Encyclopedia of Russian History

Although Witte was transferred to the less influential post of Chairman of the Committee of Ministers in August 1903, the deteriorating political situation in the country, caused by Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, and the insistence of public opinion brought him back to active service in the summer of 1904. Witte led the Russian delegation that concluded peace with Japan in the Treaty of Portsmouth. He then participated in preparing the October Manifesto of 1905, in which the emperor granted civil freedom. Witte took the post of prime minister in the new government and ran political affairs in a European style. He paid attention to public opinion, regarded the Russian and foreign presses as representative of public opinion, and exerted influence upon the public through the press. His government introduced the political rights granted by the October Manifesto, worked to appease the population and win it over to the government’s side, curbed punitive excesses and pogroms, and conducted the elections to the Duma. Witte’s activities, however, received criticism from all sides. The emperor viewed him as a rival in influence and popularity. The wealthy were disappointed in the Duma elections, whose results proved unfavorable for them. Revolutionaries cursed Witte for his repressive measures. Liberals censured him for his defense of the monarchical prerogatives in the Basic Laws and his other concessions to rightists. Conservatives were dissatisfied with Witte’s participation in the demolition of the old political system and transition to a new one. After Witte had concluded the Portsmouth Peace Treaty with Japan, brought troops from the Far East back to European Russia, restored public order in the country, prepared the Basic Laws, organized elections to the Duma, and secured a big loan in Europe (843.75 million rubles or 434.16 million dollars) that brought stability to government finances, he was forced to resign.

Until his final days Witte hoped to return to power. In order not to be forgotten, he used all

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY

means available to him: the rostrum of the State Council, the press, intrigues, and connections in the West. Witte died in 1915 at the age of 66, his health undermined by hard work and forebodings. He opposed Russia’s participation in World War I and predicted grave consequences similar to the upheavals that occurred after the Russo-Japanese War. See also: ECONOMY, IMPERIAL; INDUSTRIALIZATION; OCTOBER MANIFESTO; PORTSMOUTH, TREATY OF; RAILWAYS; TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gindin, I. F. (1972). “Russia’s Industrialization under Capitalism as Seen by Theodore von Laue.” Soviet Studies in History 11(1):3-55. Gurko, Vladimir Iosifovich. (1939). Features and Figures of the Past: Government and Opinion in the Reign of Nicholas II. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Judge, Edward. (1983). Plehve: Repression and Reform in Imperial Russia, 1902-1904. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. Kokovtsov, Vladimir Nikolaevich. (1935). Out of My Past: The Memoirs of Count Kokovtsov, Russian Minister of Finance, 1904-1914, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, 1911-1914, ed. H. H. Fisher; tr. Laura Matveev. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Laue, Theodore von. (1963). Sergei Witte and the Industrialization of Russia. New York: Columbia University Press. Mehlinger, Howard, and Thompson, John. (1972). Count Witte and the Tsarist Government in the 1905 Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Weissman, Neil B. (1981). Reform in Tsarist Russia: The State Bureaucracy and Local Government, 1900-1914. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Weissman, Neil B. (1987). “Witte, Sergei Iul’evich.” The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History 44:9-14. Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International Press. Witte, Sergei. (1921). The Memoirs of Count Witte, tr. Abraham Yarmolinsky. London: Heinemann.

BORIS N. MIRONOV

WOMEN OF RUSSIA BLOC

Women of Russia (Zhenshchiny Rossii, or ZhR) was formed as a political movement on the eve of the 1993 Duma elections. It contained the Union of Russia’s Women (formerly the Committee of

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WOMEN’S DEPARTMENT