“Do We Have a Constitution in Russia or Autocracy?”: Discussion on the Nature of the Renewed State System of the Russian Empire in the State Duma of the Third Convocation

The article examines the discussion that took place on November 13, 1907, in the State Duma and was devoted to the discussion of the draft of the most humble address to the emperor from the deputy corps. The discussion of the text of the address turned into a heated debate on the question of what concepts should be used to describe the renewed state system: the right wing demanded that the concept of “autocracy” be included in the text of the address, while the Cadets demanded that the concept of “constitution” be included. Using a number of methodological techniques proposed by the Cambridge School of Intellectual History, the author establishes various interpretations of these concepts formulated by the deputies and identifies the political intentions of the participants in the discussion. The author concludes that, despite the semantic tension between “autocracy” and “constitution”, which was characteristic mainly of the Cadets, in a number of deputies’ speeches the meanings of these concepts ceased to contradict each other. The author attributes these changes to the fact that many right-wing deputies and some Octobrists tried to explain the institutional changes that took place during the 1905—1907 revolution without resorting to constitutional rhetoric because of its associations with the revolutionary agenda. Instead, they turned to the intellectual heritage of the neo-Slavophiles, interpreting “autocracy” not as the unlimited power of the monarch, but as a Russian national monarchy within which the institution of representation was possible. The author concludes that understanding how the results of the political transformations of 1905—1906 were described by their contemporaries is important for the historiographical discussion devoted to reflecting on Russias special path and the applicability of universalizing discourse to its history.