The Revolution of 1905 and the Struggle for Legal Emancipation

Abstract

The second phase of Jewish liberal politics witnessed the breakthrough from traditional forms of representing Jewish interests to modern politics. The Russian Revolution of 1905 and its key player, the Russian intelligentsia, paved the way for the Defense Bureau members to shift their approach from welfare and legal aid activities to politics, and provided them with the possibility to claim legal emancipation for Russian Jews. Thus, in order to enforce the democratisation of the country, and to create a legal political opposition in Russia, the intelligentsia initiated the banquet campaign, the petition’s movement and finally founded the Union of Unions in 1905. Jewish Liberals perceived the creation of a public space as the opportunity to join the Revolution, and bring forward specific Jewish demands more effectively. To this end, Jewish Liberals founded the Soiuz Polnopraviia, an organization which was open to all political groups within Jewish society, and thus served as a public space for Jewish society. The SP in turn enabled Jewish Liberals to spread their political standing to wider strata of Jewish society, and to mobilize and politicize the Jewish masses. Moreover, in addition to the struggle for a democratisation of the country, the Liberals widened their efforts among the leaders of the Jewish communities in Western Europe and America, and added to constitutional reform within Russia external diplomatic pressure on the Russian government.