October could not be readily imagined.  The Duma was accused of having exceeded its rights by “investigating the actions of local authorities appointed by the Emperor,” notwithstanding the fact that in the October Manifesto it had been solemnly covenanted “that the representatives of the people must be guaranteed a real participation in the control over the lawfulness of the authorities appointed by us.”  The Duma was condemned for “finding imperfections in the fundamental laws which can be altered only by the monarch’s will” and for its “overtly lawless act of appealing to the people.”  The Manifesto charged that the growing unrest and lawlessness of the peasants were due to the failure of the Duma to ameliorate their conditions—­and this in spite of the record!

When the members of the Duma arrived at the Taurida Palace next day they found the place filled with troops who prevented their entrance.  They were powerless.  Some two hundred-odd members adjourned to Viborg, whence they issued an appeal to the people to defend their rights.  These men were not Socialists, most of them belonging to the party of the Constitutional Democrats, but they issued an appeal to the people to meet the dissolution of the Imperial Duma by a firm refusal to pay taxes, furnish recruits for the army, or sanction the legality of any loans to the government.  This was practically identical with the policy set forth in the Manifesto of the Executive Committee of the St. Petersburg Council of Workmen’s Deputies at the beginning of the previous December, before the elections to the Duma.  Now, however, the Socialists in the Duma—­both the Social Democrats and the Socialist-Revolutionists—­together with the semi-Socialist Labor Group, decided that it was not enough to appeal for passive resistance; that only an armed uprising could accomplish anything.  They therefore appealed to the city proletariat, the peasants, the army, and the navy to rise in armed strength against the tyrannical regime.

Neither appeal produced any noteworthy result.  The response to the Viborg appeal was far less than that which followed the similar appeal of the St. Petersburg workmen in December.  The signers of the appeal were arrested, sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, and deprived of their electoral rights.  To the appeal of the Duma Socialists there was likewise very little response, either from city workers, peasants, soldiers, or marines.  Russia was struggle-weary.  The appeals fell upon the ears of a cowed and beaten populace.  The two documents served only to emphasize one fact, namely, that capacity and daring to attempt active and violent resistance was still largely confined to the working-class representatives.  In appealing to the workers to meet the attacks of the government with armed resistance, the leaders of the peasants and the city proletariat were ready to take their places in the vanguard of the fight.  On the other hand, the signers of the Viborg appeal for passive resistance manifested no such determination or desire, though they must have known that passive resistance could only be a temporary phase, that any concerted action by the people to resist the collection of taxes and recruiting for the army would have led to attack and counter-attack-to a violent revolution.