«Нужно делать для русского дела всё»: инициативные проекты и дискуссии о представительстве русского населения Прибалтийских губерний в Государственной думе Российской империи
“Everything Must Be Done for the Russian Cause”: Initiative Projects and Discussions on the Representation of the Russian Population of the Baltic Provinces in the State Duma of the Russian Empire

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of discussions on the need to allocate separate representation for the Russian population of the Baltic provinces in the State Duma. The discussion took place during the development of the draft Regulation on the elections of 1905 and during the election campaign of 1906. For this region, despite the specific ethnodemographic and social distribution of its population, no separate electoral legislation was proposed. In disclosing the problem posed, archival materials of official office work, correspondence of representatives of the central and regional authorities are used. No less important is the characterization of initiative projects on this issue, received both from individual social groups and from political parties. Materials of central and regional periodicals complement the appeals of the local population, demonstrating the degree of demand for this issue in the public space by the Russian public. The main arguments intended to convince the imperial leadership were national disunity on the outskirts, the ability of only the Russian administration and Russian elected representatives to reconcile the Estonians and Latvians with the Germans. The threat of a revolutionary movement becoming an additional argument in favor of the need to strengthen the Russian presence in government bodies and local administration. The Baltic branches of the party “Union of October 17” became the most active participants in this discussion, referring, among other things, to the historical past of the region. However, for the imperial authorities, the criterion of ethnicity did not become the basis for changing the electoral law. It did not have a sufficient degree of transparency and could lead to an even deeper social crisis. In addition, the principle of nationality could be applied to most of the outskirts of the Russian Empire and would require a complete revision of the electoral law.

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