The historical development of pre-revolutionary Russia was marked by a combination of remnants of the semi-feudal system and class relations with elements of the modernization of the economic, political and cultural spheres. In Russian society, market relations were intertwined with the precapitalist functioning of the peasant court and landlordism. In political life, the leading role belonged to the state apparatus, which was dominated by representatives of the nobility and large landowners.

The contradictions that persisted in the country after the revolutionary events of 1905-1907 were not eliminated. The polarization between the “bottoms” and the “tops” of the urban and rural population led to the fact that from the second half of 1910 the number of strikes in Russia began to increase rapidly. A powerful wave of demonstrations, rallies and strikes swept the country in response to the shooting of gold mines on the Lena River in April 1912. About 300 thousand people participated in the political protest movement. Following this, May Day performances with 400 thousand participants. In general, in 1912 over 1 million people went on strike. In 1913, the strike movement gained even greater proportions, the total number of strikers was 1,800 thousand.

The first signs of future political, economic and social conflicts, the growth of the revolutionary movement were marked even before the death of P. A. Stolypin (1911), who prophetically predicted: "It will be possible to hold on with my fat for another five years." The collapse of the Stolypin system largely determined the nature of the further political crisis in the prewar and military period.

On the eve of the First World War, the strike wave and the labor movement assumed a sharp political character, which was greatly influenced by the agitation of the Bolsheviks. Their slogans and appeals more and more coincided with the moods of the workers themselves. The police department watched with growing apprehension the strengthening of the labor movement and the successes of the Bolsheviks in their propaganda activities. Ignoring the existing laws, the government launched a crackdown on trade unions, the workers' press and other bodies of the legal labor movement, as well as on opposition-oriented public organizations.

The development of the looming crisis of state bodies was suspended due to the patriotic upsurge in various sectors of society, caused by the entry of Russia on July 19, 1914 into a world war. The majority of the population, statesmen in the country adhered to the “hurray-patriotic” moods at that moment. One of the few who openly spoke in favor of ending the war was Count S. Yu. Witte. He predicted the great evils of Russia in the event of the continuation of hostilities. However, very far from court circles at that time, Witte did not already have real power and influence.

The first victories of Russian weapons on the fronts of the war were replaced by a series of catastrophic defeats. Since 1915, with the new force, the strike movement has flared up with political strikes by workers. This year in Russia there were about 2 thousand strikes with 900 thousand participants, in 1916 - 2.3 thousand strikes with 1800 thousand strikers.

[*] Until February 1 (14), 1918, all dates are in the old style.