The Duma and the State of the Empire

The relationship between the duma and the government was put to an early test when stelipin delivered his first address to the assembly on march sixth. A young menshevik delegate responded by getting up and attacking stalepon and the government and the entire state of the empire. Autocracy still reigned everywhere. Emergency laws were the rule, not the exception. The police abused their powers landlords peasants. This led to follow up speeches that were equally accusatory and rancorous. And a lot of the coming conflict is far less about the specific issues at hand and more whether the duma was going to wind up a subordinated discussion group or would they be an independent assembly composed of