November 14 1916 years
Leader of the Cadet Pavel Milyukov He delivered an anti-government speech in the State Duma titled "Stupidity or Treason?" Some historians believe this was what triggered the February Revolution.
We have lost faith that this government can lead us to victory.
The speech was timed to coincide with the beginning of the work of the IV State Duma.
By that time, Russia had already lost more than three million people killed in World War I. An equal number were taken prisoner.
Milyukov himself lost his youngest son at the front. Yet he remained a supporter of "war to the bitter end" and had a reputation as one of the leading ideologists of Russian liberalism.
In the summer of 1916, he traveled around Europe, meeting with prominent politicians and studying the foreign press. Upon his return, he demanded the government's resignation.
When you wait a whole year for Romania to take action, insist on this action, and at the decisive moment you have neither troops nor the ability to quickly transport them along the only narrow-gauge railway, and thus you once again miss the opportune moment to strike a decisive blow in the Balkans - what do you call this: stupidity or treason?
With this question, Milyukov paraphrased the Minister of War Shuvaeva, who, a few days before this speech, when accused of espionage, responded: “I may be a fool, but I am not a traitor!”
Milyukov accused not only the head of government of treason – collaboration with Germany Boris Sturmer, but also personally the "young queen" (who was German by origin). He quoted the empress in the original, in German, so that the chairman of the Duma meeting, who didn't speak the language, wouldn't interrupt him and deprive him of the right to speak for insulting Her Majesty.
Now this power has fallen below the level at which it stood during the normal period of our Russian life, and the gap between us and it has widened and become impassable.
Milyukov's speech stunned the public. Many feared that the country
A revolution could break out. The scandalous speech played into the hands of those who spread absurd rumors: for example, that the Winter Palace housed a radiotelegraph station transmitting secret information directly to Germany (after the revolution, attempts were even made to locate it).
There was also harsh criticism. For example, the deputy was criticized for citing only foreign newspaper reports and compared to a foreign agent.
Is your speech stupid or treason?
(remark from the audience during the speech)
A few weeks later, Prime Minister Stürmer was dismissed.
The autocracy lasted for another three months, until February 1917. Immediately after the February Revolution, Milyukov received the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, but resigned just a couple of months later.
In 1918, he left the country and spent the last years of his life in exile. He died in 1943 in France.
