The second Duma February - June 1907
The Bolsheviks and Menscheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries all abandoned their policies of boycotting elections to the Duma, and consequently won a number of seats. The Kadets found themselves outnumbered two-to-one by their more radical counterparts.
On June 1, 1907, Prime Minister Stolypin accused social-democrats in preparation of armed uprising and demanded to exclude 55 social-democrats from Duma sessions and strip 16 of them from parliamentary immunity. When this ultimatum was rejected by the Duma, it was dissolved on 3 June by a ukase imperial decree
The Tsar was unwilling to be rid of the system of the State Duma, despite the problems. Instead, using emergency powers, Stolypin and the Tsar changed the electoral law and gave greater electoral value to the votes of landowners and owners of city properties, and less value to the votes of the peasantry, whom he accused of being "misled" and in the process breaking his own Fundamental Laws
The third Duma November 1907 - June 1912
Stolypin changed the electoral laws so that only one in six men had the right the vote, and peasants and industrial workers were virtually forbidden to vote. The result was that the third and fourth Dumas were dominated by right wing supporters of the regime.
The Duma lasted a full five years and succeeded in 200 pieces of legislation and voting on 2500 bills. Due to its more noble, and Great Russian composition, the third Duma, like the first, was also given a nickname, "The Duma of the Lords and Lackeys" or "The Master's Duma". The Octobrist party were the largest, with around one-third of all the deputies
Fourth Duma:
The Fourth Duma was written under the same terms as the Third Duma. The reactionaries and the nationalists were still in the majority but there had been an increase in the number of radicals (Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks) elected.
Soon after the outbreak of the First World War the Duma voted to support Nicholas II and his government. When the Bolshevik deputies voted against the government on this issue, they were arrested, had their property confiscated and sent to Siberia.
Members of the Duma, including its leader, Michael Rodzianko, became increasingly critical of the way Nicholas II was managing the war. In 1916 Rodzianko tried to persuade the government to introduce reforms and to appoint a Duma government. In February, 1917, he sent a series of telegrams explaining the dangers of revolution.
After the Tsar's abdication in March, 1917, Michael Rodzianko, helped form the Provisional Government led by George Lvov. The Duma was closed down after the Bolshevik Revolution in October, 1917
