Red Sunday
On the side of the revolutionaries, Gapon also led the Bolsheviks on January 22, 1905 in Petrograd, when the workers went to present the petition to the Tsar. Written by Gapon and signed by many Russians, it demanded more justice and protection from the Tsar, but also a decent salary, the separation of Church and State, the right to create trade unions and other demands for the improvement of the living conditions of the people.
Gapone had no intention of bringing down the Tsar, unlike the Bolsheviks, because most peasants did not think they could do without him. It was the pope who ordered that no weapons be carried during the demonstration, which the Petrograd garrison unfortunately did not notice, and fired into the crowd. Gapon's guards were killed, but he, the leader of the demonstration, was not.
The Church in the Revolution
“Religion is the opium of the people,” said Karl Marx. According to him, men took refuge in the religion which dictated the conduct to be had. This established a submission of Man in relation to the Church, but also in relation to the State, because the Church and the State were one. This is how the revolution will take power away from the Orthodox Church, churches will be destroyed, and popes denied their office. But Gapon will no longer be there to see him, because he dies on March 28, 1906. After going into exile in Switzerland and having found Mensheviks, he returns to Petrograd in autumn 1905. But he will finally be found hanged in the “Finnish countryside », whose culprits would be revolutionary socialists.