Soviet (council) - Imperial Russia

Imperial Russia

In Imperial Russia, the State Council was referred to as a “Soviet of Ministers.”

According to the official historiography of the Soviet Union, a soviet was organized in May 1905 in Ivanovo during the 1905 Russian Revolution. In his memoirs, Volin claims that he witnessed the creation of the St Petersburg Soviet in January 1905. The Russian workers were largely organized at the turn of the 20th century, leading to a government-sponsored Union leadership. In 1905, the Russo-Japanese War increased the strain on Russian industrial production, the workers began to strike and rebel. They represented an autonomous workers movement, one that broke free from the government's oversight of workers unions. Soviets sprang up throughout the industrial centers of Russia, usually organized on the factory level. The soviets disappeared after the Revolution of 1905, but re-emerged under Socialist leadership during the Revolution of 1917.