The Jewish Question as a Russian Problem: The Debates in the First State Duma

This article deals with an issue which, to a large extent, has been neglected by historians of the so-called ‘Duma system’ and the revolution of 1905–07. Based on an examination of the stenographic record of the First Duma, it shows that the chamber’s debates on the Jewish question were one of the chief causes of its dissolution after barely two-and-a-half months. It also shows that the discussion of the Jewish question occupied more Duma time than any other subject–including even the agrarian issue–during the second half of its existence.