Introduction - 3

1. Third State Duma (1907–1912): general characteristics and features of activity - 5

2. State Duma of the third convocation in the estimates of deputies - 10

Conclusion - 17

List of used literature - 20

Introduction

The experience of the first two legislative assemblies was assessed by the tsar and his entourage as unsuccessful. In this situation, the June Third Manifesto was published, in which dissatisfaction with the work of the Duma was attributed to the imperfection of the election legislation:

All these changes in the election procedure cannot be carried out in the usual legislative way through the State Duma, the composition of which We have recognized as unsatisfactory, due to the imperfection of the very method of electing its Members. Only the Authority that granted the first electoral law, the historical Authority of the Russian Tsar, has the right to repeal it and replace it with a new one.

The electoral law of June 3, 1907, may have seemed to those around the Tsar a successful find, but the State Duma, formed in accordance with it, reflected the balance of power in the country so one-sidedly that it could not even adequately outline the range of problems the solution of which could prevent the country's slide towards disaster. As a result, replacing the first Duma with the second, the tsarist government wanted the best, but it turned out as always. The First Duma was a Duma of hope for a peaceful evolutionary process in a country tired of revolution. The Second Duma turned out to be a Duma of intense struggle between deputies among themselves (even to the point of fights) and an irreconcilable struggle, including in an offensive form, between the left part of the deputies and the authorities.

Having the experience of dispersing the previous Duma, the most prepared for parliamentary activities, the most intellectual faction of the Cadets tried to bring both the right and left parties into at least some framework of decency. But the intrinsic value of the sprouts of parliamentarism in autocratic Russia was of little interest to the right, and the left did not care at all about the evolutionary development of democracy in Russia. On the night of June 3, 1907, members of the Social Democratic faction were arrested. At the same time, the government announced the dissolution of the Duma. A new, incomparably more restrictive electoral law was issued. Thus, tsarism deeply violated one of the main provisions of the manifesto of October 17, 1905: no law can be adopted without the approval of the Duma.

Further course political life demonstrated with terrifying clarity the fallacy and ineffectiveness of forceful palliatives in solving fundamental problems of relations between various branches of government. But before Nicholas II and his family and millions of innocent people who fell into the millstones of the revolution and civil war, there were the third and fourth Dumas.

As a result of the Black Hundred coup d'etat of June 3, 1907, the electoral law of December 11, 1905 was replaced by a new one, which in the Cadet-liberal environment was called nothing less than “shameless”: so openly and crudely did it ensure the strengthening of the extreme right monarchist-nationalist in the Third Duma wing

Only 15% of subjects Russian Empire received the right to participate in elections. The peoples of Central Asia were completely deprived of voting rights, and representation from other national regions was limited. The new law almost doubled the number of peasant electors. The formerly single city curia was divided into two: the first included only the owners large property, who received significant advantages over the petty bourgeoisie and intelligentsia, who made up the bulk of the voters of the second city curia, i.e. the main voters of the Cadets-liberals. The workers could actually appoint their deputies only in six provinces, where separate workers' curiae remained. As a result, the landed gentry and big bourgeoisie accounted for 75% of the total number of electors. At the same time, tsarism showed itself to be a consistent supporter of the conservation of the feudal-landowner status quo, and not of accelerating the development of bourgeois-capitalist relations in general, not to mention bourgeois-democratic tendencies. The rate of representation from landowners was more than four times higher than the rate of representation from the big bourgeoisie. The Third State Duma, unlike the first two, lasted for a set period (01.11.1907-09.06.1912). Processes of positioning and interaction of political forces in the Third Duma Tsarist Russia strikingly reminiscent of what happens in 2000-2005 in the Duma of democratic Russia, when political expediency based on unprincipledness is put at the forefront.

Purpose of this work is a study of the features of the third State Duma Russian Empire.

1. Third State Duma (1907–1912): general characteristics and features of activities

The Third State Duma of the Russian Empire operated for a full term of office from November 1, 1907 to June 9, 1912 and turned out to be the most politically durable of the first four state dumas. She was elected according to Manifesto on the dissolution of the State Duma, on the time of convening a new Duma and on changing the procedure for elections to the State Duma And Regulations on elections to the State Duma dated June 3, 1907, which were published by Emperor Nicholas II simultaneously with the dissolution of the Second State Duma.

The new electoral law significantly limited the voting rights of peasants and workers. Total electors for the peasant curia were reduced by 2 times. The peasant curia, therefore, had only 22% of the total number of electors (versus 41.4% under suffrage Regulations on elections to the State Duma 1905). The number of workers' electors accounted for 2.3% of the total number of electors. Significant changes were made to the election procedure for the City Curia, which was divided into 2 categories: the first congress of urban voters (big bourgeoisie) received 15% of all electors and the second congress of urban voters (petty bourgeoisie) received only 11%. The First Curia (congress of farmers) received 49% of the electors (versus 34% in 1905). Workers of the majority of Russian provinces (with the exception of 6) could participate in elections only through the second city curia - as tenants or in accordance with the property qualification. The law of June 3, 1907 gave the Minister of the Interior the right to change the boundaries of electoral districts and at all stages of elections to divide electoral assemblies into independent branches. Representation from national outskirts. For example, previously 37 deputies were elected from Poland, but now there are 14, from the Caucasus there used to be 29, but now only 10. The Muslim population of Kazakhstan and Central Asia was generally deprived of representation.

Total number Duma deputies were reduced from 524 to 442.

Only 3,500,000 people took part in the elections to the Third Duma. 44% of the deputies were noble landowners. The legal parties after 1906 remained: “Union of the Russian People”, “Union of October 17” and the Peaceful Renewal Party. They formed the backbone of the Third Duma. The opposition was weakened and did not prevent P. Stolypin from carrying out reforms. In the Third Duma, elected under the new electoral law, the number of opposition-minded deputies significantly decreased, and on the contrary, the number of deputies supporting the government and the tsarist administration increased.

In the third Duma there were 50 far-right deputies, moderate right and nationalists - 97. Groups appeared: Muslim - 8 deputies, Lithuanian-Belarusian - 7, Polish - 11. The Third Duma, the only one of the four, worked all the time required by the law on elections to the Duma five-year term, five sessions held.

An extreme right-wing parliamentary group arose led by V.M. Purishkevich. At Stolypin’s suggestion and with government money, a new faction, the “Union of Nationalists,” was created with its own club. She competed with the Black Hundred faction “Russian Assembly”. These two groups constituted the “legislative center” of the Duma. Statements by their leaders were often overtly xenophobic and anti-Semitic.

At the very first meetings of the Third Duma , which opened its work on November 1, 1907, a right-wing Octobrist majority was formed, which amounted to almost 2/3, or 300 members. Since the Black Hundreds were against the Manifesto of October 17, differences arose between them and the Octobrists on a number of issues, and then the Octobrists found support from the progressives and the much improved Cadets. This is how the second Duma majority was formed, the Octobrist-Cadet majority, which made up about 3/5 of the Duma (262 members).

The presence of this majority determined the nature of the activities of the Third Duma and ensured its efficiency. Formed special group progressives (initially 24 deputies, then the number of the group reached 36, later on the basis of the group the Progressive Party arose (1912–1917), which occupied intermediate position between the Cadets and the Octobrists. The leaders of the progressives were V.P. and P.P. Ryabushinsky. Radical factions - 14 Trudoviks and 15 Social Democrats - stood apart, but they could not seriously influence the course of Duma activities.

Number of factions in the Third State Duma (1907–1912)

The position of each of the three main groups - right, left and center - was determined at the very first meetings of the Third Duma. The Black Hundreds, who did not approve of Stolypin’s reform plans, unconditionally supported all his measures to combat opponents of the existing system. Liberals tried to resist the reaction, but in some cases Stolypin could count on their relatively friendly attitude towards the reforms proposed by the government. At the same time, none of the groups could either fail or approve this or that bill when voting alone. In such a situation, everything was decided by the position of the center - the Octobrists. Although it did not constitute a majority in the Duma, the outcome of the vote depended on it: if the Octobrists voted together with other right-wing factions, then a right-wing Octobrist majority (about 300 people) was created, if together with the Cadets, then an Octobrist-Cadet majority (about 250 people) . These two blocs in the Duma allowed the government to maneuver and carry out both conservative and liberal reforms. Thus, the Octobrist faction played the role of a kind of “pendulum” in the Duma.

Elections to the Third State Duma were organized according to the new electoral law. The number of electors from landowners and the large industrial and commercial bourgeoisie increased significantly. As before, women, students and military personnel were excluded from participating in the elections. Peasant householders were allowed to participate in the elections. As a result, only 13% of the adult population could take part in the elections.

The III State Duma served the entire five-year term provided by law (1907-1912). The last one - the IV Duma, existed for almost 5 years, formally ceased its activities on October 6, 1917.

A characteristic feature of the development of Russian parliamentarism was its gradual slide to the right: the more experience the Duma acquired, the more perfect and professional its activities were, the more conservative it became both in its composition and in the ideas that dominated it.

The Duma carried out its activities mainly in three directions: discussed bills, approved the state budget, made various inquiries to the government regarding the illegal actions of the authorities.

The mechanism for passing laws was multi-stage and cumbersome. As a rule, bills to the Duma came from ministries, but deputies could also propose them. Any bill was considered by the Duma in three readings, and each of them was strictly regulated. It was then voted on as a whole. Passed the Duma the project was submitted to the State Council for consideration. This procedure required considerable time, sometimes more than one year. The Stolypin agrarian legislation of 1906 was ratified by the Duma only in 1910.

The nature of the Duma's activities was largely determined by its party composition. In difficult political conditions, when the supreme power began the bourgeois reform of the country and achieved this through tough, forceful methods, political parties faced the need to develop their own tactical line.

All parties of government (right), liberal (center) and revolutionary-democratic (left) orientation in the post-revolutionary period experienced an organizational crisis, ideological groups arose in their composition, and their numbers decreased.

The far-right monarchist parties enthusiastically welcomed the new electoral law of 1907. However, the attitude towards Stolypin’s agrarian reform was not unambiguous, opinions were divided, especially on the issues of destruction of the community and the legislative powers of the Duma. In November 1907, having left the Union of the Russian People, its leader V.M. Purishkevich formed a new monarchist party, the Russian Union named after Michael the Archangel. Purishkevich's party took a step to the left, advocated the division of the peasant community, but considered its main task to be the protection of the monarchical system.

The Union of October 17 was also experiencing an organizational crisis. The Octobrists provided all possible support to Stolypin in carrying out his reforms. Strong opposition to Stolypin and his reforms from the royal court led to the disintegration of the Octobrist faction into three groups: the “Union of October 17” itself, the Zemstvo Octobrists and non-party members.

The post-revolutionary period brought great changes in the ideological, political and organizational order in the Cadet Party. An important event public life became a collection of articles published in the spring of 1909 entitled “Milestones”. Its authors N.A. Berdyaev, S.N. Bulgakov, M.O. Gershenzon, P.B. Struve, S.A. Frank, B.A. Kistyakovsky. It was new program actions of the legal wing of the Cadet Party. In 1907, at the Fifth Congress of the Party, its tactics were determined: full support for the government, an alliance with the Octobrists and resistance to the left.

In 1912 another one arose liberal party- The Progressive Party, where the ideas of both the Cadets and the Octobrists triumphed. The party claimed to be the “business party” of the entire Russian bourgeoisie.

If the monarchist parties and the Octobrists formed a “government bloc,” and the Cadets, calling themselves “responsible opposition,” very often moved towards rapprochement with the government bloc and supported the government, then the revolutionary democratic parties were in open opposition to it.

Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which led in 1905-1907. labor movement, after the revolution it finally split into two parts. The initiators of this dismemberment of the RSDLP were the Bolsheviks. Having gathered at the VI (Prague) Party Conference, they adopted a special decision on this issue. The organizational division into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks became a fact.

The processes of disintegration also spread to the Socialist Revolutionary Party, led by V. Chernov. Within its composition, terrorist groups of maximalists emerged, which, formally being members of the party, united into independent combat detachments. The Tsarist secret police, thanks to its agents, in particular E. Azev, kept the activities of the maximalists under control. The maximalists in the Socialist Revolutionary Party were opposed by the Trudoviks, who worked in the Duma, discussed land reform, and promoted ideas of land socialization among the peasants.

Activity political parties in the Third Duma differed from their work in the Fourth Duma. In the Duma of the third convocation, a parliamentary majority was formed from monarchists, Octobrists and Cadets, who spoke together with the government on fundamental issues of agrarian reform. However, even during the period works III Duma, and especially after the death of Stolypin, the consistency in the actions of the government and the Duma was disrupted and the effective majority of deputies disintegrated. In the Fourth Duma, opposition speeches by deputies against the government both on the left and on the right intensified. Mutual distrust and suspicion increasingly determined the relations between the tsar, the government and the Duma. The Tsar constantly changed ministers and was hostile and angry towards the Duma. Since 1908, the “elder” Rasputin has found a strong place for himself at court. Rasputin's behavior and his “influence” on the royal court led to a decline in the moral authority of Nicholas II. A contemporary of the Tsar, the famous Russian thinker S.N. Bulgakov wrote: “In essence, the agony of the autocracy continued throughout the entire reign of Nicholas II and was a continuous and continuous suicide of the autocracy through all the countless zigzags of its policy and the final insanity of the war.”

The ruling elite, led by Nicholas II, has not matured enough to understand the need for large-scale reforms, concessions to new socio-political forces, or support for such great reformers of Russia as Stolypin. The Tsar did not want the development, much less the triumph, of those democratic changes in power to which he was forced in October 1905.

Activities of the IV Duma in pre-war years was reduced only to requests, approval of the budget, and declaration of one’s party views when discussing bills. Deputies of the extreme right and left parties were distinguished by the equally destructive nature of their parliamentary work.

In the context of intensified worker protests and the student movement, which especially intensified after the execution of workers at the Lena mines and continued until the start of the war, deputy groups of right-wing parties demanded that the authorities tighten repression, wide application corporal punishment introduced in the country state of emergency.

The Bolsheviks, working in the Duma, consistently followed the instructions of the RSDLP to use its platform only for propaganda purposes. They refused to engage in painstaking legislative work, considering it dangerous to sow constructive illusions among the masses. Thus, when they came up with their own legislative initiative to introduce an 8-hour working day, they did not at all seek its implementation through the Duma. The Pravda newspaper convinced its worker readers that the capitalists would never make any concessions. The Bolsheviks called for a revolutionary transformation of the existing system in Russia, which, in their opinion, could only give workers an 8-hour working day.

From an instrument designed to reconcile government and society, the Duma gradually turned into another factor of internal political instability in the country.

So, since the time of the great reforms of Alexander II, Russia began to move from the old class society to a modern civil society and the rule of law. This process was continued by the Manifesto of October 17, 1905: popular representation became integral part supreme power of the country. However, the formation of a constitutional system in Russia did not take place. The absence of a government responsible to the Duma undermined the basis of parliamentarism, since it left all executive branch under the absolute control of the emperor. And only by abdicating the throne, Nicholas II “commanded” his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, “to rule the affairs of the state in complete and inviolable unity with the representatives of the people in legislative institutions, on the principles that will be established by them...”. But it was already too late.

Trying to provide sustainable economic development country while maintaining autocracy was not successful. Russian modernization did not meet the deadlines optimal timing- from the 60s. XIX century before the First World War. Russia once again found itself unprepared for war, which brought it to the brink of a national catastrophe.

Elections to the Second Duma took place at the beginning of 1907 on the basis of the old electoral law, so the situation in the Second State Duma was general outline reminded me of the situation in the First State Duma.

518 deputies were elected to the Duma, of which: 223 belonged to left-wing parties: 66 Social Democrats, 37 Socialist Revolutionaries, 104 Trudoviks, 16 People's Socialists. The remaining seats were distributed as follows: 99 seats went to cadets, 44 to Octobrists. 10 - extreme right. A zemstvo figure, cadet F.A. was elected Chairman of the Second State Duma. Golovin. This Duma worked for 102 days.

The Second Duma began its work in February 1907. As before, the agrarian question remained central. The Trudoviks kept their agrarian bill in its old form. The Cadets now believed that less of the landowners' land should go to the peasants. If, according to their project in the First Duma, the state had to pay for the land of the landowners, then according to the project in the Second Duma, half of the expenses were to be reimbursed by the peasants. The confrontation between the Duma and the government continued to persist. Then the government launched an attack on the Duma. On June 1, 1907, at a closed meeting of the Duma, Prime Minister P.A. Stolypin made a statement that he had documents at his disposal indicating the involvement of a number of deputies of the Social Democratic faction in an anti-government conspiracy. The Prime Minister demanded that the Duma revoke parliamentary immunity and bring 65 deputies of this faction under investigation, and sanction immediate arrest for 16 of them. The Cadets faction proposed to urgently create a special Duma commission to clarify this issue. Without waiting for the decision of the Duma commission, on the night of June 3, 1907, the authorities arrested 16 deputies of the Social Democratic faction. They were put on trial and found guilty. Some of them were sentenced to hard labor, others to exile. Documents about the involvement of the Social Democrats in the anti-government conspiracy later turned out to be fabricated by the security department.

On June 3, 1907, the Manifesto on the dissolution of the Second State Duma and changes in the election system was published. The events of June 3, 1907 were called the “June Third coup d'etat", since the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, according to which new law could not follow without the approval of the Duma.

Activity III State Duma is associated with the name of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers P.A. Stolypin. It was he who created such an election mechanism, thanks to which the main political forces received approximately an equal number of votes, and the Third State Duma worked for the entire term allotted to it, making decisions not to please individual groups, but for the benefit of the whole society.

According to the new electoral law, no more than 15% of the population received the right to participate in elections, while the number of electors from peasants was halved, and from landowners and the big bourgeoisie - increased. From now on, 1 vote of the landowner was equal to 4 votes of the big bourgeoisie, 68 of the urban petty bourgeoisie, 260 peasants and 543 workers. The representation of national border regions was sharply reduced (from the Caucasus - 10 instead of 29, from Poland - 14 instead of 37). The total number of Duma deputies was reduced from 524 to 442. The right (Black Hundreds) received 144 deputy seats, the center (Octobrists) - 148 votes, the left (Cadets, Social Democrats, Trudoviks, nationalists) - 150 seats. In the Third State Duma, the Octobrist faction found itself in the center: it was satisfied with the government’s policy, and the fate of the decisions made largely depended on the position of its deputies. When voting on pro-government projects, the Octobrist faction voted together with the factions of the right and nationalists, and when voting on projects of reforms of a bourgeois nature, the Octobrists bloced with the Cadets and factions adjacent to them. Thus, in the Third State Duma, a unique mechanism of the parliamentary Octobrist pendulum was formed, which allowed the government of P.A. Stolypin to draw the line he needed, maneuvering between the right and left. Chairmen III State Duma were: N.A. Khomyakov (until March 1910), A.I. Guchkov (March 1910 - March 1911), M.V. Rodzianko (March 1911 - June 9, 1912 - until the end of his term).

The work of the Third Duma was a period of searching for a compromise between the government and the deputies, between traditional methods management and new conditions of political life. Over the entire period of its work, the Duma discussed and adopted 2432 legislative act. They touched upon different sides economic and social life of the state, but the main issue remained agrarian. Duma deputies paid considerable attention to labor and national issues; government policy was discussed in detail during the annual consideration of the state budget. The country learned about the work of the Duma from newspapers and magazines that published verbatim reports. Deputies submitted requests to the government regarding any emergency incidents. In this case, one or another minister was obliged to appear in the Duma and answer the request. The publication of the request and the response to it in the press gave readers the opportunity to understand how legal and beneficial the administration’s actions were. The names of those deputies who more often than others rose to the Duma rostrum became widely known. The Duma approved the state budget, but the most important levers of power still remained in the hands of the tsar.

The III State Duma completed its work in 1912. At the end of 1912, elections to the IV State Duma were held under the old electoral law. 438 deputies were elected to the Duma: the right received 184 votes, the center (Octobrists) -99 votes, the left (cadets, nationalists, progressives, etc.) - 155 votes. The party composition of the Duma has hardly changed, but it has become “to the left” in terms of its position on most issues. M.V. became the Chairman of the IV State Duma. Rodzianko. He held this post for the entire duration of her tenure.

Russia's entry into the first world war caused a great patriotic upsurge, and opposition sentiments in the Duma subsided somewhat. All parties, except the Bolsheviks, supported the government. But Russia's defeats on the fronts of the First World War, workers' strikes, and peasant protests caused a new revival of opposition sentiments. The Duma gradually turned into a factor of internal political instability in Russia. The government's policies began to come under criticism from both the left and the right. The right demanded that the authorities tighten repression, use corporal punishment, and introduce a state of emergency in the country; the left - an immediate solution to the agrarian question, the labor question, the national one. In 1915, some deputies of the State Duma (cadets, Octobrists, representatives of nationalist parties) and the State Council formed the Progressive Bloc. They demanded that the tsar create a government that would have the trust of society and responsibility before the Duma. Distrust and suspicion increasingly determined the relations between the government, the Tsar and the Duma. The situation in relations between the Tsar and the Duma was also aggravated by the fact that at that time there was a certain influence on royal family used by “elder” G.E. Rasputin, who had a reputation in society as a drunkard, libertine, and financial schemer. Rumors persistently spread in society that Russia was ruled by an illiterate man together with a German queen. The authority of the king and the monarchy in society was falling.

After the dissolution of the Second State Duma, the government introduced changes to the electoral law, and since these changes were made without the participation of Duma deputies, Russian society they were regarded as a coup d'etat. The new electoral law changed the ratio of electors in favor of the landowners and the big bourgeoisie (3% of the top of society elected two-thirds of all deputies), and the representation of the national outskirts was reduced. The total number of deputies decreased from 534 to 442.

Elections to the III State Duma took place in the fall of 1907, its work began on November 1, 1907. It became the only one in the history of the Russian Empire that served its allotted term of 5 sessions. The Duma worked under the chairmanship of the Octobrists N.A. Khomyakov, A.I. Guchkov and M.V. Rodzianko. Composition of the III State Duma: 148 centrists from the “Union of October 17th”, 54 cadets, 144 Black Hundreds, 28 progressives, 26 bourgeois nationalists, 14 Trudoviks, 19 social democrats.

Thus, the outcome of the vote in the Third State Duma depended entirely on the Octobrists. Depending on the task at hand, they entered into an alliance with the Black Hundreds and organized a center-right majority; in an alliance with the Cadets, an Octobrist-Cadet majority was formed. The Duma was an obedient instrument in the hands of the government headed by Stolypin. With the support of the right, he blocked all initiatives of the Cadets; the basis of his policy was the slogan: “First calm, then reforms.”

The main issues facing the III State Duma: agrarian, labor, national.

The Stolypin version of the agrarian reform was adopted (based on the decree of January 9, 1906). On the labor issue, a law was adopted on state insurance Due to accidents and illness, on the national issue, zemstvos were formed in 9 Ukrainian and Belarusian provinces, Finland was deprived of autonomy.

Elections to the IV State Duma took place in the fall of 1912. The number of deputies was 442, and the Octobrist M.V. Rodzianko presided for the entire term. Composition: Black Hundreds - 184, Octobrists - 99, Cadets - 58, Trudoviks - 10, Social Democrats - 14, Progressives - 47, non-party members and others - 5.

The balance of power remained the same as the previous Duma; the Octobrists still performed the functions of the “center,” but the progressives began to have more weight.

However, the Duma of the 4th convocation began to play a smaller role in the life of the country, since the government passed through it only minor laws, reserving the solution of the main legislative tasks.

In the IV Duma, as in the III, two majorities were possible: the right-Octobrist - 283 deputies and the Octobrist-Kadet - 225 deputies (it became predominant in the work of the IV State Duma). Deputies increasingly came up with legislative initiatives and slowed down the passage of state laws. However, the overwhelming majority of draft laws objectionable to the government were blocked by the State Council.

The unsuccessful course of military operations caused sharp criticism of the government from the Duma. The majority of factions demanded the creation of a cabinet of ministers and the transfer of power into its hands. Not only the Duma majority, but also representatives of the State Council united around this idea. In August 1915, a “Progressive Bloc” was created in parliament, consisting of 236 deputies, which included representatives of the Octobrists, Progressives, Cadets, and a representative of the State Council. The Mensheviks and Trudoviks did not support the bloc. Thus, a parliamentary bloc opposed to the government emerged.

On February 27, 1917, having gathered at an extraordinary meeting, a group of deputies organized the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, which on the night of February 28 decided to take power into its own hands and create a government. On March 2, 1917, the Provisional Government was created, which, by its decision of October 6, dissolved the IV Duma.

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

State Duma of the Russian Empire- legislative, later - legislative institution Russian Empire. The Duma was the lower house of parliament, the upper house was State Council of the Russian Empire. There were 4 convocations of the State Duma.