Zemstvo deputation of June 6, 1905, and the Russian society

The paper analyses the public reaction to the reception of the zemstvo deputation headed by Prince S.N. Turetsky by Emperor Nicholas II on June 6, 1905. The article examines the zemstvo movement as an important phenomenon that allows one to study the development of the public sphere, the mechanisms of communication in society, and the transformation of the political institutions in Russia. It is emphasized that the decree to the Senate of February 18, 1905, which allowed the subjects to send petitions with the proposals for improving the state structure, was perceived by the society as a call to formulate its political wishes. Numerous public meetings and zemstvo congresses in the first half of 1905 served those purposes. The deputation to the Emperor was one of the episodes of such public activity. The article shows the diversity of the reactions in the press: from furious condemnation by both the extreme right and the extreme left journals and newspapers, to active support by moderately liberal ones. The author concludes that numerous letters of gratitude to S.N. Turetsky, from the representatives of all the layers of the Russian society at the beginning of the 20th century, spoke about the inclusion of the broader population in public communication.

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