es.

The outrage stirred the Russian people profoundly. The revolutionary
elements now began to act in earnest, though they were not quite as
prepared as they had wished to be. A general strike was organized, and
so effectively was it maintained that the czar and his clique promised
the people a constitution. But when the strike had been called off and
the disturbances subsided, it soon became evident that the promises
were not to be fulfilled. More than that, the police now began such a
series of repressive measures that again the fires on the revolution
were lighted. Most notable of these was the uprising in Moscow in
December, 1905, when the people and the soldiers fought bloody battles
in the streets. But the revolutionary forces lacked proper
organization, and were finally crushed. Of all the promises which had
been made only the Duma remained, amounting to little more than a
debating club with absolutely no independent legislative power.

The first Duma at least served to give some conception of the coloring
of public opinion in Russia. The majority of the deputies belonged to
the Constitutional Democrats, a political party which appeared and
represented the moderate progressives, those who wished a
constitutional monarchy and progressive reforms. Their leader was
Paul Milukov, a professor in the University of Moscow and at one time
professor in the University of Chicago.

The Duma, though the restrictive election laws had minimized the
revolutionary elements within it, clamored for the promised reforms
until it was finally dissolved by the Government. A number of deputies
went to Finland and there issued a manifesto with the object of
rousing a general demonstration, but without success. The second Duma
proved quite as progressive as the first and was also dissolved
arbitrarily. Then the electoral laws were made still more restrictive,
so that the landed nobility and the clergy should be more represented.
The third Duma, as a result, proved quite innocuous, and for five
years it sat, never attempting to initiate any changes, attracting
very little attention.

During this period reaction regained all its former ascendency, within
the Social Revolutionary organization it was discovered that the chief
of the fighting organization, Eugene Azev, was nothing more than the
paid agent of the secret police and that he had been delivering the
members of the organization into the hands of his masters as they
proved the