Women’s Victory or the Impact of Revolution? Peculiarities of Women’s Suffrage in Russia

Olga Shnyrova

In comparison with long period of women’s struggle for political rights in Great Britain or in the United States, women’s suffrage in Russia has a very short history. In fact, we can speak about the women’s suffrage movement only during the short period between the two Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917.

Therefore the notion of a “women’s suffrage”, with reference to Russia, is found mostly in the works of foreign historians. Russian feminists at the beginning of the twentieth century preferred to call themselves “ravnopravki” (meaning fighters for women’s rights), as that was a wider notion than “a suffragist”, implying a fight for equality in all spheres of life.

The women’s movement, launched after the revolution of 1905, was known in Russia as the “women’s liberation movement”, but not as a feminist movement. In this article we will try to find out the reasons for this, and also reveal the peculiarities of the women’s suffrage movement in Russia.

We have to mention that the first women’s organisations appeared in Russia in the 1850s. Their appearance is mostly connected with the spread in Russian society of a liberal spirit on the eve of the abolition of serfdom (1861). The Russian suffragist and a famous historian Ekaterina Tschepkina characterizes the spirit in Russia of that time by a contemporary: “You are risking now, on coming into Russia not to recognise it. As to the appearance everything is the same, but you feel inner renovation in everything, you feel that a new era is coming. From all the parts there are ideas and light views are step by step forcing out the old routine”1.

Under the influence of those new ideas in St. Petersburg new women’s circles appeared. The best known became Maria Trubnikova’s circle, which in 1855 organized a society for cheap flats for working women. Among the women who were participants of the circle (V. Ivasheva, N. Stasova, A. Filosofova, A. Engelgardt) appeared a core of activists who played an important (certain) role in the organisation of the Russian movement. On their initiative in St. Petersburg were founded Sunday schools for girls, public educational courses for women, artels (co-opeatives) of women translators, and a publishing house (1863). In 1878 higher education courses (known as Bestuzhevskie courses) started up. In the 1870s higher women’s courses were started up in other cities: in Moscow (1872), in Kazan (1876), in Kiev (1878). Their appearance led to the foundation of societies of help (aid) for those attending the higher women’s courses, which rendered material support to women getting a better education and assisted them in getting jobs.

Thus in Russia in the 1860s and 1870s appeared quite a lot of different women’s organisations. Though in Russia both men and women had no political rights till the first democratic revolution of 1905, the first women’s organisations founded in Russia in the middle of the nineteenth century had no political claims and were aimed exclusively at women’s right to equal education and professional careers. Even this moderate women’s activity practically stopped as a result of political repression by the tsarist regime coming down on the Russian society after the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, made all manifestations of social activity almost impossible. Activity of all public organisations, including women’s organisations, was prohibited, only the work of charity organisations was permitted. Therefore, the first women’s organisation founded in Saint Petersburg in 1895 in order to get the permission from the authorities, had to name itself Russkoe Zenskoe Vzaimnoblagotvoritelnoe Obtshestvo (Russian Women’s Mutual Aid Society) and restricted its activities to charity and women’s education. Men and women felt equally disfranchised, and so a huge number of socially active women incarnate themselves not in feminist, but in revolutionist movement against the tsarist regime.

Only the Tsarist Rescript (18 February) on People’s Representatives adopted in 1905 under the pressure of revolution gave a chance to speak about suffrage. In May 1905 in Moscow the inaugural meeting of Soiuz Ravnopravia Zentshin (Women’s Equality Union), the most influential women’s suffrage organisation in Russia was held. Its goal was to ensure the inclusion of the words “without distinction of sex” in the election law. However at this meeting a dispute already flared up on whether to make the demand for political equality a fundamental principle of the Union’s programme or not. A considerable part of participants believed that “due to today’s public feelings, and particularly women’s, the Union, restricting itself to narrow feminist frames, risks being quite unpopular and will not be able to recruit new members”.2 Since in May 1905 the question of suffrage had not yet been settled, it was intended to put special emphasis not on the political, but on civil rights of women as soon as all Russian citizens were “politically disenfranchised, but woman has no human rights”.3 And only the passing of the election laws of 6 August, 17 October and 11 December 1905, which had excluded women from the electorate and upset the gender “equality in illegality”, led to the emergence of the women’s suffrage movement in Russia.

In 1906 Zenskaja Progressivnaja Partia (the Women’s Progressive Party) was founded with the short-term aim of achieving full political equality between men and women.4 In that year the department of women’s suffrage was also formed affiliated to the Russian Women’s Mutual Aid Society. In 1907 Liga Ravnopravia Zenshin (the League of Women’s Equality) was constituted. It should be noted that the demand for women’s enfranchisement was supported by almost all women’s professional organisations and mutual aid societies. Thus in 1907 a petition was presented to the State Duma by twenty-one women’s organisations.

Reaction followed the revolutionary peak of 1907, and excluded the possibility of the women’s enfranchisement bill being passed through the State Duma. Therefore, during the years from 1907 to 1917 suffragists confined themselves to the aim of achieving the principle of equality in view of adopting other laws that concerned women: municipal law, education law, property rights, etc.

When the February Revolution of 1917, which had overthrown the monarchy in Russia, gave such an opportunity once again, the Russian suffragists were not to fail to use it. Following it, in July 1917 women were included in the number of electors and Russia became the first great European state to grant women the right to vote. Thus the political situation that gave rise to the Russian women’s suffrage movement differed fundamentally from the situation in many Western countries. The lifetime of the women’s suffrage movement in Russia was shorter, but Russian women managed to achieve their aim sooner than their Western counterparts.

Women’s suffrage and workers’ rights

Since the women’s suffrage movement in Russia emerged on the revolutionary wave, it led to its self-representation as the movement of women workers and women peasants. Without resorting to the militant tactics of civil disobedience, Russian suffragists were nevertheless at radical platform, sometimes directly participating in revolutionary events. Thus, members of the Women’s Equality Union (WEU) helped Moscow workers during the armed revolt in December 1905: they organised canteens and first-aid posts, and raised money for strikers. As a result the WEU established close contacts with trade unions and the workers supported their activities. To promote its ideas, WEU members worked in different organisations: the Red Cross, the Union of Unions, the Unemployment Commission, the Moscow Strike Committee. the Revolutionary spirit was reflected in the fact that honourable members of WEU were such prominent women revolutionaries as V. Figner, C. Breshko-Breshkovskaya, V. Zasulich, M. Tsebrikova.

Workers’ rights, without disticntion of sex, were the special provision of the Women’s Progressive Party programme. The result of propaganda among peasant women was a huge number of petitions presented to the first State Duma on behalf of women’s suffrage. Moreover, in the remote areas of the Russian Empire the issue of women’s suffrage was closely connected with the national question. WEU branches in Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine demanded not only political equality for women, but also recognition of cultural and national autonomy for their populations, closely collaborating with local organisations aimed at national liberation.

Thus, just as in England, women’s suffrage movement in Russia was part of a wide liberal-democratic movement. Nevertheless, despite the desire to recruit more women workers, Russian women’s suffrage societies were smaller in number than those in Britain. The most representative women’s suffrage organisation in Russia, the Women’s Equality Union, at the peak of its activity in 1906 had 8,000 members and 78 branches in 65 towns5. The political repressions of 1907 decreased its numbers to 1,500 members and 53 branches were closed6. The Russian League for Women’s Equality, being a successor of WEU, on the eve of the February Revolution numbered 800 members7. Political conditions in Russia could not contribute to the development of mass democratic movements, including women’s suffrage movement.

Among the negative factors influencing the membership of women’s suffrage organisations’ in Russia we should point out, first of all, a split with women belonging to the Social Democrats. This split occurred in the All-Russian Women’s Congress long prepared by the Russian Women’s Mutual Aid Society with the aim of uniting all women’s organisations. But in fact this Congress divided Russian women’s movement into two directions: feminists, characterised as bourgeois, and social-democratic or proletarian. In Britain such a split was conspicuous by its absence, and many Russian suffragists wrote about it repeatedly, pointing out with bitterness the difficulties in Russian women’s movement8. Nevertheless, the feminists’ influence among women workers was fairly strong in big cities even during the February Revolution, despite the Social Democrats’ efforts, initiated by A. Kollontai, to move women workers away from the feminists’ influence.

Financial resources of the Russian women’s suffrage organisations

Financial resources were also restricted. The budget of WEU from 1905 to 1906 was 3,800 rubles9. Expenditures were also fairly specific: WEU made 10 per cents assessment to the Union of Unions (association of trade unions). Moreover, 1,000 rubles (viz. one third of all revenue) were assigned “to help other political organisations and strikers”10. These expenditures WEU took upon itself even despite the fact that its members were generally women of the so-called ‘intelligent’ (white collar) professions with rather low income who sometimes could not pay the annual membership fee of 1 ruble.

Nevertheless, in 1905 the St. Petersburg branch of the WEU founded the special mutual aid fund supplemented from voluntary donations from its members. Forty percent of all money was assigned to the party of socialist-revolutionist, 40 percent to the Social Democrats, 15 percent to the Red Cross11. Unfortunately the financial documents of the WEU are rather fragmentary, which embarrassed the analysis of its financial resources as well as the financial standing of its branches. In any case the WEU’s budget for 1905 – 1906, as well as politics of its Petersburg branch, testifies that the WEU was not only a feminist, but also a radical-democratic organisation aiming at revolutionary changes in the country in the interests of all citizens. This was the reason its repression after the revolutionary decline.

The financial position of the Russian Women’s Mutual Aid Society (RWMAS) was better and could be well compared with the financial standing of the main women’s suffrage organisations in Britain. Thus, the annual financial report of the RWMAS for 1915 shows that its total funds amounted to 162,862 rubles. Much of these funds were invested in real estate: the society owned several houses in Saint Petersburg, some canteens and hostels. Expenditures were noticeably smaller and came to 32,674 rubles. The Women’s Suffrage Department received only 1,126 rubles. Total income was formed, just as in other countries, from donations, sales of literature, public lectures and various charity events: bazaars, exhibitions, banquets, soirees. The most experienced organisation in that sense was the Russian Women’s Mutual Aid Society, which for much of its existence gained valuable experience in fund-rising. Thus, for example, in 1903 the RWMAS organised bazaar and managed to gain 1,673 rubles12.

Under certain circumstances women’s suffrage organisations in Russia could reckon on state subsidies. The League for Women’s Equality several times received donations from the Ministry of Education and the Department of Agriculture for various women’s educational courses13. While restricting political activities, the tsarist government had nothing against social activity in other spheres, particularly in education and professional careers.

Methods of struggle for women’s equality

Political restrictions and lack of money influenced the methods of the women’s suffrage movement in Russia. In times of revolutionary upsurge Russian suffragists organised mass actions: meetings and demonstrations. In the reports of the WEU branches for 1905 – 1906 we can find information about meetings and demonstrations, though they were not so frequent as women’s suffrage processions in England. The most frequent were meetings in Moscow in autumn 1905 with 2,500 women participating in it14. In 1917 the Women’s Equality League and the frequently founded All-Russian Women’s Union initiated a series of meetings and demonstrations. The most impressive one was held in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) on 19 March 1917 by the Women’s Equality League. On that day 40,000 of women under the leadership of suffragists came out onto the streets demanding women’s suffrage. A member of the League, O. Zakuta, gave a vivid description of this demonstration: “in front of the procession there were Amazons on horses for security reasons, a huge flag of the Russian Women’s Equality League and two bands. In the midst there was an automobile with one of the prominent champions of freedom for Russia, Vera Figner, along with the head of the WEL Council Poliksena Shishkina-Yavein. The following posters stood out against the background of many others: “Woman’s Place in the Constituent Assembly”, “No Women No Universal Suffrage”, “Women, unite!”, “Women-workers demand suffrage”, “Free Woman in Free Russia”15. It is known that this demonstration helped the suffragists to induce the provisional government to promise to grant women political rights. The description of this demonstration is strongly reminiscent the women’s suffrage processions in England and this is not by chance, since the Russian suffragists considered the struggle of their British counterparts an example to be emulated and adopted a lot from the British experience.

In the long period of restrictions of any democratic activity, the suffragists, like the representatives of other democratic organisations, had to adjust their activity to the realities of political life. Russian suffragists paid a lot of attention to propaganda, aspiring to cover not only middle class but also women workers and women peasants. Enlightening activities included publishing and distributing literature on the women’s question, delivering public lectures, organising various women’s hobby groups. In 1906 in the framework of the Women’s Equality Union a special commission for distributing literature among peasants was founded. In 1907 it distributed about 10, 000 pamphlets and books. According to local reports, it was very popular, and since not all women peasants could read, distributors (as a rule they were county schoolmistresses) organised joint readings. The Women’s Equality League and the Russian Women’s Mutual Aid Society had a similar mission. The Women’s Equality Union and the Women’s Progressive Party had their own regular press: Soyuz Zhenschin (Women’s Union) and Zhenskii vestnik (Women’s Herald). Besides pamphlets and books Women’s Union, Women’s Progressive Party and the Women’s Equality League printed and distributed many leaflets addressing both women and male representatives of different social classes to support women’s demand for political equality.

Russian suffragists, just like British ones, organised lecture tours throughout the country. In autumn 1906 the Saint Petersburg branch of the Women’s Equality Union formed a group for preparing agitation lecturers and reports. The most popular were the lectures delivered by C. Schepkina, A. Kalmanovich, Z. Mirovich, M. Chekhova, O. Volkenstein. It is reported in the first issue of Soyuz Zhenschin that lecture of E. Tschepkina entitled “Essay of the history of women’s movement” had been delivered for 15 times in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod, Orel, Kostroma, Tver, Kazan, Saratov, Smolensk and attracted audiences of 400 to 800.16 The subjects of these lectures show that the Russian audience was also interested in the women’s struggle for their rights in other countries. This was the subject of lectures delivered by the famous Russian suffragists Anna Kalmanovich and Zinaida Mirovich, who repeatedly went abroad and had close contacts with many Western suffragists. One of the most popular lectures was delivered by Z. Mirovich on «Women’s Movement in England», successfully presented in Moscow, Vitebsk and Smolensk. It is quite interesting that in 1907 in Ivanovo-Voznesensk this lecture was prohibited. The chief of the local police thought it “could embarrass local weavers”17.

It is quite logical that one of the most important directions of Russian suffragist activity was lobbying for their interests in parliament, public organisations and among political parties. Just after its foundation, the Women’s Equality Union and the Russian Women’s Mutual Aid Society presented petitions to party congresses, city councils and trade unions. There petitions demanded inclusion in the programmes of these organizations, the so-called heptamerous election formula: “universal, direct, equal and secret ballot without distinction of sex, nationality and creed.” Thus, as it was a question of universal suffrage, Russian suffragists, in contrast to their British counterparts, at once demanded political rights for all women.

To lobby for its interests from within the Women’s Equality Union became a member of the All-Russian Organisation of Trade Unions – the Union of Unions. As a result, in summer 1905 the women’s suffrage clause was included in the political programmes of the trade unions, the zemstva (local authorities in county) and the kadet party (constitutional democrats). The same clause was included in a resolution adopted in the Congress of City Councils. This allows us to state that on the revolutionary wave the majority of the democratic community in Russia was in favour of women’s suffrage and public opinion was more favourable than in England or in France. This can be explained by the fact that in Russia the demand for woman’s suffrage was put forward jointly with the demand for universal suffrage backed by almost all Russian political parties.

Women’s suffrage and political parties

The programmes of the Russian political parties are quite clear on the issue of women’s suffrage in particular and universal suffrage in general. The left wing of the Russian political spectrum – The Russian Social Democratic Party, socialist-revolutionaries, trydoviki (Labours) and kadets (constitutional democrats) – demanded universal suffrage and, consequently, recognised women’s suffrage. The political centre– Oktyabrists – were more moderate, though they also demanded a universal, equal and secret ballot. They believed that before it could be introduced, it would take a long time for perfection for Russian Civil Code, and therefore, not denying the principle of woman’s suffrage itself, considered it a matter for the distant future. The right wing – monarchist parties and groups – vigorously rejected not only women’s suffrage but also all democratic changes/innovations. However, these parties were in minority in the first State Duma and had no decisive influence.

Thus, women's suffrage supporters had a really good chance to have the women's enfranchisement bill passed through the first State Duma, since the majority of its members were representatives of the left wing18. To convince deputies of the necessity to grant women the right to vote, suffragists collected signatures on petitions demanding political equality for women. To the first State Duma Women’s Equality Union presented a petition with 5,000 signatures and the Russian Women’s Mutual Aid Society presented its own with 4,500 signatures. The latter inspired the famous lawyer, the deputy from the kadet party, L. Petrazhitsky, to make an ardent speech in favour of women’s rights. In 1907, during the second State Duma, women’s organisations jointly presented to Russian parliament petition with the 19,984 signatures19.

It is reasonable that these figures are incommensurable with the number of signatures on women’s suffrage petitions in Britain: in 1874 the number reached 415,622 signatures20. However, if we will take into account the fact that before the Revolution of 1917 there was no such practice as collective petitioning (there was a special decree prohibiting presenting petitions directly to Tzar), then these figures are quite impressive for Russia. Moreover, since no such practice had been in use in other public organisations, we could say that this was the suffragists’ innovation to Russian political life. Such methods were common in many Western countries. Petitions were signed by both men and women, it being known that peasants and workers signed petitions more willingly than representatives of the middle class. We would like to quote the letter of a young peasant from Saratov province: “a schoolmistress gave me subscription list № 1038 to the State Duma justly demanding women's equality with men. I collect men's signatures. Yesterday, February 20, I just received this list and at once collected 64 signatures. When it reaches 100 signatures I will forward it to the schoolmistress”21.

As early as the 1860s – 1870s many Russian women participated in the women’s movement, became members of various revolutionary organisations, struggled against the monarchy. During the Revolution of 1905 – 1907 women’s organisations had collaborated closely with left parties. Many leaders of these organisations were members of political parties. A. Shabanova, A. Kalmanovich, A. Tyrkova, S. Panina were in the rank and file of the kadet party, O. Volkenstein was a member of the socialist revolutionaries party, M. Gurevich was among the Bolsheviks. The left orientation of the women’s movement in Russia had been acknowledged by the tsarist government, and this was one of the main reasons why the governing elite opposed women’s suffrage.

The letter of Attorney-General, I. Scheglovitov, was graphic evidence of the official position on women’s political rights. On the occasion of the women’s enfranchisement bill being introduced to the State Duma, he wrote (19 March 1912): “careful observation of the reality shows that in contrast to fears of Western thinkers about women’s aspiration to realise the goals of reaction, we reveal another danger – women’s infatuation with revolutionary ideals, and that circumstance, to my mind, obliges us to be very cautious about women joining in political activity”22. The Consistent democratic orientation of the women’s movement and the high level of political activity of Russian women allowed the left wing parties to consider women as their potential electorate and vote in favour of women’s suffrage.

In their turn, the suffragists rendered not only organisational, but also financial assistance to the left wing parties. Thus, in 1905 the Women’s Equality Union raised 100,000 rubles (a vast sum of money for those times) and donated it to the Social Democrats23. Unfortunately, the Russian suffragists could not establish close relationships with Social Democrats, especially with Bolsheviks. Even the radical Women’s Equality Union had to record that “socialist parties regarded the Union with hostility, constantly considering it a bourgeois organisation, since there was a majority of non-party members in it, who consisted of the bulk of the Union. Moreover, some socialist groups disapproved of the Union because it was exclusively a women’s organisation, believing that such organisations were harmful for the struggle for socialism, since they diverted forces from the party fights”.

Conclusion

To sum up, we can state that the Russian women’s liberation movement had its own national specificity that was conditioned by the features of the historical and political development of Russia. It emerged rather late; its evolution even during this short period of time had its highs and lows, which coincided with the evolution of the Russian democratic movement and depended on the changes in the political situation. The national women’s organisation was founded rather late, only in 1917; the women’s suffrage movement was not such a mass movements as those in Britain and America. At the same time, the women’s movement in Russia the 1905 – 1917 can be considered a women’s suffrage movement, since it had all the features that were characteristic of women’s suffrage movements: woman’s suffrage being the main demand in the programmes for the majority of women’s organisations; active lobbying of woman’s suffrage bills in Parliament; broad propagandistic campaigns aimed at attracting public attention. The women’s movement in Russia, like women’s suffrage in Great Britain, was an integral part of wide democratic movement that struggled for political and social reforms and was based on classical liberal theory. In addition, during that period the women’s movement in Russia, in spite of its leaders constantly underlining common of men’s and women’s interests frequently appeared an independent and fairly influential political force.

Ultimately the women’s organisations in Russia, making the best use of a frequently changing political situation, managed to achieve women’s enfranchisement in a short period of 12 years. In many respects this could be explained by specific political conditions. In Russia, on the revolutionary wave, it was easier for women to obtain their rights, while in Britain, despite the democratic parliamentary system, adherence to traditions impeded fundamental political changes, and it took almost a century to enfranchise all social groups. At the same time we should not ignore the activity and purposefulness of Russian suffragists, because thanks to them Russian women were among the first in Europe, to obtain political rights.

 

Bibliography

Archival Sources

 

“O posobii Rossiiskoi lige ravnopraviya zhenschin” ( About the Benefit of the Russian League of Equality of Women’ Rights ), Russian State Historical Archive, Fund 395, F. 3469

“Otvet na pis’mo C. Chapman Catt s voprosami o prisutstvii v Soyuze ravnopraviya zhenschin sotsialistok i ikh uchastii (1907-1908)” (The Answer to the Letter of C. Chapman Catt with Questions about the Presence of Socialists in the Union of Women’s Equality of Rights and their Partisipation ), State Archive of Russian Federation, Fund. 516, F. 4.

Protocol zasedanii Pervogo delegatskogo s’ezda Soyuza ravnopraviya zhenschin”, State Archive of Russian Federation, fund. 516, F. 5

Samoderzhavie i izbiratel’nye prava zhenschin (Autocracy and Women’s Enfranchisement), Krasnyi arkhiv vol. 6 (1936)

“Soyuz ravnopraviya zhenschin. Otchet tretiego delegatskogo s’ezda. Stenogramma zasedania 21 Maja 1906”. (The Union of Women’s Equality of Rights. The Report of the Third Delegation Sessions on the 21st of March), State Archive of the Russian Federation, Fund 516, F. 5.

Soyuz ravnopraviya zhenschin. Protocol vtorogo delegatskogo s’ezda 8 – 12 octyabrya 1905” (The Union of Women’s Equality of Rights. The Minutes of the Second Congress on the 8-12 October 1905), State Archive of the Russian Federation, Fund 516, F. 5, 36-39

Official Papers and Printed Reports

Godovoi otchet o dejatelnosti Rossiiskoi Ligi Ravnpravia Zenshin za 1916 god. (An Annual Report about the activity of the Russian League of Women’s Equality of Rights) Saint-Petersburg., 1917

Programma Zhenskoy progressivnoy partii” (The Programme of the Women’s Progressive Party) in Rossiiskie partii, soyuzy i ligi. Saint-Petersburgb,1906

Russkoe zhenskoe vzaimnoblagotvoritel’noe obschestvo. Otchet za 1903 (Russian Women’s Mutual Charity Organization. The report of 1903). Saint-Petersburg,1904

The Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage. Eighth Annual Report. Manchester, 1875

 

Journals

 

Zhenskaya mysl (Women’s Thought)

Soyuz Zhenschin, (The Women’s Union)

Contemporary Literature

Tshepkina E. Iz istorii zhenskoi lichnosti v Rossii. (From the history of woman’s personality in Russia).Tver: Feminist Press, 2004 (reprint edition)

O. Zakuta. Kak v revolutsionnoe vremya Vserossiiskaya Liga Ravnopraviya Zhenschin dobilas’ izbiratel’nykh prav dlya russkikh zhenschin. (How During the Revolution Times The Russian League of Women’s Equality of Rights Managed to Get Enfranchisement for Russian Women). Petrograd, 1917