ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION 33
The attitude of the Government toward the zemstvo likewise
changed after the revolution of 1905. This was due, on the one
hand, to the fact that the political disposition of the zemstvos them-
selves was now more to the taste of the Government, and on the
other, to the fact that there was now a Duma. As the Duma had be-
come the national arena of the political struggle, the political ac-
tion of the zemstvo assemblies lost all importance and came to a
standstill.’ Besides, in the four decades of their existence, the zem-
stvos had won so conspicuous a place in the organization of the
empire and had become so closely knit with the administration of
the whole country that it would have been idle to think of restricting
or abolishing them. Thus it came about that, after the revolution of
1905, at the same time that a constitutional régime was made the
basis of the Russian Empire, the zemstvos won the unconditional
and definite recognition of the Government.
The Zemstvos after 1905.
During the interval between the revolution of 1905 and 1917 the
zemstvos developed vigorously in many different branches of eco-
nomic and cultural life. This, as above indicated, was now facili-
tated by the better relations established with the Government and by
the special attention that was paid to their needs by the Duma. It
is true, up to the World War the conservative majorities of the
Third and Fourth Dumas were not eager to promote any radical
reform of the rather obsolete basic principles of zemstvo administra-
tion ;° but they were nevertheless in favor of the principle of local
government and persuaded the Government to extend financial sup-
port to existing zemstvos and to establish new ones in provinces
where none as yet existed.
The financial subsidies from the Government took the form of
very liberal appropriations for agronomic assistance to the peas-
antry and of special funds for the rural and urban local government
bodies, to enable them to provide enough schools for an ultimately
Only in 1916 did the zemstvos again commence political action, being
driven to this by the entirely abnormal political situation that arose during
the War.
‘ The first two Dumas intended to introduce radical zemstvo reforms, to
be based on universal suffrage. This plan was frustrated by their dissolu-
tion.
