Vyborg Manifesto
The Vyborg Manifesto was a liberal protest in July 1906 after Russia’s first Duma was dissolved. A group of Kadets and Trudoviks who had helped set up the Duma went to Vyborg, then in the Finnish Grand Duchy, and issued a document calling for people to resist the government by passive means—refusing to pay taxes and avoiding military service. It urged broader reforms and a Constituent Assembly.
The Duma had only lasted 72 days before being shut down by the Tsar. The Manifesto, written by Pavel Milyukov and signed by about 120 Kadets and 80 Trudoviks (with some other groups), came at a time of liberal anger but little mass support. The government treated it as a provocation and used harsh measures to silence its supporters. More than 100 Kadet leaders were tried or suspended from the Duma, and the party would never again be the same.
As a result, the Kadet Party moved toward conservatism, losing its image as a party for the people and becoming more of a bourgeois liberal force. The government remained suspicious of them, and the episode helped set the stage for the harsher repression of liberal opposition in the years to come. Note: Georgy Lvov, who helped organize the protest, fell ill on the way to Vyborg but supported the idea.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:27 (CET).