From January 1, the poll tax for peasants in all provinces of Russia was finally abolished. This will cause an annual loss of 40 million rubles to the state treasury. To make up for the losses, it was decided to raise the excise tax on spirits and increase direct taxes on state peasants as the most well-off. To avoid provoking them, this is being done under the guise of switching from quitrent to redemption payments. Collective responsibility was not abolished, the rights of rural communes did not change, and passport restrictions were not lifted.
MENDELEEV. The election of D. I. MENDELEEV as a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences was rejected by ballot for the second time. In protest, many Russian and foreign universities, the Italian, French, and German Academies of Sciences, the Royal Society of London, and other scientific organizations will elect D. I. Mendeleev as an honorary member.
MIKLUKHO-MACLAY, N. N., visited St. Petersburg, where he petitioned for a Russian colony to be founded on one of the Pacific islands. He did not receive approval.
On April 15, NIKOLAY STEPANOVICH GUMILYOV, a future poet, was born.
On March 28, Maxim Gorky (A. M. Peshkov) was born, a Russian and Soviet writer, literary critic, publicist, public figure, and founder of socialist realism.
ALEXANDER NIKOLAYEVICH OSTROVSKY (born 1823) died. "Ostrovsky's Theater" includes 47 plays in various genres, from tragedies to dramatic sketches.
On May 1, American workers, for the first time in history, organized a nationwide mass strike demanding an eight-hour workday (the workday at the time was 12 to 15 hours) and higher wages. 350,000 American workers took part in the strike, but the center of the labor movement was Chicago, where about 40,000 workers joined the strike.
On June 10, a council of physicians declared King Ludwig II of Bavaria insane. Three days later, the king drowned in a lake.
On July 3, Karl Benz of Mannheim made the world's first automobile trip in a vehicle of his own design, reaching a speed of 16 km/h.
On July 4, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York and was ceremonially unveiled on October 26.