Activities of political parties in the State Duma

Unlike many countries in the world, where parliamentary traditions have developed over centuries, in Russia the first representative institution (in the modern sense of the term) was convened only in 1906. It was named the State Duma and existed for about 12 years, until the fall of the autocracy, having four convocations. In all four convocations of the State Duma, the predominant position among deputies was occupied by representatives of three social strata - landed nobility, urban intelligentsia and peasantry. It was they who brought the skills of public debate to the Duma. The nobility had, for example, almost half a century of experience working in the zemstvo. The intelligentsia used skills acquired in university classrooms and court debates. The peasants carried with them to the Duma many democratic traditions of communal self-government.

FORMATION

Officially, popular representation in Russia was established by the Manifesto of August 6, 1905. The intention to take into account the public need for a representative body of government was stated in the manifesto.

The Manifesto of October 17, 1905 significantly expanded the powers of the Duma. The Tsar was forced to reckon with the rise of revolutionary sentiment in society. At the same time, it was decided to exercise control over the Duma through electoral legislation.

· According to election law 1905 years, four electoral curiae were established: landowning, urban, peasant and workers. According to the workers' curia, only those proletarians who were employed in enterprises that employed at least fifty people were allowed to vote, which deprived two million workers of the right to vote. The elections themselves were not universal, equal and direct (women, youth under 25, military personnel, and a number of national minorities were excluded; in the landowning curia there was one elector per 2 thousand voters, in the urban curia - per 4 thousand voters, in the peasant curia - per 30 thousand, in the working class - for 90 thousand; a three- and four-degree election system was established for workers and peasants.)

I State Duma.

The first “popularly” elected Duma lasted from April to July 1906. Only one session took place. Party representation: Cadets, Trudoviks - 97, Octobrists, Social Democrats. The Chairman of the first State Duma was cadet Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev, a professor at Moscow University. From the very beginning of its activity, the Duma demonstrated that a representative institution of the people of Russia, even elected on the basis of an undemocratic electoral law, will not tolerate the arbitrariness and authoritarianism of the executive branch. The Duma demanded an amnesty for political prisoners, real implementation political freedoms, universal equality, liquidation of state, appanage and monastic lands, etc. Then the Chairman of the Council of Ministers decisively rejected all the demands of the Duma, which in turn passed a resolution of complete no confidence in the government and demanded its resignation. The ministers declared a boycott on the Duma and exchanged demands on each other. In general, during the 72 days of its existence, the first Duma accepted 391 requests for illegal government actions and was dissolved by the tsar.

II State Duma.

It existed from February to June 1907. One session also took place. In terms of the composition of the deputies, it was significantly to the left of the first, although according to the plan of the courtiers it should have been more to the right. Fedor Alekseevich Golovin, a zemstvo leader, one of the founders of the Cadet Party and a member of its Central Committee, was elected Chairman of the Second State Duma.

In the Second State Duma on March 20, 1907, the recording of state revenues and expenses was discussed for the first time.

It is interesting that most of the meetings of the first Duma and the second Duma were devoted to procedural problems. This became a form of struggle between deputies and the government during the discussion of bills that, according to the government, the Duma had no right to discuss. The government, subordinate only to the tsar, did not want to reckon with the Duma, and the Duma, as the “people's chosen one,” did not want to submit to this state of affairs and sought to achieve its goals in one way or another. Ultimately, the Duma-Government confrontation was one of the reasons that on June 3, 1907, the autocracy carried out a coup d'etat, changing the election law and dissolving the Second Duma.

As a result of the introduction of a new electoral law, a third Duma was created, already more obedient to the tsar. The number of deputies opposed to the autocracy has sharply decreased, but the number of loyal elected representatives and far-right extremists has increased.

III State Duma.

the only one of the four who served the entire five-year term prescribed by the law on elections to the Duma - from November 1907 to June 1912. Five sessions took place.

The Octobrist Alexander Nikolaevich Khomyakov was elected Chairman of the Duma, who was replaced in March 1910 by the prominent merchant and industrialist Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov, a man of desperate courage who fought in the Anglo-Boer War.

The Octobrists - a party of large landowners and industrialists - controlled the work of the entire Duma. Moreover, their main method was blocking various issues with different factions. Despite its longevity, the Third Duma did not emerge from crises from the very first months of its formation. Acute conflicts arose on various occasions: on issues of reforming the army, on the peasant issue, on the issue of attitude towards the “national outskirts”, as well as because of personal ambitions that tore apart the deputy corps. But even in these extremely difficult conditions, opposition-minded deputies found ways to express their opinions and criticize the autocratic system in the face of all of Russia.

IV State Duma

The Duma arose in a pre-crisis period for the country and the whole world - the eve of world war. From November 1912 to October 1917, five sessions took place.

The composition of the Fourth Duma differed little from the Third. Except that there has been a significant increase in clergy in the ranks of deputies.

The Chairman of the Fourth Duma for the entire period of its work was a large Ekaterinoslav landowner, a man with a large-scale state mind, the Octobrist Mikhail Vladimirovich Rodzianko.

The deputies recognized the need to prevent revolution through reforms, and also advocated returning to Stolypin’s program in one form or another. During the First World War, the State Duma without hesitation approved loans and adopted bills related to the conduct of the war.

The situation did not allow the Fourth Duma to concentrate on large-scale work. She was constantly feverish. There were endless, personal “showdowns” between the leaders of the factions, within the factions themselves. Moreover, with the outbreak of the World War in August 1914, after major failures of the Russian army at the front, the Duma entered into acute conflict With executive branch.

Historical meaning: Despite all sorts of obstacles and the dominance of reactionaries, the first representative institutions in Russia had a serious impact on the executive power and forced even those reputed to be the toughest governments to reckon with themselves. It is not surprising that the State Duma did not fit well into the system of autocratic power and that is why Nicholas II constantly sought to get rid of it.

· formation of democratic traditions;

· development of publicity;

· formation of right-wing consciousness, political education of the people;

· elimination of the slave psychology that had dominated Russia for centuries, activation political activity Russian people;

· acquiring experience in democratic decision-making on the most important government issues, improving parliamentary activities, forming a layer of professional politicians.

The State Duma became the center of legal political struggle; it provided the possibility of the existence of official opposition to the autocracy. The positive experience of the Duma deserves to be used in the activities of modern parliamentary structures in Russia

The Fourth State Duma began work on November 15, 1912. With the outbreak of the First World War, the regular nature of the work of the Duma was disrupted. During February Revolution 1917 Members of the Duma 27.2 (12.3).1917 formed the Provisional Committee of the State Duma to restore order in Petrograd and to communicate with institutions and individuals. On March 2(15), 1917, the committee announced the creation of the Provisional Government.

FROM THE THIRD TO THE FOURTH DUMA

From the memoirs of P.N. Milyukova

The murder of Stolypin on September 2, 1911 was the natural end of that stage in our history domestic policy, which is represented by the Third State Duma. If it is impossible to make a clear enough note here, it is primarily because the short intermezzo of Kokovtsov’s chairmanship somewhat obscured the political meaning of the new turn. It might seem that the transition from the Third Duma to the Fourth is a simple continuation of what had been established over the previous five years. But we already know that nothing was “established” there either, and only the internal struggle “continued” between supporters of the old and new systems. With the advent of the Fourth Duma, this struggle entered a new stage. It was impossible to immediately predict that this stage would be the last, because that third factor was not yet present, which tilted the outcome of the struggle in the direction opposite to that to which the authorities were striving. This factor that decided the dispute between the country and the government was war.

Leaving this factor aside for now, it was possible, however, to immediately foresee that in the Fourth Duma the struggle between autocracy and popular representation would be waged under different conditions than it was waged in the Third Duma. There a last attempt was made to establish at least the semblance of some balance between the contending forces. Here this appearance disappeared, and the struggle went open. In the Third Duma, the attacking party was the government; the public, poorly organized, only defended itself, barely holding its positions and compromising with the authorities. The essence of the change that took place in the Fourth Duma was that compromise turned out to be impossible and lost all meaning. Along with it, the middle current that represented it disappeared. The “center” disappeared, and with it the fictitious government majority disappeared. Two opposing camps now stood openly against each other. Among them, the further, the more, the available composition of the people's representation was distributed. It is difficult to say how this struggle would have ended if the opponents had been left to their own devices.

It was more or less known that the question of government influence on elections came down primarily to the question of government subsidies. Subsequently, V.N. Kokovtsov reported exact data. Already in 1910, Stolypin began preparations, demanding four million from the Minister of Finance for the elections. “All that I managed to do,” says Kokovtsov, “was to spread this amount in installments, reducing it simply indiscriminately, in the course of ordinary bargaining, to just over three million and stretching this figure over three years 1910-1912”...

And what a campaign it was! All politically suspicious persons were unceremoniously excluded from participating in the elections. Entire categories of people were deprived of voting rights or the opportunity to actually participate in elections. Zemstvo leaders were present during the elections. Unwanted elections were cancelled. Election meetings were not allowed, and the very names of undesirable parties were forbidden to be spoken, written or printed. Congresses of voters were divided into any groups to create an artificial majority. The entire first period of selecting commissioners for the first stage passed in darkness. Small landowners were almost entirely absent; but, along with the spiritual authorities, priests were mobilized, who became the masters of the situation. In 49 provinces, there were 7,142 priests for 8,764 authorized persons, and only to avoid a scandal it was forbidden to send more than 150 clergy to the Duma; but they had to vote everywhere for government candidates.

The next stage of selecting electors took place more consciously, but here all the methods of political pressure came into force. Only in the cities - and especially in the five large cities with separate representation - was it possible to open social influence for the elections. This is where the deputies known for their opposition were elected, and the Octobrists (who at the same time were also voted out from the right) were voted out. Draw some full picture organized violence in these elections would be completely impossible. But what happened as a result? Let's take a look at comparison table party groupings in the Third and Fourth Dumas (See Appendix 2.).

At first glance, the difference is not so great, with the exception of the transition of votes from the Octobrists to the right (-35 +40) and the consolidation at their expense of both opposition parties (+15). In fact, not only the moral, but also the real significance of these changes is very great.

THE LAST PARLIAMENT OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

Fourth and last of the State Dumas Russian Empire acted from November 15, 1912 to February 25, 1917. It was elected according to the same electoral law as the Third State Duma.

Elections to the IV State Duma took place in the autumn (September-October) 1912. They showed that the progressive movement of Russian society was moving towards the establishment of parliamentarism in the country. The election campaign, in which the leaders of bourgeois parties actively participated, took place in an atmosphere of discussion: to be or not to have a constitution in Russia. Even some right-wing parliamentary candidates political parties were supporters of the constitutional order...

Meetings of the IV Duma opened on November 15, 1912. Its chairman was the Octobrist Mikhail Rodzianko. The comrades of the Chairman of the Duma were Prince Vladimir Mikhailovich Volkonsky and Prince Dmitry Dmitrievich Urusov. Secretary of the State Duma - Ivan Ivanovich Dmitryukov. The secretary's comrades are Nikolai Nikolaevich Lvov (senior comrade of the Secretary), Nikolai Ivanovich Antonov, Viktor Parfenevich Basakov, Gaisa Khamidullovich Enikeev, Alexander Dmitrievich Zarin, Vasily Pavlovich Shein.

The main factions of the IV State Duma were: rightists and nationalists (157 seats), Octobrists (98), progressives (48), Cadets (59), who still made up two Duma majorities (depending on who they were blocking with at that moment Octobrists: Octobrist-cadet or Octobrist-right). In addition to them, Trudoviks (10) and Social Democrats (14) were represented in the Duma. The Progressive Party took shape in November 1912 and adopted a program that provided for a constitutional-monarchical system with the responsibility of ministers to popular representation, expansion of the rights of the State Duma, etc. The emergence of this party (between the Octobrists and the Cadets) was an attempt to consolidate the liberal movement. The Bolsheviks led by L.B. Rosenfeld took part in the work of the Duma. and the Mensheviks led by N.S. Chkheidze. They introduced 3 bills (on an 8-hour working day, on social insurance, on national equality), rejected by the majority...

As a result of the elections to the Fourth State Duma in October 1912, the government found itself in even greater isolation, since the Octobrists now firmly stood on a par with the Cadets in the legal opposition.

In an atmosphere of growing tension in society, in March 1914, two inter-party meetings were held with the participation of representatives of the Cadets, Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, left Octobrists, progressives, and non-party intellectuals, at which issues of coordinating the activities of the left and liberal parties were discussed with the aim of preparing extra-Duma speeches. The World War that began in 1914 temporarily extinguished the flaring opposition movement. At first, the majority of parties (excluding the Social Democrats) spoke out for trust in the government. At the suggestion of Nicholas II, in June 1914 the Council of Ministers discussed the issue of transforming the Duma from a legislative body into a consultative one. On July 24, 1914, the Council of Ministers was granted emergency powers, i.e. he received the right to decide most cases on behalf of the emperor.

At an emergency meeting of the Fourth Duma on July 26, 1914, the leaders of the right and liberal-bourgeois factions made a call to rally around the “sovereign leader leading Russia into a sacred battle with the enemy of the Slavs,” putting aside “internal disputes” and “scores” with the government. However, failures at the front, the growth of the strike movement, and the inability of the government to ensure governance of the country stimulated the activity of political parties and their opposition. Against this background, the Fourth Duma entered into an acute conflict with the executive branch.

In August 1915, at a meeting of members of the State Duma and the State Council, the Progressive Bloc was formed, which included Cadets, Octobrists, Progressives, some nationalists (236 out of 422 members of the Duma) and three groups of the State Council. The chairman of the bureau of the Progressive Bloc became the Octobrist S.I. Shidlovsky, and the actual leader was P.N. Milyukov. The bloc's declaration, published in the newspaper Rech on August 26, 1915, was of a compromise nature and provided for the creation of a government of “public trust.” The bloc's program included demands for a partial amnesty, an end to persecution for religion, autonomy for Poland, the abolition of restrictions on the rights of Jews, and the restoration of trade unions and the workers' press. The bloc was supported by some members of the State Council and the Synod. The bloc's irreconcilable position towards state power, her harsh criticism led to the political crisis of 1916, which became one of the reasons for the February Revolution.

On September 3, 1915, after the Duma accepted the war loans allocated by the government, it was dissolved for vacation. The Duma met again only in February 1916. On December 16, 1916 it was dissolved again. Resumed activity on February 14, 1917 on the eve of the February abdication of Nicholas II. On February 25, 1917, it was dissolved again and no longer officially met, but formally and actually existed. The Fourth Duma played a leading role in the establishment of the Provisional Government, under which it actually worked in the form of “private meetings.” On October 6, 1917, the Provisional Government decided to dissolve the Duma in connection with preparations for the elections to the Constituent Assembly.

Encyclopedia "Around the World"

http://krugosvet.ru/enc/istoriya/GOSUDARSTVENNAYA_DUMA_ROSSISKO_IMPERII.html?page=0.10#part-8

THE FOURTH DUMA AND THE GOVERNMENT

The State Duma became such a significant factor in Russian life that the government could not help but be interested in the outcome upcoming elections. Stolypin at one time intended to provide broad support to moderate right-wing parties, especially nationalists. V.N. Kokovtsov believed, on the contrary, that interference in elections should be done as little as possible. The general management of the elections was entrusted to Comrade. Minister of Internal Affairs A. N. Kharuzin; the conduct of the election campaign was left to the local initiative of the governors. In only one respect was a more serious attempt made to influence the elections. The law of June 3 gave decisive importance to the curia of landowners. Where there were few large landowners, the majority belonged to representatives of small landowners, and among them, in turn, rural priests, who were considered as the owners of church plots of land, predominated. The Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, through local bishops, invited the clergy to take as active a part in the elections as possible. The result of this instruction was unexpectedly impressive: priests began to be elected everywhere at congresses of small landowners; in twenty provinces they accounted for over 90 percent of the authorized representatives, and in total 81 percent! The press sounded the alarm. They began to write that there would be almost two hundred priests in the new Duma. Large landowners were also worried. But the clergy, in general, had little interest in politics; Having come to the elections at the direction of the diocesan authorities, they did not form any special party and did not always vote for the right. The priests only voted out several prominent Octobrists who defended bills on freedom of conscience in the 3rd Duma. The chairman of the State Duma, M.V. Rodzianko, was elected only because the government, heeding his requests, allocated priests to a special curia for the district where he ran for electors.

The first official statistics of the new Duma seemed to confirm this information: there were 146 rightists, 81 nationalists, 80 Octobrists, the entire opposition - 130... But as soon as the deputies gathered, a completely different picture emerged: the agency indiscriminately included almost all the peasants and priests in the right , while many of them were Octobrists, or even progressives... The right-wing majority that existed on paper melted away. It turned out that while the Octobrists suffered somewhat (there are about 100 of them left), the Cadets strengthened. and progressives; the nationalists split, the “center group” separated from them to the left; As a result, the right wing barely grew.

Even more significant was the fact that this time the Octobrists passed for the most part, contrary to the wishes of the authorities. The same result, which in 1907 was a victory for the government, turned out to be a success for the opposition in 1912. This immediately affected the elections of the presidium. This time the Octobrists entered into an agreement with the left. M. V. Rodzianko was re-elected chairman against the votes of nationalists and rightists; a progressive was elected as a fellow chairman.182 In his opening speech, Rodzianko spoke about “strengthening the constitutional order”, about “eliminating unacceptable arbitrariness” - and the right demonstratively left the meeting room. Menshikov wrote in Novoye Vremya about the “experience with the left Duma.” When discussing the declaration of V.N. Kokovtsov, the Duma (XII. 15, 1912) adopted the progressives’ formula with a left majority of 132 to 78, which ended with the words that the State. The Duma “invites the government to firmly and openly embark on the path of implementing the principles of the October 17 manifesto and establishing strict legality.” The Third Duma never spoke to the authorities in such a tone.

Despite all this, there was neither a definite majority in the new Duma nor a desire to wage a systematic struggle against the government, especially since the events foreign policy at the end of 1912, internal conflicts overshadowed it.

S.S. Oldenburg. Reign of Emperor Nicholas II

http://www.empire-history.ru/empires-211-66.html

Verbatim reports of meetings of the IV State Duma.

Members of the State Duma: portraits and biographies. Fourth convocation, 1912-1917

Elections to the I-IV State Dumas of the Russian Empire (Memoirs of contemporaries. Materials and documents.) / Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. Ed. A. V. Ivanchenko. - M., 2008.

Kiryanov I.K., Lukyanov M.N. Parliament of autocratic Russia: State Duma and its deputies, 1906-1917. Perm: Perm University Publishing House, 1995.

Yu.P. Rodionov. The formation of Russian parliamentarism at the beginning of the twentieth century

Glinka Ya.V. Eleven years in the State Duma. 1906-1917. M., New Literary Review, 2001.

Lecture, abstract. Creation and activities of the State Duma - concept and types. Classification, essence and features.

The number of deputies in the State Duma is determined Russian Constitution. During its existence, which is more than two decades, this law has not undergone significant changes. At the same time, the history of Russian parliamentarism is much longer. Let's find out how many deputies are in the State Duma of Russia, as well as some other nuances of the functioning of this body and its history.

The origins of Russian parliamentarism

Before finding out how many deputies are in the State Duma, let's plunge into the history of the emergence of Russian parliamentarism.

The first parliament in our country, which was called the State Duma, arose during the times of the Russian Empire. Its foundation was a kind of concession from the monarchy to the people, who demanded the right to participate in governing the country, which led to the unfinished revolution of 1905. At the same time, Emperor Nicholas II issued a decree establishing the State Duma. True, its decisions were not binding, but only advisory in nature.

Already in December 1905, the first convocation of this parliamentary body began working. The number of deputies was 448 people. Most of them were members of the factions of Constitutional Democrats (153 people), Trudoviks (97 people) and Autonomists (63 people). 105 deputies were not members of any party. The first meeting of the Duma of this convocation dates back to April 1906, but it worked for only 72 days and was dissolved in July according to the imperial decree.

The Duma of the second convocation worked in the first half of 1907. This time total There were 518 deputies in the State Duma. Now the Trudoviks had the majority (104 deputies), and the Cadets only had 98 deputies. The removal of State Duma deputies was carried out in June 1907, when the parliamentary body was dissolved under the pretext of suspicion of an attempt by some of its members to carry out a coup.

The Duma of the third convocation worked from 1907 to 1912. It represented 446 deputies. This time the Octobrists had the majority - 154 people.

How many deputies are there in the State Duma of the last, fourth, convocation, which worked from 1912 to 1917? 442 deputies took part in its activities. The majority were again Octobrists - 98 people. It was dissolved after the February Revolution in October 1917, when elections to the Constituent Assembly were called. But further prospects for Russian parliamentarism remained unfulfilled, since the October Revolution of 1917 took place in the country.

Already after the legislative body of the RSFSR, and then Russian Federation became the Supreme Council. He exercised legislative function from 1938 to 1993.

Formation of the State Duma of the Russian Federation

The reason for the formation of a new parliamentary body was the attempt of a significant part of the deputy corps of the Supreme Council, led by its speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov, to carry out a coup d'etat in October 1993. The attempt was unsuccessful, but it served as a reason for the dissolution of the Supreme Council.

That same year, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree on the formation of a new parliamentary body, the State Duma. Elections to the Duma were held in December 1993.

Functions of the State Duma

Now let's find out what the activities of State Duma deputies are.

The State Duma is the highest legislative body in Russia. That is, the main responsibility of deputies is This parliamentary body has the status of the lower house of the Federal Assembly, the upper house of which is the Federation Council.

The rights and obligations of members of parliament are specified in the Law on the status of a deputy of the State Duma. For example, this law guarantees parliamentary immunity, as well as a number of other privileges of people's representatives.

Term of office of deputies

Initially, during the transition period immediately after the establishment of the State Duma, deputies of the first convocation received their powers for only a period of two years. But from the next convocation it was planned to increase this term up to four years. This was done, therefore, from 1995 to 2011, deputies from the second to fifth convocations received powers for a period of four years.

But since 2011, the term of parliamentary powers has been increased to five years. It was during this period that the deputies of the sixth convocation were given the opportunity to perform their duties. This was done to save money budget funds for holding elections.

The next elections to the State Duma are scheduled for September 2016.

Election mechanism

What is the system for electing deputies to the State Duma? As mentioned above, if previously elections of deputies were held once every four years, now they are held once every five years.

Russia has a mixed election system. That is, half of the deputies are elected from a single-mandate constituency, and the other half from party lists. Thus, in the first case, voters vote for specific person, who, if he wins the district, will become a deputy, and in the second case - for the party. It is this approach that makes it possible to maximally ensure both the interests of specific regions and the electoral preferences of voters.

Number of deputies

Now let's find out how many deputies there are in the State Duma. The Russian Constitution, which stipulates the size of the parliament, gives a clear answer to this question.

At the moment there are 450 deputies in the State Duma. Moreover, this number has not changed since the formation of this parliamentary body in 1993.

Composition of the State Duma

We found out how many deputies there are in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. At the same time, it is no less important to know what forces currently represent the people’s interests. Due to its cumbersomeness, it will not be possible to present a complete list of deputies of the State Duma for 450 people, but we can study the structure of parliament by finding out the number of representatives from the factions in it.

At the moment, the most number of deputies in the Duma are from the pro-government United Russia faction - 238 people. Then come the deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - 92 people. Following them are representatives of the A Just Russia faction - 64 people. The fewest number of deputies in parliament are from the LDPR - 56 people. This number of deputies is optimally justified by the need for representation of various constituencies in Russia, as well as political forces.

Structure of Parliament

Now let's find out how the State Duma is structured and what it is internal organization. After all, 450 deputies are still a considerable number of people, and each of them, in addition to the main function of lawmaking, must perform additional tasks in parliament.

On the factional division of deputies, we general outline said above. One has only to say that factions are groups of deputies united by a single long-term goal and a common vision of the further path of development of the country. Most often, factions are formed around individual parties or created from the union of several parties.

The first person in the State Duma is the chairman. His responsibilities include managing the work of parliament during sessional activities, as well as representing it in relations with other government agencies, as well as foreign parliamentary bodies. The Chairman of the State Duma is elected by deputies by secret ballot, as a rule, at the first session of convocation. In addition, the first deputy and deputies are elected. Their responsibilities include assisting the chairman in conducting the session, in addition, the first deputy must replace him in case of absence for any reason. At the moment, the chairman of the State Duma is a member of the pro-government United Russia party Sergei Naryshkin.

The main task of the State Duma apparatus is to ensure the smooth functioning of the Russian parliament. This body is obliged to monitor the logistical, informational, financial, and organizational support for the activities of deputies. The chief of staff of the State Duma is in charge of this structure. At the moment, this position is occupied by Dzhakhan Rejepovna Pollyeva.

Specific areas of legislative activity are dealt with by State Duma committees. They consist of deputies organized into groups into separate segments, often according to party quotas. Currently the main committees are:

• under constitutional law;
• according to budget;
• on labor and social policy;
• on economic policy;
• on property issues;
• on energy;
• by industry;
• on health protection;
• of Education.

In addition, there are a number of other committees. In data structural divisions Parliament develops and discusses specific bills, according to the relevant direction of the committee. The activities of the committees are led by chairmen who have first deputies and deputies.

The activities of commissions are very similar to the work of committees. The main difference is that the tasks of these structures do not include legislative activity, but control in some area of ​​functioning. Sometimes commissions are specially formed to monitor the implementation of a specific task. There are currently six commissions in the Russian parliament:

• to monitor the accuracy of income information;
• on issues of parliamentary ethics;
• counting commission;
• for the construction of buildings for the parliamentary center;
• to control the development of the Russian defense industry;
• to control the expenditure of funds from the budget aimed at ensuring national security.

Each commission is headed by a chairman.

Another structural body of the Russian parliament is the State Duma Council. It is this body that prepares specific bills for consideration at the session, and plans the work of parliament during the session procedure. That is, this is the body that conducts preliminary work over finished bills before submitting them for general consideration by deputies.

The Council is headed by the Chairman of the State Duma. In addition, the Council includes its deputies and leaders of parliamentary factions. But chairmen of committees have only the right of an advisory vote in this body.

This, in general terms, is the structure of the organization of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

Dissolution of the State Duma

The possibility of dissolving parliament is provided for by the Russian Constitution. This procedure can be carried out if the Duma has three times rejected candidates proposed by the president for the post of chairman of the government or three times expresses no confidence in him. In this case, the head of state can exercise his constitutional right to dissolve parliament. But so far in the newest Russian history this procedure dissolution of the State Duma was not applied. The only dissolution of a parliamentary body was carried out in 1993 under President Boris Yeltsin. But then it was still called the Supreme Council, that is, it was even before the establishment of the Duma.

In addition, the removal of State Duma deputies has already been carried out on an individual basis several times. In this case, parliament itself decides to remove its individual members. For example, according to this procedure, Ilya Ponomarev, a deputy from the A Just Russia faction, was suspended from his activities in the State Duma.

The meaning of parliamentarism

Its importance in Russia is difficult to overestimate. After all, this is precisely the body of government through which, through the institution of elections, citizens exercise their constitutional right to govern the country. Its tasks include the adoption of legislative acts, as well as the performance of a number of control functions, and some other tasks. That is, in other words, the adoption of specific laws in the country depends on the State Duma.

The existing number of deputies in parliament is scientifically justified by the required number of representatives from all regions of Russia and various political forces, so that the interests of the entire population of the country are taken into account. That is why it was decided to stop at 450 deputies.

Of course, like any government institution, parliamentarism is far from ideal. At the same time, it should be noted that a more effective governing body, through which the entire mass of the population having citizenship of a particular state can influence public policy, has not yet been invented in the world. In addition, the existence of several, including a separately allocated legislative branch, functioning through parliament, makes it possible to control other branches of government (executive and judicial) and prevent the usurpation of governance of the country by one of them or by the president.

1905 as an advisory representative body.

During the October political strike, the Manifesto was published on October 17, 1905, according to which the State Duma received legislative rights.

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Elections to the first State Duma

December 11" href="/text/category/11_dekabrya/" rel="bookmark">December 11, 1905, the law on elections to the State Duma was issued. Having retained the curial system established during the elections to the Bulygin Duma, the law added to the previously existing landowners , city and peasant curiae workers' curia and somewhat expanded the composition of voters in the city curia.

According to the workers' curia, only men employed in enterprises with at least 50 workers were allowed to vote. This and other restrictions deprived about 2 million male workers of the right to vote. The elections were not universal (women, young people under 25, active duty military personnel, and a number of national minorities were excluded), not equal (one elector per 2 thousand population in the landowning curia, per 4 thousand in the urban curia, per 30 thousand in the peasant, for 90 thousand - in the working class), not direct (two-, and for workers and peasants three - and four-stage).

Elections to the first State Duma took place in February - March 1906. Best of luck achieved by the Constitutional Democratic Party (Cadets).

Due to the non-simultaneous nature of the elections, the activities of the State Duma took place with an incomplete composition. During the work of the State Duma, its composition was replenished with representatives of national regions and outskirts, where elections were held later than in the central provinces. In addition, a number of deputies moved from one faction to another.

Composition of the first State Duma

In the First Duma, out of 499 elected deputies (of which the election of 11 deputies was annulled, one resigned, one died, 6 did not have time to arrive) according to age groups electors were distributed as follows: under 30 years of age - 7%; up to 40 years - 40%; up to 50 years and older - 15%.

42% of deputies had higher education, 14% had secondary education, 25% had lower education, 19% had home education, two deputies were illiterate.

Boycott" href="/text/category/bojkot/" rel="bookmark">boycott of the State Duma. However, in the context of the beginning of the decline of the revolutionary movement, the boycott failed. Social Democrats entered the State Duma "non-party way": they were elected by votes mainly peasant and urban electors; this determined the predominance of the Mensheviks among the Social Democratic deputies. The Social Democrats entered the Trudovik faction. However, in June, by the decision of the 4th Congress of the RSDLP, the Social Democrats became an independent faction.

Activities of the first State Duma

Having recognized the legislative rights of the State Duma, the tsarist government sought to limit them in every possible way. By the Manifesto of February 20, 1906, the highest legislative institution of the Russian Empire, the State Council (which existed for years), was transformed into a second legislative chamber with the right to veto decisions of the State Duma; it was clarified that the State Duma does not have the right to change basic state laws.

A significant part of the state budget was withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the State Duma. According to new edition basic state laws (April 23, 1906), the emperor retained full power to govern the country through a ministry responsible only to him, management of foreign policy, management of the army and navy; could issue laws during breaks between sessions, which were then only formally approved by the State Duma (Article 87 of the Basic Laws).

The government rejected the cadets’ program, expressed in the form of a wish for a partial political amnesty, the creation of a “government responsible to the State Duma,” expansion of voting rights and other freedoms, an increase in peasant land ownership, etc. In the State Duma commissions, work was underway on bills on the abolition of the death penalty and on immunity personality, freedom of conscience, assembly, etc.

forced alienation" of landowners' land. On May 8, they submitted to the State Duma a bill signed by 42 deputies ("project of 42"), proposing additional allocation of land to peasants at the expense of state, monastery, church, appanage and cabinet lands, as well as partial alienation of landowners' lands. land for redemption "at a fair valuation".

The faction of the Labor Group came out on May 23 with its agrarian bill (“Project 104-x”), in which it demanded the alienation of landowners’ and other privately owned lands exceeding the “labor norm”, the creation of a “national land fund” and the introduction of egalitarian land use according to the “labor norm” . The practical solution of the issue was supposed to be transferred to local land committees elected by universal suffrage.

At a meeting on June 7-8, the government decided to dissolve the State Duma in the event of increased tension around the agrarian issue.

On June 8, 33 deputies introduced another draft of the Basic Land Law, which was based on the views of the Social Revolutionaries, demanding the immediate destruction private property to the land and its transition into the public domain (the so-called socialization of the land). The State Duma refused to discuss the “project of 33” as “leading to a black redistribution.”

In general, during the 72 days of its work, the First Duma approved only two bills: on the abolition of the death penalty (initiated by deputies in violation of the procedure) and on the allocation of 15 million rubles to help victims of crop failure, introduced by the government. Other projects did not reach article-by-article discussion.

On June 20, the government issued a statement in which it categorically supported the inviolability of privately owned lands. By a decree on July 8, the State Duma was dissolved; by a manifesto on July 9, such an action was justified by the fact that “those elected from the population, instead of working to build the legislative, deviated into an area that did not belong to them,” at the same time, the State Duma was assigned responsibility for the past peasant protests.
speeches.

On July 9-10, a group of deputies held a meeting in Vyborg and adopted an appeal “To the people from the people’s representatives.”

Chairman- (cadet).

Comrades of the Chairman: Pyotr D. Dolgorukov (cadet); (cadet).

Secretary- (cadet).