By the last quarter of the 19th century, the Russian government was increasingly aware that the time was approaching for the transformation of the state into a constitutional monarchy. At the same time, the ruling circles sought to combine slow economic transformations on a market basis and the old political system, presented in the form of an unlimited monarchy.
By the beginning of the 20th century, under fairly strong pressure from the radicals and liberal opposition, the government was forced to “make some updating” of the state system. At the same time, the reform process fell into the hands of those circles for which the establishment of parliamentarism and the introduction of a constitution was equal to the loss of political sovereignty. Of course, the Emperor and people close to him, developed projects and plans for the establishment of a representative body in the country, based primarily on their personal interests. That is why the First State. The Duma took so long and complicated to develop, in the context of the application of various opportunities of the ruling circles to slow down this process.
In 1905, by mid-February, a rather acute conflict began to develop in society. February 18, Nicholas II issued a rescript. In it, he announced his intention to attract people elected by the population to participate in the discussion and preliminary development of legislative proposals. In this case, the emperor stipulated the condition of "the indispensable preservation of the fullness of this power by the monarchy."
The implementation of this establishment was entrusted to the Special Meeting, chaired by A. Bulygin. This Special Meeting also developed a project for the formation of a new representative body (which was immediately called the “Bulygin Duma”). Possessed a new body legislative status. After almost six months of debate (during which many close to the emperor sought to limit Duma law as much as possible), the Manifesto was finally published.
In accordance with it, the representative body of the country was formed as a "legislative establishment". The Bulygin Duma was formed not only with the aim of participating in the discussion of legislative proposals. This body was given the right to consider the list of expenses and income, ask questions to the government, and also indicate the presence of illegality in the activities of the authorities. Moreover, no decisions made by the Bulygin Duma were binding on either the government or the emperor himself.
In determining the electoral system, developers were based on a structure that existed forty years ago. As then, the deputies were to be elected by "election meetings." Voters were divided into three curiae: urban dwellers, peasants and landowners. For the townspeople, the elections were two-stage, for the landowners three-stage, and for the peasants four-stage. The elections were not equal, universal, and direct.
According to Lenin, the Bulygin Duma was the most arrogant and indisputable mockery of the representation of the people. The principles underlying it were hopelessly outdated.
Most liberals, as well as all revolutionary movements and parties, unanimously announced their intention to boycott the new representative body. Those who agreed to take part in the elections said that they were using their rights to legally expose the "pseudo-popular pseudo-government."
The convocation of the First State Duma did not take place. The status of the new representative body did not satisfy the anti-government movement. As a result, the country experienced an aggravation of the crisis of power, which in the fall of 1905 (in October) resulted in an all-Russian political strike. Due to the rapid development of the revolutionary explosion, the ruling circles were forced to make concessions on the status of the future representative body.