First Soviet Council Meets in Saint Petersburg

The Saint Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies assembled on 26 October 1905 with 2,200 elected delegates representing factories, railways and trades. The election was organized by the Union of Metalworkers, the Union of Railway Workers and the Union of Textile Workers, each of which submitted lists of candidates to a central ballot held on 22 October. Delegates ranged in age from 19 to 58; the average age was 32.

The central mechanism of the Soviet was its Executive Committee, elected by the full assembly at the first meeting. Nikolai Ivanovich, a 41‑year‑old metalworker from the Putilov Plant, was chosen as chairman. He was responsible for convening daily sessions, transmitting resolutions to local factory committees and coordinating with the newly formed armed workers' militia. Leonid Krasin, a 28‑year‑old railway electrician, was appointed secretary and handled the written record of decisions, including the resolution that the Soviet would demand the dismissal of the police chief for the Bloody Sunday massacre. The committee also included Maria Morozova, a 35‑year‑old textile worker who oversaw the allocation of food supplies to striking workers, and Pavel Petrov, a 44‑year‑old carpenter who organized the distribution of leaflets calling for an eight‑hour workday.

The Soviet’s first concrete action was a petition signed by all 2,200 delegates and presented to Governor‑General Prince Aleksandr Belyavsky on 27 October. The petition listed three demands: the release of political prisoners, the establishment of a workers’ militia under Soviet control, and the implementation of a law limiting the workday to eight hours. The governor rejected the petition on 30 October, stating that only the Tsar could grant such reforms. In response, the Soviet ordered a general strike on 1 November, which involved approximately 1.3 million workers and halted production in the city’s major factories for three days.

The strike forced the government to negotiate a limited concession on 4 November: a temporary reduction of the workday in the metal industry to ten hours. Although the concession fell short of the Soviet’s eight‑hour demand, it marked the first time a workers’ council had directly influenced imperial policy. The Saint Petersburg Soviet continued to meet weekly throughout the remainder of 1905, laying organizational groundwork for later councils in 1917.