieving a majority in the house. This thought was quickly shot down however, as the current party leaders feared that the stigma still surrounding Kerensky for his seemingly incompetent handling of Russia following the February Revolution would damage their reputation and the stability of the government. Instead, they appointed Sergei Baidalakov, a bold and intense anti-Bolshevik intellectual who was seen as an ideal choice to lead post-Civil War Russia.
On September 24, the Transitional Government ratified the new Constitution of Russia. It was a heavily modified version of the Fundamental Laws of State, which had been promulgated by Tsar Nicholas II in 1906. It reinstated the State Council, which would act as the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, with the Duma acting as the lower. The Tsar would appoint half of the State Council, while the other half would be directly elected. Regional governors would be democratically elected but subject to approval and dismissal by the Prime Minister through the Tsar. The first regional elections would take place at the end of 1934, and the elected governors would take power in February, replacing the military tribunals.
The SSRs would for the most part be abolished and replaced with various Oblasts and Krai, though there were exceptions. Ukraine and Belarus in particular had been promised autonomy, so they instead became semi-autonomous kingdoms within the Russian Empire, with the Emperor as their ‘King’. The conditions of their autonomy were similar to that of Finland or Poland prior to the government’s attempts to Russify them. They would have their own democratically elected parliaments, as well the right to participate in the Imperial government in St. Petersburg. The parliaments would have a degree of control over domestic matters, and would be able to pass laws within the territory of their kingdom, so long as they did not contradict the Constitution of the Empire. They were not allowed to have their own army or their own police force however, these remaining answerable to St. Petersburg alone.
The Constitution lists the Emperor’s powers as such:
1. The power to appoint a Prime Minister
2. The power to dismiss a Prime Minister
3. The power to refuse to dissolve the Duma.
4. The power to forcibly dissolve the Duma.
5. The power to veto or delay ascent to any piece of legislature being passed through the Duma.
6. Imperial Prerogative
Though the Constitution seemingly vests a great amount of authority in the Tsar, the Kadet-Octobrist coalition intended for many of these powers to merely be “reserve powers”. Particularly, 1, 2 and 4 were considered to be completely symbolic except in times of emergency or when the ascent of the Duma or Prime Minister was given. Before the Constitution was officially ratified, Sergei Baidalakov had a personal meeting with Tsar Kyrill at the Winter Palace, where he was able to gain the Tsar’s approval for the new Constitution and a promise to uphold it’s democratic principles and reign as a Constitutional Monarch.
Even with the partially symbolic nature of powers 1, 2 and 4, the Tsar still held a substantial amount of power compared to his western counterparts. He could veto any legislature he deemed to not be in Russia’s best interests, and his veto could only be overturned by a supermajority of 65% of the seats in Duma, 2/3s of the lower chamber in other words. He had complete control over his Imperial Prerogatives as well. In truth, only his oath to uphold the democratic principles of the Constitution limited him from ruling in an autocratic manner. By constitutional right he was technically able to interpret his Prerogatives based on his own judgment alone.
When it came to appointing a Prime Minister the Tsar also had a degree of liberty. Though he was in general expected to select the Prime Minister from the largest party in the Duma, he had no restrictions when it came to choosing any individual within said party. The Tsar would also at times choose a Prime Minister from the lesser partner in a coalition government, which he actually did in 1934 with the appointment of Sergei Baidalakov, who was from the Octobrists, though he did so with the approval of the Kadets.
The new Constitution of the Russian Empire was passed into law on September 24 with 317 seats voting to ratify it, and 225 seats rejecting it. The Russian Transitional Government ended, and the Russian State officially became the Russian Empire. This was a major turning point as it established a permanent government and constitution, ending the period of uncertainty in regards to the future of the state. It presented an air of stability and order, and the hope of a better, freer, and more prosperous Russia.
Russian government in late 1934...
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There we go. I will be posting more soon as I've already written a lot more, but it was just getting too long so I decided to break it into two posts.
