Railroad Committees

(1905–07), elected democratic organizations that arose on the Russian railroads during the Revolution of 1905–07 to lead the strike movement. In the autumn of 1905 the railroad committees of the Siberian, Transbaikalia, Middle Asia, Tashkent, and several other rail-roads operated—as did the Soviets of workers’ deputies—as a revolutionary authority. They dismissed the tsarist administration, took over the management of the railroads, and established work norms and wages. In December 1905 the railroad committees in a number of localities were transformed from agencies for directing strikes into agencies of armed insurrection. In late 1905 and early 1906 tsarist troops destroyed the main centers of armed insurrection, and the railroad committees ceased to exist.